here i am, finally!

Okay, I feel like I have a zillion things to catch up on. Let's see...Friday night I went out for dinner with Mom & Dad, then we ran some errands and stopped to visit Grandpa, who really is looking well these days (I hadn't seen him in quite a while, which was odd after having visited him so often while my parents were in Africa!). Later on, I met up with Tanya, Sarah, and Jenn at Murphy & Scarletti's, which I had kind of been afraid of doing - that is basically my high school's graduate hangout. Thankfully, though, I didn't run into anyone I knew - AND I had a great time with the girls! Oh man I know I've said it before but I adore Tanya and I LOVE her friends. So much fun.

And, thankfully, we managed to avoid the creepy skeezy guy and get out of there unscathed! Whew! :)

Saturday morning started off early, as I had to walk over to the post office to take care of some things. Mom accompanied me on the walk, and it was really nice to have that time (and exercise!). I overnighted the payoff to my car company so I could get ahold of my title (thank goodness my father could temporarily cover the difference until I sell my car, but I still am confounded about what they expected me to do had I not had the boon of being able to make the payoff) and a thank-you card, and then cleared everything up re: mail forwarding, whew. (When we move, I will have lived in 4 places in the last 2 years, so I wanted to make sure all the important mail would follow me where it was supposed to!) Then we stopped at the local pharmacy so I could buy a wedding card (more on that later) and some conditioner. I really have to shop there more often; I hate that I usually auto-pilot to CVS, but there are times when it just seems so much more convenient. But the down-home feel of the smaller pharmacy where I went most of my life, coupled with the fact that I really want to support our local ventures, makes me want to make much more of an effort to shop there. They have everything I would get at CVS, and nicer people! Heh well okay maybe not nicer but I dunno, it had a pleasant atmosphere. I think I'll still get any prescritpions I need from CVS since that's so universal & I can get my stuff wherever I am, but otherwise when I am back visiting my parents' and I need to hit up a drugstore, from now on I plan to make it the local one.

In any case, we walked back home once the errands were done, and then I realized how late it was getting and how much I had left to do before heading to Dan's mom's wedding! So I rushed to get dressed, write the card, wrap the presents (2 nice bottles of wine, for the curious), throw my things together, and remove the "for sale" signs from the windows of my car so I could drive. But, I made it out the door only a few minutes later than I intended to leave, and it turns out I didn't have to rush anyway - the wedding was scheduled for almost an hour later than I had been told! But, no worries - I got to hang out with Dan's mom, sister, grandparents, and cousins pre-ceremony, which was very fun - they're all so nice. :) (Dan was elsewhere with the groom knocking back a few, since the bride & groom were supposed to be kept separate, of course.) The ceremony was beautiful, although it did start to rain, but nothing was ruined - it was still very pleasant and beautiful and moving. I am so happy to watch Dan's mom & new husband - they are so wonderful together. I love how they smile at each other.

And then, the reception! Dan and I were seated at different tables, as he had to be with the bridal party at the head table, but we met up to hit the bar, and the drinking began! Haha - I especially wanted to get a few drinks in before my self-imposed cut-off time, so I could drive home afterwards. The food (especially the cake!) was fantastic and everyone was just so happy and fun. I did a little dancing whenever I got dragged onto the dance floor, and many pictures were taken (hopefully I'll have a few to post at some point). And I got to see Danny all dressed up in a tie! How adorable & handsome he is. <3

The reception lasted all afternoon, and I enjoyed getting to spend that much time with Dan - we haven't gotten to see much of each other this past month, since we've been living at our respective parents' houses, and I haven't been going down to work in the office since I'm trying not to put miles on my car before I sell it. So it was really nice to get to see his face again. And we're getting so excited to move in together & get to spend 24/7 with each other again! Yay.

I couldn't stay for the after-reception-party at Dan's house, though, because my sister was visiting at my parents' house, since our family was long-overdue in celebrating her birthday! So I drove back to Farmington to meet up with everyone, and we spent the night eating ice cream cake, making s'mores, crayon-making (one of Bethany's best friends, Claudia, has a wonderful daughter, Veronica, who was also visiting), and playing games. (Veronica & I rocked Cranium!) It was great to see Bethany again, and I didn't have to feel bad when she left because in less than a month I'll be living down the street from her!

I also got a phone call last night from one of my favorite people: Caitlin! Yay! It was WONDERFUL to get to catch up, and just to get to talk again. I am so glad we'll have plenty of excuses to hang out when we are both moved into our own places in Boston - the film club & the book club, at LEAST. I've missed that girl so much.

Well, I have to get going for now because I have some more stuff to get done before bed tonight...I know I haven't yet updated about Sunday, but I will do that tomorrow. I just feel like this entry is DEFINITELY long enough for the time being!

More tomorrow. xoxo