September 19, 2011

• Take more than 7.

  Ha, you thought I forgot the take 7's....haha, I say that like I have so many followers waiting impatiently for my posts each week. I know this ISN'T true. Anyway, pre-warning, this will be longer than others. 

  Sunday - Church, The Score and 9/11 memorial
  Monday - Home alone, made dinner, finished packing/wrapping presents
  Tuesday - drive to Chicago, skype with Lisa
  Wednesday - birthday, driving to Iowa
  Thursday - Errands, Pedis, lunch, hanging out with Cowells 
  Friday - setting up, chill time and rehearsal
  Saturday - wedding!

  1. I always love and appreciate Sunday. A time of being amongst other believers, outwardly worshipping. I attend a church where it is much more than a building. It's a place made up of people who know each other. A place where the Pastors strive to know you, who connect and resonate with their members on a personal level. That alone is encouraging but add the body of believers serving in different areas and the challenges that are brought through Scripture each week just makes it a place I genuinely enjoy being at and always have. 

  2. My dad rented me a Sonata for the trip to Iowa for my birthday - not a limited like I'm buying but it was still great. Small things made it so nice like: seat going up and down, auto window up and down, cd player,  .....and it's not even a Limited. It drives nicely, handles quite well. I also took advantage of the XM radio that I wasn't paying for (the dealership must) but that was nice.  

  3. This trip was the first time I've ever had a hotel room by myself. The one in Chicago was ghetto and I semi-feared for my life. Seriously. BUT the hotel in Iowa was really nice! It's actually nicer than I thought. It's like having your own place that someone cleans up after you. haha, awesome. I wouldn't have minded the company of a close friend but all in all not a bad experience. It was nice to have a place to have some down time at night. I wouldn't hesitate to do that again in the future if need be. I did miss my bed. I went back to my normal before my sleep number bed...um, miserable. 

  4. My birthday was good - spent in the car but I enjoy driving, not to mention we had a walkie talkies that we communicated with between cars. Good times. We got in and went straight to the alteration place, came back, hung out/chatted in Paul and Missy's room, then hit up some dinner and walked around the mall. 

  5. I rarely to ever see Paul and Missy together and it's actually quite cute. At first when they started dating, I felt she deserved better because of his dating history and she did but he isn't the same guy that he once was. He really is the perfect man for her. It's seriously precious to watch the way he takes care of her and talks about Jackson. 

  6. Thursday we did some errand running but we got done 45 minutes or so before our pedicure appointment, so Missy, Victoria and I just sat in my car and chatted. It seemed kind of dumb that that is what we were doing but it was great just to sit and chat, who cares where it was at. Pedicures was pretty fun - it's nice to be pampered here and there. It was at the pedicures I made friends with the flower girl who just loved me. Probably because I sat in the short chairs with her and spun around. We were buddies after that. Holding hands, hugs, sat next to me during lunch. After pedis we came back to the hotel and I met the infamous Cale! I really felt like I've known him for some time but it was good to meet him. We had some down time and just hung out and reminisced a lot of our stories of Victoria for Cale. We then headed over to to Mrs. Cowell's mom's house where everyone was...good times! Her mom is the funniest -- she named her dog after her husband who passed away. She is head over heels for this dog, no joke and it's a riot. We all sat around talking (Jesse, Ben and Mallory, Missy and Paul, Cale and Victoria, Grandma and Mrs. Robinson -- Mr. and Mrs. Cowell went to pick up Joe at the airport.) We chatted for hours, laughed for hours - seriously, I rarely to ever snort and it came out a couple times during this time. A genuinely funny time, then around 9 I hit a social wall. It wasn't that I was sick of being around these people thing. It's always great but you reach that point where you just need to chill a bit. It was nice to come back and have a room to myself to recharge my socialness.

  7. Before entering the trip, it was obvious that I was the single one. Traveling by myself, rooming by myself. I was and am ok with it but others were quite concerned. Pre-trip and during trip It was nice that they were thinking of me but at times, it felt like I was being babysat. Or at times like I was just there amongst the couples. It was fine and such a small part of this weekend. I'm really not ashamed that I'm single but I think people were being extra careful to be cautious around me and my feelings. 

  8. Friday. We (Mrs. Robinson or better known as T-Rob, Victoria and I) headed to Hobby Lobby. T-Rob LOVES them and they don't have them in Canada. haha, if we weren't under a time crunch, I'm sure she could have spent hours in there. We (Cale, Cody (Cale's brother), Victoria, Mrs. and Mr. Cowell and T-Rob) headed over to the venue and did a little setting up. I really mean a little setting up. Mostly we stood around while Victoria and her mom talked to the wedding planner. Earlier in the day Cody had asked me what I'm doing now and I gave an answer but we got interrupted....so 45 minutes later, I began talking to him and Cale. We were just lounging around, literally. After that we headed to Panera for some lunch then Cale, Victoria and  Cody were going to go visit V's grandma. I offered to Cody if he wanted a ride back to the hotel. He was more than willing. We went back, talked going up the elevators and went to our rooms. I then left again to go to the mall because I could...my thought was I could invite Cody but that'd be weird and it would have been. I would say he was showing interest from that interaction and then the rest of the weekend. BUT he has a girlfriend. A girlfriend he has been trying to break up with for awhile now...I feel bad for him that this girl won't just bug off but anyway, there you go. That was funny. 

  The rehearsal dinner was a good time as well - a mexican fiesta! They really went all out on it, tasty food, good company...fun times. Afterwards we hit up a casino - Victoria's idea. Well things got lost in translation a lot this night. Victoria and Cale didn't end up getting into the casino because they wouldn't take Cale's Canadian license and we thought they were going to the airport, so 6 of us stayed (all of us drove separately and beat Cale and Victoria to the casino). Anyway, if you know me at all...casinos are not the place you will find me. We had no idea what we were doing. The first table we came to was Craps (what a stupid name for the game) - anyway, none of us had a clue what we were doing but they talked us through it. The guy at the other end of the table was making bank but we, I was too wussy to bet money. I'm just not into betting or risking my hard earned money. No thanks. We then headed to the slots. Again, not a clue what to do. I was getting mad because I was losing money and didn't know why and it was ALL luck. Stupid. You might as well throw your money in the dumpster. I left the group who was playing slots, walked around and decided to sit down at Texas Hold Em. I know how to play this. I really didn't understand it all because there was more going on then I was used to during the game but to say the least, I went in $15 and walked away with $97.50. I kept looking around to see if anyone would come and see me play but that didn't happen. So I got out of there to find the group and show my chips. It was awesome! I was on cloud 9. haha...and yet, it's still a place where I can say that is by far the stupidest thing to do with your money and I can see how people blow through cash quickly. It's kind of sickening. Anyway, we went out after that and things got a bit out of control. A late night and long day the next day.

  9. Wedding day! Woke up pretty early, did some laundry and hit up breakfast. I was sitting and eating alone when T-Rob joined me. We sat and chatted for awhile. She's a remarkably sweet woman. She lost her husband unexpectedly a couple years ago and continues to press on. I enjoyed talking with her. We chatted a little about what we all did after the rehearsal dinner, I didn't say we went to a casino just who all hung out afterwards. Mr. Cowell comes around the corner and the first thing he said was "Good Morning high roller" haha...awesome Victoria told him. Of course T-Rob is interested. I almost felt as if I had lied to her but didn't. Anyway, we got our hair done and headed to the venue. I'm not sure how to explain the wedding and reception except low key and elegant. I had a hard time paying attention during the ceremony, those 4 in heels were a KILLER. I was overly impressed by Missy. It was a good day honoring a great couple. It was a sincere joy to be part of this past weekend celebrating such a great couple. By the end, we were all exhausted and the family and a few of us others were all sitting down in a section. We looked rather exhausted. We then headed to the hotel where they opened presents. A bit strange to do on the night of but everything was a bit strange because this was round 2. It was just a little more fun before saying goodbye. It was pretty late at that point but Paul, Missy and I were really hungry so we hit up Applebees to get some dinner. It was a fast and pretty quiet dinner as we were pretty exhausted. 

  • 10:43 pm
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