Things I did and learned this weekend

I had an entire long weekend to myself. I knew I would miss my son terribly, but honestly looked forward to an entire weekend without having to cook for or clean up after anyone but myself and where I would not, even once, have to wipe anyone elses ass. Ah, the simple things. What to do? What to do? Lay around the house watching TV for a start and then, road trip! Friday morning I woke up late. Late! I laid on the sofa for an hour or four watching Tivo'd episodes of my favorite shows (I believe I may have mentioned my great love of TV and my joy over the new fall season), ate breakfast, did some work (pesky job) and then went shopping. What a great way to kick off the weekend.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and my packed overnight bag sat waiting by the door. I tossed it into Elsa and off we went to Chicago! One of my friends was getting married, another had just gotten engaged and I had plans to meet up with a few others. Fun!

I got to Chicago, checked into my hotel and headed up to Gurnee to have dinner with a high school friend who I hadn't seen in about 3 years. She's younger than me, but I used to drive her to and from school her freshman year (my senior year) so we got to be pretty good friends. Also, I dated her brother. Thanks to the internet, we've been in touch and getting together was awesome. She's still the same fun person I knew and we talked just like had every morning and every afternoon for months on end so long ago.

The wedding of my other friend was in Evanston. They decided last week (last week!) to get married. They have a friend who is a JP and he was going to marry them. In their living room. At 8pm. Okay. While I was driving to Chicago, she calls me and tells me that wedding has been moved to 9, and asked if I could do her a huge favor by picking up the wedding cake at Jewel, since it was directly across from my hotel. No problem. While at dinner with my Gurnee friend, I got a text message that said the wedding was now at 10. Okey-dokey. The plan, by the way, was that they would get married (in their living room), we'd have cake and champagne and then we'd all head off to a bar. Not my style, but for them, it works. Also, it was her second wedding and his third. They'd both done the big wedding before and decided it didn't work, so they should just do it in a way they were comfortable with, surrounded by friends and family. I applaud their optimism.

I arrived (small 2 tiered wedding cake in hand) at 9:40. The JP was not there yet, so we sat around and talked until he arrived. At 10:12, he was finally there and we all assembled for the wedding. Candles burned in the fireplace, along the mantle and around the table holding the cake. The bride had a small boquet of white roses and wore jeans and a white t-shirt. The groom wore jeans and a black t-shirt. Everyone attending (all 7 of us) were asked to wear something red and were handed white tapers to hold while they said their vows. When the vows were over, we were asked to make a wish for them and blow out the candle. Please note, if you're going to do this at your own wedding, warn people ahead of time so they have time to think of something! Once the last candle had been blown out, they kissed and we had cake and champagne. At 11:30, it was decided to head to a local bar, but I begged off. I had driven a long way that day, had a brunch the next morning with some other friends and then had to drive back home.

The next morning I met 2 of my other friends from high school. One of whom had gotten engaged the previous weekend. Her friends (and mother) have all waited patiently quite a long time for her now fiancee to pop the question, so I am thrilled for her. Plus, her fiance is awesome and they are perfect together. I have to say, while he took his time in proposing, he did it very well, and she now sports a lovely very blingy ring on her left hand. My other friend had just gotten back from Ireland and had tons of lovely stories to tell that made me insanely jealous. It was great catching up with them in person. We keep in touch frequently via email, texts and phone calls, but meeting up is always better. We had a great time, talked and gossiped and after we parted, before I headed home, I made one last stop: IKEA.

I love IKEA. Seriously, love it. I would live in IKEA if they'd let me. There's just something about it that makes me happy. Maybe it's all the cool dsiplays or the fact that they have a gazillion and one thing to put all your stuff in. Man do I love the things you can put your stuff in. I also like how they show you how to pack a family of 4 into an 803 sqft house. To be fair though, while they pack the house with toys and pots and pans and books and chachkis, they leave out the one thing that constantly clutters my house: paper. I swear I feel like I'm drowning in paper. It comes from everywhere. Mail, things stuck on the door, work, my son's backpack. It's everywhere. While I know I don't need it all, I'm petrified to get rid of most of it, because what if I need it? I generally never do, but I might. Anyway, IKEA shows you where you can put all your stuff and I love it. While I don't think it possible to really live the lifestyle IKEA portrays, I'm going to keep throwing my money at them in a vain attempt to do so.

I got home late that night and was practically attacked by my son and dogs who had a lot to tell me. Well, not the dogs, but my son. The most interesting being the evading of the police for shooting off fireworks in the back yard. My son assures me though, he was going to tell the "kaplice" that Daddy did it, not him. Way to cover your six, little man.



So, that's what I did this weekend. Now, onto the things I learned:



-Watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares while eating breakfast is NOT a good idea. Seriously, watching GRKN while eating anything is not a good idea. I did it, nearly lost what I was eating and finally had to turn it off. Just trust me on this and do not try it at home (unless you have a cast iron stomach or want to clean up a really big mess).



-Men are weird. Okay, I didn't learn that just this weekend (I've know for a long time), but it was reinforced for me this weekend at a gas sation in Joliet. Only a man would think it's a good idea to tell a woman (a perfect stranger at that), who is innocently pumping gas that she has a great ass. While the sentiment is appreciated, being told it, very loudly in a public place is not. He's an older guy who drives a black Toyota Corolla. If you live in Joliet, be on the lookout!



-Getting together from time to time with friends who knew you when you were in your formative years is a good idea. Even if it's only every few months or once every couple of years, it will make you feel young again and remind you of a time when life was far less complicated.



-People are going to let you down. No matter how much you may love and care about them, they're going to let you down. Not necessarily because they want to, but because circumstances force them to. This doesn't make you any less disappointed, but there's nothing you can do about it.



-Life treats some people unfairly. Good, decent, hard working people, who deserve better are often dealt a hand they don't deserve, while others are allowed to skate by on luck or accident of birth. The people who are dealt the bad hand work hard to make the best of it, but to see it makes me sad because they deserve better. There's nothing I can do about it and honestly it's none of my business, but to see it breaks my heart.

-Weddings don't have to be big fancy affairs. They can be done in your living room at 10pm and attended by just a few people and still be just as nice as the ones that cost thousands of dollars. Though really, if you ask your guest to say something, give them more than 30 seconds warnign or you might get someone saying something like "I wish you happiness and joy and that I had known you were going to do this."