Dash

Well, I'm back from a very quick trip to Michigan. Roland's sister Marcie was married on Saturday. It was a lovely wedding and a hoppin' reception, but I was certainly exhausted when we got back. Roland canceled class on Friday so we could fly up to Detroit where we rented a car and drove over to Muskegon. Then we attended the festivities on Saturday, got a little sleep, and were up early to drive back over to Detroit. We got back here early evening on Sunday. I did take some pictures at the wedding, but didn't get many at the reception because my battery didn't want to hold a charge very well. I guess that is the (very small) down side to getting my Dad's hand-me-down electronics. By the time I get them I probably need to replace the battery.

Although I really like the camera that I'm using, it's really quite small and fits nicely into my pocket for easy carrying, I think I would really like some sort of larger camera that has more features/is more adjustable. I was looking in my local adult education brochure and they have a couple classes that I could take so maybe I could really take some nice photos. One of the other women on the flyball team has a really nice, but older, Nikon that makes me drool.

Pocky Part Deux

Being the purposefully non-traditional couple that they are, my sister and Karl didn't give traditional gifts to their supporting cast. They didn't have a best man or maid of honor (thank goodness as I would have been the matron of honor...eeesh). They just had Derek (friend of Karl), Mike (friend of Anne), Dan (friend of Anne), and myself. I figured that I wouldn't be recieving the typical wedding jewelry, but I could never have guessed what we did get. Anne and Karl got me a Nintendo DS. Woot and 1/2!

They also got each of us a game that we would like. Mike got a Star Wars game, Dan a Mario game, Derek I can't remeber at the moment, and they got me Nintendogs. They found one with a Cavalier in it so of course that is the first dog I bought. I picked a female tri-color and have been trying out the whole thing. It is interesting, but Bleys is still way cuter. You do have to talk to the dog/game to train it though (voice commands...cool), so it wasn't really the thing for the plane ride home. So we also picked up Rayman DS and Dave got a poker game to try out. We ended up spending too much, but it did make the trip home seem like it was no time at all. I'm kind of stuck on Rayman right now as I am only so coordinated and can't seem to get past this one sequence. Oh well, I'll get it eventually...I hope.

I also finished The Dolphins of Pern and Dragonseye on the trip. I enjoyed both although I like The Dolphins of Pern better, but then again when I was eight I was going to be a cetacean trainer so that might color my perceptions a bit. I think next I'm either going to read A Plague of Angels, or the D&D Player Handbook v. 3.5.

Pocky

I'm baaaaack. Roland and I got home yesterday from Michigan. My sister is officially married (dude, I never thought I would be saying that...it still sounds odd) and off on her honeymoon. The wedding was awesome. They decided on a movie theme for the reception and it worked out darn near perfect. They had pint sized movie posters on each table, so there was a Star Wars table, and a Night of the Living Dead table, and so on. And instead of flowers they put props from each movie. The Harry Potter Table had a wand, a pair of glasses, and a golden snitch and the Indiana Jones table had a fedora and some cool little rubber snakes. Their cake was in the shape of a movie theater with a marquee on top that said 'Anne and Karl' and their favors were in little popcorn containers. Anne wore a gorgeous ruby dress that was forties Hollywood and I wore a black dress with pearls and some super cute shoes. I was the only lady standing up and the gents wore black dress pants, black shirts, and black ties. Karl wore a tie to match Anne's dress. There was a little joking before the wedding about becoming a band of ninjas, but I thought it looked good. I forgot my camera so I took some pictures with my Mom's camera and my Dad took a bunch (go figure) so when I get my hands on some of the those I hope to post some.

Both the wedding and reception were held at the Soaring Eagle and I have to say I was impressed. The rooms were very nice, even posh (albeit on the expensive side) and they gave Anne and Karl a surprise upgrade to a nicer room! Anne and I tried out their spa (a massage and pedicure each) for her bachelorette party and it was very nice, although not the best of either I've encountered. At least neither of us got a Helga, intent on kneading us into bruised submission (sorry Roland). The building was a little smoky, I think Vegas does a better job pumping out all of that crap. By the end of the two nights we spent there I was getting to have a perpetual headache, and I didn't really get that way in Vegas until much longer into the trip (5 days-ish). But overall everything was handled very well. The coordinator people were very attentive, everything was ready ahead of schedule, and the food was delectable. They even accommodated one of Anne's friends who is a vegan. The chef just said, bring in a recipe and I will make it. Wow, and I say wow again. The chef (replete with toque) even came out and checked with Bill (the vegan) to make sure it was adequate. Bill said it was fantastic.

It was nice to get to see my family again so soon after moving to Florida. Now, unfortunately I'm not sure when we will see them again. Roland's parents are coming to Disney in December and we are going to meet them for a few days, so we will get to see them soon. I also got a chance to stop by the Humane Society and All About Animals to see the gang and Mary Beth respectively. It made me realize that I miss having people I know to talk to. I need to get a move on and find a way to meet some people! I also stopped by to visit Veronica and Joe in their house (our old one). It was nice to see it with furniture in it again. It was very weird after the movers came and it was all empty. They also just adopted another dog. An adorable little black pug. He had just been neutered that day, so he was still all dopey when we were there, but he was very cute. I hope Venus won't be too jealous. I really wanted to get a second dog when we moved down here, but the apartment we found only allows one per apartment. So I guess I will have to hold on to that dream a while longer. But someday I want to have a black and tan Cavalier to play with Bleys. Maybe even a rescue for me to work with. We will just have to see how things work out down here.

Well, I've gone on long enough for the time being, but as I haven't posted in a week, I'll probably be back later to blather on some more.

THX

Today-Bor-Day is Labor-Day!

Ever since Bleys's bad reaction to Florida fauna we have restricted him to limited grass touching and wipe him off every time he comes back inside. Instead of going to the dog park we have been in-line skating around the area. Just a small piece of advice, skating on wet sidewalks...quite slick. No, I didn't actually fall, but it was a close thing a time or two. I'm sure anyone driving by was amused by my windmilling action to prevent eating pavement. Bleys is adapting well to running beside me. His chasing instincts however are in full swing. You see, down here there are about a bagillion teeny tiny little lizards running aboot (mad props to my yooper homies - even though I'm a troll) and Cavaliers were originally bred from hunting spaniels...sooooo every time he sees one of these potentially tasty morsels he loses all focus on any training we may have done and tries to bolt after it - usually right across the sidewalk in front of me. A typical Cavalier response resulting in every Cavalier website worth its salt imploring people to NEVER let their Cavalier off lead unless they are positive they are in a fully fenced area (a dog park for instance). Anyway, because of this, erm, charming habit we are working on breaking, I do have to keep on my toes about the whole thing.

My sister's wedding is a mere 12 days away! The wedding should be a great time, although I still would like to find some new shoes to go with my dress. I'm not sure what my sister's shoes look like, but her dress is gorgeous. It is a deep red color I would describe as Burgundy (although I think they called it ruby). It is sort of a 40's Hollywood-esque dress and very pretty. I'm wearing a little black dress. Maybe I should also go looking for a necklace to wear with it. My butterfly necklace would look very nice though. Well, Roland is making cookies and I'm very interested in the results so I'm going to go see if I can snitch a little!