Surviving Your Class Reunion

First I should put in the disclaimer, if high school was a miserable experience and you would rather gouge out your eyes than see any of those assholes ever again?  Just skip on by this post.

For the rest of the population, let's talk.

Most people agree that the five and ten year gatherings are a waste.  Everyone stays in the same circles they did in high school, no significant mingling, no happy memories.  Wait until the twentieth.  Enough time will have passed  that people break out of their teenaged roles and have actually grown up.  Memories fade, names escape you, and you are available to make new friends.

Me?  I was a wallflower in a class of 500.  I knew only my very small group of friends.  Of course I knew the names of the popular kids, but I was never one of them.  At my twentieth I was surprised, no wait, ASTONISHED people knew who I was.  They remembered me.  Me?  What the hell?

Then came Facebook.  Oh buddy how this has changed the world.  People I NEVER knew in high school were becoming my online friends.  They were commenting on my woes, cheering my successes, and liking my pictures.  It was, and is, pretty cool.

This weekend was our thirtieth class reunion.  How am I even old enough for that?  Thirty years?   Since high school?  Me?

A year ago the date was set and eventually the plans came together, most of it done through the miracle of Facebook.  Word did get out to those not online.  Excitement was building, this was going to be awesome.

On Friday, twenty of us gathered at the high school for a tour.  There were no surprises for me walking through the building, I had worked there not too many years ago.  What did surprise me was this vivacious woman bounding up to our crowd, hugging EVERYONE, and introducing herself.  I found out later she had been a cheerleader.  At the mixer at a local restaurant we crowded into a party room and squealed as new faces arrived.  I was introduced to the cheerleader's circle of friends and suddenly I was having deep conversations about toilet paper.  I still felt a little stifled trying to mingle with the other clusters of people and kept returning to a safe zone.

Saturday was the official event held at a winery.  It was a gorgeous venue on a gorgeous day.  I charged up my iPhone and decided I should try to get a picture with each person.  I don't know where this inspiration came from but I rolled with it.  Once I started walking up to people saying I wanted to get a selfie with them they cheered my idea and started snapping a few of their own.  I actually did manage to walk up to every person there although my pictures didn't prove that.  I'm sure my drunk thumbs missed the button a few times.  It didn't matter.  It got me off my ass and away from my table, not that I had anything against hanging with my two best friends, but I see them all of the time.  It truly was fun and that stupid act of trying to get pictures with each person was a fabulous ice breaker.  My favorite line was from Jack who said "Hi I'm Jack, I think we graduated together."  Why, yes we did!

Afterwards we had a room reserved at a nearby bar.  The band was loud, the room was crowded... are we getting old?  Close to 100 people managed to squeeze into the tee-tiny patio, escaping the loud band inside.  More laughs, more mingling.

I have spent the last two days adding more friends to my Facebook list.  Okay, they're only acquaintances, but who cares?  We have a shared bond for having sat in the same football field on a Tuesday night early in June 1984.  There is a shared bond and maybe, just maybe a few new real friends have been discovered.

Reunions come in many shapes.  I don't have many memories to reminisce, I didn't attend grade school with any of these people, no childhood antics, so reunions have to be something else.  For me, on this round, I made new friends.

Friday Fragments - January 4, 2013

Whew, the whirl wind of the holidays is finally over and now we can recuperate.  I hope everyone had a splendid time... and if not that you find a way to make up for it. 

New Year's Eve was a spectacular party with friends.  It's been a very long time, too long, since I've laughed like that.  Laughter is truly good for the soul. 

The party's host has opened their home to us quite a bit over the years.  We felt bad for all the times they paid for firewood.  They didn't believe us that there was wood to be had, so one day we came across a GIGANTIC pile free for the taking.  So we took.  And delivered.  It was several weeks ago and said it was an early Christmas present.  Monday night we had the opportunity to stand around the fire pit, in the freezing cold.

Between the smoke, yelling over the crowd, and laughing I sounded like a very sick seal the next morning.  And smelled like a walking campfire... one of my most favorite scents EVER.

It was hard getting back into the swing of things.  Even though I really haven't been away from work more than a few days, our office has been topsy turvey for the last three weeks.  Today was the first day I really felt like it was back to normal.  My supervisor reviewed all of my current projects and pointed out how much I've got going on.  I guess that might be part of the stress I'm suffering that is now exhibiting as annoying dry skin patches the dermatologist prescribed an expensive oil to heal!

Watching Diners Drive Ins and Dives we saw a recipe for chicken confit (I always thought it was "comfy" and yes, I did take French in high school).  It's an old method where you cure the meat with salt and then cook it low and slow in oil.  The TV show then skillet fried the meat, which is what we did.  It was amazing.  The bones fell off the breast, completely clean of meat.  We had three breasts left over (because we always cook extra for left overs) and I very easily shredded them for fajitas.  We will definitely be doing this again!  I did a little research on confit cooking and it can be used for all sorts of meat which we will be trying as well.

Today I'm going to suggest a movie to avoid - Killer Joe.  I have a very warped sense of humor, enjoy some really sick entertainment, and am very hard to offend.  This movie crossed every line and I was left disgusted.  Even hubby was asking WTF.  I'm pretty sure somebody will pick it up, like we did, and think the description sounds interesting.  WALK ON BY.  You have been warned.  If your husband insists on watching it (because advice of some insane blogger is no reason to impact your household) take up knitting or scrubbing the crud behind the bathroom sink knobs.  Anything.  And by all means DO NOT let kids watch it.

Here's to more posting, more reading, more commenting!  Happy New Year!!!!!!

Fourth of July - ten years ago

When I crawled into bed last night I realized I was wearing a tshirt from a conference I attended 10 years ago.  When I woke up and remembered it was Fourth of July I suddenly recalled an Independence Day celebration that was exactly ten years ago today.

Ten years ago - my how things have changed!  That Independence Day I was dating someone else and this particular day had me questioning my choices. 

I posted the story on Blogger in 2005 but I had written it for my favorite messageboard a few days following the... "incident"



Originally posted 10/25/05

Being a girl, from the suburbs, in a county that outlaws fireworks, I never really FULLY understood the Bubba-factor that goes into the Fourth. Dear LAWD AWMIGHTY!!!!

Last year was so pleasant, a large group of friends gathered at a house where the back porch overlooked most of south St. Louis County. It was awsome - there were professional displays everywhere you looked and it went on for HOURS. I've never seen anything like it.

This year I was coerced by Mr. Wonderful to go to his family's get together - it's amazing, he said, you've never seen anything as spectacular. I tried to explain what I saw last year but his eyes just glazed over and he re-emphasized how COOL this one is. Oh okay.

So the evening begins with a great spread of food and kids setting off the smoke bombs and sparklers. It gets dark and the men and older boys start setting off the big fireworks - okay, but still doesn't beat last year. THEN, Mr Wonderful pulls out this pack of sparklers -150 or so that he's taped together - warns everybody to stay back because he only heard about doing this and isn't sure what it'll do. It goes bang. Let me rephrase that it goes BOOM! Big fucking BOMB type BOOM! He tee hees and giggles and gets patted on the back by the other guys. Us women are looking at eachother (including the ones related to these men and have endured this crap for eons) wondering what the big deal was. It was fire and it made big noise - grunt grunt grunt. They scramble to find more sparklers and tape. The second one was a failure, it just went up in flames with no big BOOM. They get in a huddle and discuss clearing the shelves of sparklers during after 4th sales so they can make them this weekend. Mr. Wonderful is instructed to bring lots of them next year.

So then it's time for the grand finalé. All women and children are instructed to go inside and watch from the window and the boys pull out the gas cans. Okay, now this ended up being pretty cool, but NEVER would somebody with estrogen flowing through her veins ever dream up such a thing.... The men had spent an hour earlier that day building this box (which involved a power saw, wood, nails, hammers, and a wire cage covering) and then put twelve bajillion bottle rockets in the cage covering. They pulled this "box" out to the end of the driveway, poured gasoline all over it, with a little trail back a ways so they could light it from a distance. It went off for about two minutes with bottle rockets shooting straight up and then fizzled out. THE WOMEN STARTED BOOING! I'm stunned, it was pretty, nobody got hurt. NOOOoooooo I was told, it's supposed to go on and on and on and on and shoot bottle rockets everywhere. So the men huddle again. Out comes the GASTANK from a motorcycle and they REGAS the box and relight it. OH MI GAWD!!!!!! Huge flames, bottle rockets EVERYWHERE, men running.

Oddly enough NO INJURIES and again, Mr Wonderful is the hero for putting out a fabulous display.

All I can say, it's a man thing and I don't understand.

Sunday in My City - Grad Party

Last week I missed posting as I was recovering from the grad party held the previous night.  I may have had a few too many - felt great that night and like hell the next day.  It only makes sense to share highlights today.

The grads were Piranha's college twins.  While they were the stars of the show, they were upstaged by the grandbabies - mine and Booty's.

The most precious part of the whole night for me was seeing all of our kids together.  It's been a long time - they pretty much went their own directions once they got drivers licenses in their grubby hands and discovered jobs, girlfriends, boyfriends, college... *sigh*

 My guy sought out the girls for attention - crawled right up and started babbling.

 Finally the babies drifted to sleep and the party kicked in (ha!  it was in full gear from the beginning - only my attention shifted once the babies left the room).

 

The twins have moved back home while they send out resumes and go on interviews.  For Piranha's sake this won't last too long. 

Friday Fragments - January 6, 2012

Oh my my - another year down and a new one to screw up every time we try to write it out.  Yes, I've already done that several times in the past few days.

I'm sick at the moment - courtesy of my husband who has been sick all week.  Hacking coughs, body aches, my head is pounding.  This sucks that I have to use up my PTO on the heels of just taking several days off for vacation, but worst of all I was supposed to have the grandbaby tonight.  WAAAAHHHHHH!!!

You'll have to excuse me, I'm in a very whiney mood at the moment.  The Tylenol hasn't kicked in yet.

We spent Saturday night the same way I've spent most every New Years Eve for the past 30 years - with my two best friends and various hangers-on (now spouses)... and copious amounts of alcohol.  I detested hearing people say "I just can't drink like I used to".  Damn if my friends aren't saying it now.  GEEZERS!  Next they'll complain that the music is too loud.  AND we're starting to compare medical ailments.

Sunday was Christmas with the kids.  It was great to be with everyone, but it seriously blew by too fast.  I'm going to have to institute Sunday dinners or something so I have a chance to catch up with their lives.

Monday was a glorious do-nothing day.  We did a little shopping to use up gift cards and then watched movies.

Work for the new year should be hitting a quiet time but for some reason I have a to-do list a mile long.  I'm certainly not suffering boredom, that's for sure!

OH!  This week I found out that you can listen to college lectures for FREE!  I'm sure this has been going on for ages, but it's new to me.  So while I'm busily knocking items off my to-do list at work, I've been listening to the 22 part series by a Yale professor on "Epidemics of the Western World Since 1600".  LOVING IT!  Coworkers ask which contagion I'm listening to.  So far it's been black plague, small pox, cholera and just starting syphallis.  I still have avian flu, AIDS and...um... something else... I forget.

I'm not a resolution-making person, mostly because I'm really prone to procrastination and I would just get really frustrated with myself.  My hopes this year, though, is to blog more and finish some of my quilts.

Friday Fragments - Dec 16,2011

For once, a week that hasn't whizzed past me in lightening speed!  Welcome to my fragmented Friday, hosted by Mrs. 4444's over at Half Past Kissing Time.  It's lots of fun to peek into everyone's world...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 My youngest finally displayed an genuine bout of teenaged defiance last night.  He pulled up something on the internet and told me he really wants it for Christmas.  It was head phone amplifiers (seriously?  Who the hell makes something like that???)   I told him rather flatly that there is not a chance in hell I would ever buy something like that.  Without missing a beat and almost with a snotty tone he said, "well I'll just buy that myself."  I didn't even have a comeback because I was so dazzled by his defiance.  My laid back, lets everything roll off his back, child reared up with a streak that both pissed me off and honestly, made me proud.  Yeah, he smarted off, but it was brillant.

It was clear he had mulled it over some.  He came back later and said he'll just have his brother buy it for him.  Hmmm.... can't just go off and buy shit for yourself online without a credit card?  Well, I guess a maternal reprimand wasn't necessary after all.  I'm going to guess somebody is going to have to suffer with regular headphones sans the amplifier for a few years.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At work I label all of our computers with human names.  It makes it easier to discuss and track them on the inventory instead of using ID numbers or serial numbers.  I keep an ongoing list of possible names but with our latest delivery I offered the CEO to name her new laptop.  She decided to use her mother's name, Beverly.  The rest of us pondered this logic for ourselves.  We agreed, that the CEO can do whatever she chooses, but the rest of us have NO desire to have our mothers sitting on our desks at work.  Moms cause us enough headache without the added burden of computer fiascos being credited to them as well.  I think of "Violet" who has been reprimanded to my office for permanent sitting as she misbehaves regularly when in the field (damn thing was a lemon right out of the box).  I'm mighty glad it's not my mom, sitting there, glaring at me, taunting me to fix her yet again.  Yeah, annonomous female names work best for me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dear husband, it's morning, please do not hit me with a barrage of questions about stuff that will be tended to in 10 hours.  I DO NOT FUNCTION IN THE MORNING.  Go back to bed, it's quieter when you do and I can continue composing this post in peace!  Geez.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I spent last evening with a few coworkers for a tiny holiday gathering.  It wasn't a party, just several of us dining at a restaurant together.  It was the perfect table for us - big and round.  It was a Chinese restuarant that offered dim sum.  We all opted for full dinner orders then we all plopped our plates on the turntable and shared those in dim sum style.  It was great fun.  I ordered an eggplant dish that was wonderful.  Our vegetarian greatly appreciated having a second dish without meat.  Everyone else enjoyed it too.  They agreed it wasn't something they would have thought to order.  My other order, an amaretto sour, baffled our poor waiter and he had to fetch the bartender to make heads or tails out of my request.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yesterday I completed a project that was supposed to be done some time ago... like in April.  I'm happy it's finally off my plate!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nugget just turned four months old.  Guess who managed this week to get up on all fours and crawl a step?  At the moment he's more amused by rolling over and giggling, but as soon as he discovers that rolling and crawling will transport him across the room?  We're all doomed.

Birthday Party Blog Hop - Other People's Birthdays

A couple weeks ago we threw a surprise party for dear friend, Ripcord.  She's the youngster of the group, just now turning 40.  Her husband took her out to dinner with two other couples while the rest of us loaded up on a trolley.   Oh we were a sight to behold pulling up to the front of the restaurant.  We had EVERYONE'S attention, EXCEPT birthday girl.  She's such a dipshit.

We loaded up, took the kids to Ted Drewes for frozen custard and the tooled around town after ditching the kids (at a house with supervision - geez, we're not THAT bad of parents).  We didn't cover as much of the town as hoped, but it didn't really matter with four coolers stocked with beer.

Somebody mentioned that there is a new bar with a mechanical bull and that got the birthday girl all excited, so we HAD TO GO.

 

(random picture from another bar, Sybergs)

She was surprised, everyone had fun, and it was not like anyone else's birthday ever!  I think that makes it a success.

Friday Fragments - July 15, 2011

Happy Friday!!!!

Wow!  What a week!

We were at Walmart... you know I could make this into a game, "Guess What QandleQueen Saw At Walmart".  But here's the thing, every single one of you would lose.  We saw in the parking lot the Google Maps car.  Yes, the vehicle that drives around snapping pictures of your neighborhood.  It was a tiny car with California plates and a HUGE, GIGANTIC contraption on top with a thing that held the cameras.  Quite cool.  Sorry, I failed to whip out the camera for that awesomeness.

My highschool graduating class joined with the class above and below us - not that we were a small school, my class was over 350 alone.  We decided to start holding informal reunions and the first one was last Friday night.  There were about 30 people there, maybe more with those who floated in and out.  In case you have never attended a reunion here are the key points that will be covered in every single conversation - your kids, your job, old teachers, parties.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Nashville Tennessee.  Sadly it was one of those trips where the location didn't matter because I spent the entire time in meetings.  Four hours in the car down and back.  The coworker stuck in the back with me, proclaimed I was the most annoying person in the car.  My friends will readily agree with that statement.  We did get to sample some delicious food, Tuesday night at Moselles for dinner (completely awesome, but maybe not on the hottest day of the year in an old building with weak AC) and then for lunch on Wednesday at Los Tres Amigos with the biggest ever fajita quesadilla.  I've promised my Nashville friends that I will return (and not four years from now) so we can properly go out and enjoy the town.

If you remember, last year my husband was trying to get a mobile pizzeria off the ground.  It lifted like a lead balloon and by January we closed shop, looking for a different way to sell our pizzas.  Well, that took a strange turn with our pizza equipment parked at his uncle's house and yesterday he opened a furniture consignment shop.  We're very excited about this venture so keep your fingers crossed that it takes off as promised.

Make sure to visit Mrs. 4444's and all of the other people playing in Friday Fragments...

Birthday Party Blog Hop - Local Celebrations

St. Louis is chock full of celebrations.  Each of the little municipalities in the area have their own festivals and then the city of St. Louis hosts most of the bigger parties.  Almost all of these are excuses to drink publicly - and St. Louisans love their beer (emphasis on local beer, specifically AB products).

Mardi Gras = drinking event
Cindo De Mayo = drinking event
Rib America (Memorial Day) = drinking event
Fourth of July = drinking event
Oktoberfest = drinking event

And of course, Saint Patrick's Day = HUGE drinking event

The Saturday previous to March 17 is the downtown parade and then on actual St. Patrick's Day is the Hiberian's Parade through Dogtown (one of the many neighborhoods of the city).   All of the bars open in the morning and many do serve GREEN BEER.

We like to go to the downtown parade

Yes, we have St. Pat's beads!

Friday Fragments - July 1, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am super stoked that it's finally July and we can start celebrating Birthday Month.  It's a self-proclaimed thing and I hope everyone plays along - click on the birthday button to find out all of the details - the first birthday posting, National Celebrations, will be next Thursday.

So onto my ever so fragmented week...
Saturday was quite busy.  After a little yard work and running of errands we ventured downtown for Marine Week - check out last Sunday's post for pictures and really noisy videos.  It was AMAZING.

That evening we threw a surprise party for a friend turning 40.  Her husband rented a trolley and we drove through St. Louis, drinking and laughing and having a great time.  One of our stops was at a bar that had a mechanical bull where several of the party attendees took a ride.  For some reason my camera died through most of the night, it came back to life as we were getting ready to go home, so the bull riding pictures were fuzzy.

Before we headed home, I got a frantic call from our CEO that a train had derailed by our office and might impede my server restoration work - yeah still working on the dead server.  Fortunately by the time I got home (1pm) the server restores had completed (I'm able to remotely link into our office.... oooh cool groovy tech goddess that I am) and I didn't need to go into the office.

It turned out that the derailment, which really was literally feet from our office, was not severe.  We were picturing cars dangling off the trellis, but actually it was just debris from a service track.

Check out the red arrow, it's pointing to the stuff HANGING from the tracks!

That night was also (as if it weren't full enough) the night of a major MONSOON.  I'm not exaggerating.  As I was driving home there were sheets of rain pouring down to the point we had zero visibility.  It was insane.  I was hoping to get close enough to the tracks to see the train, but I had to turn around because the puddles in the road were just too deep!  And then by the time I got home ten minutes later, it had stopped.  Totally crazy.

Monday I slipped in dogshit in my basement posing the question, WHY WERE THE DOGS IN MY BASEMENT????  Turns out Monday morning storms had blown open a door and the dogs (with their nervous tummies) sought refuge in the basement.  I step in the goo, go splat, have minor whiplash from the impact and have to change my clothes.  Grrrrrrr

Wednesday I go into my sunroom to let the dogs outside and I slip down three steps, breaking a thumbnail and ripping skin off another finger and again jarring my shoulder still aching from the basement fall.

GUESS WHO IS GOING HOME THIS WEEKEND????  The dogs!!!!  My brother as secured employment and a place to live WITH A YARD and he's coming to retrieve his dogs this weekend.  YAHOOO!!!!  I mean, the dogs are super sweet, but three large animals in my tiny yard have taken their toll, not to mention the expense of maintaining them.  I know they'll be happy to be back with their owner.  And my lawn will be happy not being a toilet anymore.

Anybody working on family trees, get over to Ancestry.Com this weekend.  They're offering free searches on the Sons of American Revolution registrations.  It's not full access all the databases, just the one, but it's a database of names that can help in your searches.  Don't forget that sometimes other branches of your tree offers more information than your own.
   For example:  Searching John Smith you hit a wall and can't find his parents.  Look up his other children, not just the son you're related to.  Sometimes you have to go DOWN in that other child's line to find the one who has information back UP the line.  So I'm loading all of the registration info for anybody that pops up in my trees.  I'm getting lots of very distant cousin info that I don't necessarily want or need, but could search at some point hoping for older data than what I have on the family lines.

Sangria Party 2011

Another wild evening for the record books.

This year our daughters joined in the melee.  It's odd having children old enough to drink and hold their own in our adult conversations.

Booty's daughter is the oldest of all the children and has laid the groundwork for us allowing the other kids into the circle.  Piranha's daughter is the youngest of the big kids and is still in college.  She drove home just to join us this weekend.  My daughter also attended and it was fun to see the three girls reunite.  The boys are pretty much avoiding us like the plague.  Maybe they need a few more years?

The big entertainment for the night was Piranha's daughter not taking any crap from Ripcord and saying she could flip the woman onto the floor.  Game on, challenge accepted!  They moved to the livingroom floor and proceeded with a judo demonstration.  I'm pretty sure there were aching bodies yesterday and probably today.
 

Somebody brought the pretty blue Hypnotiq.  But, ugh, it does not sit well on a belly filled with sangria.

 Of course the bathroom has been attacked.  Usually things are just rearranged, but this time someone (NOT ME) took the liberty to redecorate using toilet paper

The toilet paper decor was extended to Piranha's car which she probably won't discover until today

Overall it was a good party with no blood shed, tears or hurt feelings.  What else can you ask for?

Sunday In My City - November 7, 2010

A friend's birthday turned into happy hour turned into a drunken night at the park.  We may have been breaking a few rules along the way.  Maybe.

We started off at Hacienda and slurped through THREE pitchers of margaritas

Sharpies were deployed

The husbands drove us to "a house" - owner being intentionally omitted.  Cups were filled (like we needed more alcohol) and we headed to a local park.  The playground equipment captured our attention.

Look carefully.  She flipped in her swing, to hang upside down, and locked her feet around the chain.  This was her facebook picture for quite some time.

Sometime after midnight fog began to roll in and our breath started to create some very eerie specters.  Seriously, that's not cigarette smoke.  I nearly hyperventalated huffing and puffing to get these shots.  I took about 20 pictures of our breath, the fog and the forming frost.

She's not passed out.  Just taking a very cozy break.

This was not a recent gathering.  It may or may not have been a year ago.  Just trying to stay all vague and shit to protect everyone involved.

Sunday In My City - September 26, 2010 (anniversaries and weddings)

Today is my first wedding anniversary!

One year ago we tossed together a wedding in 24 hours, a small gathering in my mom's backyard.  It was intimate, but perfect.  My post a year ago is here, but there's a better run down here.   We don't have anything super special planned today.  I think we'll be doing steaks on the grill tonight - hopefully the weather holds out.

Last night I attended the wedding of a coworker.  It was a big, beautiful church ceremony in the afternoon and a reception several hours later.  The bride was radiant, smiling ear from ear.  The groom also grinned, but looked a little lost.  The bride jokingly referred to the whole ordeal as "Gale's Wedding" - Gale is her mom.  I remember the feeling as I tolerated my mom putting on my big formal church wedding 23 years ago.

Her reception was held at the 9th Street Abby in Soulard.  It's an old church renovated into a reception hall.  There's a little patio that is used for private parties which is where we gathered for hors d'ourves, then we moved inside to the old chapel for our meal.

I was agitated to see that people the bride wasn't terribly close to, but felt obliged to invite from work had accepted the invitation.  Her family paid a pretty penny for their meals and in exchange she received fake hugs and mindless greeting cards.  At least those who responded about attending actually came.  I was sad to see that several people came to the reception without attending the ceremony - that is total crap in my book.  Those same people also left the reception as soon as the meal was over.  Isn't that horrible?

I doubt the happy couple is aware of any of this, because a wedding day goes by in a blur.  Memories will be formed from pictures.

Already my wedding one year ago seems like it's been several years.  I don't know if that's because we lived together for a while or that my memory is bad or that we're getting older... or a little combination of them.

Join Unknown Mami and everyone else sharing their city:

Sunday In My City - September 5, 2010

Last night the friends gathered.  One is scheduled for surgery next week and my gall bladder is coming out in the near future.  So the friend said she wanted a sangria party and we each brought an appetizer and a component for the sangria.

3 boxes of red wine

1 can of orange juice concentrate, 1 of lemon and 1 can of grape

1 bottle of cherry brandy

Sliced oranges and lemons

We put it in a big 5 gallon jug with a spigot and then serve over ice in wine glasses.

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL this weekend so we moved the party outside.  It was actually a little chilly so we were slipping into coats and sweatshirts.  But then they broke out the fire.  We sent the husbands to the store for marshmallows (probably not a good combination after several glasses of wine, but it hit the spot)

Check out everyone else's city