Updates For the Willing

For the story on what we did in Wilmington, North Carolina, visit Matt's blog. The trip was awesome aside from the drive down (and back to a degree). Five hours of the drive down involved me silently cursing whoever decided to send us through Washington DC. Twenty miles in five hours is not very cool and I drove the intense part of that where people were repeatedly switching lanes in order to find the most advantageous place to be. Matt's parents were dumbfounded by how bad traffic could be in the DC area. I was slightly phased and made the comment, "We're never moving to a city larger than Cleveland."

This past weekend we went up to Rochester to hang with my dad for his birthday. My mom had gone to Toronto with two of my aunts and a family friend for some sewing convention. SARS be damned! Friday night we chilled a little with Dad before heading out to meet up with our friends Anne, Sean, Sarah and Julie. I hadn't seen Sarah and Julie since college, so that was pretty cool. Anne and I got a little trashed since we were celebrating her birthday and I was celebrating the fact that I didn't have to drive home for once. I think the highlight of the evening for me was in this hole-in-the-wall bar on Monroe Ave. when Anne turned to me and said, "That mix cd you made for me last month? I love it! I listen to it several times a week and when 'Fire On High' by ELO came on, I cried! You have no idea how long I've been looking for that song!! Years!!" Yeah. We were sauced. Good times.

Saturday Matt, my dad, and I went down the wineries on the west side of Seneca Lake. We bought almost a whole case of wine between the four wineries we visited. I find I'm leaning towards drier wines, but I still prefer reds. However, I surprised myself by falling for this Chardonney (aged in oak no less!) from Lakewood Wineries. It was very buttery and I could just imagine sipping it while throwing down some steamed clams. God knows when I'd get to do that though with Matt being allergic to all forms of seafood. Ah well. We had a late dinner at The Reunion and that was good. Service was a little slow and since we were there later, the bar crowd was getting a little rowdy, but it was all good. We topped off the evening by watching Shrek since my dad had never seen it and my mom had borrowed it from our friend's son.

Sunday was kind of funny. Matt and I went to church with my dad. I mostly wanted to go so Matt could see the church I grew up in and what the services were like there. I'm still very agnostic, if that but I think most people hold places from their childhood with some warm fondness. It was kind of bizarre to see some of the same families there and how their kids have grown up. I ran into my religion teacher from 2nd grade, whose daughter I was friends with. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the living room in front of the tv, even though I suggested going for a walk. I think we were just beat after going everywhere on Saturday. We all pitched in on dinner (hamburgers, baked beans, and salad) and then we took off. A really great weekend and it was fun to spend time with my dad. I think he feels like he's missed out on "us" time with my mom being so hyper about my wedding. So he got one weekend where I didn't have to discuss all sorts of wedding stuff.