A SoCal Visit...Saturday/Sunday

Saturday. The day that I was scheduled to leave the Gleason Household. I leisurely got packed up and ready to go. Hung out with the kids and Mark and Melissa a little longer. And around 12ish I took off. The drive from Rancho Santa Margarita to Claremont should have only been about 45 minutes.

But when there is an accident on I5 closing down 2 lanes things got a little slowed up.

Oh well. No biggie.

I got to Claremont just in time to hop out of my car and jump into my parent's car to go grab some lunch along Foothill aka Route 66. Interesting little diner type place.

Back at the hotel there wasn't much time to rest before having to get ready for my cousin's wedding. I like to call Megan my "surprise cousin" because she comes with my "surprise uncle". I'll have to explain that story sometime. It's a good one.

Remind me later. I'll forget.

Dad walked into an all girls hotel room. I don't think he realized how big of a mess Kaitlin and 2 of my cousin's could make.
It was really hot that day. Like really hot. Like my butt sweated a lot hot. Not a good thing when you're all spiffied up. Luckily these fans here were the favors. And Kaitlin was a lovely model.This would have been a great shot of my Uncle Mike and Megan had that darned photographer not been in the way. I'm not joking you, there were like 4 photographers there. I think 3 of them worked for 1 of them. (Good math, eh?) They were part of an art program on campus. My Uncle was beaming and my cousin looked gorgeous!
The newly married Mr. and Mrs. Heisterman. Hiesterman. Matt and Megan!Here I was testing the lighting. I need to work on testing the lighting. I'm not so good at it. Good thing Breanne already has red hair, or else it would just look red from the lighting.
Father and daughter first dance. (See. I need help with lighting.)
Had to break out the flash here. I gave into peer pressure. Everyone else was using their flash. Why couldn't I? Oh, because I don't like how the flash ends up giving you a shiny nose and chin. This would be the next Arnold kin to attend Cal Poly. Keepin' the tradition alive, Tricia!
Outside the auditorium. Where it was slightly cooler than inside the auditorium. Still not completely cooled down. Still totally warm out. Sure was a pretty building though.
See, still needing to use the props, I mean the fans. Still needing to fan themselves off.
We left shortly before midnight. The party was apparently moving to some bar called Piano Piano that was right next to the hotel. Mom and Dad obviously weren't going to go. Tricia and I were beat. Kaitlin and Breanne totally wanted to join the rest of the crowd, but being as Breanne is underage (and going to be the next of Arnold kin starting at Cal Poly in the fall) they didn't go either. We all fell asleep shortly after getting back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we went to a brunch with with Bride, Groom, and their family. It was a lovely (aka HOT) morning. We ate, we visited, we left.

What did you expect? We still had a 5-6 hour drive ahead of us. After a quick stop at 21 Choices, meaning they only had 6 choices of froyo, we hit the road. Mom hopped in the car with me and away we went. Smoothly too.

Until the grapevine. Where there was a fire about 1/3 up the road. So we crept. And we crawled. And we watched my radiator gauge slowly climb. And we had to turn the AC way down. Then we had to turn the AC completely off and depend on 4-60.

Except it was 4-5. Which equals sitting in the still heat for, oh, roughly 45 minutes to an hour.

Got going again. Got some air circulating around the engine and it cooled down rapidly. Then so did we with the AC full blast!

Uber quick stop in Bakersfield at Starbucks to use the facility and get a cold, caffinated beverage. Then away we went. Non stop. Cruise controllin' around 75.

And we were home around 6. And I was beat. And my dog missed me.

And that was my vacation.

Any questions?

4 Sisters and A Wedding

Six years ago in May, my Aunt Megan got married. Aunt Megan is the youngest of the 4 Arnold girls, and the last one to tie the know. It was a very simple wedding, without fuss, for a 42 year bride.

Guess which one is Megan, the bride...

Despite all of the drama that followed the wedding and the feelings that were hurt between family, she's still my Aunt and I still love her.

In fact, I think that the last time that my Mom and her sisters were all together were at Megan's wedding. The gal in the middle, that's my Great Aunt Dee. She's my Grammy's sister that lives in Minnesota.
It's hard for them all to get together. After the years it took for air to clears and amends to be made there was the distance to factor in. With Aunt Missy in Washington state, Aunt Megan in New Mexico, and my Mom and Aunt Boo in California it's costly to get together. This year though, this year they have plans to all meet up in Las Vegas of long overdue sister bonding and catching up.

Although this trip isn't set to happen until October, I pray that their time is fruitful and fulfilling. I pray that they will live it up and let their hair down. I pray that they will deeply bond and have a renewed sense of sisterhood.

Lastly, I pray that such a tiff will never happen between my siblings and I losing so much time in each others lives and the lives of their families.

2 became 1. Then partied all weekend!

I have a cousin, his name is Claude. He's actually really my mom's cousin, but he's much closer in age to me and his mom is much closer in age to my mom. Well, after dating the lovely Bonnie for close to 10 years, they got hitched. And as one of their bridal party members said during one of the toasts, "After 10 years, we're turning this into a 3 day celebration!" And that it was!

The festivities (for us non-wedding party folk) started on Friday. Paige, Kaitlin, and I headed out of Hilmar before my parents so we could go to Monterey and visit with Chris for a bit before the wedding. We got to his dorm while he and his roommates were cleaning up (before they had to check out for the summer). We dragged Chris out and went to lunch at Pizza My Heart. The ceremony was held at the San Juan Baptista Mission where Bonnie grew up going to church. It was a beautiful site, very old and rugged.

Followed by a reception (#1) just up the road at a nice banquet restaurant site. It was nice to start the celebrations with the newly married couple. Something that they did for this reception that I had never seen before were to have 2 different food buffet lines. One was the bride's buffet with more salads and cold dishes, and the other was the groom's buffet with more the meat and potato items. I went through both. And both were yummy.

I was totally in love with the view that we had behind us.

As the (reserved) party started winding down we headed back to Monterey where we were staying the night. Paige with Chris in his dorm room, Kaitlin, Mom, Dad and I in the Cabo (white trash camper shell). It was interesting staying the night in a college parking lot on moving out weekend the night before graduation.

By about 9 the next morning wer were moving about. Being as I got to drive in style, Mom's Pathfinder, and had extra room in the back, we loaded some of Chris' stuff up. He stayed behind in Monterey to clean up, pack up, and head home. The rest of us got into our respective vehicles, truck and suv, and started making our way down to the ranch (Santa Margarita) for another night of festivities, but this one with more family, friends, people, drinking, dancing, well you get the picture.

We got to the ranch around 11am or so. Setting up tables, chairs, and the bar was underway. But! We had another agenda. For my birthday, it was my request to have my birthday meal (knowing it would be a couple days late) at Firestone Bar & Grill for lunch. I love Firestone Bar & Grill. So we drove over the grade into San Luis Obispo (my old stompin' ground) where we walked around downtown and had lunch. Side salad with ranch for me with fries that we shared. That was my thing to order there. I know, boring. But it was delish!

Knowing that it was time to head back and offer our assistance, we left the (not so cool) SLO and head back over the grade.

Now this gets to be the point where I can bore you and post 248 pictures of my family, cousins, aunts, and all, goofing off and having fun. But I'll be nice and save most of those for a later day. So here is a nice selection of say...5. Yea, I'll narrow it down to 5. Maybe 6. But no more than 7! And I'll save the pictures of the ranch itself for later. You don't care what a barn built by the Indians looks like right now.

The newly (day before) married couple!

The Arnold women. At least the cool ones! Starting at the left going counter clockwise we have: Aunt Missy (mom's sis), Me, Aunt Kate (actually my mom's aunt and my great aunt, but she's mom's age, long story for another day), Paige, Mom, Tricia (cousin), Kaitlin, Aunt Boo (mom's sis), Whitney (cousin), and Breanne (cousin).

Aunt Kate with her most adorable grandson, Clayton. By the way, Aunt Kate is the MOG (mother of the groom).

Two of my favorite people ever! My sisters! (You know, I think I need to print this picture and hang it on my wall!)

Kaitlin, my sister that is gone...forever...for the summer... maybe for fall too. *sniff* In case you're wondering, that is, uh, not an adult beverage. No, it's not! It's, uh, it's limeade. Yea, that's what it is. There is no tequilla in that whatsoever. In fact there's not beer in it either. Nope, straight, normal, plain limeade. Yea...

All of the immediate girl cousins. Me, Paige, Breanne, Tricia, Kaitlin, and Whitney. Yep, that's us. We're here to carry on the maiden name of our mother's, Arnold.

Shortly after the sun went down, and we were all tipsy enough, the dancing started. We, the cousins and I, realized that we do not have the dancing gene. But luckily, we were related to half the people there, so neither did they! Here's Paige gettin' down with her bad self!

And that's pretty much how we ended the evening. Some dancing. Some mingling. Some skipping out to go to bed (ok, that was just me). All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Good to get away, good to see family, good to visit SLO. Just good.

And 2 became 1

On May 10th, 2 of my dear friends, Jenn and Anthony, married one another. And I was honored to stand with them in support of their wedding day and their marriage. So, please forgive me. Being a bridesmaid kinda takes away from the chances to actually take pictures of the day. So here is a selection of what I have. I may jump and borrow some pictures from a friend.

Getting ready to ride in style to take pictures out at "the college". Anthony was nice enough to not clean out his truck for us. That's ok though, my car acted as a temporary holding tank for all of the guy stuff.

In transit (notice the radio buttons in the background?), I decided to take some pictures of the bridemaid bouquets. They were very pretty with lilys, and roses, and other flowers.

Looking down the head table. If you squint, you'll see the wedding cake back there. And delicious it was!

Shout out to my homies, the little people out in the crowd! You can tell they were thrilled to be sitting out in the hot sun. Thanks for the seefood, and the one-fingered salute. Boy was I feeling the love! No really, it's ok. They were my entertainment for the afternoon.

The top of me.

The bottom of me. I must say, those shoes were comfortable when we picked them out. Then hot and sweat happened. They weren't so comfy anymore.

The departure. And bubbles, good for the environment. Better than rice that birds choke on.

To Jenn and Anthony! Congratulations on your beautiful day and all the best in the future.

(picture compliments of KMac)

I'll see what I can do for you as far as "borrowing" pictures from their photographer.

I'm back!

I survived my weekend long wedding celebration, honoring my cousin Claude and his beautiful bride Bonnie. It was a ton of fun. I'll report back more later with pictures. Cause you know I took pictures.

Also to come... The contents of my purse. It needs a good cleaning. So why not show you what I carry around on a day to day basis.

So check back later today. Or tomorrow. No promises.

Oh! And I still need to tell you about the wedding I was in on the 10th.

Dang! I'm behind.

Out of Office

This weekend one of my cousins is getting married. Actually, the wedding is today and the reception is tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to going to San Luis Obispo, seeing family, and getting away. I'll report back sometime next week with pictures.

I'm out!

Peace!

These people got married!

Wedding #3 of 2008

Yea, yea. So they got married almost a month ago on April 19th. So I'm a little behind. But I'm catching up now.

Funny story about this couple, they were both in my brother's class. So they're 4 years younger than me. Melissa taught me how to make espresso drinks when I started working at Hilmar Cheese. We worked together for the next 2 years. After I moved out of the Visitor Center, we regularly had lunch to keep each other caught up with the going ons. Aaron, the little punk he was, would poke fun at me when I'd see him around town. He knew my brother, and looking back, I'm sure it was all in good fun. Aaron also works for Hilmar Cheese, but he transferred to the new plant in Dalhart, Texas almost 2 years ago.

They both looked wonderfully happy on their special day. So in love with one another and ready to start the next chapter in their book.

The cake was beautiful and delicious. It even featured a little bit of "Shimmer shimmer shine shine".


The reception site was very well decorated. Although, I wouldn't expect anything less from Melissa. She's has an eye for detail.


Danny even got the night off from work and got to dress up. (he was a groomsman.) Lookin' sharp Danny!


Hilmar Cheese out did themselves with the food. The presentation was great, as well as the flavors.


Chelsea and Melissa. Two of my favorite VC people.


And then the dancing began. Did you know it's not that easy to take a clear picture when you're dancing?

Congratulations Aaron and Melissa! I wish you all the best in Texas. If I ever make it out there for work, you're the first I'll make aware. And Melissa, call me when you come to California to visit. We'll do lunch!

Wedding of the Century!

The wedding is over folks! Rylen and Jim are married. The party is over. The dress is in need of a dry cleaner. I've got some pictures to share with you. And as I get pictures from others I'll share those as well. So enjoy!

Brett with one of the beautiful bouquets.

The beautiful, not so blushing, bride.

Rachie on the party bus. WootWoot!

Dave and I after dinner.

Annie Anne cuttin' a rug.

Steve has got his priorities, beer THEN dancing!

Jim bustin' a move.

Sarah and her man Dave (he's Canadian).

Tyler dancin' a jig.

Honore Wedding

On September 15th I attended a wedding. A very hotie, totie wedding held in my home town. The groom was a classmate of mine, and his family are good family friends. Here are a few pictures for you. Sorry, none are of the bride and groom...

Me before hand.


(Hilmar) Cheese display. Yummmm...cheese...


My and my BFF. She's getting married in 2 1/2 weeks!


My BFF and her Fiance!