Weekend Warrior #61 It is time to Catch Up!
Hello, Weekend Warrior fans! It is time to catch up. It seems like I blinked and a month went by. I have been busy. I will go over some highlights from the last month. This way it will be organized, and it will be like we are catching up after a break. 😉
Four weeks ago I was invited to a Jack & Jill bridal shower. It was for a couple that I met at work. They no longer work with me, but the friendship has continued. My husband & I introduced them to the world of Dungeons & Dragons. We taught them the basics, and they formed their own gaming group. Every once in a while we get together, and it is always fun to hang out.
My friend and I were both invited, so we planned to go together. We planned some Bachelorette style gifts, as neither of us really knew what to get, and we wanted to bring fun presents. The bride to be had told me once she wanted to host a passion party. If you know what that is 😉 then you know the gifts were couple related. I will say that I did get them some dice, but they are not for D&D.
Off we went way out to the Boonies to a place I had never been before. The bride to be wanted to know if I needed directions. I googled it. I knew what highway and what house number. It was about 40 minutes outside of the city, at her parents’ place.
It was a potluck. I brought cheese and crackers. I also brought a “deconstructed” which means build your own taco salad. My friend is a vegetarian. This way he could have the salad without the meat. We ate, and then they opened the gifts. There were a lot of nice gifts. The gifts my friend and I brought definitely stood out, and were memorable. 😉
We then took pics with the couple and headed home. I found in the last 3 weeks with so much social activity on Saturdays, I was really tired on Sundays. Other than Happy Writing Chat on Twitter & Facebook, I did very little and rested up.
The second weekend was a lot of fun. The Bride to be extended an invitation to go to the Bachelorette party. I have not had a lot of invitations of this sort, which made me decide that I really should go. I asked my friend if he was going to join us, and he agreed it would be fun. So we met at the gaming venue downtown. It is called Unplugged, and it is a place to go play board games. There is a $5 cover, and they have a limited snack/light meal menu. As it was the first stop of the evening, I opted in for Mozza sticks. I will vouch for them having the second best Mozza sticks in the city, right after Houlie’s Pub. The Mozza sticks there are amazing.
We played a game called red flag. The idea of it was to take 2 white cards to make a dream date description for whoever’s turn it was. The second round was to place a “Red Flag” card, which was something that was not a desirable trait. Things like he rescued an animal on tv, owns a unicorn or looks like Ryan Reynolds were examples of white cards. The only two red cards I remember involved swiping through tinder amidst intimate relations, to put it politely and the other one I remember was a hoot. Compulsively licks doorknobs. Hilarious. We had enough people there that once we all had a turn, it was time to go to the second stop of the night.
I really wanted to try Unicorn Lemonade at Boston Pizza. That ended up being where we went. I had the regular, non-spiked version, as I was driving until I went and picked up the hubby after work. I ordered the salmon dinner, and some people had food, some just drinks. When I had finished eating and had 2 Unicorn Lemonades, I snuck off to get to get Roy from work, so I could pass off the keys and have a few drinks with the ladies. I do not drink and drive. Ever.
I had some draft at the start. I really liked it. Black Horse Premium Lager is a good glass of draft. I had 2. It is brewed in Newfoundland. I then got my favourite cocktail. I like to have a Long Island Iced Tea when I am out having some social drinks. I had 2 of those, as well. I got invited to have some shooters with the ladies, and I was game. I kept up pretty good for being a decade older than most of the gang. We went to Dooly’s. It is a pool hall. It was close to Boston Pizza, so that also worked in our favour for the floating party.
We played a few theme games, had novelty straws and pins. We even got tattoos. LOL, the temporary kind. I got the one that said, “Bride Tribe”. It was gold and stayed on for almost a week. One of the bar staff joined us and got a tattoo. I then fist bumped with him for the rest of the evening. The next day I “confessed” to my husband about the tattoo. I got a look until I revealed it was a temporary one. I am full of surprises, and I think he might actually believe it by now.
We did more dancing than playing pool. There was a jukebox that someone picked really awesome music on before someone else changed it to hip hop. Different genres & generations happen everywhere. Another thing I noticed that set me apart from the generation of the rest of the party was the dancing. I didn’t grow up with access to music videos like the generation behind me. I was very entertained when they got together and they all knew the moves for the songs. I couldn’t match it, but it is fun to watch people dancing like they are in the music video.
My husband didn’t stay at the party, he had to work the next day. I was able to hitch a ride with one of the designated drivers and actually helped her navigate from the passenger seat when I could. I am not from the city originally, but I have learned quite a few street names and areas. I felt useful, and that was good.
Last weekend was the wrap up of the three-weeks of wedding activities. They did it! They tied the knot! I was surprised at how quick the ceremony actually was. I got a little lost on the way there, but it was okay. The bride looked beautiful. The Groom looked happy. They marched down the aisle to “The Imperial March,” in keeping with their Star Wars theme. The save the date card & invitation hinted it would be a part of their day. They served Breakfast for dinner at the reception. They entered the reception hall to Weird Al singing “Wrecking Ball” I knew as soon as I hear the accordion that it was a Weird Al song. It made me smile.
After the first dance, I had to run out to get my husband, again. He needed to eat, and I desperately wanted to change clothes. The shoes I had on were cute but awful. I also was having trouble with the compression pantyhose. One pair I have is really uncomfortable. The other seems better, but I didn’t need that colour that day. I tolerated them for as long as I had to.
I did have some wine at home. I wasn’t driving any more at that point. Roy drove us back, and we signed the card in the parking lot. We went in. I had a rum and coke and hit the dance floor. I requested a few songs and mingled. It is what I do at parties. 😀 Roy got to meet some of the guests. The bride and groom were both happy that we both made it there for the dance. I had a shot of tequila with the groom and switched to water. I know it is important to hydrate when I am drinking, so I make a point of making sure I have water. The week before I refilled the Long Island Iced Tea glasses with water and had it in the middle. I like to drink socially, but I don’t like to go too far. It isn’t good for me to be not in control, I just like to have a few now and then. Other than my once a week wine, that happens almost every week for review purposes, to expand my own wine tasting skills, I actually don’t drink as often as I used to. I have to think about my health, and I have to be smart about it. Sometimes I will skip wine week, and go for 2 or 3 weeks without any alcohol. It depends on what is happening, and what the budget is. It might seem like I had a lot in the last few weeks, but it was out of the ordinary.
I did leave a wedding present when I found out where they were. As I was saying goodbye to the bride and groom, I told him I hoped he liked the gift. He thought I meant the gift from two weeks earlier, and his reaction was priceless! The laugh was worth it. I got them a Star Wars themed present, and lovebirds themed ornament. Since their guestbook was a painting of a tree with lovebirds, I thought it was a fitting combo. I hope they liked it, and also that they have opened it by now. Otherwise, I may have spoiled a surprise, but it was a week ago, so it isn’t like they haven’t had a chance to open the gifts.
Finally, I can recap this weekend. I started to get serious about cleaning. I hosted a small BBQ potluck for a few authors. We happened to time it so they could watch the write your book draft in an hour webinar, and while I cooked on the BBQ, they watched the presentation on my laptop on the patio. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, perfect for an outdoor BBQ.
We talked about the Kit Sora Flash Fiction contest, as 2 of the 3 Author Amigos, one being me, have already entered some of the contests. The current pic for the contest is of a woman sleeping in a nest, with eggshell pieces around her and pink feathers around her shoulders. We talked about story concepts. I then drove the other two authors home and started back at the cleaning. I have company coming soon, and it cannot be put off any longer.
I ended the day by calling my father to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. We had a nice chat. I know that I am lucky to still have both of my parents still married and alive. We don’t always see eye to eye on everything, but we are family, and that is what matters.
Well, I think that catches us up. It is a long one this week, but I had to fit in a lot of fun adventures. I hope to get back on track with these being weekly entries again, now that I am up to date.
How was your weekend? Have you attended any weddings where something memorable stuck with you? I’d love to read about it! People have so many ways of personalizing their weddings now that it is really neat to find out what others did. One of the most memorable things other than getting married during Hurricane Earl for our guests was that we had a candy bar as well as an alcohol bar at our reception. It was very popular with our guests.