Announcing….
The painful process of getting some of my better blog posts onto this forum. There’s some good stuff in there. Sit back, relax, enjoy.
My apologies for the repeats if you are/were a Vox neighbor with my in your Reader.
2010
Back in the day
Sorry for the delay. This post is just about three months late.
Coming up in SW PA, you better know football. I’ve got that covered. You should probably know hockey. Got that covered. And you should at least be familiar with baseball. Got it. Also coming up in SW PA, it’s most likely that you’ve been to many baseball games, possibly a hockey game, and if you’re lucky (or know someone), you may have been to a football game or two.
We went to a LOT of baseball games. Most years on the fourth of July with some other random games sprinkled in between. We always sat in the peanut (or nosebleed) section and it was always a great time. We even got a ball once. A lot of good family memories revolve around baseball, but I digress.
I learned to love the game. And as I grew older, the players became more than “the guy on that base”, more than “the third baseman”, they started to be come Andy, Bobby, and Barry. They were real people, not just guys you see on TV. People like us. But maybe that’s just a Pittsburgh thing.
In the early 90s, sitting around the house with my dad watching the Buccos, I came to have this tremendous crush on Kevin Young. One night while we were watching a game and Kevin made one of his (if not they should be) trademark split stretches to make a play. I’m still jealous. I can’t split like that. I looked over at my dad and said, “I’m gonna meet him one day.” To which my dad mumbled something along the lines of “Uh huh, yeah right, okay, good luck.”
Fast forward this story about 5 years. I’m still following the Pirates and now I’m managing a restaurant in the Pittsburgh area.
Mind you, this is a memory of approximately 15 years old, so I might not get every detail right. 🙂
It was a Friday or Saturday early evening in the restaurant. I know this because it was a little busy but not overly yet and I had on a really cute outfit. I only pulled those out on weekends, lol. I must’ve been the bar manager that night. Otherwise I would’ve noticed before someone pointed out our guest. One of the waitstaff came to me and said, “Who’s the guy at table 71?” I didn’t know so, rather than do a walk-by, I went upstairs so I could take a look.
I looked over and immediately thought that he looked familiar but I just couldn’t place him. I didn’t think I had gotten to the point of staring, but apparently I did as our guest looked up at me and busted me. Were I the blushing sort, I would’ve been stop light red. Knowing I had to go speak but being extremely embarrassed, I put on my big girl shoes and went downstairs.
With all the courage I could muster, I walked up to the table and apologized for staring. And drooling. Mildly. Oh, yeah, and that hey you look familiar but I can’t quite place you. He looked at me and asked me if he had to tell me. Yeah, that threw me off a bit from my usual snappy, smartass answers. I think I mumbled something about he didn’t have to but I would appreciate it and I think I started to slink away when he said…
I’m Kevin Young.
*facepalm*
15 years later, I’m still not sure what happened right after that. I’m hoping that I didn’t make a big fool of myself. Pretty sure I didn’t since Kevin came back to the restaurant and didn’t make fun of me. At least not for that, lol. But the best part, was getting to go home to share this story with my dad. I don’t know that he got to meet a lot of Pittsburgh athletes, but I got to bring him stories of my run-ins and I know he enjoyed them.
The Wedding Story
It’s one week later and now that I have the photos, I can tell the story of our wedding day. 🙂 It’s going to be long, so grab a coffee or something and get comfy.
I would venture to say that I’m one of the few brides that would goof around all day and then wait until 3pm to get ready for her 4pm wedding (where we needed to meet with the planner at 5 till, lol). The majority of you reading this know that I’m not a frilly-fou-fou kind of girl, though, so 40 minutes is enough time for me to get ready.
Fortunately, MommaShyner and Kiddo were in the connecting suite so all I needed to do was just open a door. With this tag team combination, I was able to do my makeup while they tried to get my dress all trussed up in the back. Makeup application was pretty simple thanks to a quick tutorial from the color manager at Sephora before we left. Otherwise I’d really have no idea. Also, it’s Cancun and the ceremony was outside and half my face melted off anyway.
Because I do almost nothing in the normal and traditional manner, there was no big surprise for the groom to see the bride; we walked down to the ceremony together.
Sidebar: Have you seen any of the YouTube videos where the bridesmaids come dancing down the aisle? Well, apparently an older gentleman in the elevator had and he just happened to be playing “I Got A Feeling” in his iPod when we got in the elevator and he shared it with me. So of course I danced right out of the elevator!
Upon arrival at our meeting point, the photos began. The Shaman blessed us both and then we headed out to the beach.
I don’t think that the hotel was full on Saturday and there were at least two other weddings going on at the same time as ours, but we were what you might call a SHOWSTOPPER! Everyone in the bar stopped to watch. People in the pool stopped to watch. People were looking out over their balconies. I think that we had the smallest huge wedding ever.
Everyone removed their shoes and stood outside of our circle for the beginning of the ceremony. There were more blessings given to each the north, south, east and west for health, prosperity, love and other good stuff.
Part of what I really loved about this ceremony is that while everyone was gathered around and could hear most of it, there were parts that were only for the ears of the Shaman and the happy couple. A touch of privacy even in the midst of all of our family and friends.
The Mayan dancers performed two celebratory dances that were just beautiful. Everyone came into the circle to share in the fruit tarts and the tequila to celebrate the union. I know I’m skipping over things but the pictures (and the 130 more to come) really tell the story.
When we came back in from the beach, we had applause from everywhere. It was really awesome to have complete strangers share in our happiness. For the next 2 or 3 days, we were constantly being approached about the wedding. Another couple went to our wedding planner and wanted to have the same ceremony the NEXT DAY!! She wasn’t able to do it on Sunday, but they did have it on Monday.
There was a gazebo on the beach that overlooked our ceremony. In it, another wedding was going on. The groom from that wedding complimented me on ours. He said, “We just had a plain old Catholic ceremony. Yours was really fantastic.” I’m pretty sure that I knew from the start that I had made the right choice with this ceremony, but that sealed it. Also, other brides were shooting me the daggers but hey, I didn’t come all the way to Mexico to do a wedding I could’ve done at home.
So, you know how I love Mexico and all things Mexican. Well, my new brother-in-law (Lovey’s sister’s husband) pulled some strings and got us mariachis at the reception. Yup, I pretty much was crying again. I just don’t have words for how much I enjoyed this, but you should just know when I run out of words, it must’ve been a sight to see.
And that’s it in a nutshell. I’ll post more as I think of it and there’s still the rest of the trip to talk about, but that’s for later. I have to go enjoy our last day of living it up. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Talk to you soon.
Cancun – Days 1 and 2
For the sake of your eyes, I’ll break this up into smaller pieces rather than my typical rambling. The 1230 crew arrived on time and unscathed at the Cancun airport at about 1 or so on Thursday. As is usual, I suppose, we spent a good long time getting through both immigration and customs. Once we made it, our ride to the hotel was waiting. It took approximately 35 minutes to get to the hotel since we had to drop folks off at their hotels first.
First impression of the hotel? Un. Bee. Leave. A. Bull. OMG. It’s just gorgeous here. There are photos and a couple videos on my Flickr page. So, after arrival, we basically just walked around, taking it all in. The pictures just don’t do this place justice. We have the one bedroom suite. You can tour it in the videos. Some of my favorite things include: hammock chair on the balcony and reading there at 6:30 am listening to the waves, 24 hour room service with a “magic box” which means we never have to see the people if we don’t want to, the totally kick ass shower with the rain faucet AND four jets along with a hand-held shower head AND it’s also a steam sauna, and having a jacuzzi in the room.
Thursday night we went to dinner at La Distilleria where they make tequila on site. None of that for me though on the first night. You gotta pace yourself, ya know?
Friday involved more arrival of friends and family and more relaxing. We also met with our wedding coordinator to go over a few last minute details. They really, for the most part, make everything very easy on a bride as far as planning goes. The good stuff comes tomorrow. 🙂
Still The Same
I’ve been married for 27 hours and I still feel the same, lol. (
We had a nice little ceremony and lots of hugs and kisses, yay! We’re now onto getting ready for the Mayan ceremony in Mexico and then a heck of a lot of relaxing with a little traveling and more relaxing mixed in between.
I’m starting to get excited to go to Mexico. I won’t ramble. See you tomorrow. 🙂