Jac and Dan's wedding

I went back to South Dakota this weekend.  It was so crazy fast.  Flako took me to the airport and on the way there was joking about missing my flight.  It didn't feel like I was going so I told him that I wasn't sure I would notice that I missed it.  Living here is so surreal that I really didn't think I was going back home.  I wonder if that will ever change?

My flight left at 11pm.  After working all day and usually being asleep around 10, definitely by 10:30, I was exhausted before even getting on the plane.  I forgot my pillow so I ended up buying a memory foam neck pillow at the airport.  It's not the most comfortable thing, but when is sleeping sitting up comfortable anyway?  I'm really glad I had it.  I was sitting in the middle seat, was asleep before take-off, and was awake for maybe a half hour for the entire flight.  It was to Chicago, only four hours, so not tons of sleep, but better than nothing.  We landed in Chicago at 4:45am, so almost 3am in my mind.  Starbucks in the airport opens at 5 in case anyone was wondering.  Jamba Juice does not.  My flight to Sioux Falls left at 8:30, I think, so I had some time to kill.  I walked to the complete other side of O'Hare, took some pictures, found the light-up walkway, found the Urban Garden (pretty cool since it's in the middle of the airport), and then tried to find an outlet to charge my phone.  I brought work, but instead of doing it like I really should have, I watched the latest Grey's Anatomy and then stared off into space.  It was productive.  The Sioux Falls flight was very similar to the Chicago flight.  Slept the entire thing.  It was only an hour and a half, but any sleep was good sleep at this point.

Dad picked me up from the airport and bought me Caribou.  He was also very understanding in my change of plans to stop by the Workmans super quick and see Deb and Jen before heading down to Vermillion.  I'm glad we went because it was the only time I got to see Jen.  We drove down to Vermillion as I drank my Caribou and stared at the flat fields of corn and soybeans.  Dad so very kindly let me borrow his car for the weekend, so he dropped me off at Mom's.  I was going to take a nap, but decided to see people first.  I went to go surprise my mom at work, see Erin and then stopped by the Dickensons.  THEN, I went to take a nap.  I was really afraid that I would wake up with a headache, but I didn't thank goodness.  Mom and I went to RED and then I went to Carey's. Callie and Jamie from this summer met me there as well as Erin and Dave.  Sorry, Erin and Dave.  I talk to you all the time.  I don't talk to Callie and Jamie very often!  Carey's was wonderful, but the caffiene in my drink was a bad idea.

Saturday morning came very quickly.  I packed up some stuff and left Vermillion.  :-(  I met some of the girls to get our hair done in Sioux Falls.  It was a fast and wonderful day.  It was also very emotional.  Jacquie's mom died suddenly in May.  Her presence was definitely there on Saturday.  After hair, we went back to the hotel, started getting ready, left for lunch, finished getting ready, and then boarded the bus to the winery, just outside of Canton.  Jacquie and Dan had rented a 56 passenger bus for the wedding party as well as some guests.  It was great, since there was obviously going to be some drinking at the winery.

Once we were at the site, Jac and Dan explained the day and did quick introductions.  They had 27 people in their wedding party!  We drank some wine and got on with the rehearsal.  FYI, the end of October in South Dakota is FREEZING.  It was probably in the 40s?  with wind.  The wind was the bad part.  They lined up all up, went over the basics of the ceremony, and then we practiced walking in and out.   I was standing next to Travis and Randy, who are both much taller than me (not so hard).  At one point, they ended up standing behind me to try to block the wind.

After the quick rehearsal, we went on to pictures, which were all outside.  It was still cold but it wasn't as bad.  The pictures were fun.  I can't wait to see them!  After pictures, we just hung out until it was wedding time.  We watched people arriving and drank some more wine.  The wedding itself was beautiful, although I remember very few details.  It was warmer, thanks to the love in the air and the wine...also the wind died down.  The reception was also nice.  Good food.  There was buffalo dip that Jac's mom had started preparing and had frozen before she died.  It was probably the best thing there.  Well, that and the chocolate fountain.  The reception lasted until about 9:30 and then we helped clean up.  The bus was full back to Sioux Falls, so some of the wedding party (mostly) got to stand in the aisle.  I was totally exhausted by this point so standing was probably beneficial.  I think I would have fallen asleep otherwise.

When we got back to Sioux Falls, we hung out for a bit while the couple dropped their stuff off and decided where to go.  The first plan was to go to a bar in Sioux Falls.  I can't say I was terribly excited for it because it was going to be loud and crowded since it was Saturday night.  Turns out, the place they had talked about had a $10 cover charge.  When I first heard that, I decided I wasn't going to go because that was too much money to deal with a bar when I was already so tired.  The final plan ended up being the hotel bar.  It was perfect.  It was quiet, cheap, and since there were so many of us, there was enough space.  I had originally planned on staying until about 12 or 12:30.  I stayed until 2.  I was tired, but just didn't want to go to bed and miss anything.  I finally said goodbye to everyone and went to bed.

Sunday was a busy day too.  I ignored my alarm for close to an hour.  I showered and used the entire bottle of shampoo in order to get the hair spray out of my hair.  I stopped at Caribou (I MISS CARIBOU!!!) and went to Chelsea's.  It was good to see her.  I got to see Luke for about five minutes after he woke up.  After Chelsea's, I went to Workmans.  That was great of course.  Satchel played the cello for me and Preston tapped.  I love them so much!  I took videos.  I was updated on many aspects of Workman life.  I love catching up with them.

Before I went to the airport, I went to Jimmy Johns to get a thank you for Flako for taking me to the airport.  I wanted to get him an actual sandwich, but didn't want my stuff to smell like that.  I got him two loaves of bread.  He was ecstatic, which was hilarious.  Check-in was smooth.  My suitcase was 46 pounds!  I tried calling Po at the airport, but she didn't answer.  As I was trying to figure out what I should do instead, I looked up and saw a guy I knew from high school, that I don't think I've talked to since then.  I might have seen him a few times at the bar randomly, but I hadn't talked to him.  We talked for like 45 minutes before I had to go to my gate.  He's not someone I was friends with, but it was cool to catch up.  There's very few people I would ignore out of the 96 I graduated with.

The flight home was pretty uneventful.  I stayed awake, did a little work, and laughed at the hunters on the first flight.  I tried really hard to sleep on the second flight.  I did a little bit but it wasn't very restful.  I got home about 11:30, brought my suitcase upstairs, knocked something off my screen door, tried to take it off, and then fell over my suitcase.  Winner.  I couldn't fall asleep (of course) until about 1, so 6:30 came quite quickly.

The weekend doesn't seem real.  There never seems to be enough time at weddings and I didn't get to hang out with Jacquie as much as I would have liked, but I wasn't expecting to either.  I brought back some pictures and photo books.  I'm hoping it will help make it feel more like home and not temporary or surreal.

Avoiding work

I really have nothing to say.  I told myself I was going to get a lot of cleaning and school work done today.  Good thing the day's not over.  I did a little bit of cleaning and have done no school work.  I was going to go somewhere today, but decided it was too hot out and I had too much to put off until tomorrow.  My to do list on my phone was 40 things on it, with probably 5 that I know won't get done this weekend.  Everything else really should.  I have 27 things left.

The oarfish is the largest bony fish and lives hundreds to thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean.  Two dead oarfish have been found near the shore in the last week in Southern California.  Japanese folklore says that the oarfish are earthquake warnings.  We had an earthquake drill this week in the morning and were supposed to have one in the afternoon but other stuff came up so my kids haven't experienced it.  We're supposed to get under a table and cover our necks.  I'm not worried about getting my kids under the table.  I'm worried about getting them out from under there.

I still think it's completely surreal that I live in California.  I have a feeling that I'll be saying that a lot next weekend when I'm back for Jacquie and Dan's wedding.  I finally hung up a picture that I bought at the end of August.  I think I have one more to hang, but I'm not sure where I want it.  I thought it would make me feel more settled, but it doesn't yet.  I wonder if I ever will.

I'm really excited to go back to SoDak next weekend.  It's going to be such a whirlwind and I know I'm going to miss some people and some things to do, but I'm really excited.  The best part of course is Jacquie and Dan's wedding!  I can't believe it's finally happening!

Eh, I should probably get to those 27 things.  Or play Sim City.  Sim City I think wins.

The BIKE!

I bought a bike!  Flako went with me to a couple of bike shops on Saturday.  The first shop I saw one I kind of liked and the second one I found one that I really liked.  Actually Flako found it so he's convinced that he basically coerced me into buying it, which he didn't.  If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have bought it.  I'm glad he went with me, even if it means him asking if I still like it every time he sees it.  He knows more about bikes than I do, which isn't hard because I seriously didn't know there was a difference between a mountain bike and a road bike until this last year.  I liked it because it was red.  He liked it because of bike things.  I think he was more excited about it than I was and I was really excited about it.  I've ridden all three days I've had it so far, going a little farther each time.  It's so much better than running.  My legs are crazy sore so I might need to take a break tomorrow.  I still need to get a few things for it, like a good water bottle, a bag of some sort for keys, and more lights.  I also think I want to get a new seat.  This one is ok, but not great.  Flako did tell me that my tires were ugly because they were only one color.  I really didn't know tires could be ugly, but I guess they can.

The Play

Flako's running lights for the show his school is doing right now.  Bob and I went tonight.  It was opening night.  Flako has been told me details about it last week when he first saw it.  I still wasn't totally prepared for it.  There just aren't words for it.  I'm not entirely sure that my friendship with him was worth going to see this show for $11.

Totally unrelated, I just read an article on MSN--Ten things that Amazon doesn't sell yet.  I'm not sure which is dumber--whoever wrote the article or me because I read it.

Facebook

I took Facebook off my phone in an effort to make myself less addicted to it.  I'm writing about it here to make myself a little more accountable about it.  I was being obsessive, checking to see who was online and knew I needed to stop.  I don't know how long it's going to last, but I'm hoping for awhile.  Ok, I'm really hoping to last the weekend.

Two Months in California

I had this really long post and then I lost it.  I don't understand this computer sometimes.  I have no idea what I did.

It's been two months since I moved to California.  It's still so surreal.  In one way, it feels like I've been here forever and in another it feels like I don't live here at all.

The loneliness has hit hard this week.  Work has been really overwhelming.  I missed Dakota Days.  Flako's been really busy.  It's just been very lonely.  It probably also hasn't helped that I haven't really left the city since I moved here.  I went to San Diego, but because of the traffic, it didn't really feel like I left.  I also didn't see anything really.  I just went to a mall and a movie theatre.  I'm hoping to leave the city but stay in California soon.  Maybe go up to Santa Barbara for the day.  That will have to wait until November though.  October is filling up fast.  I go to South Dakota in a few weeks and then I get my first visitor that isn't here to help me move the weekend after!  Maybe I'll actually have pictures hung by then...maybe not.

I've been trying to cook more.  I haven't been totally successful as one hidden part of moving is not having important ingredients like flour and sugar.  I usually remember that I don't have those when I'm about halfway through the recipe.  I think I finally have all the basics now.  I'm hoping to make myself do more cooking.  One, it helps with making lunch because then I have leftovers for the next day (or the next three usually).  Two, it makes me feel better than living off pizza.  While I adore pizza, it's not the healthiest when you eat it all the time.

Thinking of healthy, since it's not ridiculously hot out every day, running has been getting easier.  I made my route (very) slightly longer today.  I still can't run continuously for very long, but I can tell I'm getting better.  What I really want is a bike.  I think I'm going to go looking for one this weekend.  I like bike riding.  I would do it some in Vermillion, but never did in Bellevue.  I think I would do it a lot here.  The weather makes it amazingly easy to want to be outside.  Bike riding would be easier on my body than running is too.  I also want to get a hula hoop, but a weighted one.  I had a regular one in Bellevue and it totally helped with my waist.  I think a weighted one would be even better.  It's a surprisingly good workout.  I started looking for ones online but I got distracted by dart boards.  I also want a dart board.

I don't feel like I've been as good keeping in touch with people in the last few weeks.  I'm not sure why.  I think because I've been homesick/lonely and in a way, think that talking to people back home might make it worse.  I forget that it will probably make it better.

Ride With Larry

I went to San Diego by myself yesterday.  Flako couldn't go with me.  Sometimes, when he doesn't go somewhere I want to go, I won't go because I don't want to go by myself.  That wasn't an option for this.  Ride With Larry was playing at the San Diego Film Festival and I desperately wanted to see it.

It was kind of weird to actually see it because I've been hearing about it for so long.  I'm not sure you can live in Vermillion and not know who Larry is.  I know him because I graduated high school with his son and of course because of his delicious bread.  If people don't actually know who Larry is, they've heard of Mr. Smith's bread.  Man, I really want some salted baguette.

It took me three hours to get to San Diego, thanks to traffic.  I stopped about halfway at a lookout point to see the ocean.  The ocean is so beautiful!  I also found out where Camp Pendleton was.  I'm not sure where I thought it was, but it wasn't there, even though I knew it was somewhere between San Diego and Los Angeles.  There's a brush fire there right now and I saw an article that the Camp Pendleton hospital had to be evacuated yesterday.  I saw the smoke from the what I'm guessing is that brush fire.  I know, fascinating.

I made it to the theatre and spent forever looking for parking.  I think I would rather be stuck in traffic than stuck looking for parking.  I was still about an hour early for the screening.  I wandered around for awhile and then played some Candy Crush.  The screening was at just a regular movie theatre.  It really wasn't very exciting.  It was pretty cool to see my actual ticket for the show, but I didn't get to keep it.  I did take a picture of it and I'm glad I did.

The screening was sold out!  I sat pretty close to the front, in like the third or fourth row, but the seats were actually really comfortable.  The movie was very well done.  I was very emotional during it, which was surprising to me.  I don't think I would have been as emotional if I had seen it in South Dakota but being so far away and seeing home was harder than I thought.  That's not true.  I knew it would be hard.  It was Dakota Days so it was going to be a hard day no matter what.  I think it was also emotional because I know these people.  I don't know them well, but I know them.  I've seen the change in Larry through the years and it's hard to see but at the same time, he's absolutely amazing.  Yes, his symptoms are terrible, but he's fighting it for sure.  I did spend a lot of the movie either wishing for a salted baguette or being excited when I saw someone I knew.  I CRIED when Larry was welcomed into Vermillion.  I remember wishing that I could be in Vermillion for that day, but I had just gotten back from England and was in Bellevue, probably sleeping.

The medication part of the film was the most fascinating for me.  Exercise seems to work to control the symptoms, but nothing controlled them as well as medical marijuana.  If people could see how fast and well it worked, maybe there would be less of a fight about it.  No, probably not, because people are stuck in their opinions when something is so polarizing.  It's so sad that something that works so well is unavailable to people like him.

There was a Q&A with the directors and producers after the show.  I didn't really find out anything I didn't already know from it, but it was still very cool.  There was a champagne reception after that, but I didn't feel comfortable going to that.  As I was walking out of the theatre, one of the directors was behind me, so I congratulated him.  We talked a little bit and I told him that my mom was the speech pathologist in the movie.  He said I should be very proud of her because she gave them so much information and was a great contributor.  Awww....That made me happy.

I shopped for a little bit after the show.  I found a jean jacket for Jacquie's wedding!  YAY!  (Now I just need shoes.)  It only took me two hours to get back to Los Angeles.  I still don't totally believe that I live in Los Angeles.  It's still quite surreal.

Thoughts from This Week

*I want a bike.
*I can't believe it's already October.
*I have a new aide and five kids in my classroom.
*I am super excited to go to San Diego this weekend, even though I probably have to go alone.
*I love fall.
*I'm ready to keep the 70* temperatures and can get rid of the 95*.
*I need a bookshelf.
*Breaking Bad is a good show.  I'm not addicted but I like watching it.
*Trader Joe's is an awesome store.
*The motivation to run is actually getting easier.
*I'm not as homesick as I thought I would be.  I probably just jinxed myself.
*I miss my Harry Potter books.
*I wish I could wear yoga pants all.the.time.
*Peanut Butter and Jelly soda is good for the first few drinks.  Then not so much.
*Whomever thought of chocolate-covered potato chips is the devil.
*I love Justin Timberlake's newest album.
*I am super excited for my Christmas/New Year's plans.