Colorado

Back from CO. I must warn you that upon my first questioning of the trip, I ended up talking for like... 15 minutes straight. I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but it was not a dialogue. I just spouted off everything, rapid-fire. What I'm saying is at this moment, I have no ability to filter out what is actually interesting to other people. You may want to skim. Now that I think about it though, this may not be any different from every other blog... so let's proceed.

The journey:

It was the best flight I've had in my memory.

1. My personal timing was amazing. Usually, I leave so early for traveling situations that I end up waiting around for well over 2 hours before I even board the vehicle. However, because my flight was at 7am, I chopped down the time and ended up getting to my gate exactly 1 hour early. I'm not sure if that still seems excessive for others, but I'm pretty sure that if I had any less than an hour, I'd have been panicking for all of my waking hours.

2. The flight was like... half full. I got a window seat and a whole row to myself! Especially awesome since I don't remember flying over the mountains before. I stared out the window the whole time.

3. The flight attendants were super cute. One wore one of those glasses with the fake nose and mustache and one wore a hat that had weird pigtails or something. Over the speaker, they imitated the Wicked Witch of the West voice with a "welcome to the Southwest broomstick, my pretties."

4. My flight came in early and I raced to the baggage claim. When I got there, my bag was ALREADY ON THE CAROUSEL! That's unprecedented!

Renting a car/driving:

The car rental was SUPER easy. I got a free upgrade on the car because the cheapest one wasn't available at the time of my arrival. Silver Hyundai Esteria? Estrada? I'm so uninterested that I'm not even going to look up the official make. It was pretty easy renting the car, although they did take an unexpected $250 deposit, which would have been a deal breaker a mere half a year ago. Luckily, I had the funds.

What I WILL say is that in Colorado, they drive the speed limit in the FAST LANE! I was going out of my mind. Almost no traffic and a car that actually WANTS to accelerate and I felt obligated to keep with the flow of traffic... at 65mph. In my brain, 65mph means cruise between 65 and 75. That 10mph difference made me NUTS. Also, I may have scared Amy a smidge, and she remarked that I am an LA driver. It must be true because I felt so relieved when I got home.

Overall, it was definitely worth it for me to get the car. As expected, I had the independence to come and go as I please, which I used multiple times, including a nostalgic cruise by my old house and school and park. Plus, whenever I needed to get some air, my excuse was "I'm going to run to my car for a second" and race out before anyone thought to ask why. I use this excuse a lot in real life too.

Packing:

I really know this part isn't interesting, but I feel the need to write it anyway. I MUST stop thinking of face wash as superfluous! I couldn't decide if I wanted to check my bag or not when I packed, so I only brought liquids in containers of less than 3 oz and my face wash is more. I always think that my self-maintanance priorities are eyeliner and at least one lotion (although I brought 3 because I might have a problem...). FACE WASH IS A PRIORITY. I immediately broke out.

Dad and Indigo pt. 1:

The first day, I got to my dad's and chatted with him and Indigo for a little while. Indigo either LOVED my gift to her (an autographed picture of Stana Katic from Castle, whom she formerly informed me is her fave) or humored me, but I'm definitely going to assume the former. They were both pretty exhausted though, and I ended up rattling off movies and TV shows and actors and my opinions on them for hours, probably. Then we watched Ratatouille, which we'd all already seen. I'll be honest because I don't think they'll read this, but I was kind of pissed off since I could've spent those two precious hours with Amy, in which we would actually be talking. I just couldn't think of how to leave for Amy's at 3pm when I told them I was going to go at 5 or 6pm. If I'd had any foresight at all, I would have told my dad to take a snooze and I would have gone to the park or for a walk with Indigo. C'est la vie.

Pre-wedding:

I haven't seen many (any?) brides, but I'm pretty sure Amy would still win as the absolute most chill bride ever!

When I arrived, Amy was taking a break from making the cake (she made her own cake! In the shape of the tower from Lord of the Rings) and eating pizza. We broke out some red wine, but quickly decided that we'd prefer beer. So we ran out and got some Blue Moon and drank about half a bottle each before our conversation sparked Amy's memory regarding a store that I would love.

We ended up going to a store call Tradesmart that had BAJILLIONS of movies and books for cheap! I ended up buying Thumbelina and The Doors and the book Game of Thrones. There was no cell service in the store, so when we emerged, Amy was bombarded by calls from her mom, as it was 9pm the night before her wedding and we basically left a crime scene behind - half empty glasses of wine, partially eaten warm pizza, unfinished cake, half empty cold bottles of beer and the TV still on.

Eventually we got home and got back to the cake while watching Monty Python's Flying Circus. At one point Amy turned to me and said "I'm already losing motivation for this," which I found hilarious.

At about 11:30pm, Amy revealed her hair plan to me, which was that III was going to put it up using hairagami. Remember the commercials from the 90s? It turns out, it's just two snap bracelets sewn together. After about 15 minutes of trying and mostly failing, we went to sleep.

Woke up at 8am. Got ready. Her family made a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon! I did Amy's hair with more success. Packed up the car and headed out.

Now for some pictures:

The wedding took place at an establishment in a small shopping center in the mountains. The ceremony took place outside. There was a little stream with a bridge over it and we all stood on the precipice with a pretty arch and a mountain backdrop.

It was beautiful and sunny, but there was a nice, crisp mountain breeze that was a little chilly. The preacher had a very low, soothing voice and he read the Corinthians passage about love being patient and kind etc. Amy and Matt also picked out their own poems for the preacher to read, which were very beautiful, but I can't remember them anymore. They also took two bottles of different colored sand -- black and a rust orange-- and poured them into a vase to symbolize their individual identities blending together in unity. The preacher said something along the lines of "may you be in love for longer than it would take to separate each grain of sand."

I want to include this picture of me walking down the aisle with the best man, Scott, because I am NOT wearing opaque white stockings. That is just my legs!!

Bridesmaids. I'm wearing the dress that my grandma Cheryl made for me. She suggested I send it to Amy ahead of time to get professionally... steamed? Ironed? Pressed? Anyway, I didn't do it...

Also, I've had many child sims wearing the flower girl's exact outfit.

Wedding party, regular. Also, despite what it looks like, standing on the slope of that bridge in heels for what felt like a jillion hours, KILLED.

Wedding party + masks.

I don't know how well you can tell from the picture, but their masks were VERY intricate and beautiful.

Lord of the Rings style cake, that I participated in. I can't even TELL you how delicious this cake was. Chocolate and chocolate chip cream cheese cake with a REALLY delicious frosting. I'm not even a huge fan of cake, in general. When I finally get my own pictures developed (I had to get disposable cameras because my digital camera is dead), you will see some pictures of my sister feasting on the cake later.

The figurines on the other cake. Awesome.

After the ceremony and JILLIONS of pictures, we went back inside for the reception. I signed as a witness on the marriage license, which was neat. Also, as part of the wedding party, we got to eat first, which was sweet! They had really tender turkey, potatoes, vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, zucchini), salad and bread. Delicious. We also got two drink coupons. I got a pino grigio (white) and a coke.

After the meal, we all got glasses of champagne and I got to make the first toast. I was debating myself over whether I was going to post the actual toast I made or if I was just going to brag about it. I've decided the latter.

I was pretty nervous and so while my voice remained steady, the paper I held was shaking uncontrollably, although Amy said it offered a nice touch. But the guests were generous with the laughter, so it was nice. Plus, afterwards I got a jillion compliments. One guest said it made her cry and one told me that she was a speech teacher and would have given me an A. Amy's grandmother asked if I planned to do anything with writing and I told her that I am going to try and write for movies, and then immediately regretted setting such high expectations for my future. Oh well.

After my speech, the best man gave a toast in which he quoted a good portion of The Princess Bride "mawage" speech, which I loved. Amy's dad did a cute speech about how he knows that Amy and Matt aren't related (because they both have the same last name). Amy's grandpa gave a very very brief and funny speech. "May all your problems be little ones." That was it.

Afterwards, Amy and Matt cut the cake. Then they did their first dance (Frank Sinatra's "I Love You," which they had Matt pick out just moments before the wedding. In fact, the way I met the groom was by going up to him, introducing myself, and demanding he pick a song. Unconventional, perhaps). Then Amy and her dad danced. And then we all danced forever and ever.

Then we went back to Amy's parent's house, where we dressed in casual clothes and had some pulled pork sandwiches, beer from a keg, and cake and we watched a picture slideshow of Amy and Matt's childhood to present. Then Amy's family watched a tivo-ed Broncos game, which was super nostalgic for me because I remember going to her house during the games all the time. Of course, we'd dress up for the Broncos and then promptly go downstairs to play pool and watch Celebrity Death Match. I'm actually thinking of a specific Superbowl party...

Eventually it was time for me to leave. It was such an emotional day that Amy and I ended up just bawling. She also gave me a bridesmaid gift-- a flask with my name engraved on it.

(Note: I didn't really get her a gift because... I didn't really know how I could do it, so I just wrote her a check and gave it to her in a card encouraging them to spend it on chocolate. I also gave her my copy of my toast, which I wrote out in hand because I thought it would be more special that way.)

I kind of had to settle down for a bit and used the time to cruise by my old house and a few other areas. Then I went on a wild goose chase to find my dad and my sister, which I won't detail because this is already way too long.

Indigo pt. 2:

When I got back to my dad's house, my dad decided to go across the street and catch the end of a hockey game and give Indigo and I some time alone. In almost all circumstances, being forced to bond with an 11-year-old for 45 minutes sounds like torture. But Indigo is fucking AWESOME!! First of all, her current favorite book is Hunger Games, so we bonded over that. We talked about how girls are lame in middle school and she told me about a girl she knew who was annoying but she had a brain tumor so Indigo was conflicted, which I thought was very complex and amazing and empathetic of her. She loves to dance (tap, ballet, point and... something else) and when I was talking to her about dance movies, she finally reminded me that she was 11 by saying she couldn't see Black Swan because she wasn't allowed. She wants to be either a singer/dancer/actor (although she isn't confident about her singing abilities (I didn't hear her, so I don't know)) OR a forensic anthropologist (like Bones). We took some pictures and I suggested we do a goofy one and asked her what scenario we should react to. She said "let's pretend we're seeing a guy just pooping on the street!" Awesome! AWESOME!! When my dad came back, I KIND OF wanted to tell him to go away again.

Mostly, she is just an AMAZING conversationalist and I felt SUPER kindred to her. I felt like she is my sister, even though I've seen her for maybe... 50 days of her life. Even some of our preferences are the same-- we both prefer chocolate-based ice cream. Neither of us like icing. Okay, so it's not ground breaking similarities, but it still felt awesome at the time.

The best part was that when I first arrived in CO, before we even picked Indigo up from her mom's house, my dad told me that Indigo's dream is to live in Golden, CO forever. However, at the end of the trip, Dad told me that Indigo is now planning to move to LA in 7 years. I was flattered, but it was especially reinforced when we went back to her mom's house and her mom said the same thing of Indigo's new LA plans. I am always amazed at how hard we bond. And how comfortable she is with me. She's unbelievable.

I didn't actually see her in that can-can outfit, but my dad just posted this of her from Halloween.

Dad pt. 2:

After Indigo left, my dad and I got to bond. We tend to talk about life, monumentally. Gaping generalizations and realizations about how to be happy and fulfilled. We ended up going outside and my dad made a fire in his backyard. It was actually hilarious to me because he's SUPER efficient about it. Getting certain sticks from one area of his yard. Logs from another area. Different logs from another area. A huge trashcan specifically dedicated to pine needles for his fire, which we gathered from the front yard. Placing the chairs down wind. He builds a LOT of fires in his backyard, is what I'm saying.

Mostly, it was excellent. I'll tell you a couple of things though, because I feel confident that my dad won't read this and even if he did, he would probably just skim... but when I talk to my dad, it isn't the same as it used to be and it fills me with disappointment. We don't connect in the same way, and part of it is because I AM kind of bitter about our relationship, but it's not really his fault and I don't really want to talk about it with him. I don't mean to be bitter either, but I feel cheated that I'm his second tier daughter and I got stuck with Ernie. These feelings color my interactions with him now. And it just especially hurts because having long talks with my dad always used to be REALLY incredible and inspiring and eye opening.

More awkwardly though, I didn't want to talk about my mom. There was just zero way that I wasn't going to cry--between crying so much earlier at and after the wedding and having some alcohol in my system and being with my dad late at night and already being super sensitive about my mom at this time-- and I just didn't want to spoil the moment. When I felt we were going to slip into talking about my mom for real, I told him that we always get to a point in which we talk about her and I just wanted to avoid the whole topic, which was a little awkward. Unfortunately, by nature of our relationship, we kept talking about parents. His parents. Him being a parent. Brothers and sisters. To be more clear, IIII kept bringing up my mom. So I had to keep doing a 180 every time I accidentally brought her up. Our conversation got a little stilted because of that. Although I am pretty proud of how I handled it anyway.

The last day:

The next day, I learned that I left a few things at Amy's house and, more importantly, I stole a few things from her. However, it ended up being fortuitous because it gave me the perfect excuse to pop by her new apartment, which I was DYING to see. It is AWESOME, by the way. If I wasn't so pleased with my own apartment, I'd be REALLY jealous. Plus, it was nice to say goodbye to her again, but without so many tears.

Then I headed to Denver to help my dad's long-term girlfriend, Asiana, move. I enjoy moving and actually, we were moving so briefly that it barely counted. It was excellent seeing the very beginning of Asiana's new place. It'll be great to see how it evolves. My dad let us spend some time alone together and we walked around her new neighborhood looking for coffee shops. We eventually found one, but we found WAY more bars and adult entertainment stores. It was lovely.

Then I went to lunch with my grandparents. It was WAY more lovely than I imagined it would be. Usually they're very judgmental and annoying, but they were very supportive of all of my choices and seemed pleased with me. Afterwards, I remembered that the last time I saw them, it was nice as well, but I guess it got blocked out of my mind by the many MANY unpleasant experiences I've had with them.

Then I took off for the airport. Returned the car. It was very nice because everyone kept asking me if I was okay on time, which I thought was kind. Of course, I was just fine on time, because of my time issues.

The plane ride was great. We had to stop and switch planes in Las Vegas. Did you know that there are slot machines in the AIRPORT in Vegas? Something about that city absolutely disgusts me and I was disturbed by the gambling in the airport. Whatever.

On my second flight, I started writing an imaginary blog about my trip and lamented the fact that I didn't have my computer. Oh well.

The only unpleasant part:

I decided to wait until I actually got my bags before I called for the shuttle to take me to my car. I REALLY shouldn't have. I called them at 9:53pm and patiently waited until 10:20pm, when I instantly became furious. I called again, and waited again until 10:43pm, when I was so pissed that I wanted to cry. Of course, me being furious on the phone sounds like "Hi, I'm so sorry to keep calling but..." On that third call, they told me that I'm supposed to be in a completely different place. Basically, on the ticket it says that you need to stand under the red "hotel" sign. There are a JILLION of these signs everywhere, and I was supposed to be at a SPECIFIC one in the middle island, in between two terminals and not just at the sign right out the door. Why they didn't tell me or even call me when I wasn't there, is beyond me.

FINALLY I saw a shuttle with the same name as my parking center. Unfortunately, there are two companies with the same one and that shuttle belonged to the other one. PISSED!! But a few minutes later, the guy with the wrong shuttle told me that my parking service picked up one of HIS clients, so he was going to my location anyway and would bring me with him. I wanted to make out with him in gratitude, but I settled for tipping him $2. What a kind guy.

I ended up getting home at 11:30pm.

And that's the end!!