Searching For Creativity

Something crazy just happened while I was typing and I lost 3 paragraphs. Trying to get back into the mood for writing… =(

OK. I decided to stop waiting for more pics, and just go with a run-down of the events of that last two weeks.

Friday, June 27: 10A Arrived at the bridal shop to pick up my dress. 10:10 the bridal shop finally opened. 10:20 my dress finally appears and I try it on. What do you know? Badly done, and it doesn’t fit. Shop girl convinces me to wait around still more until the seamstress appears. Get chewed out by seamstress with heavy accent while she pins me up again. Apparently I’d lost weight (a few inches in less than two weeks--wow! I wish!), and I hadn’t paid enough for so much work (she’s the one that charged me), and I have no idea how much work this is (why does she think I wanted to get it done professionally?). 11A finally leave bridal shop, and ran back to G’s to pick up the kids. 4A running (not literally) back to the bridal shop, sweating, and car bursting at the seams for the trip. 4:30 pick up Chad on time, but never hadn’t had the chance to feed L yet. Went through downtown at rush hour to get out of town, then had to find a Joann’s because none of the hobby stores (tried 4) I’d gone to had the pins that I needed for the bachelorette party anymore (the kind that say “bride”, “maid of honor”, “bridal party”). I got VZ Navigator for the month to help me navigate around Jacksonville. It took us to an old joann’s location apparently, so wasted 20 minutes going to the wrong one, and then finding the correct one. They DID have the pins though. Fed L and us, and finally got out of town at 6:30. Arrived at C’s parents house in IL after midnight. Thankfully kids slept pretty well, and transfered to their beds without trouble. Parents were out of town.

Saturday: Morning: B woke up at 6:30 and went straight upstairs to find toys. I tried to doze on the couch while he played. 8A L woke up, so lost all hope of sleep. Later met friends at the park, and let our kids play a little bit. Hung out with them most of the day, with a little break to see Wall-e, which we all enjoyed.

Sunday: Back on the road around 10. Lunch in Nashville with friends at a yummy Burger joint. Then tried to find a DSW shoes, because I forgot the one I’d bought for the wedding. Great start to the trip. VZ got us lost off in a residential section. Stupid Navigator. Then went on to Huntsville, AL where we met more friends for supper (I think C talks about it on his blog). We went to Nothing But Noodles, which was really great. We need one in KC! Reminds me of Panera, but they have all kinds of noodles– asian, italian, etc. Running late by this time, and don’t make it to our hotel just outside Atlanta until 1 or 2 (I can’t remember). Very nice Comfort Inn with Kitchenette.

Monday: slept in a little (even the kids!), ate breakfast, went to the pool a little bit (pics in previous slideshow), then got back on the road. It took an incredibly long time to get from Atlanta to Jacksonville (supposed to take 5 hours–I think it took us about 9). A combination of nursing baby, potty training toddler, and slow driving husband (purposefully to save on gas). Got to our hotel, another comfort inn, very small room.

Tuesday: Slept in a little (the kids are getting good at it thanks to the very dark hotel room!), then went for a little walk on the beach. Had a hard time getting B to leave (through a nice fit), but we had to get over to Barbara Jeans for lunch to meet the Bride (Eva), some of her family, and a couple bridesmaids. Barbara Jeans is awesome– it’s where I learned to love crab cakes a year ago when I visited Eva. Found out that one of the other bridesmaids is from KC (she lives in Jacksonville now), and graduated with some of my friends. Made plans to meet back at the beach in an hour or so. So, B got to swim after all. We still had a hard time getting him to leave though! For supper I went to a yummy sub place, Angie’s, with everyone, while C stayed home with the kids. I hung out with E and crew the rest of the evening. C put the kids to bed. He was really great with them all week, which cut down on my stress considerably. Plus, I found my shoes for the wedding. They were a half size to small, but apparently they don’t carry my size in FL. 🙂

Wednesday: Beach with the fam in the morning. I’m having a hard time remembering what else happened that day until: 5 pm manis and pedis with E, and bridesmaids Crystal, Teri, and Belinda. Then we went out to Chilis for dinner. It was a fun time hanging out, unfortunately most of the service at both places left something to be desired. They did give us some great dessert at Chili’s though. That pretty much made up for everything in my book.

Thursday: Met Eva and Crystal to pick up the wedding dress, but the shop wasn’t open even after we waited around at Starbucks a little bit, so they left so E could pick up the groom at the airport. We (the fam) went to the beach. That’s when some of the pics from the slideshow were taken. Met back at the bridal shop, and got to see the dress, which was of course lovely, and learned how to put it on her, and bustle it up. Went back to the hotel to feed L, then picked E and Crystal up for the bachelorette party. The party was at the Melting Pot in the Captain’s room with 10 of us total. Very good food of course. I, of course, forgot those buttons that I went through all that running around to find. We had a suprised lingerie/gag gift party, and that was a lot of fun, and HILARIOUS. After that we went out dancing until 2A. Also fun. I doubt I’ll post pics of that. 🙂

Friday: Ran a couple errands for the bride in the morning. C and the kids went to the ocean with friends that arrived to stay with us the night before while I was out. A little fun for C now too. 4 pm rehearsal, which was hurried and stressful, because of the church’s time restraints. Didn’t actually know everything I was supposed to do. Yikes. I did pass out those buttons in an effort to make them worth the trouble. Not sure that it worked. 🙂 Then the dinner, which was at a neighborhood’s clubhouse. Nice, and good food. All running late, and E still didn’t have her makeup! She didn’t exactly get to bed early that night obviously. But what fun would a wedding be if everything went perfectly? 🙂

Saturday: 6:30A started getting ready. Had trouble getting any milk for L, which was very frustrating. 8A had to leave anyway. Helped with E’s hair, followed her to church. All bridesmaids got there, but one without their dress! Took some pics, helped with last minute preps with E, bridesmaids, the decorating, and kept the flower girl and ring bearer happy with snacks. 11:15 wedding starts late because of missing dress. Everything went smoothly from there if not by the books. It was beautiful, especially E. The flower girl threw the petals out over the crowd, but some of them made it onto the runner. Very funny. Thankful C had our friends to help with the kids while I was busy!

Reception: very good food. Some dancing. Did a terrible job on my speech– I wasn’t as well prepared as I would’ve liked– I actually didn’t know for sure that I was giving it, so I didn’t worry about it. Forgot half of what I was going to say, and interspersed what I did say with nervous laughter. Still kicking myself. Bride and Groom left in a speed boat!

Went to the beach to unwind, and barely made it home before feeling exhausted and achy all over. My body knew I was done apparently, and therefore quit. hehe. Did get some pizza in though.

Sunday: Packed up, and left for 15 hours of driving. Arrived back in IL at 1:30 am. The trip was actually pretty uneventful. I was the whiniest one. J/k. 🙂

Monday: Slept in a little bit. More driving– over to see the great-grandparents. Their first time to meet L! Left IL at about 5:30, and arrived home at about midnight. Thankfully the kids slept most of the way, and I even got an hour or two in. Very thankful to be home safe and sound.

A few pics from the pool on the way to Florida (L’s first ever), and then the beach. I was really busy the whole time, but we made time to get the the ocean (4 times for me and 5 for the rest). I didn’t do well with getting pics, but here are the best of what we did get. B was a little wary of the big waves, but still had a really good time. He loved running on the beach especially. L would cry when she touched either water or sand. 🙂 We had beautiful weather while we were there despite the stormy forecast. We even got to see dolphins from a little distance!

I always like reading about things to do in Kansas City from different places, because I always learn about new things.  I really want to try out Lidia’s Kansas City and a couple other places after reading about them in this article from Midwest Living.

I actually love Kansas City, and it’s not just because this is where my family is.  This pic is the last I could find of us at the plaza even though we go a lot.  Check out cute little B.  🙂 I wish I knew how old he is here, but the dates seem to be wrong on Picasa.  He can’t be much older than Lillian though.  I’m kind of missing my old SHORT hair!