Mumble, mumble...

Well, that's the holidays for you I guess. Let's rewind...

We went to Montreal for American Thanksgiving, which I celebrated with an asthma attack. Of course, since I have them so rarely and since I've never had one up north, I hadn't even packed my inhaler. After about twelve hours, I finally got some help (narrowly avoiding a trip to the ER). That was an adventure I wouldn't care to repeat any time soon.

We returned to Montreal a few weeks later for our BIG family Christmas. Adam's Uncle Chris drove up and both my Mom and Dad flew up and joined us, so it was a full house and very nice to have everyone in the same place for a change. You may have seen reports of the crazy snowfall that hit the northeast between Christmas and the New Year... we got a healthy dose of that. Flights cancelled, roads a mess, aging parents flopping around in snow banks like turtles on their backs. Winter wonderland I tell you. In the end though, everyone made it home safe and sound and uninjured. Happy New Year!

Of course, I returned to work after two weeks away and immediately had to dive into some serious insanity. Our office hosted seven events in the first two weeks of January alone. My sleep schedule is only now recovering from that trauma, but I SURVIVED. Moving along now...

At the end of January, we headed BACK to Montreal (yes, again) for a wedding. It was great fun! The bride and groom were so obviously happy, grinning like mad and having a blast. We got to visit with old friends who we don't run into very often anymore and I got to meet some of the Mr.'s friends from "before my time" that I've never met despite having heard countless stories over the years.

At the end of this month, we will return to Montreal once again for a 20 year memorial of the death of the Mr.'s father. With family and friends traveling from all over the world to celebrate his life, it promises to be quite an event. Sometimes it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that he died only a couple of years before I met his son, who is now (and has been for nearly 18 years) my other half. I know so many small details about this man, and yet I know nothing because I never actually met him.

I think that will be enough travel to hold us for a little while. Other adventures await closer to home.

You Can Never Go Back

It's true.

When we went back to Sarasota for the New College 50th Anniversary in 2011, I felt this. I didn't just feel it. I was staggered by it.

Funny, most of the people I was so excited to see again were people I've seen since leaving Florida anyways. And there were a surprising number of people I saw that, when confronted with their face, I realized I could have happily never seen them again. So many people that I saw through the crowds and thought, "Good lord, I forgot about YOU" with varying degrees of joy and horror. And then there were the strangers I saw chatting with "my friends" who turned out to be people I knew quite well once upon a time. Shock upon shock upon shock. As a group, we speculated about motivations... for people who made the trip to come back and for people who stayed away, as well as those who never left.

The campus was so familiar and so different all at once. Keeping in mind, this was the first time I've been back to campus since leaving Florida in 1998. Ham Center, Pei dorms and the Library bridge were all competing against newly blocked roadways, new science buildings and new dorms where once there was open green space. Drinks could still be had at the Bahi Hut, though surrounded by a very different sort of clientele than I remember from back in the day. It was actually more than a little painful to see.

Being in such familiar places and wandering among so many unfamiliar faces, brought back some of my less pleasant memories from those years and I was surprised by them. I don't know why. I suppose we do that though, don't we? We remember the good stuff and sweep the bad things under the proverbial carpet. We remember things "better" than they ever were to begin with. College was fun and I made my very best friends there, friends that to this day mean more to me than I can express. But looking back, I can see that I spent too much of that era suffocating under the weight of my own insecurities.

I can't really say whether or not I'm glad we went. I almost wish we had simply arranged our own gathering of friends somewhere that wasn't New College. I'm not sure if I will attend another reunion. Because you really can't ever go back.

Whoa.

Sorry about that. It's been a busy summer. Let me recap:

Memorial Day Weekend at Mirbeau (where we had our honeymoon)
Visit to Montreal to see Prue's first solo painting exhibition
Mom & Prue both came to us for a visit
We celebrated our second wedding anniversary
I travelled to Baltimore for a conference for work
I went to Ft. Lauderdale to visit my friend Heidi
Adam returned to Montreal for another visit
We joined our first CSA - split with Bethany & Joe
Many weeds were pulled, by many different people
There were picnics & BBQs with friends
We had a very cute brown bunny in our backyard
Rochester got a second Chipotle
Adam installed lights, ceiling fan and baseboards in the attic
The attic is finished to the point that we started moving furniture up!

I hope you have all been enjoying your summer, keeping well and thriving! I'll try to be a little more reliable with the posting from now on.

Happy... Let's Just Say, I'm Glad You Were Born

To all you lovely people who didn't get a birthday card this year - Happy Birthday! Yes - I missed virtually every birthday on my calendar this year. Even my parents' birthdays were late. I'm sorry.

This is really embarrassing, but I still haven't quite adjusted to working Monday to Friday, 9-5. The rhythm of it just hasn't become natural yet. I just don't understand how everyone else manages to get stuff done after business hours or on the weekend! I have spent my entire adult life working the weirdest, off-balance schedules and just taking care of Life between the hours of 10am and 3pm. Usually on Tuesday and Thursday. Who knew Salvation Army is closed on Sunday?!

I'm not entirely sure why this has so affected my ability to remember birthdays, except perhaps that one thing that I actually have gotten used to (aside from dinner at home with the Mister AT DINNERTIME) is using the Outlook Calendar to remind me when to do everything but blink. No excuse, but a viable explanation at any rate.

I need to get iPhone to remind me of upcoming birthdays 10 days in advance, and then go buy the card. And the stamps. There must be an app for that...

Ummm... yeah. Where did that month go?

Sorry about that. On a day-to-day basis, there doesn't seem to be much worth relaying recently.

I'm still working, so is the Mr.

Attic progress has slowed somewhat due to contractor schedules, but should recommence soon.

Weather has been kinda dry, and just warm enough to encourage the bees. So I've been avoiding the garden, much to its detriment.

We had Company a couple of weeks ago. Miss Jill came for a visit with Chris and baby Ada, who looks just like her pretty Mama. It's such a gift to spend time with an old friend (sheesh, I sound like I'm 93). But it really made me think a lot about friendships. How maudlin! I have a handful of friends, who no matter how much time passes between email or conversations or visits, the moment we meet again it's like the sun comes out and the years fall away and I'd swear it was only a couple of days since we last met. Jill is one of those people (I'm lucky to have a few such). A lovely present for me.

It's funny, I don't think of myself as shy, but I've never really been a social butterfly. When I was a kid I never liked going on sleep-overs, and I'd call my Mom to pick me up as soon as the other kids started off to sleep. If we had one at my house, I made all the other kids sleep in the den and I slept in my room by myself. I hate crowds and particularly large parties. I never know what to say to strangers, so it's a wonder I manage to make any friends at all! It is NO wonder at all that I find myself surrounded by people who will carry a conversation for me in situations like these. That sounds so mercenary... I think I just fit best with friends who don't need me to be just like them in order for them to like me. Wrap your head around that one. Which is all to say I'm extremely fortunate in my friends. They are open-minded, generous and sincere.

Last week was my thirty-seventh birthday. I think. I mean, I'm sure it was my birthday, and I'm pretty sure it was my thirty-seventh. I can't say I still feel like a teenager, but I certainly don't feel my age. We spent the evening with Bethany (one of those lovely friends who understands about what parties do to me) and her boys, riding go-carts and playing putt-putt. Take THAT thirty-seven!

*Whew* What a week... or so!

The last couple of weeks have been super crazy at work! We just put on our major advisory board meeting for the Spring, and it's such a relief to have pulled it off with no hiccups. And smack in the middle of the lead-up to the meeting, I took a couple of days off to go to a wedding. Boy did I need it! I realized last week that I hadn't had more than two days off in a row since our wedding last July. Too long. WAY too long.

We spent three lovely days in Florida, loaded with sunshine and ocean, friends and pancakes. I even got me a new hat. Why is it that you can't get a decent hat in Rochester? I have searched for hats here on many occasions, and the options are frankly dismal. We also discovered Rasta Sauce at Tijuana Flats. I almost cried when they told me they didn't have any inventory for sale. Even the website is out of stock. Bummer.

When we got home, we discovered the most amazing thing had happened while we were out of town... Spring is fully sprung. It's past time for the first mowing and the trees are flowering, the flower beds are filling up and it's already time to do some weeding! GAAHHR! WEEDING!

And finally, many congratulations to Jill and Chris for the safe arrival of little Miss Ada, the teensiest gnome in Seattle!

Homecoming

Spent the weekend in the Keys with Heidi and the girls. Driving down that 2-lane highway in the brilliant sunshine, blue skies, turquoise water and mad tropical flora and fauna... it's been more than ten years, and yet it felt oddly like coming home again.

Newsflash! from Seattle

For the second time, bridesmaid Jill has called to tell me she has (and I quote) big news. The first time was several years ago, and she followed that statement with "No I'm not pregnant, but WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!". You know, she never did send me any pictures of that house... or of the Newfoundland they adopted... are you feelin' the guilt yet, Jill?

Anyhow, earlier this week, Miss Jill called and said she had (and again I quote) big news. This time, she told me I'm going to be an AUNTIE! OK - as close to an Auntie as I'm ever likely to be - but still! The funniest bit is - the baby apparently likes cheeseburgers! My friend, Miss Jill of the Vegetable, is gestating a carnivore!

Everybody raise a cup of OJ to the west! Congrats to Jill & Chris!

A Weekend to Remember

This was one trip none of us will forget! You may remember groomsman Danny from last July... well, we attended his wedding this past weekend in Atlanta! Now - people always refer to Atlanta as HOTlanta, but I think we'll rename it FOGlanta. As we sat in the airport in Rochester, listening to other flights being cancelled due to (and I quote the pilot here) "poopy" weather in Atlanta, and watched people pile up at the desk to rearrange connections... we were glad of our non-stop schedule. We were also glad that our flight was NOT cancelled, merely delayed for 2.5 hours. We eventually met up at the airport with (also delayed) Novo Collegians Naomi and Kelcey, and Kelcey's husband Mike, and wound our way to Stone Mountain.

The day of the wedding dawned clear and calm, if a bit too chilly for an outdoor ceremony (once again, so much for HOTlanta). Danny called to let us know the 6PM ceremony would be moved inside, and we all met up for coffee. Long story short, with six of us (including Danny the Groom) enjoying our coffee and the view of the lake and the brisk Fall air on our fifth floor balcony, the sliding door locked behind us. After several panicky minutes and quite a bit of nervous laughter, we discovered that Kelcey had the hotel phone number saved in her cell phone (lucky it was in her pocket). So we called the front desk, and asked for someone to come let us back in. Yay for cell phones!

Fast forward through a calm and uneventful afternoon to the ceremony. The guests in their finery, men in tuxes and suits, ladies in cocktail dresses, the bride in a lovely beaded strapless gown. The stately processional, the warm welcome, the readings, the vows. The fire alarm. Yes. Fire alarm. Followed by evacuation, with outdoor temps in the forties. The most impressive thing to me was the relative calm of the bride and groom. I would have been howling! I would have stalked the empty hotel, raging at anyone I came across! But Danny was steady and calm, Shelley shed just a few quiet tears. And after the fire department came and cleared us to re-enter the building, the wedding party reassembled at the front, the smiling and laughing bride and groom RE-processed to a standing ovation, and the ceremony resumed with grace.

So how do you follow that? With cocktails and dinner and dancing to an excellent live band till they kicked us out! I must say the Hora was a first for me, and somewhat nerve-wracking (and I was just watching). Shelley looked just a little concerned as well!

So - with the couple safely married and shipped off to Cancun, we returned to our cozy nest here in Rochester. We got settled in, and when I checked my email, I discovered that some other folks have been making memories too! My friend Chloe delivered a baby girl on Friday, and my cousin Allison and her fiancé Danny popped down to the courthouse and got married on Thursday!

What a weekend!

Everybody Raise Your Glass...

And a GREAT BIG super happy congrats to the lovely Miss Heidi P and the notorious Mr. Stephen VanD!

Heidi (my Maid of Honor) and Stephen (who I suspect contributed to my own wedding in more ways than I know) got engaged last week! Now - I only met Stephen for the first time last July, when he accompanied HP to Dallas for the Clark/Rains Extravaganza, and I am so glad he did because I can be totally and unequivocally ecstatic for them both! These are two of the most fun-loving people on the face of the earth and I am so glad they found each other. They're gonna be dancing circles around each other for the rest of their lives!

Wow.

I just had to share what my incredibly brave friend Chloe wrote on her blog. She and her small (but growing) family are finishing up a Fulbright year in the Czech middle of the back of beyond. I just love this - she melts my heart.

Meet the Attendants

Oh, all right... that's not them. If you want to see our REAL attendants, just click here.

Maid of Honor
Heidi Paskoski: Kelly and Heidi are friends and accomplices from New College days. Heidi is currently doing interior design for custom yachts in Ft. Lauderdale. She likes boats and chocolate labs. And that sunshine song? Yeah – they wrote that about her!

Bridesmaids (Bridesmatrons?)
Jill Braxtan: Kelly and Jill (Doran) are former housemates from New College days. Jill is a Database Queen in Seattle. She likes sushi and dogs no one else can manage. She LOVES her iPhone!

Bethany Iraci-McBane: Kelly and Bethany worked together at B&N, for more years than either of them would like to admit. Bethany and her husband own the hottest new pub in Rochester, the Tap & Mallet. She likes good wine and grown-up conversation, but not so much the finger-painting!

Best Man
Matt Fortier: Adam and Matt were childhood friends and neighbors. Matt is a freelance photographer in Montreal. He and his wife, Karen, are the proud new parents of Jack Cameron Fortier, born May 6, 2008.

Groomsmen
Tenea Johnson: Adam and Tenea were housemates from New College days. Tenea is a writer, poet and musician, living in St. Petersburg. Check out her website to learn more about her. We owe Tenea a lot.

Danny Berke: Danny and Adam were roommates at New College. Danny teaches English as a Second Language to adults in Atlanta. He is a percussionist and (apparently) a Spam™ enthusiast. He is marrying the lovely Shelley this November.

Bridal Shower-ette Party Weekend (Are YOU in the Mood?)

This past weekend, a group of lovely ladies from across the country (and one from Canada) convened here in the Finger Lakes to do the girly thing, and celebrate my upcoming nuptials with a weekend of overindulgence (also known as the Women & Wine package). Due to the scattered nature of my social circle, there were a number of ladies who were unable to join us... and we missed you! As you look through the pictures, you will see my Maid of Honor (the famous Heidi P.), Bridesmaid Bethany (always unexpected!), my Mom, her good friend Susan (who hostessed the BBQ for us last August) and Adam's Mom, Prue.

Everyone met up here in Rochester, and drove on down to lovely Cohocton, NY, to spend a couple of days being pampered by the amazing Fran of Villa Serendip. If you ever end up doing the B&B thing in the Finger Lakes (highly recommended, by the way) - check her place out. And if she makes a restaurant recommendation, just do it. We had an endless supply of of fabulous food, some of it supplied by Fran herself.

Oh yeah, and there was a cat. Who enjoys cards. Which reminds me, we owe Fran a fresh pack of playing cards...



Things we learned over the weekend include:

1- How to tell which bread plate and water glass are yours when seated at a round table.
2- How to get rust off a cast iron skillet (this is still under debate, but salt and cooking oil seem to figure consistently).
3- Keep your silver in a plastic bag to slow the tarnishing process.
4- The easy way to open a bottle of wine with a synthetic cork (down one side of the cork).
5- How to care for your pearls (wipe with a soft cloth after wearing, and store in a soft bag).


KUDOS and many thanks to Heidi P for taking charge of the planning, and to my many loving friends and family members who contributed to the experience! It was a blast!