the bride wore white; the guest wore rubber

A classy girl's footwear.

Last night I went to a wedding at Fox Hills with my friend Jim, as his "and guest". I decided to wear my long, black skirt and a sleeveless lacy shirt. Then I realized that all of my dressy shoes hurt my toe joint. All of them. Even my most comfortable, all-purpose dressier flats. I couldn't even walk around my house in them, let alone survive an entire evening on my feet. So you know what I ended up wearing? $6 rubber flip-flops from Target. I was so embarrassed, but I couldn't help it. It was that or my hiking shoes, people, so the wedding guests should feel lucky indeed.

So of course, I got to the wedding and immediately started having a big case of foot envy. Other girls had on dainty, feminine shoes, strappy, embellished little works of art on their feet. And here I came up the garden path with my shoes going THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK. Sigh.

The wedding was outdoors, and after a stormy morning, the sun came out. It was humid, but I had done major work on my hair with a straightening iron and amazingly, it held up. For some reason, Jim and I had the giggles during the ceremony. But the worst part was when the priest said to the groom "and what token do you have for the bride?" and he put the ring on her finger. Then the priest said "and what token do you have for the groom?" and Jim leaned over and whispered in my ear, "creamed corn." That was it. I had a vision of the bride holding creamed corn in her cupped hands, dripping through her fingers, offering it proudly to her groom while he looked on in excitement, the congregation dabbing sentimental tears from their eyes. It took everything I had not to burst out laughing. We are horrible.

The evening wore on. The buffet was very tasty, especially the chicken. It was in some cream sauce with artichokes - really good. And mashed potatoes, which I haven't had since the cruise. YUM. But then, on a bathroom break, I looked in the mirror - and discovered my shirt was ripped. Or had come apart. How does this even happen? The lace had unraveled and was hanging in a gap over the white lining. I looked like someone had taken a slice at my boob with a sword. Which believe me, in my life, could possibly happen.

The incriminating rip.

I felt like some disastrous, unraveling, rubber shoe wearing misfit. I swear, it must be the curse of being a Sagittarius. We clean up pretty well, but if you look closer, there's always something a little off about us - gravy dribbled on a shirt, mismatched socks, a big goop of mascara in the corner of an eye, a piece of lettuce in the hair.

Oh, well.

Jim and I gave requests to the deejay, and he didn't play any of them. I had written on the request sheet "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order and "Oh, L'amour" by Erasure. The last dance ended, and he wished everyone a safe drive home. Jim (who had quite a few martinis under his belt by this point) started shouting "What?! You're done? You're really done? Oh, no, NO! How about some Erasure?" The deejay took pity on us, and played "Oh, L'amour" for us as he took down his strobe lights. I sang to Jim at the top of my lungs as we flailed around dramatically, the only two on the dance floor at 1 a.m. And that wrapped up the wedding.

Today is another rather gloomy and rainy day here. What's the deal with the weather lately? It's been the stormiest June I can remember. Anyway, I'm going to clean the guest room, which has become a horrible catch-all for the stuff I don't want to deal with. There are piles of old mail that need to be shredded or filed, clothes, baskets of Christmas decorations (um, yeah . . . I know), perhaps even a lost child. Who knows what I'll find in there.

Happy rainy Sunday to you all!

sun island, near belize

View the whole set here:

just try and keep a straight face

Hope pooping.



Hope finished pooping.



I'm beginning to see a family resemblance . . .

sunny rainy saturday

Today, my friends Beth and Brent and their two kids came to visit me for the day. We went to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, which is just minutes from my house. I've known Beth since we were 13 years old and in high school. I can't imagine not having her in my life. So as usual, we all had a blast.

I've been itching to photograph their adorable kids Lauren and Ethan, and man, did I get the chance!

Halfway through our day, it stormed. Maybe more than stormed. Perhaps I should say it monsooned all over us. There were big dark clouds in the distance, and we kept saying "it'll blow over." And it did blow over - all over us. We huddled under an awning for the first round of rain, thunder, and lightning, then got on the steam engine train when it seemed like it was clearing up a bit. Yeah, no.

The ride (completely open train cars) turned into a water park ride, with the rain shooting across us in vicious gusts of wind. We couldn't have been much wetter if someone threw us in the ocean. The train passengers kept screaming and laughing as each drenching blast of rain hit us. I had my body flung over my camera bag, trying to keep it dry. Not the weather we expected, but definitely an adventure and a good story the kids can tell their grandparents. So this explains why everyone looks waterlogged in some of these photos.

Wet but smiling.

It continued to rain and storm for the rest of the day, but we didn't let it spoil our fun. After all, we couldn't get much more soaked. We watched a glass blowing demonstration, did some shopping, stopped and had popcorn and drinks, and milled around in our squishy shoes.

Popcorn, and Bell's Amber Ale (brewed in Kalamazoo, where I went to college).

After all that, we went to IHOP for some wonderful breakfast-for-supper. I'd been craving pancakes ever since reading Gen's blog, so it really hit the spot. I also had an omelet and hash browns - too much food to finish. We headed back to my house for a rousing game of Twister before the sleepy gang drove back home.

It was a memorable day!

You can see the whole set of photos here.

mayan ruins in tulum

The ruins in Tulum, Mexico.

On the second day of our cruise, we visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum. You can read more about it here.

After our ship docked in Cozumel, we walked to a high-speed ferry, and learned that the air-conditioning wasn't working. If that wasn't bad enough, the 30 minute ride to the mainland was VERY rough, and the ferry got tossed around like crazy. The workers were handing out bags so people could throw up. Then they came around with paper towels to people could mop themselves. I didn't get seasick, but I felt so bad for the people who did.

After we got off the ferry, we walked 20 minutes in the searing heat to the bus. Then the bus took us 45 minutes down the freeway to Tulum. All in all, it was quite an adventure just to get to the ruins.

It was totally worth it!!!!!!

I wanted to linger more at the sites, but we were on a tour and had to keep up with the group.

And it was hot. And I mean HOT. I have never felt heat like that in my entire life. I am a warm person anyway, so sweat was dripping down my arms and legs. I was like a walking waterfall with a bright pink face.

Here's a plug for Neutrogena Sunblock SPF 85 - this stuff is amazing, especially for me, who burns like mad. If my Casper-like freckly skin can survive a whole day in the hot Mexican sunshine wearing this, then it'll work for anyone.

After the tour, we were free to roam around for a half hour. We walked up to the cliffs, and below us was the most beautiful beach. The water was bright blue and looked so cool and inviting that I wanted to dash in with all my clothes on. I think I would have, if there was time.

Then we did the entire route in reverse, and ended up back at Playa del Carmen, where we stopped at Senor Frogs to drink a few beers, look out across the blue water, and wait for our ferry back to Cozumel.

It was such a fun, hot, sunny, exhausting, exhilarating day!

You can see the whole batch of photos here:

introducing my niece . . .

Camera phone photo sent by my brother.

Yes, officially! This is the newest member of our family, Hope, who was born April 28th. Her dad is my youngest brother, just confirmed with a handy-dandy DNA test (a long story which I won't go into here, but he and the mother are friends but no longer in a relationship). I haven't met Hope in person yet, since I didn't want to get attached until we knew for sure . . . but now nothing is in my way! Let me at her!

I'll be going home over July 4th weekend, so I'll get to hold her and take lots of photos of her. I can't wait!

P.S. Just look at all her big wild hair . . . she's my niece for sure!

the sky was angry today

So I was going about my leisurely Sunday morning activities: letting the dogs run in the yard, enjoying my coffee while reading blogs and the news online, doing a few loads of laundry, making some veggie juice.

Time slipped away, and suddenly it was 1:00. I had mowed half my lawn yesterday and had to keep stopping to rest, since I was still a bit herxy. So it took me forever. Today I planned on mowing the rest of it, weedwacking, edging, etc.

I hauled out the weedwacker (which converts to an edger) and edged the driveway back to the garage, taking my grand old time. Then I noticed the sun was missing. I looked up, and the sky was completely blue-black in the west. Crap.

I put the weedwacker away and rolled out the lawnmower, cranked it up, and started mowing like a crazy person, trying to beat the storm. My lawn was so long in the back that it had taken a few days to dry out from the last storm, so I needed to mow it NOW.

Back and forth, sweating, pushing, emptying the clippings, watching the Big Whompin' Clouds get closer. Then the thunder. A bright gash of lightning that went straight to the ground. I finished, panting, put everything away, and dashed into the house as the rain came down.

It was a glorious storm.

Now it's still cloudy but the rain has passed for the moment. I'm going to get some weeding done in the garden and then take a jacuzzi bath with sea salt and let the next round of storms hit.

Oh, and I'm in the final stages of going through the cruise photos. I'll upload the Cozumel batch soon.

Enjoy your Sunday!

lymeapallooza '08

St. Tick (aka my friend Jim with help from Photoshop).

Yes, it's that magical season, when good ol' Saint Tick visits the homes of all those good boys and girls suffering from Lyme disease and leaves them green cupcakes beneath the lime tree.

Upon awakening, the Lymies are filled with glee and joy as they eat the sugary goodness, and the villagers join hands and sing Lyme carols and hug each other. Then they get drunk and cry.

It is a beautiful time of year.

Traditional Lymecakes.

herxy

I've been feeling very Lymie. It's been a rough few days.

More cruise photos when I'm feeling better . . . and that will be soon!

sing me to sleep

On the ship, leaving Ft. Lauderdale.

I had planned on uploading another set of photos tonight, but somehow that didn't happen. I'm not really sure what I did instead. I watched So You Think You Can Dance, went through a pile of bills and cringed, and packed my lunch for work tomorrow. And suddenly it's 10:30.

So how about some Erasure? I never, ever get tired of this song - I'll be chair dancing to this when I'm 95 years old. Andy Bell, sing us out . . .

Crap, now I'm wide awake.

key west

Our first day off the ship was spent in Key West. We only had about five hours to explore the town, so we had to hustle. Now, looking at these photos, I wish I would have bought more stuff! I did get myself a cool sparkly pink flamingo pendant on a silver chain and a shot glass.

The shops were completely touristy and fun, everything beachy, bright, and colorful. I would love to go back and experience the night life there - it's supposed to be crazy!

View the whole set of photos on my Flickr site!

i'm back!

Belize, on an island we visited.

I had SO much fun! We ate, we drank, we swam, we lounged, we were entertained . . . it was fabulous. My toes are sunburned and I feel relaxed and peaceful.

Oh, and did I mention I had FUN?!