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.

*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!

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!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE HERB!

Our short stay in Ponca City coincided with Herb's 64th birthday, and Margareta made a carrot cake for the party, much to Adam's surprise and delight!

Meet the Officiant

For our second night on the road (Sunday) we had decided to stop for a visit with my aunt and uncle in Ponca City, OK. Since aunt Margareta was on her way back from Sweden, right after we arrived Kelly, uncle Herb, and I all piled back into the car to pick her up from the bustling Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Her flight arrived after a minor delay and our little road trip gave us a chance to do some much needed catching up. Our brief visit also gave Kelly and I the chance to ask Herb if he would, in his capacity as a Universal Life minister, be the one to marry us. While there are some legal formalities to be worked out, we’re happy to announce that Herb has agreed. On a sadder note, we discovered that Head Country BBQ, our favorite eatery in the greater Ponca-Tonkawa-Pawhuska metroplex, is closed on Mondays. We consoled ourselves with a late breakfast at the Daily Grind before hitting the road for Oklahoma City.
(Photo - Margareta, Herb, and Ziggy)