Love and Colorado

This past weekend, Kelvin and I made the trip to Colorado to celebrate the wedding of Cathleen, my first (x 2 years) college roommate and her fabulous now-husband, Tim.  Despite the multi-step travel we have to do to make it out of state (or to So Cal, where we're headed next weekend, for another wedding!), which includes driving to either Oakland/Sacramento (5-6 hours), staying overnight, and then flying out of a non-dinky airport in the wee hours of the morning only to have a repeat trip on the way back, it was soooooo worth it.

Cathleen and I met first via "letter" (remember the days when old-fashioned letters were written?) when we wrote a bit about ourselves and sent eachother a photo before our freshman year started at University of Richmond. We were quite different. Cathleen was a track star (specializing in high jump/heptathlon) and (despite her physics and computer science double majors!) a bit of an academic procrastinator. I was perhaps the nerdiest of music/science nerds who had to be dragged out past 9 p.m on a weekend evening :). I am not the neatest person but looked like a clean freak next to Cathleen('s side of the room). Cathleen came well equipped for college with 3 (landline) phones and a fantastic personality. We were fast friends.  I wish I had some photos I could upload from our college days... but that would entail lots of scanning. It's hard to believe that we are coming up on our TENTH college reunion year... those were the days without digital cameras, laptops, or cell phones :)

In any case, between 2003 and now, Cathleen (or CC) and I have not lived anywhere near one another. She was in Oklahoma for a bit before moving clear across the country from her native state Pennsylvania and school in Richmond to Colorado (first in the Denver area, then in Greeley, and then to Fort Collins). I was in Minnesota and then Sacramento. We saw eachother when she had a track meet in northern CA. I visited her a few times, including one year while interviewing for residency when I got snowed in around Christmastime and got to stay with her for about a week. She and Tim came to California for our wedding last year and made our amazing luggage cake.

We have been friends amidst many (failed) relationships. We both said, innumerable times, "I don't think I'm never getting married." For me, it was said in more of a moping/self-deprecating manner. For Cathleen, she wasn't sure she was well-suited for long-term commitment (I wasn't sure that anyone would be good enough for her!). While it seemed so easy/effortless for some people, early in life, to find "the one," it has been much more of a journey for both of us. And I think this is why it was so special to be a part of her wedding weekend and to watch her walk down the aisle (me with tears flowing!). No matter how many miles or years separate us, there is something about a college roommate bond (roomies 304 forever!), and I know Cathleen will always be one of the most wonderful friends I have ever known.

I was privileged to be a bridesmaid for this awesome gal and we had some bonding time on Friday, with manicures/pedicures and lunch with the other girls (Katie, Liz, and Jill + some other ceremony participants) in Fort Collins, which is quite a lovely town. [As a side note: it was my first time to Ft. Collins, and K's first time to Colorado, to which I'm gently try to sell him! Other than California, Colorado is one state in which I really think I'd LOVE to live. I came close to choosing a FP residency in Denver. But I digress :)]

We had a fun rehearsal picnic/bbq at the City Park in Ft Collins, where we caught glimpses of the 2012 Olympic long-jumping bronze medalist, Janay DeLoach, who Tim coaches (!). Sorry for the lack of pics- we forgot our camera and the park was quite a ways from our hotel (and I'm not a great iphone-picture-taker).

Kelvin was able to explore the area a bit and (wishing he had Pep along) checked out Horsetooth Reservoir:

 Colorado State University is where Tim and Cathleen are track coaches (and where they met).
 Here are some of their lovely gardens:

The ceremony on Saturday was at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Thanks to K for being the photographer of these shots (CC's sister, Colleen, was actually the formal photographer for the day!)

 Mother of the bride!

Happy groom & priest

Cathleen, in very laid-back fashion, just had us bridesmaids wear "blue dresses" and silver shoes. No uber matchy-matchy madness for this awesome bride! Blue is my former favorite color, so I definitely had a dress which worked.

CC's niece, Mairead, was the flower girl 

(and her other niece just had a cute, matching dress)

The bride enters!

She looked so happy and radiant (while we, at the front, had a hard time keeping it together)

Cathleen's dress was GORGEOUS with a very long train.

 

 Sealing the deal!

Husband and wife!

 

 This picture is just so "Cathleen." I love it!

Between the church ceremony and reception, we took some fun photos at the Field House (indoor track, a special place for the couple). Unfortunately I did not have camera, but Liz, one of the other bridesmaids (pictured), took these photos which I stole from FB.

CC, Tim and groomsmen

This awesome bride HURDLED in her wedding gown + heels + bouquet (!) without a thought. Liz caught it on camera AND video, too which was fantastic (hope this link embeds ok).

The reception was held in the CSU ballroom.

Grand entrance

  

First dance

  

The toasts

The Games...
Both CC and Tim are outstanding athletes and coaches, and both very competitive. We had crosswords to do and challenges to win them points so that one of them would get out of laundry for 6 months (Cathleen won!!). It was certainly one of the more entertaining receptions I have ever been to.

Katie and Jill, two other bridesmaids

Here is the happy couple cheering on their representatives (this shot has NOTHING to do with toasting or drinking, as neither CC nor Tim drink).

I had to sneak in this shot of the popular couple

Father-daughter dance(s)

I was sad we couldn't stay in Colorado longer to celebrate, as we had a quite long return trip. Since  CC and Tim, two of my favorite people, live there now, I'm sure we'll be back.

neighborhood playmate

We have a new next-door neighbor-- this Jack Russell puppy, Pippen.

This makes for fun lunchtime play dates. We actually didn't really know our neighbors but now have gotten more friendly with Pippen's "parents."

Maybe we can arrange a dog-sitting arrangement :)

THAT (pigskin) season

(especially when football is on)

Melissa shared this delightful picture on FB this week and I had to steal it.

It is now fall in our house (despite the temperature here being identical to what it was 3 and 9 months ago) and football season has begun. I truthfully don't think that Kelvin is as crazy about (watching) football as some men (husbands) are. I actually like watching football, as I do almost all sports (soccer and golf being main exceptions).  I have a bunch of issues with some football rules like the dumb "roughing the kicker" or the "roughing the defenseless receiver [or something to that extent]," and still don't get why so many field goals get missed or how it's so darn hard to score from the 1 yard line. The players' salaries are appalling. It annoys me at times. But I digress.

I sort of had to fight my husband for the rights to the TV this weekend when the U.S. Open Tennis finals were on (sad result for both the women and men in my opinion), while K (who does enjoy some good tennis) wanted to catch college blowout games and the first NFL games (which some analysts said didn't matter anyway!). When they actually said that the tennis matches would be postponed due to the NY weather, I was freaking out that somehow it would not be broadcast on a major channel... because football probably could NOT be adjusted and fans would revolt.

It's kind of crazy.

I have actually (about 5 years late) recently gotten hooked on the football-centered show, Friday Night Lights. While I am quite amazed (and amused) at how big a deal the sport is in Texas/the south (the book, by H.G. Bissinger, and the movie are also quite good), I think I like the show for much more than the football drama and scenes (lots of good family and relationship drama). In any case, can someone explain to me why this sport is so big in this country?

All I do know is that there is going to be a lot of selective hearing loss in this house until the day after Superbowl Sunday.

WingFest

 

On Saturday, Eureka had it's fourth (?) annual Chicken Wing Fest, sponsored by "BAMU" (Businesses against meth use).  Since Kelvin and I are very pro-chicken-wing as well as  anti-methamphetamines, we went down to the boardwalk to check it out.


Kelvin is actually a bit of a wing-snob.  When he learned (just before we moved to Arcata) that the closest WingStop (chain wing place) to Humboldt County is in San Francisco, he was quite disappointed.  To save $$, I have attempted to make hot wings at home several times, but have failed miserably and K has (kindly) asked me to refrain from further attempts.  We have sampled a few of the local wings-- including those at Humbrews, Lost Coast Brewery, Six Rivers Brewery, and Blue Lake Casino (which has 25-cent wing Wednesdays) and have to say that the Six Rivers wings are pretty good, but still aren't quite as good as WingStop wings.

At WingFest, we tried a bunch of different varieties-- Sunset sauce hot wings (with buffalo, buffalo/lime, hot, and XXX HOT varieties), Thai sweet chili wings, Louisiana hot, and a bbq wings; I have to give the buffalo/lime ones two thumbs up.

Have you ever before seen this many wings on a grill?

tasty!

There were lots of families with kids, and also families with strollers not containing kids.

This made me think of red-riding hood.

I know we are crazy dog parents, but Pep didn't accompany us to the WingFest grounds, and we don't have a doggie stroller... yet.  If you like wings, come join us for WingFest 2013!