Saturday shenanigans

Alicia is getting married in less than a month. Therefore, it was necessary to have a bachelorette party this past Saturday. Props to the bridal party for putting the day together! We started at the bride's house, and Terri brought her a coffee with Bailey's in it. Way to get the party started, Ter. After giving all us girls little tiaras and 'Team Bride" braceletes, and putting mini top-hat and penis-covered veil on the bride, we snapped a few pics in the backyard and headed out (keep in mind that no one told Alicia where we were going)

Jen, me, Alicia, Terri, Michelle, and Lisa

I rode up with Michelle, and we went straight to the El Dorado Kitchen in downtown Sonoma. All the girls started with the wine, while I opted for a 'Sunflower,' which is white cranberry, orange peel, orange juice, and ginger ale. It was quite tasty. The food was also really good; I had the pork tacos.

After lunch, MOH Terri decided it was time to bust out the 'pecker pops.' I refused to put mine on or even open it, especially after all the other girls did and said it didn't taste very good. I did, however, get pictures of the girls enjoying their post-lunch treats.

Pecker Power!

Alicia being photobombed by Michelle

Terri and Jen enjoy their pecker pops

After that we headed another 5 miles north to the Ledson winery (I was driving Alicia's car at this point), which is Alicia's favorite. While I obviously did not drink the wine, I did enjoy the cheese and fruit tray very much.We had lots of fun asking the bride questions that made her uncomfortable at first, but the more wine we got in her, the less uncomfortable she was. Even Guy, our Ledson host for the tasting, was getting in on the questions. Jen, Alicia's sister, brought fudge from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and it was so delicious! Right after the tasting officially concluded, Michelle and Jen had to take off for other family obligations, but Alicia, Terri, Lisa, and I stayed around. This basically consisted of me watching them down two bottles of Gunsight while Lisa attempted to take really good 'selfies' and Alicia got less inhibited by the swig. Lisa and I kept taking inappropriate pictures and texting them to Matt, which was funny for us. 

Alicia and Terri

Lisa and me

The royal bride

Front of Ledson estate

Lisa, Terri, me, Alicia

You're totes jelly of my selfie. NOT! LOL!

Terri and Alicia hug it out in front of the estate

Alicia is drunk.

Very drunk

Me failing at jumping

After this, I drove the girls home. Since we started at 10am and got home around 6:15, I'd say it was pretty epic. I then proceeded to Sunvalley Mall where we had a goodbye dinner for Kari Jagger, who is moving to Chicago tomorrow. Allow me to explain what went wrong with the meal:

1. I ordered a gluten free burger, and it came out on a regular bun full of gluten. The server sent it back to the kitchen, where there were forced to remake the entire thing as well as the fries.

2. Jessica took a big bite of her bacon cheeseburger, and wound up with a hair in her mouth. Watching her extricate said hair was like watching a magician pull a handkerchief out of his through; it just kept coming and coming. The rest of us nearly gagged just watching it. When we flagged the server, Sarah, she was like, "That's hot," which made us laugh

3. As if that wasn't bad enough, about two minutes later, Katie found a black hair in her fries. At that point, we were all so nauseous we stopped eating.

Needless to say, Parker, the manager on duty got called over and the restaurant comped our entire meal. He was glad that we at least had a good sense of humor about it, but DUDE - DISGUSTING!

Everyone then descended on my apartment where I dominated at Disney monopoly. Dumbo FTW! I kicked everyone out at midnight because I was exhausted after my super full day of fun.

Violence at Church

Ok, so I punched Matt Ivory during family home evening tonight, and I shouldn't have. My mom always taught me that violence is not the answer, and indeed, she's right. That being said, let me explain what happened. The TV ward was playing human foosball. I was sitting out because Jessica was wearing my shoes, and let's face it: I'm rather athletically challenged. Anyway, before the game started, there was about ten minutes in which teams were getting settled. Matt was sitting on the stage next to me, and was dressed to play, so I said, "You can go on that row with Jacob and Nick." His curt reply was, "I'm not holding hands with a guy." I just stared because, really, what am I supposed to say to that? A few minutes later, Whitney came up, asked Matt if he wanted to play and pointed to the same row, getting the same response. She then offered, "You don't have to hold hands, you can hold forearms." Matt's reply was, "I'm not touching another guy." At this point, something inside me was getting extremely irritated. I know the Church's stance on homosexuality, but we are playing a game here. It's not like being gay is a contagious disease that you get while playing human foosball...with a bunch of straight guys. Plus, we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, not the Westboro Baptists. Attitudes like this are the reason the media criticizes the religious right. It's bigoted and I can't stand it! Anyway, eventually Matt got to join the game because a girl joined that row. A few minutes in, the soccer ball being used flew into my lap on the stage, which was out of bounds. I was about to throw the ball back into the middle when Matt comes up and starts wrestling the ball from my hands, manhandling me in the process. He finally managed to rudely get the ball when I snapped, cocked my right arm back, and punched him in the back on his shoulder blade. No, it wasn't ladylike at all, but he certainly wasn't acting like a gentleman. The other girls in the room supported me, with some expressing that they felt like doing the same thing. All in all, it was an eventful FHE, and I think Matt got the idea that I was ticked off, but I would have probably been better off talking to him in private about his cantankerous, bigoted, misogynistic, chauvinist behavior. Just sayin'.

Skiing

For as long as I lived with Lisa Harris, which was about five years, I kept promising her that 'this winter' would be the one I would finally make it to Tahoe to go skiing, and it never happened. Until this year. I have gone to Northstar at Tahoe twice in the past month, and it was AWESOME!

The first time I went, I took Lisa Despain with me. She snowboarded while I skied. I ended up getting a lot of runs in while she was practicing on the bunny slope (this was only her third time, and she'd never taken a lesson). One of the best moments was getting on the lift, and looking down to see Lisa parked on the slope, then yelling at her to make good choices. In the afternoon, we both took a lesson. My intermediate ski lesson ended up being private, and I learned some good things, like remaining balanced. Of course, I ate it HARD, twice, and nearly broke my thumb, but luckily that was the end of the day.

The second time was with Jessica Schuler, and I went to the top of the mountain while she took a first time snowboard lesson. Once she was done, she hit the slopes with me, and she had a blast. It was great to see a friend experience joy doing something that I also love.

Anyway, now I have the skiing bug and want to go again SOON!

FAIL

Yes, my poor blog has been neglected for a few months. In my defense, I am taking 18 credits and still working. Perhaps I will blog on Saturday after Jessica and I get back from our skiing/boarding advendure.

Isn't it ironic?

I am friends with many people from the mission on Facebook. Most of them have stayed in the Church and are doing well, and this makes me feel happy for them. There are a couple, though, that seem to have taken a different path over the past ten years. I don't begrudge them anything, or think they are horrible people, but I do find it interesting to see. So here are summaries:

1. A girl who my companion and I taught (she was 12 at the time) at the request of her recently reactivated mom got baptized. After I came home from the mission, the mom ended up getting sealed in the temple with her new husband. Cut to now - neither of them are active, and I'm about 99% sure that the now 22-year old girl has a girlfriend. Guess that means she's getting more action than me. LOL.

2. One of my companions, who, on our last day of the mission was told by our mission president that he "wasn't worried about her" no longer goes to church, and lives as if she never did. The only reason I bring this up is because my mission president worried about me all the time, and in fact, almost sent me home for health reasons. Yet, here I am, ten years later, still active in the church (albeit sometimes I feel like I'm only hanging on by my fingernails), and the one who he wasn't worried about isn't.

My parents

I am really thankful for my parents. More than that, I am glad to see my mom so happy for the past ten years. Having a righteous priesthood holder for a bonus dad is awesome, and it's even better because he is both nerdy and funny at the same time. Both my mom and Guy like to give me advice, which I don't always welcome, but I'm sure glad they are around to dispense it. So thanks, parents, for  opening your home to me and letting me go a little mad sometimes.

Flu shot

I  should have written about this last week when it happened, but oh well.

On Sunday the 4th, over dinner, we ended up talking about medical stuff, and it came up that I hadn't gotten my flu shot yet. November is very late in the season, especially since the vaccine take about a month to be effective. Anyway, my mom got so mad at me that she was rolling her eyes saying, "I can't believe you haven't gotten a flu shot, Ms. Asthma." She was legitimately angry with me, and told me I should go get one ASAP.

Cut to election day - I am out at a client, and they just happen to have a guy coming out that day to administer flu shots that day. I went into the kitchen and the guy says to me, "You want a flu shot?" My reply was, "Yes, but I don't work here." I then told the secretary that my mom yelled at me for not getting it, and she went all mom on me as well. She was like, "WHAT?" Then, the admin services director basically forced me down into the chair to get the stupid shot. She says to me, "You'll thank me when you don't get sick."

So, I fill out the paperwork, which takes longer than the shot itself, and then the guy administers the shot, which, surprisingly didn't hurt. It did hurt afterwards, however, for like 2 days. I told the client that I didn't like them anymore because they hurt me, even though they were only trying to help. This is all my mom's fault. :)