I've actually been living life in the real world...weird

The last week has been long and busy. The last 9 days, really. So, I do want to update, but it's going to have to be in installments. Which means maybe I'll update more regularly? Eh?

Two weekends ago two of my very best friends came to visit - Marissa and Amy. Seeing as how Ris is my maid of honor and Amy is a bridesmaid, I was super, super excited about their timing. I did my best not to be all, "Blahblahblahweddingblahblahdressblahblahcolortheme," all weekend. You can ask them how I did. (No, I don't know how you can ask them, since I'm not posting their phone numbers or anything. Some of you know them, so I guess you could ask them. Anyway.) We ate Turkish food and went to the Cleveland wine festival and ate dinner at Lola and brunch at Tommy's. I think I did a reasonable job of convincing them that Cleveland isn't a total wasteland (which it isn't, but they have recently lived in places like New York and Philadelphia and Seattle, so...yeah.) And then I was sad when they left. Because I love them a lot. Okay, I'm done being sappy. For now.

Besides, there was not time to be sad, because the future in-laws were coming! Wes and Kris are really great people, and I like them a lot. But...this was the first time when I would see them as Future-In-Laws. So, maybe I was a leetle bit stressed. It was completely fine. They took us back for a second Lola dinner (yay!) and were otherwise quite low-key. Wes has learned that I like cheese, so whenever he visits our fridge becomes full of awesome cheese. Today I ate half a loaf of bread with about a quarter pound of cheese and some tomatoes for some sort of lunch/dinner combo meal. I was a happy girl. Basically, I have a future father-in-law who likes to increase my access to cheese and wine. I am more than okay with this.

Then, all of us (Wes, Kris, Brandon, and Karen) drove down to Dayton, Ohio for the wedding of Jeremy and Tamara. Jeremy is one of B's friends from elementary/middle/high school. B was a groomsmen, and Jeremy will more than likely be part of our wedding party. Tamara and I met once in real life before the wedding, but we've become really good blog friends (you may recognize her name from the comments). So, I managed to score an invite to the bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the next-day barbecue! Sweet!


On the way down to Dayton, we drove so close to the house I lived in from age 7-14 years, so I made B stop. So...just so you know, when we lived there the garage was not painted with a giant O. We are indeed OSU fans (both of my parents have multiple degrees from THE Ohio State University), but not that kind of OSU fan. The trees are much bigger, and I'm pretty sure that the hostas in front were planted by my mother about 15 years ago. Kind of fun.

Okay, that's all for now. I leave you with this teaser picture from the bachelorette party. (Note to relatives who read this: only one of those martinis is mine. That's not saying I didn't order a second one later in the night, but I definitely did not have six. Just sayin'.) Come back next time for stories of multiple parties and a wedding and meeting more internet friends (hi, Jennie and Heidi!). You know you want to.