June 28th, 2011
The Wedding / The Ten
“No lambs were harmed in the making of this human-skin lampshade.”
—”She’s just worried about the lambs…” 6/24/11
“Well, we wouldn’t have gotten lost if Phil hadn’t burned the map.”
—Peter, 6/25/11, after his 6AM hike the morning after the wedding/postpartying…Phil: “Sarah gave it to me!” Sarah Ke: “I didn’t know what it was!”
Straw siphoning…”Wouldn’t that be awkward?” “No, you just have the one person here…”
—Amber/me/A-K/others, 6/24/11…”Haven’t you read ‘The Lesbian’s Guide to Assisted Conception’?!” “Forget Immaculate Conception!”
time 1:53 pm feeling grounded but great wearing yellow shirt as per Jeff, gray pants from Arc Value Village, new sandals! music randomness, some LXv2.0, still EITS/POP ready for getting some more sleep next finish up newsletter
Hopefully you have now wiped the sap from your screen after reading my previous update. I promise to try and make this one different. I felt like I was on a cloud after that wedding and was trying to keep that feeling alive. Like you’re in love, you know?? What can I say, I’m a sap.
But here are the FACTS:
-The wedding was gorgeous. Sarah was/is beautiful. Sarah + Trent getting married = amazingness. Weddings that take place beside a lake in a forest before mountains in the Black Hills = nothing can compare. Ceremonies that fit the couple perfectly and make nod to their struggles = spot-on and TRUTH.
-Sarah and Trent have amazing friends. The bridesmaids (Sarah’s two best friends from HS as well as Trent’s sister) took me in as one of their own and were way, way, way, WAY fun and cool. I was worried about being all city with a bunch of Western girls but not once did they make me feel the least bit unwelcome. They were stupendous and hilarious all around. I was so grateful to get to spend Thursday night and all day Friday with them; it only made me wish I’d gotten to know them earlier/for longer.
-It was also clear how much S + T’s friends just love them (as they should), and how surrounded by good people they are. That was a terrible sentence. Anyway. When we went out Thursday night before the wedding (yep; started with a round of lemon drops, went on with beer/white sangria, and ended at bar close; Sarah: “yeah this probably wasn’t a good idea” then home to eat cookies/drink milk + water/fall into guest room bed laughing; Jeff: “Well you know who we’re dealing with here…”), I was just desperately trying to take it all in, enjoy every second. They were in their hometown (Rapid City), kept running into people from their past (Trent felt the need to show off to his middle school girlfriend the fact that he was getting married, HA!), and laughed and joked with friends far into the night. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know every single one of their great friends and felt very privileged to be by Sarah’s side the night before the wedding. THE BOMB!
-I also then went and shared a bed with the bride before the wedding (ooooh la la!) and then with Misty the night after the wedding (x2!). Just thought I should note that. Misty sounded like Jenny when she sleeps. Weird and CREEPY but true.
-I missed the rehearsal because I insisted on taking a shower. SORRY. But then we made it to the dinner/cookout which was wonderful. At one point I was standing in a circle with Anna, Amber, A-K, Misty, Susan, Kristin, Alyssa, Sarah, and Sarah and was struck by the surrealness of it all. Seriously insane. We hadn’t done that in 7 years and it was pretty much as amazing as it sounds. Sorry, again, creepy but TRUE. We also got some pretty sweet gifts, got to hang out with the bridesmaids, and the husbands played bags while Scott made a friend (“I’ve got my eye on your eye on me.”).
-The drives there and back were terrific. I couldn’t have asked for better companions. Kristin and I—DUH; Scott is so funny; Misty is such a fun and easy companion. DJ Scott kept us going via my iPod Touch many a time and we heard some great music, INCLUDING but not limited to the Shakira three-levels dance, Spice Girls “Spice Up Your Life”, Amy Grant HA!, Outkast Hey Ya! (“This song always reminds me of you!” -Kristin, to me…hmmmmm….but true), WILL SMITH, No Diggity, etc. Randomness. Greatness. We didn’t realize there was Mountain Time and used Twitter/Peter to ascertain that. OOPS. But we were the PREPARED Type A car (“wetnaps!”). Alas! It was a solid 10 hours both ways of good talks, big jokes, and lots of fun. Senor Weiner, winery/weinery, South Dakota/North Dakota fictional character, and all. Political ranting welcome as well! OF COURSE. Always. Just like being in Apt 3 again, desks in a row.
-Badlands on the way back. Pretty amazing. Alyssa: “My mother told me to tell you…” HA!
-Scott used the car ride to share a few stories with us, namely those of meeting Komomua and that of coming back to Apt 3 with me and Alyssa and Kristin after Kristin’s 21st bday. Epically hilarious. I want to draw a comic of it. “I’m going to clean!” “Leave me here!” “Who’s calling me?!” “It hit me like a knife in the back.” (I’m actually pretty sure I updated here drunkenly after that, heh.) Sarah’s “No face no chase!” Kristin goes to watch Evil Dead, “Scotttt, come innnnn hereeeeeeee!” -Sarah and Anna. OH GOD! Poor Scotty.
-Hopefully Phil is not Poor Phil after this weekend. “Trial by fire”, as Misty said, no doubt. “How OLD are you? You’re not one of THOSE, are you?!” “OH NO PHIL’s HERE!” AAAAH self. Tsk tsk. Poor Phil the Physicist.
-Misplacing of rings before ceremony, found with 30 mins to spare. Good thing Laura and Emily are so calm. I tried to fake it. (I also tried to fake being non-type-A in the AM and then finally was like “hey Sarah, the Type-A in me really wants one of us to get in the shower soon…” her mom cracked up, she is Type-A too. HA!)
-Kristin and Scott staying late at reception to help clean up and escort me back to cabin. Like my wedding again except it wasn’t, so they were even MORE wonderful! Then I promptly set about shushing myself all the way on the walk to the cabin AS I was talking…wow. (“The old CA was Steph. The new one is AXES CHILTON! SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”)
-Speaking of…yep, pretty sure I was THAT bridesmaid…AKA the crazy one. At first I was just high off of excitement/love/seeing S+T wed/seeing friends/dancing. Then…I reached my goal of intoxication. What can I say. Old habits…
-SPEAKING OF…I was the Prosecco fairy for a short while which was AWESOME. The bartender let me purchase a whole bottle (thanks to Autumn for the HOT TIP) and I then proceeded to distribute. First Sarah (duh), then A-K since I had told her I was getting us a bottle, then Scott because he put his hand out for one (ha), then Emily because she had to give a toast, and finally Susan, after confusion. For some reason I loved that.
-I was also the Pop Music Fairy during the getting-ready portion of the day…which was superb. Nothing a bit of pop music can’t fix. Lots of Forever by Chris Brown. HA.
-Speaking of…DANCING!!! DANCE DANCE DANCE. Danced for 3 hours straight and jumped around like crazy = only today (seriously) are my legs actually recovering. Absolutely crazy! I was just way into it. POCKETS!!! Lots of POCKET dancing (if you want to see this…let me know! it is fantastic), esp. w/ Amber/Anna. The DJ played alllll kinds of awesomeness, almost all requests, “I’ve never seen a crowd so excited about ABBA”, BUTT DANCE which Alyssa led the crowd in, WOW, Toxic, etc. Lots of golden oldies. Night started with Hey Ya which was perfect since I’d spent many a Thursday night in Sarah and Anna’s apartment in 2003 dancing to that one. WOW again.
-Speaking of (actually not at all)…I wore fake glasses for a portion of the reception/dance and that was pretty terrific. Also yay photo booth fun! NICE.
-The quilt was lovely…GO SUSAN.
-Alyssa + John + Axes matched and were WAY TOO CUTE. (IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: The last time the 10 of us were all together was at A+J’s wedding 7 years ago. SO COOL!)
-AFTERPARTY which consisted of everyone sitting in a circle in our party cabin eating sandwiches (sandwich fight? “I was trying to feed it to her” “From your mouth??”) made lovingly by Kristo, laughing until we were in pain, making inappropriate comments (some of us, um, more than others “If I could do it over again…with women”), going through photos (awkward?), etc etc etc. Again: WOW.
-Sarah and her whole family were SO wonderful to me, so laid-back and welcoming, and I just had so much fun in Rapid and then Black Hills. Great area, fun little town. When I was riding up to the Black Hills in Laura’s car with her and Emily I was just struck by overwhelming happiness. Just feeling like I have it made, no matter what, that good things lie ahead. Random. TRUTH. So many good people, so much love. (Sorry, more sap, too bad, you made it this far, that’s what you get.) So many good things ahead. LIFE! Bluebird skies! Happiness. Friends + lovers + all.
-ALTITUDE!
-Hair done…fun. Lots of fun! Sorting cards. “I’ll make your hair BIG!” Uh oh…ha! Then bagels together at a fave HS Rapid hangout spot. FOOD.
-The HOME song walking back down the aisle and having to dance so I wouldn’t cry. Such a great ceremony.
-The Hawaiian song walking in. KOMOMUA 4EVAH / Sever added on now. Love!
-Sunflowers!
-Adorable nieces
-Black and yellow / blue and yellow / such prettiness everywhere/decorating etc.
-Random grocery store upon arrival / “Neurogasm” / walkingman umbrella. YES!
-Hanging out with Alyssa + John + Axes by the beautiful lake in the beautiful sun the next morning, talking about LIFE. “Scheduling lunches?” YES. Such good friends. So lucky I am to have come back from my ‘break’ and have it all intact.
-Kristin, taking care of me as always!
-ANNA. We need that chemistry. God she cracks me up. She just DOES something. A-K in such a spectacular mode all weekend.
-Breakfast the next day. Catching up. Making plans! Hitting the road. Home, let me go home.
-& more & more & more.
Not sure I adequately captured ANY of this, but I did what I could. Event of the summer. I kind of cried when I said goodbye to Sarah and got all weird “I’m afraid I’ll never see you again”, I’ll attribute that to limoncello ouch. But. Lots of love.
June, it’s been surreal. Get at me, fairest month of all, July…