Beaches, Boyfriends, and Brides

It feels like it has been years since I wrote a post. After I turned in my animation project last Tuesday, life sped up.

Tuesday: I met Olivia for breakfast at Busken. We stuck to donuts for this complete nutritious breakfast. It was exciting to finally catch up and talk about her upcoming wedding in July. After breakfast I turned in all my studio projects at DAAP, which felt like a giant weight off my shoulders. Andrew, Fay, Reggie, Shelbye and I met up at Skyline to discuss event planning for Navs next fall. It was so nice to relax with friends and build a vision for my senior year. Emily and Aaron took me back to DAAP to visit DAAPworks, the senior capstone exhibition. I was pretty impressed with the GD projects—Landor really whipped their displays into shape. I only hope my tiny studio can rise to the high standards set for the show next year. The night concluded with a studio party at my studiomate Karen's house. Her parents just built an awesome farmhouse in Winton Hills. Everyone brought desserts and sides and we grilled out. Most of the night consisted of cornhole and relaxing by the bonfire.

 favorite DAAPworks project / s'mores with the studio

Wednesday: I met Fay and Shelbye for coffee at Rohs St. Cafe to chat about Maranatha. Shelbye went last year so she had lots of advice and encouragement. When I went to meet Julie for lunch at Pho Lang Thang I started to realize that this might be the week of non-stop eating out...I wrapped up the day with my last night of babysitting for the Schultz family. I can help them out again in the fall when I'm back from Michigan, but I will miss the boys a lot over the summer.

 from Andrew's 4th birthday party

Thursday: After staying up til two to pack up my room so my subletter could move in, I rose early to drive to Cleveland. Bethany and I met up right after I arrived to discuss her wedding day plans. She asked me to be her event coordinator on Sunday to ensure that things ran smoothly. I think it's funny how my friends rely on my organization skills, maybe I'm more anal than I realize. Christie came over to drag me away from my Lit paper for dinner. It was so good to sit with her and give her some encouragement. I know she doesn't believe me but God really shows me how crazy he is about her and how he is going to bring her to a much better place when she shares what she is going through. We went to a Thai place for pad thai, panang curry, and mango with sticky rice. Yummm. Then I banged out a five page paper like I just didn't care and called it quits on my Junior year. Hooray!

 drive to Cleveland / bestfriend time in the car

Friday: My brothers invited Christie and me to the beach (on Lake Erie). Comparing myself to C, my skin needed some sun so we agreed. After laying out we found my brothers out on one of the piers. Mack was playing his guitar while Logan break danced for us. Sometimes I wonder how the three of us kids got so interested in artistic things when out parents loved science.

getting our tan on / relaxing on the pier

My grandma took Christie and Mack's friend Chuck with us to the Natural History Museum to see the special Mythic Creatures exhibit. We also walked around the nature reserve to see all the rehabilitated woodland creatures. C was pretty excited about the racoons but I loved the tiny screech owl.

 known this guy since I was little

Since Mack's 19th birthday was coming up my dad came over to my grandparent's house for a celebratory outdoor dinner. It was fun to have non-family members there too and I think it was a good birthday for Mack.

Saturday: Staying at home for even a few days with my brothers is always interesting. After getting parked in by my absent brother I made it to Josh and Beth's morning wedding rehearsal. I memorized the ceremony details and then watched Selah (Beth's friend's baby) for most of the morning. What a cute little girl!

I drove to the airport in the afternoon to pick up Adam from his flight in from San Diego. It was so nice to get to see him in Ohio for a change. We ran a bunch of errands for all of our upcoming weddings and then picked up Honey Hut. My dad had a bunch of friends over so we socialized and mooched some of their amazing cheesecake as well.

Sunday: When we're in Cleveland Adam stays in Kirtland with his grandparents since my house doesn't have a spare bed to fit his tall frame. He picked me up and then we headed to North Olmsted to set up J&B's reception. Bethany's mom explained the plan to me and then set me to work stringing up photos and laying out table settings. After three hours of hard work I went across the street to the church to see if any of the ten bridesmaids needed help. Things were pretty under control so I greeted guests and invited them to sign the guest board. Before the wedding began I ran around making sure people were calm and knew where to be. I must say, I'm really awesome at being in charge. Anyone hiring?

The wedding was really wonderful because J&B infused a lot of their personality in it. There was great worship music and a casual vibe from the wedding party. Bethany even played/sang a song she wrote about waiting for the right man which made me a crying mess. It reminded me of who we were when we met fourteen years ago and how we dreamed of having boyfriends and getting married...God has surpassed Bethany's wildest wishes.

no clue why I thought it would be appropriate to make that face /
lovely lights that came with the reception venue

I know I'm a few weeks behind with my updates so keep checking back, I have a lot more to tell!
Kendralala