Many Events

Since my last blog update, many events have taken place. It's been a busy month! :>)

First and foremost, Lisa, a good friend that is loved by many, got married. Yea Lisa and Greg! The week before their marriage, there were some pre-wedding get-togethers. Wednesday night we met at Louis and Jen H.'s and had a potluck with BLTs as our featured dish. That night was full of fun, laughter, tears, and presents. We presented Lisa with the scrapbook we secretly made, and more presents were had for both the bride and groom as this party was also the Bachelorette/Bachelor Party. Lisa made faces at the other, traditional, presents, choked down some celebratory toasting champagne, and Jen R. kept us entertained w/ party games. The next night, Thursday, was a get-together at Manor Bowl. It was after a combined family dinner, so both Lisa and Greg's families were in attendance, too. The fact that it was "college nite" made the whole experience cheaper, but not any less fun. We all were spread out onto 4 lanes. Aside from Dayni's pictures of our "bowling butts" many of these pictures turned out blurry due to the lighting. Friday was a night off for wedding festivities for us, but Saturday, we all were back with a vengence, bright and early. We met at Baker Beach in SF at 10am. The weather was great, my honey made a fantastic minister, and the bride and groom, aside from needing jackets, couldn't be happier. Phillip was the minister b/, as a joke, he got certified thru the internet when Lisa and Greg announced their engagement. Earlier this year, they asked him to do the ceremony. This was not a joke and he took his job seriously. Phillip presented a short, sweet, and personalized monologue, and Lisa and Greg had chosen some simple, heart-warming vows. The ceremony ended with tons of pictures, and our group of friends parted our separate ways. Phillip, Jen H., Louis, and I went to lunch and then the San Leandro Cherry Festival. It was held back in the downtown area with all the same booths and food, but with an additional area of rides for kids. Afterwards, we went home to change and headed to Oakland's Chinatown for the banquet. The restaurant had 3 other weddings going on, but we all enjoyed our little corner of the world. There aren't any pictures of Lisa and Greg all dressed up in purty dresses and suit, but that's what I get for not buying a new camera yet! The banquet was good food. Our only complaint was a lack of water service from the waitress. The scrapbook was on display at the "sign-in" table and it got great reviews. :>) It is definitely something that Lisa and Greg will cherish for a long time. After dinner, Phillip, Tia Luisa, Debbie, Jen R., and Dayni went to kareoke at the Hayward place. It was The Tias' first trip to a place like that and they had a lot of fun. We gave them the souvineer cd at the end. There more pictures than the one above, but you'll have to ask Dayni, Jen R., or Carolyn for the links. Carolyn also took pictures of our scrapbook masterpiece...

The next large event for me was Relay for Life. It was down in Salinas, CA. I went with Katie and participated b/of her friend, Laura, who's battling stomach cancer yet again. Because Laura wasn't feeling well, her and the husband didn't show, but Katie and I did hang out with her mom, aunt, and cousin for a lot of hte night. The rest of our team was a Bunco group the aunt belongs to. The opening ceremony was interesting. They presented a special cancer survivor and then the Survivor's Lap took place. I was amazed at how many there were! It was fantastic to see so many purple shirts walk by us. (purple = survivor, white = participant, red = volunteer) The candlelight vigil was the next thing that was noteworthy. It was so beautiful, yet sad. A lot of the bags were "in memory" of someone. It didn't help that they were playing "Angel" by Sarah McLaughlin either. Other bags were "in honor of" people who were battling cancer. There were tears during these laps, but also a lot of laughter as people remembered those that are no longer with us. I was surprised at how much a decorated paper bag w/ a tealight could be so powerful. When the stadium lights came back on, Michelle, Laura's mom, left for the night. KT and I continued to walk until about 3am. We napped in my car and were back on the track at 630am. We grabbed some snacks but were too tired to wait for Phillip to have breakfast w/ us as he headed down to Tulare that weekend. I did pay for my silent auction basket that I "won" before we left, though. It was three bottles of wine, plastic wine goblets, napkins, and a wine opener. I wasn't paying attention when I wrote $40 for hte bid until afterwards when KT pointed out that the basket was worth that much. Of course I won! duh! Oh well, it was for a good cause.

katie, michelle, me

Other things goin' on were smaller in scale:

• I got my haircut. It now looks better when it wants to.
• I went to Andrea's house for a party in honor of Miss Sophia's 1st birthday. That little girl didn't know what to do with so much attention! I'd have played with her, but she's still not too sur of me. I don't blame her. I don't see her often....
• I went ot the doctor for the painful thing near my nose. It could be staph (GREAT!), but she treating it as like horrible acne to see what happens first. SO, I'm on antibiotics and have super sensitive skin.
• I tested for two jobs with Alameda County and hope to get the results in 4-6 weeks. grrr. I know. They're just processing scantrons.
• I've been taking a beginning Accounting class on-line through Chabot. It'll count towards my requirements to get an AS in Administrative Assistant. The class takes up a lot of my time, but there are only 4 more weeks left. Chapter 7's been kicking my butt...
• Because I couldn't go to the fair on Sunday with Andrea, I ended up being able to go with Claire and her friend Amy yesterday. The entire fair closed early (830pm), but that was OK as were were gonna head out to see fireworks in San Ramon. Good show, bad parking. SOmething to note for next year.
• And, finally, one last thing. I was released from my job with Adesta. It was done in a rude and cowardly way, but aside from that, I'm not too upset. I really didn't like it there. It was chaotic, there were no training guides in place, and my supervisor was too busy and stressed to help much besides to stress me out. So, now, I'm unemployed and job hunting. I need to go answer some of those job announcement emails that are clogging my inbox!

Hope everyone had a happy and fun 4th of July holiday, and I'll try to update more often. I appologize to my faithful readers for the long break.