A Day to be "Us"

It was a weird week.  On one hand, I was so looking forward to our weekend because we had a much-anticipated family wedding on Craig's side and a family reunion on my side.  On the other hand, the reunion wasn't going to be at the beach (the camp is in the middle of a sale), and all sorts of stuff was driving my anxiety up--my mom's sister's husband got a terrible diagnosis, our friend ended up in the hospital for an allergic reaction to her MS infusion, and COVID cases are rising everywhere, to the point my NYC friend's office shut down because half his team has contracted COVID despite being vaccinated.  That made me infinitely more nervous for what we had hoped might be a "normal" wedding--particularly as we looked ahead to July when we were at the crazy, COVID-edited last family wedding in November.  It made it hard to consistently plan for the weekend--sometimes I was excited, sometimes I was nervous--and as a result, packing and prep were a little disjointed (and it showed because we forgot so many random things this weekend--nothing crazy, but still, it was unlike us).

I'm still trying to take comfort in my flowers and gardens, even if they're still making me crazy with all the rain and just finding a balance to keep things watered and happy.  This random capture on Wednesday when we got back from a rough night of basketball made me happy.

Also, my last different flower from my variety of seed packets finally bloomed.  I had been waiting for these cosmos to bloom, and they're really cute--yellow-orange and yellow so far.

We tried to pack as much as possible before the weekend, but of course we got tripped up by a handful of the usual suspects at the last minute.  Packing up food, using and packing morning toiletries, the lack of a set departure time, wardrobe issues, and Jacob's complete inability to leave his brother alone and get in the shower at a reasonable time (also a perpetual issue on church Sundays) all set us back, and before we knew it, getting to the wedding on time was going to be a challenge.  I was hoping to get dressed and do my hair at my parents' after getting lunch on the way, but then my dress took forever to iron and Jacob took so long getting ready that I had to curl my hair at home and we had to pre-order our Firehouse Subs for pickup along the way and take them to my parents'.  Thank goodness I ate as we drove because I needed every second to get ready, and still managed to forget to change my jewelry.  Craig forgot to pack a tie, so we were both a bit of a mess.  We ran out the door quite late and the GPS had us getting there about five minutes after the ceremony was supposed to start.  And of course it was in the city and parking was a pain, but thankfully there was a side door and a lot of bridesmaids, so we got there as the bridesmaids were coming in and had almost all 10 of their long aisle walks to settle in.  It was the same beautiful church where Craig's other cousin, our former flower girl, got married two years ago.

The ceremony was lovely as always--and maybe even meant more this time around.  For one, Craig's cousin Julie is the only daughter in a family of five kids, so seeing her dad get to walk her down the aisle was meaningful.  Also, this had been a long time coming in more ways than one (the groom is only a year younger than me), and maybe seeing more mature adults committing in that way hit different than it does with wider-eyed younger folks whose path to the altar felt more...inevitable, perhaps?  Anyway, it was great.

Two of the biggest challenges of COVID for me have been the lack of couple time and the lack of making an effort to feel pretty.  We've spent the majority of the last 17 months with the kids.  Yes, there were days when we were home alone when they were at school, but we were rather focused on work for most of that and it wasn't like we could have long, in-depth, kid-free chats at our leisure.  Not to mention that Jacob stays up late all the time, so any late night adult time we used to have has been extra hard to come by.  There have been very few date nights--two dinners and now two weddings, and that's about it.  So you can imagine my excitement to have a half day where we dropped the kids off and had time together.  I was also extra excited to get all dressed up.  Not getting dressed up for work every day has been a blessing and a curse.  Of course it's easier to throw on shorts (or jeans all winter) and a t-shirt, and just doing the bare minimum of hair and makeup, but there's something to be said for making an effort and being rewarded with that feeling of satisfaction from adulting extra well.  I like feeling pretty and it's been a bit hard to come by since all of this started.  

Originally I had a plan to wear a dress I bought a couple years ago super cheap at Kohl's that I hadn't had anywhere to wear it since.  It's a black flowered dress with a slightly fuller skirt and a different hemline (longer in the back), and it felt perfect for a summer wedding.  Well, a few weeks ago I ordered a bathing suit top online at JCPenney for in-store pickup (it was a similar style to a top I have and love, and I got it so cheap), and figured I'd browse the clearance racks while I was there.  I tried on a handful of dresses, mostly just for kicks.  One of them ended up looking way better on me than I expected.  It was a maxi dress with a black halter top and flowy striped skirt (organza-type overlay over a calf-length underskirt).  It fit well and looked elegant but was still comfortable and summery.  But it was $27, which is a lot more than I usually pay for my clearance dresses at Kohl's.  So I put it back on the rack and left.  I was stopping at Kohl's after that to use some Kohl's cash, and the whole way there I was thinking about that dress. When I arrived at Kohl's, I figured out I somehow dropped one of my better masks in the JCPenney parking lot.  Then I didn't find anything of note at Kohl's, which made me think about about that dress even more.  So at the end of the Kohl's trip, I decided the lost mask was a divine sign to go back to JCPenney and grab it (who's going to pick up a mask, after all?  It had to still be there!), then go in and buy the dress.  $27 was still way cheaper than most dresses, and I figured it would also be a good option for my cousin's wedding next May.  So I did just that, and I decided I wanted to wear the new dress to this wedding--but don't worry, the other one got moved to the wedding we're going to in three weeks!

I had Craig take a picture of me in the dress because a Facebook friend wanted to see pictures after I posted the mask story, so I figured this would work.  Bonus points for it being in front of the school Craig attended for one year.

Our plan for the three hours between the reception and ceremony was mostly to go to the new-ish Hofbrauhaus in Buffalo.  As you may know, I am slightly obsessed with Oktoberfest, and ever since the Hofbrauhaus was announced in 2017, I have been waiting to go.  It took extra long for construction, then longer with COVID, but it finally opened a while back, so we wanted to stop in.  But we ended up making one detour to the mall first, so we could look for a tie for Craig.  I also used it as an excuse to upgrade my earrings (after forgetting to change at the house).  We were shockingly successful there (got what we needed cheap), then headed back to the city.

It felt pretty cool to pull up and see this sign!  Always neat when Buffalo gets something special like this!

They did an amazing job converting an old industrial type building to something that looked a bit like a German brewhouse.  

There's some nice outdoor seating and a bar, but it was pretty humid and a little drizzly so we ended up inside at the bar.  Seeing the official mugs and logo was pretty darn cool.  I watched audio and video webcams of the Hofbrau tent at Oktoberfest for years, so to be sitting in something similar was neat.  No live music at the time, unfortunately, but the background music was festive and it was nice to just relax and watch random Olympic events on TV.

And of course, most of all, it was nice to just be out with Craig and be able to have normal conversations that weren't interrupted every five seconds.

We clean up pretty nice!

Craig misunderstood the beer sizes a bit and ended up with the full litre of beer, which was bigger than his head.  After feeling the weight, I have no idea how those Oktoberfest waitresses carry so many of them in one hand!

Mine was a bit smaller!

And, of course, we HAD to have a pretzel!

It all felt a little surreal to be out, looking nice, enjoying a beer and snack, and relaxing with Craig without the kids fighting or complaining they're bored.  Not to mention it was at a place I've been waiting to go to for years, and was the "lite" version of an experience I've wanted to have for much longer.  Fingers crossed that at some point COVID lets up and we figure out how to take a trip to Poland (for Craig) and Germany (for me) and finally get me to Oktoberfest to enjoy more than just the webcams!

That round decoration looked like a keg front.

They had a whole wall of mugs locked up for regulars who have bought one to use each time they're there.  It's apparently a Hofbrau tradition, and it's pretty cool.

After thoroughly enjoying our beer and pretzel and checking the place out a bit, it was time for the reception.  The weather was iffy, but in the end it was a lovely evening with just a few raindrops (literally, just raindrops) here and there.  The venue was along the Niagara River near downtown Buffalo, a place I've passed by hundreds of times but never gone to.  Always nice to be by the water.

Dinner was great and we very much enjoyed seeing family and socializing with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles who we see less often (although I've definitely seen the female relatives quite a bit with all the showers!).  We took advantage of the pretty sunset for a selfie, and spent most of the rest of the night chatting on the deck with various sets of relatives.  We barely even got to dance because so many people were outside enjoying the evening and we just kept talking!

We went back to my parents' house full and tired.  I had a rough night of sleep thanks to a leaky inflatable mattress, but at least the report on the kids' night was good!  They had dinner, went to see a nearby traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, and apparently didn't drive my parents nuts.  I'll call it a win.  On Sunday we had a family reunion--the one that's usually at the beach--but as I mentioned, the camp is currently going through a sale and something was preventing them from hosting anything right now.  It ended up at the outdoor pavilion at our old church, which was only five minutes from my parents' house and had a basketball net and playground.  The handful of kids there (including Carter) had a lot of fun with water balloons, and it was nice seeing some relatives on my side.  I'll look forward to the return to the beach next year, but the simplified version this year was appreciated.  We had a little issue at the end when Carter dropped a water balloon too close to Jacob, and Jacob insisted it ruined his shoes (the orange pair he got for his birthday), but they weren't really that wet and I think he was being a bit overdramatic.  It's always something with them.  

Which brings me to my next post...an update on the state of affairs in our house. Stay tuned...