family

Highway to Happiness: Baking and Bride-Napping

Wedding Recaps

My wedding leave started 2 days before the event, on Halloween. As much as we really do love Halloween, I opted not to don a costume simply to spend the day baking goodies for the reception.

In addition to the cupcakes we ordered from Lucy & Leo’s, I decided to make brownies, lemon bars, a pound cake, and an orange cake to round out the dessert options–a little something for everyone. This may not have been everyone’s ideal way of relaxing before the big day, but the hours of methodical mixing and baking and cooling and packaging was quite soothing.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Mama Leadfoot called shortly after 5pm with a surprise: Dr Aunt and Brother Speedy–not expected in until the next day–drove up a day early (apparently Mama whined a bit about the lack of visiting time their original itinerary afforded) and were ready to head out for supper. Was I game?

Roadie and I had planned to go out that night anyway, but Roadie had to work that day, then pick up his suit on the way home (I’d hoped he’d get to it sooner, just in case something didn’t fit, but that’s not how his schedule played out). When I couldn’t get him on his cell phone the jokes started: “He’s making a run for it!” and the like. Gee, thanks, loving family. But after several calls and my family showing up at my house, the decision was made to kidnap me and hope that Roadie would meet-up with us as soon as he could.

I don’t think any of us expected the restaurant to be as busy as it was, but having the waitstaff in costume was interesting (one person was dressed as Ted, which was a little odd). Our waiter was one of the guys from Anchorman (not my type of humor, so I couldn’t tell you who he was really supposed to be) and then to have them doing their dance-break per the usual–well, hey, dinner and a show, right?

(Commentary supplied mainly by me & Brother Truck–pardon my somewhat maniacal laugh at the mid-point)

Roadie showed up just as our food was being served, so pretty perfect timing there, and at some point it just hit me: Here we all were. It could have been any day, any reason, but this time it was because of Roadie and I. Soon we’d be surrounded by even more family, and then by our friends, and it was all because we met in a chat room one night, decided to meet in person, and followed the road from there wherever it took us. I got a little misty-eyed, even.

jvanderbeek_-2

jvanderbeek_-1

And then Mama started pelting the opposite side of the table with peanuts. My family isn’t known for prolonged sentimentality, so this was perfectly par for the course!

roadtripwedding

The Road Trip Wedding Recaps:

*Dishing the Dirt on the Venue
*Baking and Bride-Napping

Crafting the Ceremony: Walk Right In

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

You may have noticed that there’s been little talk of bridesmaids or groomsman in the Road Trip world. That’s because we’re not having any. This is one of a handful of “traditions” we’re opting out of for our wedding.

It’s not that we’re morally opposed to having our closest friends stand up with us, it’s mostly that with only 40 or so people at the wedding at all, having 8 or so people up front would feel like half the audience! The other part of our reasoning is that our friends are each wrapped up in their own day-to-day lives and aren’t really into the whole wedding entourage thing, so why force it? I’d even considered asking said closest friends to act as our House Party (an honorary title for Helper Monkeys who don’t have to wear certain things or stand up with us, but still help out) but with a DoC it didn’t seem necessary.

On the one hand, it greatly simplifies how many metaphorical cats we have to heard on the wedding day. On the other hand, it means there’s not much processing going on–especially when you consider how brief our aisle will be!

Admitting that I was a touch of pomp and circumstance to properly kick off the ceremony, we’ve decided it would be nice to not just have the ceremonial seating of the mothers, but also the rest of the immediate family that will be there, since we’re not all that many to begin with.

I figure FFIL Road Trip can escort FSIL Golf to their seats, followed by Mr. Road Trip seating FMIL Road Trip. Then, on my side, Brother Speedy can seat Doctor Aunt, Brother Truck escorts his wife to their seats as Brother Speedy circles back to escort Mama Leadfoot. We might also ask if Friend-ficiant L wants to process similarly or if she’d rather just position herself up front before hand.

The Dad Thing

Like fellow Honeymoon Bees Bicycle and Rucksack, my father isn’t available for that traditional walk down the aisle.

Well, he might be available in the grand scheme of things, if I were to find out where he was and ask him, but 8-year-old me ratting him out to the authorities and sending him away for 5 years and then opting not to see him ever again tends to put the kibosh on those sorts of requests.

(Yes, I’m making light of what was a very difficult time in my young life–more in deference to not bringing the mood down or triggering others with tales of woe. Laughter is the best medicine and all that jazz. Moving on!)

At my first wedding I processed alone. At the time it was the right choice for me to make but I distinctly remember the nerves and pressure of all those sets of eyes on me with no one to lean on–physically or emotionally. Not wanting to go through that again, I proposed that we Road Trips walk down the aisle together.

After all, I don’t view our wedding as the beginning of our life together as much as I do the next step in our overall relationship, and it’s a step we’re taking together. Escorting each other down the aisle makes the most sense, preserves our personal independence, and keeps me from either a) making that walk alone, again, or b) asking someone else to fill-in, which would feel rather disingenuous.

And what will we be processing to, you might ask? I’ve always loved Pachelbel’s Canon in D–it’s the band geek in me coming out–and I’ve heard so many versions of it that it’s almost hard to choose. For a while the Canadian Brass was the front-runner for favorite (low brass represent!) and then we heard the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version and it was pretty much all over from there.

(Direct link for the feed readers: TSO Christmas Canon Rock)

Of course I’ll have to edit out vocals from the center but their mix of strings and electric guitar is just the sort of traditional with a twist that appeals to us. And the fact that it might make some of our older guests’ eyes widen in surprise is merely a nice side-effect.

41 Arboriculture | Putting Down Roots

64 Arts

Let’s chat, shall we?

One of my goals when working through the 64 Arts, beyond exploring some new skill-sets, was to encourage (in myself as well as others) little bits of daily creativity that feed our souls. I truly believe that doing something creative–and that covers a whole host of possibilities–can improve our outlook and our emotional health, with can only help our physical health as well. (That’s what the whole “better living through creativity” tagline is all about, after all.)

While I think my project tutorials do that to an extent, the Arboriculture art got me thinking beyond the basics. Not everyone has a yard they can tend a tree in or even a porch or balcony that gets enough sun, so what other ways can tree inspire us creatively.

Exploring our Roots

Have you ever done a family tree? Maybe as a school assignment long ago or maybe you got bitten by the genealogy bug and spent some time on a site like Ancestry.com or trolling city archives. If you’ve never explored your family’s history, maybe this would be a good time to look into it, find out some stories from the generations that we still have around and then dig a little deeper. Maybe you have someone famous (or infamous!) in your lineage, or maybe you come from salt-of-the-earth hard-workers. Either way, knowing where you come from may help explain some of who you are, today.

Putting Down New Roots

A song I found for one of my old podcasts (man, I really want to get back to making those!) was called “Twisted Family Ties” and boy, oh boy, do I know all about those! Sometimes the people we’re born to make it hard to love them. Sometimes it’s just plain implausible and you might have to–for your own safety or sanity–distance yourself or completed cut ties. In this instance, why not create an imaginary family tree of the family you were “supposed” to be born into. Remember that a person’s flaws are just as important part of their character as the good things. Draw pictures or make collages of your new family portraits and give them interesting backstories.

Reach Out to the Forest

With us living in a very global society, it’s not uncommon to feel closer to someone 3,000 miles away than you do your own kin. Ages ago sociologists started to refer to these created family groups as tribes (urban or otherwise). They may not be part of your family tree (real or imagined), but they are part of your forest. Reach out a branch and write a letter (yes, a real, honest to goodness, paper and pen(cil), put a stamp on it letter) to someone you haven’t talked to in a while. Or maybe to your best friend who you talk to every day–I don’t think they’d be any less thrilled to find something other than junk mails and bills in their mailbox, do you? And if you’re feeling a bit more of a lone cactus in the dessert vibe, why not reach out and make a new friend by joining a penpal group. (International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club comes highly recommended, by the way. I’m thinking of signing up for the next round, myself).

So, there you have it. Your creative mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use one of the prompts above and act on it. Add a little creativity into your life and enrich it in some way. Then, come back and share what you did–you never know what might spark an idea in another person.