no photos, i didn't take my camera out of my purse...i left all the photography up to the pro...
my little sister gets married!!!
i drove from chicago to bloomington in four hours in a rental car...which wasn't full with petrol when i got it, and the alignment of the car veered to the left...argh argh argh...and there was no cruise control, so my right foreleg was really feeling it...
after checking a book out from the library and running a couple other errands, i took everything to my mom's flat...and then i went running, woo hoo...it's been a while since i've run, and i'm not fit, but it felt good anywho...i really need to do that more often:)
dinner was ice cream cake with my sister, her fiance, and mom...YUM...eating the ice cream totally wiped out any health benefits of my run, but it felt worth it...
To get back to my hometown, i flew back
to chicago and spent another night with kelley and jon...i'd booked a
rental car, at a place i thought i could walk to from their
house...it turned out hotwire has a habit of listing addresses and
locations that aren't quite right...the place at which i'd booked a
car was actually a repair shop...fortunately, they'd had people like
me show up previously, so they knew who to call...the company sent
someone with a car who picked me up and drove me to the correct
place...kelley and jon and i had roberto's pizza for dinner...YUM...
the next morning, i started off for my
second chicago to bloomington drive of the summer...unfortunately,
the alignment of the car veered to the left...i didn't figure that
out until i was on the highway toward bloomington, it was a long
drive...i felt like i was fighting with the car the whole
way...argh...oh well...
i drove to mom's flat, i stayed with
her during this visit, as hana was moving out of her flat...(one of
the reasons for the date of the wedding was that her lease was up, so
it was perfect timing)
hana and her fiance came over for
dessert that night...(i'd had arby's, myself...i know it isn't
healthy, but after i leave the states, i won't be having arby's again
for years, so it felt somewhat justified)...mom had made an ice cream
cake...hana and layne brought rocky with them, he loved licking the
plates as we all finished...(he does a great job as a 'precleaner'
before the dishes go in the dishwasher...hee hee)
the next day i went to hang out with
hana in layne's house...she'd moved her stuff out of her flat, but it
was nowhere near organized in the house...i followed her directions,
as i have no sense of style or decor, and she is quite good at both...it was
really nice to have some sister time, we don't often get that...i
also went for a run in her new neighborhood, it's very
residential...i thought i had an idea of where i was the whole time,
but ended up getting lost...ooops...why on earth are there three
streets with the same name??????????????
after my quick run (only about 30
minutes) i went with hana to a volunteer shift at a place called the
rise...it's an apartment building for women and children who are
coming out of domestic abuse...it's very much needed, hana has been
volunteering there for several years...
the next day i drove around town doing
errands...haircut and all that...buying a few items from target i
wanted to take with me back to ukraine...(cotton balls dont exist in russia or ukraine, at least not athat i've seen...my director had no idea what i was talking about when i put them on a supply list)...then i picked up hana from
the house, and we checked into the hotel in which she was staying that
night...after changing, we walked to the church for the rehearsal,
and met up with the other people in the wedding party...i finally got
to meet the wife of one of my cousins...they've been married for
several years, but since i don't spend much time in the states, and
see extended family even less, it isn't terribly surprising that i'd
never met jackie...i also got to meet everyone in the groom's
party...a brother, a friend, a wife, etc...grandma, uncle kyle, and
cousin tyra were also at the rehearsal...thankfully, the rehearsal
didn't last long...i'm sure all of us have attended weddings
previously...it's more a matter of figuring out who walks down the
aisle, and in which order...then doing it backward at the end of the
service...
dinner afterward was yummy, and of
course i ate too much...YUM...for anyone who knows bloomington, IN,
grazi is a tasty italian place on the square...they did a good job
with the rehearsal dinner...after dinner, some of us went to a bar
called nick's...it's a local/university bar, everyone knows and loves
the place...no drinking games, (this time, the bar is well known for providing the necessary supplies to play sink the bismark) but fun times anywho...
the morning of the service hana and i
got up and met the other bridal party ladies for brunch...i'd never
eaten at the runciple spoon previously, even though i'd known where
it is for years and years...tasty place...
then we all went back to the hotel and
started getting ready...the typical getting ready of a bride and her
support crew, but none of us are pretentious/fancy/etc, so it was
very low key...at one point i went out to a nearby bakery, and picked
up some cupcakes...it's a rule: on the day of the wedding, the
wedding party gets to eat whateva and wheneva they want...:)
of course arrival times at the church
(short walking distance to the hotel) and locations in the church had
been coordinated so the bride and groom wouldn't see each other
before the ceremony...
the ceremony was great, and had the
necessary comic relief when hana couldn't get the wedding ring onto
layne's finger...hee hee...
the reception location was also within
short walking distance to the church...hana and layne sat at their
own table where they could see everyone else, the rest of the wedding
party sat at various tables with various groups of people...it was
nice to see people from various parts of hana's life...a couple high
school friends, church friends, work friends, uni friends,
etc...among hana's friends from uni, a tradition developed years ago
of playing the fight song for the university of michigan wheneva any
of them gets married...of course, hana had the tradition continued,
and had the song played...i've known it my whole life, as well as the
motions...i was born on the campus of the university of michigan, so
i sortof count, right? I sang just as loud and proud as anyone
else...following that song, the IU fight song was played, as layne
wasn't about to be left out:)...of course, since i'm an IU grad, i
know that song too...i sang even louder and prouder:)...hana was a
dancer all through the years of growing up, and even as an adult; she
has attended many an IU event where the cheerleaders did the routine
to the IU fight song...i don't think the routine has changed in
decades, and hana has known it FOREVA...so she did the routine, how
awesome is that? The date of one of the groomsmen used to be an IU
cheerleader, so she knew the routine too...funny to see them doing
the cheer routine to the IU fight song...i think hana knew the
routine better than heather, even though hana had never been an IU
cheerleader...hee hee...
the next morning, i went to dad's house
for brunch with the family, then some of us went to church...(hana
and layne spent the night in the hotel, then were up very early to
drive to the airport to take off for their honeymoon)...i spent the
afternoon driving around town, running more errands...mom and i took
it easy, i had more arby's for dinner...
the next morning i picked up grandma at
dad's house, and dropped her off at the airport on my way back up to
chicago...
