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04/05/2008
A Long-Lived and Long-Awaited Saga
Hello darlings! I trust you're all doing well in your respective places of habitat and employment. It's good to be back to the blogging pages. It really is. It's like coming home in many senses.
So, it's Friday, for which I'm supremely thankful for. The kids have just left the campus which means a few things will happen within the next hour. Bren, Alex, Jason, Jeremy, Ron, Mike and Allan will gather in Bren's classroom and play some poker. It's like a ritual for them on Friday afternoons. I've been invited, but I've declined, stating that I wouldn't like to see grown men cry with my shark-like poker playing abilities. It would be sad on many levels.
Nothing much apart from gearing up for the wedding has been happening as of late. It's consumed all my time outside of work and continues to demand that I pay homage to it, even now as I write. The RSVP list is up to more than 350 people that have said they're coming, so my mom and I are getting ready for the madness that will be my wedding. Still, even with all the people there, I'll enjoy myself. All of them are people I know and love dearly and I couldn't imagine sharing my wedding day without them there to be witness to it.
Matt's friend, Steve, was here for a week. He stopped here on his way to New Zealand to see his girlfriend, Andrea. Now, Steve was a little skeptical about coming here for holiday. For years he's been moaning about how rude Americans are because once he had the great misfortune of having to take a stop-over in LAX. That's Los Angeles for those of you not up to snuff on your airport codes.
I told Steve that I hate America too, having shared his misfortune of having to fly into LAX for a lay-over. It's a nasty, nasty place.
Biut as fortune smiled upon Steve, he was able to fly into SFO (San Francisco International) and experience the joys of northern California. He arrived week before this last one and stayed at the apartment with Matt. I didn't get to spend that much time with the boys, but last weekend I did.
Saturday the three of us drove north into Napa Valley and did a circuit of wine tasting there. I was the des, so I didn't drink. It was interesting, however, how quiet the car ride home was. Meh heh heh.
We started out as Groth Winery, which we couldn't get into because they only took reservations for wine tasting. They lost our business.
Second was the Robert Mondavi Winery. There were statues of naked women who looked like they were melting all over the place, but despite that there was also a very cute sculpture of an elephant out of one solid piece of soapstone. He was adorable and received all my attentions.
Anyway, Matt and Steve did a three wine sampler there and Steve bought a book about the various wineries and history in the Napa Valley for us. I was secretly thrilled, book lover that I am, to get some new reading material.
Next on the list was some winery I don't remember the name of because I wasn't that interested in it. Apparently, however, Matt and Steve were treated rudely there. I wasn't witness to it because I was off in some corner buried in a book about the Napa Valley and it's history. Big surprise, eh?
After that shunning, the three of us headed on over to V. Sattui for some lunch. V. Sattui is an exclusive little winery that only sells its wines on site in the Napa Valley along route 29. For Matt and Steve, the wine was too sweet there, but what it lacked in palatable wines, it more than made up for with the little deli there.
Matt and I split a few things whereas Steve went for a bad-ass grilled salmon sandwich from the barbeque outside. Matt and I split some pasta pesto, a delicious ham sandwich and a couple helpings of heaven balled up and breaded. Okay, so that last item is actually called arrancini balls. They're delicious! They're like thick risotto balls with a piece of cheese stuffed into the middle before being breaded and fried.
I kid you not, they tasted like asopao in ball form. They're amazing. I totally want to go back for more.
So, sufficiently fat and sassy, the three of us went on our way to Twelve Vintners, which is like a co-op of smaller, still local, wine makers. Matt and Steve each picked up a bottle of something called Watermark, which smelled really good. Hey, I said I didn't drink anything, but that didn't stop me from smelling or buying.
Last on the list was Beringer Brothers, which is the oldest, continuously operating winery in the valley. The Beringer brothers came here from Germany in the 1800s and decided to stay. They built something called the Rhine House, which has every element of it imported from Germany and their old home near the Rhine River. Of course, when the brothers bought the land, the Hudson House was already there, which was the home of David Hudson, a revolutionary from Sonoma that was key in California winning its independence from Mexico.
That last part I have many things to say about, but that's another blog and another time. Suffice it to say that Beringer takes pride in having the Hudson house on property because of its part in the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846.
But that's not the point. The point is the Beringer brothers picked up the Hudson House and moved it so that they could build the Rhine House in a prime location. Granted, it is a beautiful house.
Lastly, an interesting fact I like about this particular winery is that there is an old oak tree on property known as 'The Leaning Oak' of the valley. It's been declared a bicentennial tree because it's well over two hundred years old and was there, in the Napa Valley, when the signing of the Declaration of Independence took place 3,000 miles away on the opposite coastline.
To honor the lifespan of this tree, Beringer produces a line of wines called 'Leaning Oak' that are only sold exclusively at the winery.
See what happens when you cross my path with some history? I freaking love history.
So that was Saturday. Sunday was much more laid back. In the morning, Matt and I went to church, leaving Steve at the apartment to do some running. After church, we picked him up (showered already!) and headed over to my house for lunch. My dad and Steve chatted happily in the kitchen while I dosed against Matt in the living room.
The afternoon consisted of going back to Mills, my alma mater, for some bocce ball and lounging. The boys played bocce ball while I dosed, yet again, on a blanket in the sun. It was glorious.
That afternoon also involved some kite flying, meeting up with Jeff at the Cascades and making some Greek food for dinner. It may also have included some Guitar Hero showdowns, but I'd rather not talk about that.
Steve was off on Wednesday, which left Matt and myself glad he had come, but utterly exhausted.
Now, something that overlapped the time Steve had here was the great plane debacle. Let me explain a few things before telling the story.
1) Matt and I had plans to go to Hawaii for honeymoon.
2) We were all booked up at a five star resort on North Shore on the island of Oahu.
3) We were both really looking forward to it as we've had enough drama the last year to last us a lifetime.
4) Aloha Airlines, which is who we booked with, are utter bastard people.
Okay, so this story goes something like this:
Once upon a time, Matt and Arty planned a honeymoon. They chose Hawaii. Matt bought the plane tickets and Arty bought the stay at the resort. Everything was in place and great. They were excited about going there.
But two weeks before they were to leave, Arty awakes to read news that Aloha Airlines has filed for chapter II bankruptcy. Arty checks the websites to see if it's true. It is. Arty then reads that United and Hawaiian Air are picking up the slack and honoring Aloha ticket holders. Arty is somewhat relieved until she finds out that her ticket will only be honored with a stand-by basis.
This means that Arty and Matt can go to the airport the day they're supposed to fly out and simply hope for the best. If the plane is filled to capacity, Arty and Matt forgo their five star resort and waste their hard-earned money on the whim of a chance.
Arty curses the island airline and then hears three days later that ATA, which is another airline, has followed suit in declaring bankruptcy.
Again, Arty declare them and Aloha bastard people.
So yeah, needless to say Hawaii isn't on the options list anymore. Instead, Matt and I are heading to Arizona. Don't ask me why. Just know that Red Rock country is God's vacation country when He's not in California. Okay, so that's not true. I'm just horribly and unashamedly biased about California. Northern California, that is. Southern California can pretty much bite me, save for a few places like Woodland Hills and San Diego.
But I digress. And I have to because there are things to do here at home, so just a few more things before I go.
1) Uncle Arnie went to pay off the remaining balance for my wedding cake today. Woo!
2) I was told to enjoy my last weekend of 'singleness' by Esther (a co-worker who has a PhD in psychology).
3) Allan told me not to get too crazy at the bachelorette party. If you're wondering about that, I'd prefer to tell you individually about rather than broadcast it here.
4) My mother is an amazing woman. She's single-handedly made all the bridesmaids dresses, my grandmothers outfit and her own as well. Not to mention she mended a button on Matt's shirt and is going to catch some loose beads on my wedding dress.
Which nicely brings me to point number five:
5) I brought my wedding dress home yesterday afternoon!!
And now, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me, I have favors to make which involved a tremendous level of self control considering I'm going with chocolate for my favors.
Later Days,
Arty
10:26 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Comments
Good to get a catch-up blog Arty! There's a really obvious typo in there btw. I always read your blogs from the bottom up for some reason. Isn't that odd?
Posted by: Benny | 04/05/2008
Just stopping in to leave a comment, using time that I should be using to either 1. plan wedding 2. work on work 3. work on writing 4. exercise .... ha ha ...
350 people?! Egad!!!!!!! I'm inviting only about 200-250 (including church people and kids and spouses and significant others.) And I bet only 100-125 will come. Thank goodness. I didn't even want to invite my church but they told me I had to ...
And drama?! Tell me about it. I hate the drama already and all I'm doing is waiting for the drama to come. :o I did some paperwork type stuff today but the real shabang begins in May or when JM plans to move out and we really start putting together all the necessary documents, etc. I am so paranoid we'll do something wrong. :s
And the bridal shop was supposed to call me today and they HAVE NOT--2 hours left until they lose for the day. I've already waited 2 weeks just to find out if they can order the dresss. I want to know!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW I should have stopped in there today while I was out.
Is there a limit on characters for comments?!
I guess I'll find out.
I should just get my own blog ... hey, wait, I don't have time for that. ;)
Just got an invite for the "girly party" for my childhood best friend who is getting married the end of May ... also her sister (who is my sister's childhood best friend) is getting married the same day, so we're totally hopping a Greyhound to NY.
Sigh.
So much to do!!!!!!!!
Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Posted by: MargoWriter | 04/07/2008
I would like to add that I meant the bridal shop was going to "close" for the day, but I suppose losing for the day has bearing ...
Posted by: Margo | 04/07/2008
Close...lose...what's the letter C between friends, eh?
I personally think lose is much better anyway.
Posted by: Arty | 04/07/2008