Steve and I are in INDIA!! You can read all about it here: www.gccindiadec08.blogspot.com - or if you Twitter, follow jmagruder for regular, real-time updates!!

not-tagged

okay uncle mark, here it is. fourth folder, fourth picture.



my best friend merediths engagement photo shoot that my friend steve took the pictures. it was STINKIN cold that day and we were in laguna beach last december. she's married now :)

check out that rock! :) ha ha ha love you mer!

also...

i had my eyebrows waxed before i left indiana and i look like my face got robbed. i feel naked. i think she went a little to drastic.

let's just say, i probably always look surprised.

dang.

118 miles = 3.75 hours

so, i planned on blogging tonight when i got to the hotel. that's right, i'm in a hotel, in sacramento and i was going to fill you in on all of that. i drove for a very long time from the airport in san francisco to my hotel and what should have taken an hour and a half took 3 hours and 45 minutes. that's painful my friends. and during my drive i was thinking of what i could blog about tonight. all of these smart and witty things were coming to mind and now i'm here and i'm too tired to even try it. so you get this lame blog entry.

on a side note, someone should have warned me about flying into SFO in san francisco. 1. i LITERALLY read buoys IN THE WATER... WHILE LANDING. no kidding. i kept thinking, 'man we're low... and there's no ground... hmmm" 2. SFO is in the 'land of going green' so everything is spread out with stairs and electric trams and A LOT of walking. NEVER NEVER NEVER use a bag without wheels in a trip when you're going to an airport you've never gone to. 3. in california, it's illegal to talk on your cell phone unless you have a wireless headset... it is not, however, illegal to text message. someone explain that to me. 4. In n Out Burger is amazing because it makes you feel SO disgusting for eating it and yet it tastes so glorious... please, no one tell brooke curry that i ate that!

i need sleep.

the case for the little black dress

so in the last month and a half i have had FOUR reasons to wear a little black dress. now, this could pose a problem for a woman who doesn't own one. i am not one of those women. i own an abundance of little black dresses or LBD's as people now call them. so, here you have it. the sad thing, i actually have more where this came from and i'm not afraid to use them. :)


merediths rehearsal. this is actually the same dress as the last photo, you just wear the dress different ways. (if you want a sales pitch i can give you one and then you'll have to buy this dress. i LOVE it and recommend it to any woman.)

this is from a wedding a went to last weekend which had a polish reception. it's a good thing i'm dutch, huh??? which, for a reception does that mean that i charge everyone for their dinner that night. i mean, we're supposed to split the tab, right??

this is las vegas, all the girls wore LBD's the first night. it's a vegas thing i suppose

and merediths wedding. this one is my favorite and again, the same dress as number one. did i mention it doesn't wrinkle and it looks good on ANYONE. that's all i'm going to say. if you have more questions, you just let me know.

Prepare yourself

i finally talked myself into blogging about the vacation. keep in mind that i've shared what i can, i've silenced what i shouldn't share and a blog can't do this trip justice. i wrote these in reverse order so you can just start reading and work your way down the blog.

i'm not one to quote song lyrics. however, john mayer sums up my point of view on this trip

I'm writing you to
catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter
probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hopping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to
lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3x5's
just no more 3x5's

enjoy!

Thursday July 3rd - Ambers Anniversary :)

do you know how strange it is to go from camping one night to staying in the MGM Grand the next? it's... strange.



also, the MGM Grand is HUGE. i felt like i had to hike from the elevator to my room and i felt like i should have packed water! i got to the room and they had those luke warm bottles of fiji water that sell for $8 in a hotel room but $1.79 at 7-11.


and, if you've ever seen the MGM Grand, you know that it glows green on the outside... and apparently on the inside. i felt like i was sleeping in the jolly green giant!

we packed up and headed out. my sister and brother-in-law adam were nice enough to drive me from eagle river to green bay airport to catch my flight to las vegas.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 4th-6

Friday - i checked out of the mgm grand and headed for a $20 cab ride down the strip to the cancun village resort. it's normally a time share but they rent rooms as well. they shockingly let me check in early and i got my suit on and waited for the rest of the girls to arrive. they were all driving over from LA that morning. once they arrived it was like a girly bomb went off in that poor hotel room. there was make up and clothes and shoes everywhere! the room slept 7 comfortably and by comfortably i mean that they slept three girls in the king sized bed. but it was amazing! we laid by the pool the rest of the day and then got ready to go out for the night. leah flew in to meet us after a week at camp with her kids so once leah was present, we hit the strip. now. if you haven't been to vegas you need to understand that hotels are ALWAYS further away than they appear. i know this. i've known this for a while. HOWEVER, when there is a group of people who fight for control and who insist on being right about things, shockingly, lately, i just back out. i figure it's not even worth the time or effort of the battle so i just let this one go.

the shuttle let us off at the tropicana and we... ahem... WALKED the 1.8 miles from there to the venitian. not bad you say? yeah, we all wore heels too. i know. i should have known better! so we walk it. now, i don't know what time we left the shuttle, i should have looked but we sat down for dinner at 11pm. it's vegas right? you're supposed to be out all night, right? right. you are, except when you're normally in bed by 11. so, we were all exhausted. so after a mediocre dinner at the venitian's grand lux cafe, we were on our way back to the hotel. we were in bed by 130. woo hoo par-tay animals!

Saturday - we woke up around 930 and rolled on down to the pool. tried out the water slides, hung out on the rafts and enjoyed the heat. did i mention it was 112˚?? seriously! so, we were also layering the sun screen. i was the loser getting the non-alcoholic piña coladas from the hot bartender but it was worth it! they were cold and he was hot! we headed out a lot earlier on this night. we took the shuttle to the tropicana and then... wait for it... decided to have dinner at planet hollywood... which is really close to where we walked last night. so i said, "we should probably take a cab tonight so we are happier when we get to dinner." this is where it gets good. i actually heard one of the girls say, "well, i can see it from here, it can't be that far." are you flipping kidding me?? have you not learned from your mistakes? nope, guess not. we walked it. you want to know why i didn't fight? because the second night, i wore my flip flops. i could have walked miles. so we walked all the way to the buffet at the planet hollywood. now, i'm coming across as i wasn't having fun. i was having a lot of fun. i really was, i'm just someone who thinks things should be easier. so we are in line for the buffet - did i mention i HATE buffets? i HATE HATE HATE them. when something is made in quantity, it loses quality. i promise. i would rather eat pizza three meals a day than eat at a buffet. just fyi. - that being said, we're in line and i hear someone say, "well, this one is one of the more expensive ones but it's totally worth it." this is from one of the girls in our group so i lean in, a little worried. the most expensive buffet in vegas i've been to was 19.00 and that was a lot to me because i HATE THEM. so the girl who said that looks me dead in the face and says "$39.00" now, this is where i had expletives in my head and i think i threw up a little bit. i was at the beginning of a three week vacation and on a strict budget. this one meal blew TWO days of my food budget. i was not pleased. i ended up taking one for the team and just eating there... because i had no choice and went with the flow. we leave dinner, and we exit the hotel. now is when someone says we should go get those slushies from the NYNY hotel... down by the tropicana... are you ready for this... so we say, we should just take a cab, right? sure! so we first wanted to see the bellagio which is across the street so we walk over, see the fountains and as i start walking the group towards the cab stand, i hear THE SAME GIRL say, "we should probably just walk, it would save us money." at this point, my patience was gone, i had to distance myself. i am an adult... the oldest of the group and i was about to throw a crying hissy fit. wait for... we WALKED all the way back and then, AND THEN they were all in a bad mood because their feet hurt. and i know you won't believe me but i kept my mouth shut. i didn't say i told you so, i didn't slap the girl who lead the group. i let it go. but you better believe i did some sassing in my head!

Sunday - got up early and headed back to LA. turns out it was a good idea. the groom and the groomsmen were there all weekend too (no we didn't see them, much to the girls' dismay and the boys delight) and they left later in the afternoon. it took us 5.5 hours, it took them 9.5. lesson learned.

rachels goal for the weekend was to dance on a table. mission accomplished at tabú

reenacting the dance scene where a guy - played here by leah with a mustache - danced on rachels leg all night to the point of purelling her leg when we left. eww.

me, rachel and kristi

vegas sign

all of us with the sign

night one on the strip... during the hike

all of us with our mustaches

leah in the water slide WITH THE MUSTACHE so amazing.

me, steph and rach. can you tell i was annoyed?

all of us at tabú

all of us in front of the bellagio

leah, me, rachel, mer, steph all on a raft, that's asking a lot of that raft!

ingrid, me and kristi

me and mer

steph, rach, kristi and m

me

me and mer

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday July 7-10th

monday night we headed out to dodger stadium to see the dodgers play the braves. it was so much fun to go. we got great tickets for $11. we had so much fun laughing and avoiding drunk guys. also, i experienced garlic fries for the first time. i'm pretty confident that we could have scared away vampires just by walking to the car. wowza!

tuesday - we hung out at merediths house after not getting my rental car as planned. long story not worth telling but i had $400 cash, literally cash, in my hand and they said no. after they told me to go get cash. seriously. so that night, mike invited us down to downtown to california pizza kitchen for dinner. my favorite salad in the world is at CPK. it's the bbq chicken salad. AMAZING. then. THEN because meredith was marrying an incredible guy, he ordered us the red velvet cake to share. phenomenal! what was so funny was that we were moving meredith out of her house in LA all day, meredith worked out and didn't have time to shower before dinner so she sprayed some body spray before we left the house. when we got there, mike was hugging meredith from behind with his head on her shoulder and said, "mmm you smell like cupcakes." to which meredith said, "well that's awesome." and we all laughed and then a few minutes later, while sitting in the booth, mike leans over and puts his head on her shoulder and then looks at her and "wait, what happened to the cupcake smell??" to which meredith looked at us and said, "well shoot"

wednesday - we drove merediths stuff from LA to glendora. went to the cupcake place to pay and finalize the bill before the wedding and then to johnny carino's to finalize the catering stuff. had a lot of laughs. met rachel and steph for dinner. the manager there likes us so much that she gave us all of our food and everything for free. it was so great!

thursday - we headed to the mall for some errands and on our way home got a text from kristi that said, "be here at 7 and wear your best dress" so meredith and i dressed up in her old prom dresses and walked down main street in down town glendora to get to kristis house. turns out that her husband and her had never been to a prom so kristi got home from work and josh had set up a prom in their living room. he was all dressed up and she got dressed up and then we just laughed and danced and then went back to merediths parents house and watched a movie.

me, rachel, meredith and leah at the dodger game

dodger stadium

view from our seats

meredith and leah sad that meredith is moving out of their house. they were HYSTERICAL with these pictures!

this is the fake prom. amazing right???

Friday July 11th

friday morning merediths fiance mike drove me to union station so i could take a bus to LAX to get my rental car. surprisingly it went smoothly!

once i had the rental, i headed down to huntington beach and hung out with aunt eileen for a while and then went out with a group from apple for jessicas birthday. apple people are so much fun to hang out with and we laugh A LOT. jessica had quite a few drinks so she was tossed after not that long and she's a crying drinker so then it turned into sitting on the curb with jessica night. as seen in the picture below. it was still great to see everyone. i've miss them so much!

the group

jessica after being bamboozled by every drink in the place. notice i'm 100% sober. NICE

Saturday July 12th

i drove into LA to surprise my friend brian who works at a bar. i texted him and found out that he was 'working for a while' so i drive up there, i'm looking for a place to park and send him a message saying, i think i'll come visit later and he sends back, "oh, i left early." son of a gun! so i missed him. or, as i like to tease him with, he stood me up.

so then i drove down to steve and christinas house in mission viejo to hang out for a bit. very low key evening. played a lot of pool... and lost. i won one game... because gab hit the 8 ball in early. dang it!

low key day.

Sunday July 13th

i had a wonderful time with sharon, steve, ruth, kevin, kaela and becca! it was so great to get to see them! of course it seemed way to short. i met steve and sharon at their house and we headed out to pick up some lunch and head to the beach. and because they are amazing friends, we went to my favorite beach in the world! we had lunch and played smash ball - my new addiction! i bought one before i came home. i LOVE it. it's like ping pong but without the table. we played for a long time up in the grass on the bluff and then went down to the sandy part of the beach. it was so wonderful to spend time with them. kaela and becca are little surfer girls who you would think were southern california girls from birth! they are the future oakley and roxy models!

after the beach we went to Cherry On Top, my favorite ice cream place! you do your own soft serve and then add toppings as you want them and then pay by the weight. they have the tart yogurt like pinkberry and i LOVE it! you can't get that in indiana! steve thinks i should open one near notre dame. i think we'd make a killing if i did!

after that we hung out a bit at the hughes' house and then went to dinner. it was so great to spend time with my friends that i miss so much! and to think that we met all because we both had dogs! i miss them terribly and i am sure that i will live close to them again...

laguna beach, behind the montage resort





ruth, me and sharon after lunch and before the smashball shenanigans!

Monday July 14th - 911

on monday i didn't make any plans, i was going to drive to woodleaf tuesday morning so i wanted to get the video for merediths wedding done so i stayed home all day at my aunt eileens house (in my old room) editing the video. FOR HOURS. so, at one point, i took a break and went out to talk to my aunt eileen then went back to my room. after about 20 minutes i heard a faint voice so i opened my door and she was horizontal, on her bed, moaning in pain. within 20 minutes! she was fine when we were talking! so fred - her son - and i were in the room with her, she called her daughter to come over but she was in so much pain i asked if i should call 911.

now, a little family history lesson here. my grandpas side of the family is HORRIBLY stubborn (well, so is the holt side but that's neither here nor there!) i knew that by asking her if i should call 911 and if she says no, i would have to wait until she passed out OR she would wrestle the phone away from me. no kidding.

so she said no. i asked a couple minutes later. no... then it happened. she said, "you better just call katie because i don't think i'm going to make it." HOLY %$#%^ okay so i call. i hate 911. my family doesn't have good history with 911. so i fill them in, she says they are on their way and we're good, we just have to wait. then, aunt eileen starts throwing up. so she was perfectly fine, to horizontal and throwing up within 30 minutes. i'm not qualified for this.

the ambulance and fire truck show up and it was like an abercrombie commercial threw up on the front yard. you have got to be kidding me. the day i stay home, don't shower and i'm wearing yoga pants... spectacular.

her daughter paulette shows up and doesn't take any of it seriously. just says, "she'll be fine it's just gas." not gonna lie, i've had gas and it's never looked like that before. (i blame that on my holt side!)

sure enough they take her in. terrifying. i don't do well with this stuff.

**flash forward she's fine, she was released after i came home. but she was in the hospital for close to two weeks.

i stayed home the rest of the day with fred. it's a good thing i was home for the day. everything happens for a reason!

Tuesday July 15th

visited aunt eileen in the hospital. she knew i was supposed to go to northern california that morning so when i saw her (and paulette was there too) she asked me, "you're still going up north, right?" and when i said, "i don't know if i should go now" she said, "you're going"

so i went home, packed a bag quickly and hit the road for northern california. let me just say that between LA and the bay area, it's pretty equal to iowa. honestly. it was so dull! saw more cows than i thought possible in one location. also, everything is brown this time of year. not pretty. so... six hours of nothing, then two hours of city and then one hour of mountains and i arrived at woodleaf.

my heart beat faster the closer i got to camp. literally. didn't know it would do that.

got there, walked into the dining hall to find my friend tim the medic, hung out there and then it was tableau (tablow) night. now, for you non-young-life-camp people, that means that everyone dresses country, they have a square dance - seriously - and then they all go in the pool in their clothes. for campers is so much fun. for staff it's a logistical nightmare.

**flash back, i remember one week when i was there that as the camera person, i set the camera down to go in after a camper. during one of the weeks that the kids from oakland were there, people started going in and then people started getting pushed and a lot of the kids couldn't swim and were getting pushed in the deep end. it was ugly. i think that's also the night we did the drug raid and there was a lock down. SO GREAT!**

so i just sat up on the pool deck and watched the square dance with my friend tim. he pointed out the interns. tim was an intern during one of the summers i was up there. so we were thinking back to when it was the cool kids that lived in the faulk house (seriously, that was the name of our house. it's historical. "faulk house. if you say it too fast, you're swearing!" it was so fun to be there and enjoy everything woodleaf is. it made me miss it. it made me miss camping ministry.

tim and i drove around a bit and stayed up talking about how i feel like a loser in life. seriously! it was such a great conversation!! ha ha ha he laughed at me, a lot. it was great!

Wednesday July 16th

i woke up to the song:

"good morning good morning good morning it's time to rise and shine"

which, when we lived there, our office inter dave parker actually sang every morning. these losers were using a recording! okay, they aren't losers. i wouldn't have sang it either but it made me miss the days when we were all there.

it's good waking up at woodleaf. even if it was stinking early in the morning.

hung out in the 'gauz pad' where my friend tim the medic was volunteering as the camp medic. had lunch in the dining hall. of all the days i was there, it was pizza day. woodleaf normally has amazing food. however, i hate pizza. HATE pizza. it's the core of all evil as far as i'm concerned.

made a visit to the camp store for some loot. stopped in the 'sugar barrel' for a 'whirley' and then had to say my good byes to get to san jose to meet my other friend tim for dinner. seriously the two people i go to visit in norcal (northern california) are both tim. sad i know. so i head down the mountain and head into the city. which, i actually love that drive too so that was fun.

met tim at his place which is IN-CREDIBLE. tim is very artsy and extremely talented musician so i wouldn't guess him to live in any old place but his place is great! it's a loft apartment that has concrete floors and HUGE windows that overlook san jose with his recording studio dead center in the room. it's very cool plus, he works for apple so he has more apple products in his place than majority of apple stores.

we headed out to dinner which was - hallelujah - sushi! it was incredible. however, i let him order. risky friends. risky. i heard him order 'spider rolls' which by name alone is just wrong. so they come to the table and they are sushi rolls with softshell crab legs sticking out of them like spider legs. no joke. but, i'll try anything once so i tried them, loved them and now i'm hooked.

after dinner, we tried to figure out what to do for desert and we decided to get something and go back to his place to watch a movie. he asked if there were any movies i wanted to see again and i reminded him that i'm the girl he made fun of for never seeing star wars. seriously. not one of them. he said, that just made him want to watch star wars, but said he wouldn't make me see it. i offered and said, we really don't have to and then he said, which was really funny, "when a girl is willing to watch star wars with you, you don't pass. you watch it. we are watching it!" so, we went to the grocery, picked up some lemon sorbet and raspberry sorbet and headed back to his place. and, ladies and gentlemen, i've seen star wars. well, one of them.

then, i slept on the couch and he went up to bed. because of how his apartment is, there are no walls, it was like a slumber party. i'm pretty sure we actually were giggling. it was pretty funny. but now i know exactly how i want my next apartment!

Thursday July 17th

thursday morning my alarm went off - which sounds like a nuclear reactor - and the first thing i hear is tim say, "oh man, do we have to evacuate?" from up in the loft. tim actually woke up, came down stairs and made me breakfast. i later told him that he should marry me because he loves to do laundry, loves to vacuum and makes breakfast - and enjoys it! he asked me what i brought to the table and my answer was. 1. i have a dog. 2. i would be a wife that would fully support large sums of money going towards technology. his response was, "that's great but you're going to have to bring more to the table."
shoot.

so at this point, he heads off to work and i begin my long drive down highway one aka PCH. now, according to maps.google.com it should take 8 hours. but it's driving down the coast of california so it's going to be a great 8 hours!

here are the pictures below of my coastal drive. big sur was supposed to be the best part of the drive but it was still on fire so i didn't get to see much of it. it was still breath taking. i felt like i was in a different country. the only thing is, i was alone. so, you either stop to enjoy the sights or you keep your eyes on the road or you die, no options. further down, i saw a group of people stopped at a 'scenic view' spot so i pull in and there were wild elephant seals! it was so cool! and very stinky.

















now the down side of doing an amazing road trip this summer was a. it actually took 12 hours door to door. that hurts. and b: notice that i paid $5.649 for gas. riight.

Friday, July 18 - the rehearsal

i drove from huntington beach to pasadena the morning of the rehearsal because i was... finishing the wedding video that i promised i'd do for the wedding. nothing like last minute huh? i just wanted it to be perfect and i kept putting it off because i was worried it wouldn't be as good as i wanted it to be. anyway...

we did brunch at a place on the main street through 'downtown' glendora. we all then walked down to the nail salon to get our toes and fingers painted. meredith gave us all a pedicure for the wedding gift (that and staying in the hotel in pasadena the night before the wedding). so we got our nails all pretty.

in the mean time, leah and i were sent on a mission to pick up the pearls for the wedding day and the dress that she was going to leave the reception in - which was packed for the honeymoon in her future in-laws house. she called, no one was there and we were told 'just try to get in through one of the back doors.' so leah and i were off on a mission. we got the pearls, check. on to the in-laws. we rang the bell, nothing. we knocked, nothing. so we tried to go around back but the gate was stuck so i was scaling the fence. and i did it well in painted nails and flip flops i will say. but we were there for the bride and if she asked us to get something, we were going to get it. so we try all of the doors on the back of the house, nothing. so, just as i'm about to round the side of the house to humble myself via use of the dog door, joni - the future mother in-law - lifts the blinds and waves. she was home the whole time and thought we were the gardners. pretty funny. so she told us if ever we needed to get into their house, at any time in the future, we should just use the dog door and that they don't mind. i love joni!

after this, we all headed into the heart of pasadena and checked into our hotel for the night. it was so great to all be there the night before, getting ready together the next morning and everything. it was great. we got dressed for the rehearsal in about 20 minutes and were on our way.

rehearsal was good. we stood in the fountain, which was deeper than it appeared. and then headed over to dinner.

the rehearsal dinner was at the Twin Palms in down town pasadena. it was incredible food! then we headed back to the hotel to give meredith the gift from all the bridesmaids.


at dinner

meredith with the mixer she's been dreaming about for years. we had a plaque engraved that said, "mike and meredith, the perfect mix! love, your bridesmaids"

steph and ingrid (ingrid is merediths sister)

me (looking amazonian) karin, rachel

rachel thinking her 'bouquet' was poison ivy

me, karin and leah in the fountain

meredith in the fountain

kristi, me, leah, meredith, karin, ingrid, steph and rach

the bridal girls

practicing where the wedding would be

rach and leah

karin, leah, rach and kristi

me

all the girls getting the pedicures... leah was stuck on the other side of the room :(

all of us leaving the hotel

little sized 4 meredith.

me and rachel

Saturday July 19th - wedding day

7am hair stylist arrives. ouch.

9am makeup girl arrives. still seems early.

throughout the day, merediths parents are in and out bringing food and anything we could possibly need. steve - merediths dad - was proudly wearing his 'father of the bride' tshirt all day. cheryl was running around making sure everyone had everything they needed.

so, the hair guy. let me start by saying that i didn't want to have him do my hair. i really didn't want to spend the money. so, before i left on my vacation extravaganza, amber helped me figure out what to do with my hair. then, when i got there, i had yet to remaster the look that amber was able to pull off and once i saw everyone else getting as fancy as they were, i wanted to make sure i was looking like i was put together for the wedding. so, i caved. $75. yeah. that's why i didn't want to spend the money. that hurts! however...




marcos is the guy who did our hair. he's a miracle worker let me tell you. he did this amazing job on my hair that i never knew was possible. i saw him a few days before the wedding. he asked how i wanted it to look. i said, "i don't know, big curls?" and his response was, wash it the night before, no product, sleep on it wet." my thoughts were, "oh crap this won't end well."

morning of the wedding, marcos arrives and does everyone elses hair first because mine would take the longest. when it was my turn, i showed him a photo of this girl from a tv show that i love and i said, "i'd love to do my hair like that but i don't think mine will do that." he said, "we'll see." 45 minutes later...


no kidding!! it was the most amazing job i had ever seen!

this is the picture that i showed him and said i liked her hair.

a little side note about marcos, i sat and talked with him for a long time throughout the day. i LOVE marcos. he's incredible. he's originally from belize - which i love. also, he speaks about four different languages because his mother is french and his father is... something else, i can't remember. also, he and his partner have been together for years. they have had eight foster kids. they have four right now. it's amazing what he is doing. i was so in awe of why he does what he does. he was so amazing!


the wedding was amazing. to say the least. meredith was gorgeous. obviously. her husband mike made her dress. he designed it, i guess i should say. she was the most laid back bride i have ever seen. she had a nightmare week before the wedding and she recovered well. multiple times through the day i'd say, "mer, do you need anything?" and she'd say no. finally, she said, "yes. wine." we all laughed a little bit and then she said, "no, seriously, wine." so we went on a mission.

the wedding was gorgeous, it wasn't too hot. everything was outdoors. this was my highlight... are you ready? the guy i walked with was 6'5". no joke! i got to wear heels and still be shorter. it was amazing! plus, he was really goodlooking. plus, he was funny! the downside was that he was married. but at least she had red hair! :)

i managed to hold it together the entire ceremony which was amazing. the girl behind me though, holy cow! she was bawling before we even got to our spots to walk in. then, she was sobbing the entire time. so that was comic relief for me! once the ceremony was over, it was on to pictures.


i love this picture but it doesn't have mike or meredith. they were off taking pictures and this looked like a photoshoot with the black dresses, tuxes and white house behind us. i like how random it is.

meredith and me

meredith in the dress mike designed

i LOVE this shot. this was my idea :)

meredith right after she got married

mike and meredith

the boys acting like bodyguards


kristi, rachel, ingrid and i

meredith and one of the flower girls

rachel with her flowers

i LOVE this one too. all three of the ones i love, the photographer wasn't even around for. funny how that works out. but i love this one. that's all. :)


reception


so, the reception. it was incredible. outside, fountains, perfect weather, great people, good food. it was perfect. at one point mike sang a song to meredith. i've seen this done well and i've seen this done.... not so well. i LOVED what mike did. all of a sudden we hear a guitar strumming behind us and mike is walking up with a guitar. meredith looks at the bridesmaids and says, "who knew about this??" none of us did. so she turns to mike who is still strumming and says, "mike, honey, you need a microphone, they won't hear you." to which his response was, "they don't need to hear me, i'm only singing to you." i managed to hold it together for 90% of the day and the song broke me. i love to see my friends marry incredible men. it makes my heart happy. this was one of those moments. as mike sang about how "she smells of sea breeze and every time she leaves" i just couldn't hold it together. i was so proud of my friends. plus, i've known mike for four years now. we've hung out, we've laughed. it was a good moment to see him loving her, the way she needs to be loved.

then there was dancing, then cutting of the cupcakes. it was good.

if i could have a perfect wedding, it would be exactly how meredith and mike's went.

Sunday, July 20th

i'm a little irritated, i wrote a ton and then... deleted.

so, i'll try again.

we all woke up around 930 and helped steve and christina clean the house. they had one heck of a party the night before. i laughed because it all went down before i got there and their house looked like the mtv beach house at the end of a week. we fished beer cans out of the pool, there was a pair of swim trunks in the yard... with no body in them and there was a slip'n'slide in the front yard. A-Mazing! so, we cleaned for a couple hours and then just chilled the rest of the day. we ran for lunch and paper towels and then spend the after noon with music going and playing pool randomly throughout the day, napping, sitting by the pool telling stories and just enjoying each others company. it was steve, christina, evan (my old roommate and one of my greatest friends) and craig (one of my greatest friends) and myself. lounging around bumming the day away. it was amazing. at one point we decided to order in sushi. i had some more AMAZING spider hand rolls. i'm hooked! we watched a little food network, a little travel channel and then all of a sudden it was 9pm and we all headed out.

i drove evan home, said goodbye to the best roommate i've ever had and drove back to my aunts house. i cried, a lot on that drive back to the house in huntington beach. i told my mom it's not that it's just hard for me to leave everyone there it was harder this time than when i moved. when i moved, i knew i would be back in july. this time... i don't know when i'll be back. it scared me. i'm still trying to get back there soon though! i can't live without it! :)

this is my old roommate evan. i miss him.

more spider rolls. AMAZING and addicting.

steve, christina and their new kitten that eats off their chop sticks. it's so funny to watch

until she moves in on your miso soup. she seriously just stood there and drank the soup

future fat - sushi loving cat

July 21st & 22nd

Monday July 21st
I picked up some flowers to put in my aunt Eileens hospital room -because at this point, she's still being held captive - and when i get to the hospital, she's asleep. now, knowing that this 84 year old woman is a light sleeper and she's been trying to sleep in the hospital, i know she's not been sleeping well. so i dropped off the flowers and headed an hour and 10 minutes into LA and back to Pasadena. i literally passed the wedding site. seriously too much driving.

i had promised my friend dave that i would meet him at some point on my vacation while i was out there and had it not been for skipping my first flight, i never would have had the chance. so, i met him at the pasadena california pizza kitchen and we had a great lunch. we exchanged tshirts - did you know that firemen trade tshirts??? they actually bring extra shirts on vacations with them to trade other stations. - so i brought him a tshirt from the 'harris township fire department' and traded him for a 'los angeles city fire department' shirt. now there is one good reason this really stinks. 1. LA vs. harris township. are you kidding me?? and 2. i carried it out there, i lugged it around for two weeks of travel, i traded it, i lugged the LA shirt back and oddly, neither of them were mine. stupid shirts.

so, after lunch with dave, i figured that i was in pasadena where Dots was, they catered merediths cupcakes for her wedding. and i wanted to bring some home so i stopped there. at 2:47pm. i go inside, i get my cupcakes and they asked me how the wedding was. i showed them a couple pictures on my phone and went on my merry way at 3:03 pm. why do i know the exact times, you might ask. i'll tell you why. i got a parking ticket at 3:01pm under the sign that says, "no parking between 3 and 6pm" you have to be flipping kidding me! so, i said to the girl, "oh, am i not supposed to be here?" not knowing that it had ticked past 3pm. she shook her head and handed me the ticket. i, knowing that she must put up with a lot of crap and i was having a pretty good day, decided to chalk it up to my own mistake and be kind to this poor girl. so i said, "oh, i'm sorry." and like a moron said, "thank you" when she handed me the ticket. but i'm sure it made her day a little better knowing i wasn't going to yell. after all, it's just a parking ticket right? i mean the eagle river one was only $10. so i get in my car and sit and look at this fancy ticket that printed while i stood there and realized that it was $38. i then started yelling like a crazy person in my car, to myself. stupid ticket!

i headed back to huntington beach, went back to the hospital to meet up with wendy, mark, brandon (their three year old), heather, john and paulette. (wendy is married to mark. wendy, john and heather are siblings. paulette is their mother and aunt eileen is paulettes mom. did you follow that?) we hung out for a bit and then went to dinner across the street. mark had to leave before dinner and i mentioned that i had brought him a cupcake and it was in my car. i jokingly said that my window was down a little. about three inches. mark is a big guy. he's a parole officer for some rough kids in a pretty rough area. so he's not small. he later calls wendy laughing and says, "it's pretty bad that people just saw me cram my arm into a car window, to break into a PT Cruiser to steal a cupcake. a fat guy just stole a cupcake!" so great! and, ps, the cupcakes are worth it.

the next morning i had to head to the airport at 3am to return the rental, catch the shuttle, find out that checking and extra bag was going to cost me $125 and in turn repacking ALL THREE SUITCASES in LAX. it was... priceless. but i did it. i carried the duffel bag - after repacking because thats where all my bathroom liquids and makeup and hairspray were. stupid terrorists. traveling used to be so much easier!




this is brandon. he's so cute! he's 'reading' a wall-e book. he has the whole thing memorized exactly, page by page, it's incredible and very cute! he's three.

this is brandon reading the wall-e book to aunt eileen.

brandon trying to share the green jello. at this point i think aunt eileen was weighing in at a whopping 75lbs. seriously.

camping done well, camping done right

a couple posts ago, i mentioned that i loved woodleaf. it makes my heart breathe. it really does. as i drove closer to the camp, my hear started to beat fast... and that started when i was still two hours away! this camp saved my life, it changed my life and it forever changed my expectations in camps. they do it well. they do it right.

campers stay in air conditioned cabins with real sheets and blankets on them. they don't bring sleeping bags. they have showers in their cabins. nice showers. that don't run out of hot water. their food is worth writing about in magazines. they don't skimp. it's not chicken fingers and tater tots. on friday night, the last night of camp, it's filet mignon, broccoli with cheese, a baked potato and raspberry cheesecake for desert. or at least that's what it was when i was working there. it's probably better now. i'm not kidding.

i love young life camps because they don't sacrifice quality which is a relief to see in a ministry. i've heard a lot of ministries say, "well, we're a ministry so that's why we can't do things as well as other people." i hate that answer. i'm a firm believer that because it's a ministry they should do it better and not settle for less. i feel like young life does this.

i love that they are a relevant ministry that teaches in relevant ways to the high school aged camper. being at woodleaf and seeing again what they do during every week of the summer and every day of the year, it made my heart beat fast for ministry again. it was like one of those defibrillators right to the ministry part of my heart! here are a couple pictures of their grounds. if you are ever near a young life camp, go tour it. it's incredible, i promise


this is 'burning man' aka the ropes course (ps, james, i liked the old one better minus the video stand!)



the view across the lake to town hall where they have their nightly 'club' meetings - which are incredible!

across the lake to the cabins - again, a.c., sheets, towels, carpet, windows, showers

this is the dining hall

this is the view from my old office - which has since been remodeled and is quite nice WITH A SHOWER (ps. james you and i need to have some seriously harsh words!)

this is the deck behind the game room that has pool tables and ping pong, also the sugar barrel aka snack shop where you can get blizzards or 'whirleys'

ziplines across the lake

this is the whiffle ball court

this is the town hall where the club meetings meet. instead of chairs there are just big steps so you sit on the floor which is much more welcoming.



i know, i know i'm a little biased. i love this camp. i also love spring hill. they are also doing amazing things.

here is a video that my friend tim sent of a drama that the summer staff - who are college kids who volunteer for one month at a time - put on during one of the club meetings. it brings tears to my eyes every time. it's INCREDIBLE!

hmm

have you ever tried to fold origami in attempt to impress a boy you have a crush on? no? just me then?

awesome.

ps. i suck at it.