Family Wedding

 

 

 

 

Family Wedding

 

 

Indeed, I only feel it fitting that I start this post with the picture of the cake!  I love cake at events like this because it's always the kind of cake you never make for yourself at home....or can even make, for that matter.

 

These two cakes were so unique in form.  Someone has a good hand at sculpting.  One of these was chocolate and one was white.  I had the white.  It had red raspberry filling in between the layers that was not too sweet or thick, plus it was sitting atop and beneath a thin layer of frosting so it was the right amount of fruity and creamy and sweet.  But the cake wasn't the whole thing - it was just my favorite food at the reception.

 

While Megan has some of the details on her blog It's Good to be Queen, I want to show you what was happening in the meantime.  For some reason my family found it odd that I would introduce myself to people attending the wedding that I didn't know.  Really?  How am I supposed to know who people are if I don't step up?  I digress....onto the fun stuff.

 

Pre-wedding pictures were taken at Hidden Lake Gardens.  This is a botanical preserve not too far from the lake.  It's a great place for pictures on a sunny August Day.  It appears there was some fun to be had along with the standard wedding pics.

 

 

 

 

 

Yippeee!

 

 

 If there were anymore pattern in this picture (above) I do believe a seizure could occur. Never let it be said that the Robideau women dress dully. I'm not sure what the girls' motivation was to wear pattern, but mine was for camouflage. Patterns have been my friend a lot lately! And, no, I am not pregnant - it's the way the sun is hitting my dress. We were heading into the wedding. (above)

 

 

Below is Jim and I with the Groom's little sister, Rachel.  We are her Godparents and when she was old enough to get the joke, Jim told her she could call him "God".  She thought that was pretty funny!

 

 

                                                      

 

Eddie's parents, Peggy and Ed - my sister- and brother-in-law.

 

Jessy looking beautiful and ready to take the big walk down the aisle!

 

 

 

 Below the groom and pastor await the wedding party. 

We can't tell you how happy we are that total strangers on the lake that day felt it necessary to drop anchor and watch. Whatever..... everything was beautiful.

 

The rings....

 

The wedding party arrived by pontoon boat at the Yacht Club.

 

 

 



 

 

So happy....

 

 



 

 

 The two Grammys with baby Harry.

 

 

And then the fun begins.....

 

Peggy should know better than to think she will get a serious picture with her two brothers. (below)

                                                                                                                 

 

Yup....we're having fun.

 

Love the look on Eddie's face! (below)

Brother's

OOPS!

 

Nicole (left) and Lindsay (right)

 

Rachel and David

Joe and Justine

Megan and Kevin

 

Julia and pizza.

 

 

Dance, dance, dance.

 

Ok, I am sure you get the idea that we had fun.  While it breaks my heart to think that two of the eight grandchildren (not mine, Jim's parents') are already married, it also reminds me of how lucky I am to have a family that seems to get better and better at having a great time TOGETHER with each passing year.  It brings to mind that life is short so learn to forgive, learn to let go, and enjoy the moment because you can't get it back.  Life is short.

 

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Cool

 

 

COOL

 

 

 

I am getting today's post in very close to the deadline.

There is a good reason for it though.  "Cool" is the word for the photo of the day and for two days I walked around with that word in my head, waiting for the inspiration to hit me. 

 

It finally came this morning in the watercolor class I am taking.  I am finding this class to be a bit of a struggle.  It is the second one I have taken and I get lots of mixed messages from the instructors and fellow classmates. 

 

It seems that what I think is pretty good, they (not all of them, to be fair) have something to say about it to make it better.  It normally doesn't bother me.  I am trying to find my way with watercolors and I don't think it's easy.  I need all the help - good and bad - that I can get.

 

Today's lesson involved a background made with two color washes pressed with foil while they dried and then finished with ink.  Here's mine.

 

 

I still have some filling in to do but I really enjoyed doing this! really!  It was fun even though I was terrified to put the pen on the paper for fear of a total screw up.  We were given a bunch of photos to go through and use one as inspiration.  Those with greater skills simply used their imagination.

(I hope I get there some day!!)

 

So that is my "cool" for the picture of the day - something I did that I enjoyed and was sort of good at doing.

 

Then, when I got home to post this, the second 'cool' showed up.  I had to rotate this picture to make it horizontal and found some tricks I could use editing this photo.  I got these to go along with the original...

 

Red filter

 



 

Sepia

 

 

Black and white

 

Call me simple, but I love how the filters change the feel of the picture.  Yes, i have seen this done with photos of people and buildings, but I have never seen them on something I made.

 

.....and I thought that was pretty cool.

 

Yeah - like that!

 

~

 

 



Today

Today

 

It's Monday again.  I had an appointment today that I rearranged to go do other things and now there are no other things to do.  Therefore my calendar is wide open until I start to make dinner....which I have yet to decide on.  No bother.  The freezer is packed, so if I can thaw it, we're golden.

 

I am thinking of accomplishing three things today.

 First is exercise.  Since I haven't been running I am feeling a little loose and flabby.  I have tried to run off and on and really don't get very far.  Last night I thought I would walk to the Y and do a couple rounds on an elliptical and then walk home.  Naturally this morning it is the last thing I want to do.  I just want to run and be done.  Which bring me to my second thing of the day.

 

Figure out which type of health administrator to go see about my ankle so I can run again.  After a month of therapy with the Chiro having massages, stretching, ultrasound, and some other electric stimulative therapy, I am no better off than I was when I started.

 

Do I go to my MD?  Or do I go to an Ortho?  I know you can't answer that for me so I will move along.

 

The third thing I want to do today is this:

 

 

This also happens to be my 'photo of the day'.  I didn't think it was possible, and I am wondering if it's wise, but I have been working on those barn pictures in little bits.  On one I had a copse of trees but they were off in perspective so I had to cover them up.  I want to get this done today since class is tomorrow and I need to show my finished work.  It's not like I will get my hands slapped if I don't get it done but, as a responsible adult, I know what I need to do and need to just do it.

 

SO....here's my plan.  I will paint today AFTER I have at least walked downtown and back.  And during said walk I shall try, once again, to run a little and also will mull over the doctor question.

 

I hope your Monday is a good one!  It's always nice if the week starts off on a good step.

~

T

 

Mudathlon

Happy Monday!

I am happy about it because I had such a good time this weekend and also am not nearly as sore as I thought I would be after the Mudathlon.

If you recall Friday's post, the Mudathlon was the event for the weekend with the entire family.  If you are on Facebook, you have seen some of these photos, but not all of them.

We had to walk about a mile to the farm.  Had we paid attention to the website and its updates that wouldn't have happened.  However, it gave us a chance to shake the anticipation off a little and warmed up our legs a bit as well.

After getting our packets and signing waivers we had to do one very important thing (besides going to the bathroom).  We had to tape our shoes on.

Kevin was kind enough to give me a hand since mine was getting all caught-up in the tape.  This was not the first time that Kevin stepped in and "saved"me.  Anyway - we were good to go.   :D

(Why am I always locking my knees?)

We finished up with 7 minutes to go before the start.  Perfect timing if you ask me.  I hate standing around waiting to run.  Makes me crazy and anxious.  They were doing some fun stuff with the racers before the start so that helped.  We also made our own fun.

  So here is the before....

Here is what caught of the race...kind of hard to take pictures with muddy hands. There were 40 total obstacles.  No way could we take pictures at all of them.



Julia thought she was very funny dousing me with a cup of water.  No problem - she was paid back 10 fold when Kevin nudged her into a mud pit.

By the time we got to that part of the race, cleanliness was a word long forgotten.

...and, if you are wondering, Yes.  It is the only way down.  I will admit that I never met a rope knot I didn't like!  Some of the ropes in and out of the ravines had no knots and some did.  You got to pick.  They helped a whole lot!

Do you think Jim is sorry it's over?  Look at Kevin's hair!  He had some fun, I think. Oh!  And see that slather of mud on the back of his neck?  That is a finishing gift from Julia.  She had a lot of fun in the mud!

The "After" shot.  We were very slimy and not quite sure what to do next but we just had to smile that we had done the Mudathlon together!  BTW.... Our faces are clean because they gave us wet towels to wipe them with at the end of the race.  I even poured part of my water from the bottle over mine just to clean it some more.

We got to wash off in a little swimming hole past the finish line. 

The brochure said there would be showers. 

They need to change the brochure.

That was one of the reasons I wanted to do this race.

Lesson learned, but it didn't matter.

I am a Mudathlete now.

If/when we do this again, I will know what to prepare for and will work for a better time.

This part made all of us feel SO much better!

What a difference a shower can make!

SO there's the adventure in a nutshell.  We had a great time, made some great memories and learned a little bit about ourselves along the way.

It WAS a mucking good time.  It was!