No more complaining!!

All righty... so I've been getting complaints from some people (Kelly) about not blogging so here ya go. Personally, I think I had a good excuse for my lack of blogging... and it hasn't been THAT long. But whatever. People must be bored and are looking forward to the excitement that is my life... HA!!

So let's see... the scoop... this past weekend was wedding weekend. I was at Mark's sister's wedding (Laura) on Friday and then flew to Canada for Lynne and Tony's wedding on Saturday. So it was crazy to say the least... I'll start with the first one.

So it's always amazing to see how different wedding rehearsals are from the actual wedding. So I was at Laura and Mike's rehearsal with Mark on Thursday evening since he was a groomsman (I was basically there for the free food after). :) Anyway... how to begin. The groom was almost an hour late to the rehearsal. Laura was NOT pleased... but she held it together well. I, on the other hand, would not have been so calm. In fact, Mark and I were chatting as we all sat around in the church waiting and I was just like... if you ever did that to me, I think I'd be like... there's no need to show up tomorrow. I would understand if Mike had been working in the city and was therefore late. But I'm pretty sure he had at least a half-day if not the entire day off! So why he wasn't there, I don't know. Any idiot knows that there is tons of traffic between the city and burbs on any given week day. Heck, there's traffic every day... especially on 90 with the joyous tollway construction that's going on right now. So you have to just assume it will take 2 hours at worst and be happy if it doesn't. So when the rehearsal is at 6, you don't leave at 5!!! The best man was even later... he got there right before they did the exchanging of the rings practice. And oh my gosh... when he did get there, he was such a flake. He wasn't even paying attention! He was just screwing around laughing and joking with the other guys... and the people running the show were like... best man!! It's your part! Pay attention and get up here! Yet another moment when I told Mark later that I would beat any of his friends who weren't paying attention... LOL Seriously... I'm just like... we're going out to dinner after... that's the time for laughing and joking. Not when we're trying to get through the rehearsal! Seriously... this rehearsal lasted for almost an hour and a half... it was longer than the actual wedding ceremony the next day!! I was just like... let's get on with it!! Normally rehearsals are about 20-30 minutes max... even Katie's which was also the full Catholic mass. The rehearsal is supposed to show you how to walk in, where to stand, a brief overview of what happens, and then you learn how to walk out and you're done. Sheesh!! Craziness, I tell ya. Oh well... needless to say, after the rehearsal, Mark and I were both like... oh geez... this is NOT boding well for the actual wedding!! Oh! And I forgot to mention the lady who was running the show. So yeah... as soon as she opened her mouth I was ready to smack her. She talked to everyone like they were 2 years old! She got in front of the pulpit and was like "this is a very important day... (dramatic pause) it's a wedding day." I wanted to be like... actually, TOMORROW is the important day... and please speak like a normal person and not like someone who is working in day care!! So yeah... it was interesting, to say the least. Almost all of Mike's friends were city guys and yeah... you could tell. Shnikes!! It reminded me of everything I hated about being in the city... they all thought they were the shit... they were SOOOOO metro, it was just hilarious! Blah... I couldn't deal. So anyway, that was the rehearsal which was supposed to start at 6 and didn't end until about 7:45ish. So then we head to the dinner... which was much better. Just some pizza and pasta... but the best part was meeting new family members of Mark... specifically, Uncle Russ.

So I've been looking forward to meeting Uncle Russ basically since I met Mark and heard about Russ just because he lives in Cali... and it's always fun to be able to chat with another Cali person who understands a bit about my former life! Of course, Russ doesn't just live in Cali... he's currently living on Pebble Beach and is building a house in Carmel. Life's tough. I think he was the CEO of a Biotech company or something like that... which explains his lifestyle now. He's retired, by the way. But the most uncanny thing about Russ is that he looks EXACTLY like the Wilson boys in my family!! Down to the receding hairline and glasses!!! (Even Mark noticed that he did share some resemblance to my dad... who is definitely similar in looks to his cousins, so I wasn't nuts in this) It was just so weird!! Anyway, it was a ton of fun talking to him... and very nice that he not only could talk to me about Cali but also about science. We discussed how southern Cali (aka, LA) just sucks and if you have to be in Cali, northern Cali is nicer, etc. So yeah... that was cool. His wife Barbara is super nice and I loved chatting with her also. And they have a 13 year old daughter named Maddy who was super cute. Mark and I were dancing with her and her friend Brittany (who is somehow related... but I don't remember how) at the wedding the next night. Anyway... it was a ton of fun getting to chat with them and I was excited to find out that I was sitting at the same table as them at the wedding reception. So that was good. They apparently liked me a lot too and told that to Mark after. He told me later that apparently I got a lot of compliments from family members... what can I say? I'm just awesome like that... HAHAHAHA!! Kidding... LOL I've just suckered them in to thinking I'm a nice person. :) Mark and I did comment later on that he TOTALLY lucked out because Uncle Russ is his godfather. Yeah... let me tell you, of all of the siblings... Mark definitely got the best godfather. :) Russ and Barbara told us that we have to come visit sometime. Gee, that will be such a struggle, won't it?? :) So I'm sure that we will be making a trip to Cali at some point in time... after all, he has to see the rest of my family!!

What else?? I don't know... I think that's the basic scoop on the first wedding... it did go off without any major hitches, so that was good. Sometimes it seems as though the worse a rehearsal goes, the better the wedding. But I think that may be because you come to expect bad things to happen after the mess that was the rehearsal, so you're just pleasantly surprised when things actually work out!! LOL

So I then had to leave Laura's wedding a bit early so that I could go home and sleep before flying to Canada the next morning. That part kinda sucked (especially when I heard from Mark that they finally started playing the good dance music AFTER I left! RUDE!!!) Anyway... so my flight to Canada was delayed by an hour... of course. What else is new with me and flights? But I got there and drove the hour and a half from Ottawa to Gananoque where the wedding was (outside of Kingston). This was my first trip to Canada and it was a shame that it was so short... but what can you do?? I will definitely be going back. Anyway, by the time I got settled I basically had about an hour to rest before I had to shower and get ready again. It was nice to see most of the lab people... Liz and Rich basically ignored me which made me happy. I sat at the kids table with Will and Natasha, Mitch, Dawn, and Melanie. So that was fun... this wedding was very different from Laura's. Laura had over 200 people at her wedding and most of them were younger in age. Lynne and Tony had 50 people at their wedding and the average age was about 60. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of dancing... certainly no fast dancing, which sucked since it was the one wedding where I was without a dance partner. Mitch was going to be my dance partner but he had a run-in on a bike with a parked car the day before (don't ask) so his leg was all bruised and battered and he was limping. So needless to say, he wasn't able to dance. :( Tony did dance with me a couple times which was fun. And the rest of the time we were all sitting and chatting. So yeah... good times. All in all, it was fun and I'm glad I went. I just wish I could have been there longer and that Mark could have gone with me. Anyway... I flew back on Sunday afternoon and got home and spent the rest of the day being a bum. Mark came over and it was so nice to just sit around and watch SatC (Sex and the City) for a while. So many of our past weekends have been spent running from one place to another... so it was just nice to sit and be bums and know that neither of us had to fly somewhere!!


Anyway... my next story... this goes back to Canada. So I don't think I've mentioned this, but there was another wedding in Canada... this one for Dawn and Melanie. Now, they had a commitment ceremony in the US back in Iowa... but obviously they aren't officially married because the US doesn't acknowledge or accept it. Well, I don't think that's right... but we won't get into my political views. Anyway, they decided that since they were going to be in Canada for Lynne's wedding, they might as well go get married themselves since it IS legal there. But they weren't doing it on any day... they were doing it the day after Lynne's wedding!! I was just like... you're kidding, right?? It's one thing to get married... but everyone knows that when you are friends with a couple getting married, that is THEIR weekend... you don't get to have your special event also! That's just the way it goes! I was just kinda like... whatever... I have to fly out so I can't be there anyway... not my problem. So I assumed that their families were coming in for the shindig, etc. Oh no. I find out at the wedding that none of their family is coming!! In fact... they are basically begging Will and Mitch to show up to the ceremony because they need 2 witnesses or else it won't be legal!! I'm just like... oh my gosh!! What is the point of this?!?! I thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous anyway because as soon as they cross the border that piece of paper is going to mean nothing. But hey... what do I know?? But then what does it say when your family isn't even going to come out for this event?? That tells me that maybe you should just give up the dream!! And I felt really bad for Mitch and Will because they both had other places they wanted to be (Mitch was going to head back to Ottawa to continue doing some sight-seeing and Will and Natasha were heading north to go camping) and they both got delayed and had to move their events and activities around because they were basically guilted into going to the ceremony! It was just so ridiculous... and so selfish. I was REALLY grateful that I had the excuse of a plane flight. Shnikes. I just didn't understand it. I really laughed when I realized their family wasn't coming because it was so expensive. I was just like... then if you HAD to do this, why didn't you do it elsewhere?! Her mom and brother live in either Philly or Jersey... can't remember. So they could have just picked a spot in Canada closer to that border and they could have made the quick drive! Oh well... what do I know? Anyway, I just had to mention that because I thought it was hilarious/ridiculous.

In final news... not too much to report. I'm going to the Cubs/Stros game with Mark tomorrow night, which should be fun. Maybe his streak will go to 9 wins in a row... we'll see. Personally, I'll take a loss here after getting to see the win against the Sox at Wrigley. :) I can't press my luck too much!! I'm going to Ravinia on Wednesday with my family... which should be fun. Kelly and I are camping out on the lawn in the "fun" area with our alcohol and food. Mom and dad are going to be more proper and mature in the pavilion. :) Thursday is supposed to be girls night but I'm not sure if or what we are going to do. Apparently there may be a conflict so we'll see. We will chat about it at the softball game tonight... :) My closing has now been scheduled for July 26th. THAT has been a joy in and of itself!! Shnikes. That's all I have to say about that!! I will be so glad when this process is over. Anyway... that is all that I've really got right now...

I need to run a couple errands before I head off to the softball game and dinner, so I'm off for now!! I hope that all of you are doing well and staying cool in this crazy hot weather!

Public service announcement...

So FYI, NEVER touch a jalapeno pepper with your bare hands!!! I'm sure that some of you are going... duh! Everyone knows that. I even recall possibly being warned about that at some point in time. But yesterday when I was making Rachael Ray's salsa stoup and quesadillas it obviously didn't hit me. So when the recipe called for two jalapenos to be seeded and chopped I went ahead and did that along with the other veggies I was chopping. Nothing seemed wrong until after I was done cooking when my hands started burning. So I rinsed with lots of water and that didn't stop it. I obviously touched my face at some point because my nose was on fire... fortunately, I rinsed my face with water and blew my nose a lot and that got rid of it. But the burning hands... yeah... that started around 2pm and didn't end until sometime after midnight. Oh my gosh... I have never experienced pain like that before. I thought I was going to die. I looked for fixes online... FYI... whoever said that soaking in oil helps is some sort of sick joke. That just made it worse! So bad that I was seriously sitting on the floor in tears because my hands were burning so much. I soaked them in milk... that sort of helped. Until time passed and then apparently the burning was resistant to the milk!! Another idea was to rinse with lime or lemon juice (since they are acidic and the chemical that causes the burning is apparently basic). That sorta helped... but as soon as the liquid was gone, the burning started right back up again! They also recommended rubbing alcohol... but I didn't have any (I will be buying some for future emergencies on my next shopping trip!!). But I did have vodka in my freezer, which was another choice if you didn't have rubbing alcohol. That helped a good amount... of course the combination of the cold vodka to numb as well as to possibly soak up the oil probably helped. :) Maybe drinking it straight up would have knocked me out enough to forget the pain. I didn't do that though. I had to teach this morning, after all. :) The vodka seemed to dull the pain a bit more so then I got a huge Ziploc bag full of ice, brought it to my room and just fell asleep with my hands around the ice. Mercifully, the pain dulled enough that I fell asleep sometime after midnight. By that time I was just praying that the pain would go away. (By the way... running water = bad for getting rid of the burning sensation. Just like drinking water is bad when you eat spicy food because it just spreads it around... same thing with running water on burning hands). Anyway... I don't really know if any of those remedies that are online actually help... I kinda think you just have to suck it up and let it run its course. They said it could take 8-10 hours... mine was over 10. So yeah... if you're ever going to use jalapenos, WEAR GLOVES!!!! I have to wash all those dishes now... and I'm putting the rubber gloves on and then I'm running the dishwasher. I'm completely scared of what seeds or juice may be sitting on something. So I want it cleaned as much as possible. So annoying.

In other news... I just brought my car in for service and it was one of the big service times... 60,000 miles. So it's going to be there for the day... so they gave me a loaner car! A Nissan Altima with all the bells and whistles. And the best part for me... the seats go up and down!! So I get to have the seat at the right height for me! This makes me VERY happy. :) It's a cool car... I'm a fan. I'm kinda like... you really don't have to finish with my car tonight! I'll keep this one until tomorrow! LOL

Finally... my lawyer just called to say that he got a request to change my closing date to July 25th and they wanted to know if I was okay with that. I was just like... YES!! And I asked if it could maybe be in the afternoon. According to the assistant, who obviously is the one actually doing the schedule, she said that that would work with his calendar. So she's going to call me once it's scheduled. YAY!!! Then I hopefully won't have to cancel class either! So yeah... that's good stuff, let me tell you. So we'll see... I'll keep you updated!!

Anyway... that's all of my news for now. I hope you are all having great weeks!

Pretty true... :)

I'm amused by how true this is for me... and how different it is from my sister!! :) Yes, I am the alpha sister. :)

You Are a Warrior Soul

You're a strong person and sometimes seen as intimidating. You don't give up. You're committed and brave. Truly adventuresome, you are not afraid of going to battle. Extremely protective of loved ones, you root for the underdog. You are picky about details and rigorous in your methods. You also value honesty and fairness a great deal. You can be outspoken, intimidating, headstrong, and demanding. You're a hardliner who demands the best from themselves and others. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?