with this ring ...

I had the pleasure and honor of being in my college roommate Jen's wedding last weekend. I drove out to Indiana on Thursday (Blendy came along to help me drive) and returned home on Monday. It was a crazy, busy weekend, and I loved every minute of it! (Well, I didn't love the minutes in stop-and-go traffic near Chicago ... )

Sarah, another dear friend from college, was also a bridesmaid in the wedding, and we both stayed at Jen's apartment throughout the weekend. We spent Friday afternoon helping Jen and her mom get things ready for the reception ... and we had Chick-fil-A for lunch!  (If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll probably remember that Blendy and I love Chick-fil-A!) In the evening, we had a cookout with the groom's family, and then Jen & Josh (the groom) dropped Sarah, Steph, and me off at The Chocolate Café while they ran errands. We had delicious ice cream! Since Jen's apartment is only a few blocks from The Chocolate Café, we decided to walk back. At a stoplight, I noticed this older, grungy-looking motorcyclist, but I didn't think much of it ... until he passed us again a few minutes later. There was a McDonald's about 20 yards ahead of us, and he pulled into the parking lot and shut off the motor. We kept walking. Just after we passed him, he restarted the bike and started to pull around the restaurant. That's when we made a break for the door, and we watched him roar away.  We changed our route back to Jen's to avoid the road we'd seen the biker on, and Sarah and I jumped every time we heard a motorcycle. Blendy, though, was oblivious!

On Saturday, Wedding Weekend truly began. We spent most of the day at The Oaks at Southpaw Farm. The property was once owned by Major League Baseball pitcher Jamie Moyer, and it's one of the most beautiful houses I've seen. First, the ladies involved in the wedding gathered for brunch. (The secret to the amazing scrambled eggs? Italian seasoning and dried mustard.) Then, two of the bridesmaids hosted a shower for Jen. We played Bridal Apples-to-Apples, and you'd think a team comprised of three of the six bridesmaids would have done well ... instead, we came in dead last! We went to the church for the rehearsal, then we all returned to The Oaks for the rehearsal dinner--Bruno's pizza! I sat with J-La, a friend of Jen's whose blog I've read. It was fun to meet lots of people who I "knew" through Facebook and Jen's blogs but had never met before! Above is a picture of the aprons Jen had made for all the women involved in the wedding. Sarah and I had both been admiring Jen's apron at home that morning, so we were pleasantly surprised to receive our own! Jen also gave the bridesmaids jewelry and flip flops. The flip flops were to be worn when we took outdoor pictures in South Bend and at the reception--and they totally saved my feet!

The wedding itself was beautiful, and the reception was a blast! Jen throws great parties, and her reception was no exception. She had a dessert bar featuring various candies, cheesecake, tres leches cake, buckeyes (known here in Nebraska as peanut butter balls), creme de menthe bars, and an assortment of other temptations.
The highlight for me, though, was the photo booth. Sarah, Blendy, and I went in twice. We didn't really have a plan for the first set we did, so we thought things through before we went in the second time. (Click on the pictures to see a full-sized view.) The first picture is our "sultry Shakespearean" faces--that's seriously a pose the photographer asked for when we were taking wedding pictures! If this picture is any indication, we looked like idiots in the wedding photo. The second picture is "Asian-style." It's nearly impossible to take a picture with my students without the peace sign showing up, so this picture is in honor of them. I can't remember what the third picture was supposed to be, and the fourth is us sending our love to Josh & Jen.

Monday morning, after far too little sleep, we had to head home. First, though, Sarah and I got breakfast at Le Peep. The best part of my breakfast was my caramel macchiato ... as you can see, I was pretty tired, so I needed the caffeine! Sarah and I decided that we should get together every 4th of July--last year, we were together in Montana, this year we were at Jen's wedding, and next year we'll be ... in Nebraska? Colorado? I'm thinking we should definitely meet up somewhere!