weekend of fun and adventure

I made it to Michigan and back safely, and here I am in the town of beans trying to remember what it feels like to be a normal person.  Or at the very least, as normal as I get.

It was an action packed weekend of wedding goodness and roommate reunions.  On Thursday Northwest did manage to get me into Detroit only 45 minutes late, which is a vast improvement.  The flight was mildly turbulent, but considering the thunderstorms we were flying over, I think it’s pretty good that I only thought we were gonna die like twice.

Friday I made it to the rehearsal pretty much on time despite the fact that I was in no way prepared for the highway to be completely shut down, putting me in stopped traffic for several miles before I could exit.  Upon my arrival the bride handed me a 5 (yes, five) page list of instructions and itinerary for the weekend (no, I was not a bridesmaid), including details on everyone’s sleeping arrangements Friday night.  To say my friend was prepared is an understatement.  People think that I like to plan and organize, but I’ve got NOTHING on her. :)

The rehearsal dinner was extremely fun, and definitely memorable.  It was a 3 hour sailboat ride around the Saginaw Bay (sing it with me now, a three… hour…. tour……).  It was my first time on a sailboat, but if all sailboat rides involve sitting on your bum while enjoying free food and beer, I’m there. 

Here is a picture of the boat, it’s called the Appledore Tallship:

The wedding itself went off without a hitch, the service was quite lovely.  Yours truly gave a stirring interpretation of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13.  It was magical.  Here are a couple photos for your viewing pleasure:

 5/6 of the CMU roomies, the bride was busy receiving people

 It was a confetti cake, which might be the best idea on the planet.

 

 We never seemed to get all 6 of us in a picture for some reason.

 

Once we hit the reception it was a full blown partay.  My college roommates and I have not all been in the same place at the same time together since we were actually roommates (which was like 5 years ago – gasp!), and some of them I hadn’t seen at all in the last 3 or so years.  One of them did actually comment on the fact that I had gotten my braces off (you know, the braces I got off in 2005) though it was later determined that she’d seen me since then.

Anyway, there was much reminiscing, much dancing, much drinking, much craziness.  We had a great time.  Sunday morning there was a quick stop at the farewell breakfast in order to fend off the hangover fairy, and then it was back to the ol’ hometown for further festivities.  I did have to stop on the highway twice on the way back; once for a pickup truck that was in flames (as in, completely engulfed, black smoke everywhere) and once because some guy was walking his dogs across the freeway.  Seriously, guy?  Yikes.  This now brings the percentage of my trips to Michigan in July where I was stopped on the highway because a dog was wandering around to 100%.

After a brief visit with some knitting friends and a much needed nap, my mom and I went to see Wicked Sunday night.  I had never seen it before, and I believe it was my mom’s third time or something.  I LOVED it!  I want to see it again.  I really hated the book (like, really hated it) and I knew that the musical was quite different, but I didn’t know I would love it that much.  Then again, I know how much I love musicals in general so it probably shouldn’t have been that big a shock.

Can I just quickly tell you that the mosquito situation in Michigan is terrible?  I know that for those of you who live there this will not come as a shock, but wow.  I think in the 10 or so minutes I was standing outside the theatre waiting for my dad to pick us up I got like 12 mosquito bites on the tops of my feet.  I hadn’t been bitten by a mosquito ALL YEAR.  Put that to the top of the “things I do not miss about Michigan” list.

I had one more day in the state where Motown was born to lunch with a friend and relax a little, which was nice.  Headed back Monday night, had a completely smooth flight followed by the worst cab driver ever. *This is where my parents may want to stop reading so that I don’t get a phone call later giving me a stern talking to for getting in the car in the first place.* The guy was sleeping when I got up to the taxi stand, but you have to go in order and he was at the front of the line.  I knocked on his door twice to wake him up, but he still seemed kind of out of it.  I told him where I was going, but he didn’t seem to know how to get there.  He was having a fair amount of trouble staying in his lane, and it remains unclear if he had just been driving for too long or if he was drunk or something.  Either way I was not feeling terribly comfortable with my chances for making it home without getting in an accident.  I was safely buckled into my seat just in case.  All of my directions had to be practically shouted, repeated at least twice and accompanied by hand gestures pointing which way to go.  I’m not sure what was so difficult about “go straight” and “turn left” but apparently it was like asking this guy to do complex math or something.  When we finally got to my apartment and I breathed a huge sigh of relief for getting back on solid ground, the guy starts to tally up the “extra charges” on the fare.  I watched in disbelief as he stopped at $7.50 (it should be $2.25, I take cabs from the airport a lot).  At this point I flipped my lid at the guy and started screaming at him about the extra $7.50, there was no way I was paying that.  His response was “oh sorry, sorry, I never come to this town.  I forgot.”  With his eyes only half open and his vague swaying I’m sure he probably didn’t even know where he was.  I calculated my own fare and paid him accordingly.  He almost forgot to open the trunk and get my bags out but I just sat there staring at him until he got a move on. 

I guess the important part of the story is that I got back to my apartment safe and sound, collapsed into a coma-like sleep and am now almost completely functional.  Hooray!