Posts Tagged ‘family’

Wow—I don’t know how all of that time can go by…  preparation, details, etc., and in one day it seems, it’s all over!  My sister now has a last name that has changed and is married. 

 

Friday Night

was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Friday afternoon we dropped cookies off at my Cousin Des’s house and quickly jumped over to Oakland to check-in to the hotel.  The Holiday Inn was crowded with two other weddings, but the room was halfway decent.

After the rehersal, my now brother-in-law’s parents hosted dinner at Claddaugh Irish Pub in the South Side Works.

Friday night I also lost my wallet somehow.  More details on that later…

Saturday

Saturday I woke up bright and early.  I didn’t sleep well because the room was super hot, so I woke up and changed and went to walk down to a mini-mart for semi-good coffee.  It was only then that I realized that my wallet was gone.  Figures. 

  Erin stayed with me Friday night in the hotel room.  Jared stayed back at the house Friday night and took Ambrose to the kennel Saturday morning.  He also went golfing with the guys Saturday.  I should add that Jared was one of groomsmen in the wedding and was paid with my Cousin Taylor!  My sister and I hit up the hotel gym but it was gross and humid inside.  We ended up going for a walk which took us through Oakland, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill…

 

It felt like a 3 mile walk, but ended up being closer to 5.  I didn’t run because of stomach issues .

When we got back, we quickly showered and joined some family for breakfast at Pamela’s diner.  I had 2 poached eggs, dry english muffin, and some turkey sausage.  We ate pretty late.  After breakfast, we had about 30 minutes until departure for our hair & make-up appointments.  I opted for both hair and make-up because I am not the best at doing my make-up.  I’m glad I did, too, because they ended up choosing the best colors for me.  My hair (which I will have to share at a later date) was perfect, very classy and simple, very me.

 

I really don’t have too many pictures from when we got our hair/make-up done.  We went to Phillip Pelusi in the South Side.  They did a great job.  After that, we went back to the hotel room, picked up the dresses, and were off to the church.

 

 

The bridesmaids carried blue hydrangeas which were gorgeous (but due to the heat wilted pretty quickly) and my sisters bouquet was a mix of roses and peonies.  We spent a lot of time (or what felt like a lot of time) in the “Bride’s Area” getting ready, laughing, and taking pictures.  After that time, I didn’t take one picture which was fine. 

I cried quite a bit walking up the aisle.  When I cry, I frown, so as I was walking down the aisle, I was trying to make myself not cry because I wanted people to see me smiling.  My sister look amazing and the ceremony was beautiful.  I am very happy for Erin and Michael. 

 

After the ceremony, my feet were crying at me because my shoes were not comfy.  There were many pictures taken and we were released to walk over to Soldiers and Sailors. 

There is one picture of me and the bride.  I still can’t believe I allowed myself to wear a dress without sleeves on it.  I hate hate hate my arms.  Oh well, it wasn’t my wedding .

 

At S&S’s, the bridal party gathered for a champagne toast and were then introduced.  Champagne is good .  We were then seated and watched Erin and Michael have their first dance.  It was lovely.  After that we watched my sister and father dance (the Beatles, In My Life) and nothing but tears were streaming down my face.  What a song to pick!  Then Michael and his mother danced and again, more tears.  Then we ate.  The food was good.  After everyone ate, my sister’s new husband’s brother made a toast which was lovely. Then it was my turn.  I did not cry.  No, I did not.  I did, however, have to take many deep breaths, slow down to say the words I wanted to say, and lighten my speech up with a few jokes.  I thanked Michael for finding my sister, my parents for, well, making my sister, and my sister for giving me a great path to follow.  It was simple and I hope people “got it”.  I won’t type it all out.

 

Then we danced the night away.  I kept with Vodka and Cranberry for most of the night, which explains the killer heartburn on Sunday.   I also caught the bouquet which was a default catch because my sister didn’t throw far enough .  I wasn’t sloppy drunk, but I did have a good time .

 

Now, it’s all over!  What a weekend!

The week has been turning out crazy as expected!  Ahh!  I should have stayed in Harrisburg and got a massage

Here is where I am ending up with my time…

Monday will be spent actually easing into the work-week.  I don’t have anything planned tonight which is a relief.  After work, I ended up getting my mani and pedi.  Much to my surprise, the manicure hasn’t gotten too chipped . 

Tuesday I have to attend the Planning Commission meeting at night which will be interesting. 

Wednesday I have an eye appointment at my doctors which I am hoping to move up to Monday.  This way, I have time to get a manicure and pedicure. I am going to reschedule my eye appointment to Friday.  There’s no way around it!

Thursday some of the bridal party will be getting together with the bride and groom for dinner. 

Friday I am off work, and will be able to dedicate my time to whatever wedding activities of my sisters wishes.  The rehearsal dinner is Friday, too.  I have to pick up cupcakes from Robinson for the rehearsal dinner, Jared needs to get his tux, and I will need to get my eyes looked at. 

Saturday the wedding bells will ring.  So excited for my ses-ter.

Sunday we will spend time enjoying the wedding bliss with family.  There is a bunch scheduled as well as gift opening at my parents house.

Monday I am technically off, the office is closed, however, I will need to go in and submit payroll.  I will also be departing for a small personal business trip.

Tuesday I will be attending said small personal business trip and returning to Pittsburgh shortly there-after.

_____________________________________________________

My personal business trip.

I cannot keep too many secrets on the blog.  Trust that I reserve most of my work frustrations and channel them in other directions.  However, I have an interview clear across the state.  I’m shocked they are interviewing me.  Not because I don’t think I am qualified, one year of cleaning-up municipal government can qualify you, but because I have no network in eastern PA.  I am fortunate that I have been doing this type of work since grad-school which has allowed me to get a name established for myself.  I am fortunate that I understand many infrastructure issues as a result of my father working as a laborer (and hearing everything about road work as we drove through construction sites on our journey to vacations).  But I am still surprised they are interviewing me. 

It should also be noted that the direct colleague I would be working with was at the same conference as I was last week.  I didn’t bother introducing myself because, at that point, I had figured they picked someone so I didn’t want to waste my time.  It should also be noted that I met a lot of Eastern PA Managers at my conference so maybe that helped.

I am going to interview and hope for the best.  I haven’t decided yet what move I will make, if any.  In fact, I think an employment offer would help me leverage some higher skilled employees from the municipality.  Right now, I have nothing.  I work a lot because I don’t have (as my sister puts it) the office infrastructure to succeed.

 

What a crazy life I live.  I really do love Philly, regardless of what others say!

I have  been at my parents for most of the weekend.  Spending time with my parents.  A few things have occurred that I cannot blog about, but I wanted to be certain to say Happy Mother’s Day, mum.  I love you!

Bribe Spoil me with popcorn.

 

I blogged about Jared and I going on our annual trip to NYC to visit sister and future BIL.  I know I blogged about Garrett’s popcorn.  In fact, I think you can read about it here.  Anyways, we love Garrett’s popcorn.  It’s done “right”, as after we first tried it, we tried to find something similar here, but no luck.

Imagine how excited I was to open this…

 

How cute is this packaging, seriously??

Ahhh, I love my family so much.  I mean really.  This was such a great gift.  My sister got it for me because I have been laid up with mono…  going crazy and planning marathon dreams.

 

What she didn’t know was that I had the worst news at work today. 

No.  I didn’t lose my job.

No. The Borough didn’t flood.

 

I will be down another (2 of 2) admin assistants for the next few weeks.

They say you aren’t supposed to take your work home with you.  FIne, but I need a masseuse at home, then.  The good part of this is that we should be able to hire a college student for a few weeks while the second admin is gone to just help with general office tasks.  The bad part is that we will be replacing the first admin with a FT position at the same time.  Oh, and did I mention, I will be traveling the third week in May, I’ll be out of the office at least one day for the wedding, and in general, I am swamped?  Oh well…

When you don’t think you can run faster, run faster, right?

Finally I have my camera (or USB cord) back!  I have loads of pictures to share, so please enjoy…

 

Some eats that I never got to post…

(I combined some Costco Tortellini with mushrooms & the above ingredients)

It ended up pretty good!

 

 

 

Then the bridal shower!!!

 

Outside + the welcome table where we had guests fill out the envelopes for the thank you cards (used later for a gift basket drawing).

 

The craft table where we asked the guests to make a page…

 

Miscellaneous decorations…

 

The cake

The only flattering picture of myself…  Trust me!

 

 

Okay maybe there are two…

 

The pictures from the shenanigans from the night must wait!