Aaaaand two months later....

...two months later, this jerk (ME) decides she should probably get around to writing about her sister-in-law's wedding.

It was gorgeous, and as far as I knew, went without a hitch! The weather couldn't have been nicer, the sun was shining brilliantly and there was a very nice breeze. Perfect for a May wedding! I actually don't have pictures of during the wedding, because I sang the service and Eric was a groomsman, so neither of us were able to take any. Which is too bad, because the church looked really beautiful with its new makeover, and I would like to have some. But, we have plenty of others! This post will be mostly pictures of the wedding aftermath.


Here's a sassy Sara getting ready beforehand.


Dustin and company. Not even nervous! Eric told me he swigged peppermint schnapps right before ours.


Come to think of it, I think it was this guy (not Jeff) who gave him some!


And now we fast-forward to post-wedding stuff. Here's Sara with her two besties, Kendahl and Denise. I loved the pale lemon yellow. We took Ollie the Trolley for wedding party pictures in the Gene Leahy mall downtown.


Here's me and Eric with my hair falling out.


All our handsome groomsmen!


The lovely bridesmaids enjoying their bouquets. All except Beth--nice going there, champ. :)


The photogs had everyone leap into the air, which was very amusing.


Onward to Billy Frogg's to wet our whistles!




Just look at those baby blues!


The reception! And a sweet-looking father-daughter dance.


Action shot, bouquet toss! Those little girls are CLUELESS!


My parents came too!


Before things got uncivilized.


"IT'S TIME TO DANCE, FOOL!"


Gettin down, gettin down...


Adorable!


Sara and her new Pops.


Denise TOTALLY accosting Sue. I think this picture is hilarious!! Poor Sue, ha!


Eric and Aunt Carol


Jeff and Traci like to boogie!


And by the end of the night, everyone was feeling pretty good.


The next morning, Sara and Dustin opened their scads of great gifts. Nice shiny new wedding ring, D! I chose this one in particular because he's not making a crazy face in it. LIKE USUAL.

And that's the way it was. Congratulations, newlyweds!

the long-awaited bachelorette party!

**Featuring pictures borrowed from one of Sara's best friends, Denise.

Can I just say how much fun this party was? Granted, I arrived late because someone didn't mail me an invitation and then told me the wrong time, *coughBETHcough* (I'm not bitter) but the games and drinks at Sara's house had everyone happily loosened up and laughing by the time I got there. And the rest of the time I WAS there was thoroughly awesome.


Pin the Junk on the Hunk!


After games, Sara opened gifts--hilarious, pretty, frilly and sweet ones.

I wish I had taken a picture of the food! There was a funny penis cake that was actually quite tasty, and tortilla rolls, and really cute little cheesecakes.

Following gifts, we all sat around with drinks and waited for the party bus Beth had booked. This reconstituted school bus was supposed to be awesome--all leather couches, sweet party lights, and-- a POLE! The fact that the "leather" couches turned out to be recycled college couches and the party lights were Christmas lights, just endeared the company to me, and if I ever get to plan another bachelorette I am totally calling this place.

Everybody wanted in on that pole action!

Our first stop was the Underground, in the Old Market beneath the French Cafe. It was a little subdued in there, but there was plenty of room to move around, sit, chat, and down shots. After about an hour there, Sue and Kath split and the rest of us hoofed it to Billy Frogg's down the street. There, Mandy and I were regrettably ensnared into a conversation with a guy pretending to be a French TA at Creighton.

(minus the daylight)


(actual photo of "French" kid)

But Beth rescued us, and were off to our third and final destination--Boondocker's, for Thursday night karaoke! Of course, I loved that. I sang Hotel California because I LOVE THAT SONG.

I don't remember how many rounds of shots we ordered here. I do remember it was enough that some of the girls actually started refusing to take them...holy cow. At last call, we all piled back into the bus for more pole dancing, and disembarked at Sara and Dustin's house, where we promptly awoke all the neighbors.


So, FABULOUS night! Seriously, one of the best bachelorettes I've ever been to, and not only because this time I didn't slip on beer at the Max and bust up my elbow. This was a great last hurrah for Sara, and it looks like everyone had a fabulous time.

Birthday time!

I turned 28 on the 14th. It was a lovely Thursday! A bunch of family and friends met Eric and me at the Crescent Moon for dinner and beers, then we went with the friends to Sullivan's for some karaoke and more beers. It was kind of a late night (as in, the-bar-closed-late), but surprisingly, I had no trouble getting to work in the morning. I still got it! :D

I didn't manage to take any pictures, but Melissa did. Here's one of me, Eric and our friend Anne:


Two more years til the big Dirty Thirty. Eeesh!

Sara's husband-to-be...

had a bachelor party.

Here's the happy couple:


And here's a picture of Dustin on the big night:


The lucky lady is Fatty Patty, and she sure knows how to have a good time!

A recital

The day after graduation, Melissa held an encore performance of her senior recital for our family, who had flown in from Ohio to help celebrate her accomplishment. She was, as per usual, stunning in her performance, showing her degree was well and studiously (ha!) earned. She has a pristine, delicate voice that sounds like it could shatter, but it never, ever does. It's quite the edgy experience. I only wish I could post a video!

Her ensemble consisted of her preferred theme: fascination with death. Pieces included David Del Tredici's Lament on the Death of a Bullfighter, John Adams' This is Prophetic!, Igor Stravinsky's No Word From Tom, some others I can't recall, and my personal favorites...songs from Apparition, by George Crumb. This involved amplified piano Particularly striking and possibly the creepiest song in the entire world was Dark Mother Always Gliding Near with Soft Feet. All of the Crumb songs were fantastically chilling, and very spooky; I think my other favorite was called Death Carol, in which Melissa hooted and called like some ominous nightbird. Gorgeous.

As a special surprise to our parents, I joined Melissa at the piano after her main performance and we sang a duet that thoroughly trumped her death theme....The Flower Song, from the opera Lakmé. I think everyone was pleased and surprised, and it was nice to share that experience with my seester!

Cheers to the graduate!

So my seester Melissa finally finished her degree, and ahead of me too! (Well, the whole population's ahead of me.) She is now a distinguished recipient of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's degree in Vocal Performance. I'm so proud of her! College is hard.

May 8 was the big day, and a beautiful, sunny day at that. Graduation took place at the Civic Center downtown. Here is the Accomplished One with our parents:


And here's one of we siblings:


And here I am ruining the picture, the only one of Meliseester and me with our husbands:


After graduation, we had dinner at Vincenzo's downtown, which was incredible. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of that event because I was too busy worshipping my baked sea scallops and asparagus with cherry risotto. OMG. It was a good day!

battiness, sheer battiness

You'll hopefully forgive the pun, in just a moment. Life has been cuh-rraaaaazzzzyyy! I finally completed testing for a license for work (Series 4, w00t!), finished the semester at UNO, my sister graduated and then had a recital, we replaced our countertops.....pictures of all of which are soon to come. For now, please to enjoy the following photos of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab's annual bat release, executed in late April. All the overwintered, nicely fattened bats make an escape into the warm April evening, to stretch their long-dormant wings, feast upon tasty bugs (after a months-long diet of exclusively mealworms), and again taste sweet, sweet freedom.



Here I am with Rebecca, who was really eager to release a homesick bat.



Here, hoping to entice said bat onto her white!! sleeve. (I just re-read this and realized I am ALSO wearing white so I can't talk! It was an old shirt.) That bat ended up being kinda scared and depressed, which sometimes happens after prolonged captivity, so he was whisked back to a caregiver's home for a little more rehab before trying a release again.

All in all, we released over 200 bats cared-for over the winter, and wish them the very best their batty lives can bring.