My Weekend

This last weekend I traveled with my parents to visit my sister in Plainview, Minnesota (just north of Rochester).  We left the house Saturday morning around 5:30 am.  I managed to sleep until we reached La Crosse, with only about an hour and a half of the journey remaining.

Rose worked on Saturday so we met her at the Culver's she worked at and hung out for a bit before she had
to get to work.  Then we headed North to Plainview to meet up with Rose's fiancee's parents (who are good friends of mom and dad's now).

While Dad hung out with Tony, Mom, Jan and I went to scope out the reception hall for the wedding.  It is the same place that Jan and Tony had their reception dance.  It has beautiful views out onto Lake Peppin (which was frozen over at the time) we drove through the beautiful foothills of the Mississippi river valley, looking around at Lake City, before traveling to St. Charles, MN to stop at Wild Rose Bridal which is in an old catholic church.  There I tried on some more dresses, trying to find a cheaper alternative to the dress we found near home.  I think I found one, or rather two, though the second is not all that much cheaper than the first one.  After that we returned to Jan and Tony's house and I enjoyed their dogs for a while while Jan and Mom talked wedding talk and Dad and Tony enjoyed Denver and the Mile High Orchestra and looked at car magazines.  After a while we ate supper, mom made Italian Wedding Soup and it was delicious (as per usual).

The I met Rose at a kwik trip about halfway in between Rochester and Plainview to go and see Alice in Wonderland.  We didn't make the first showing so Rose took me downtown to show me the Most Amazing Barnes and Noble I've ever seen.  Unfortunately we weren't able to go inside as it closes ridiculiously early.  It was renovated from an old theatre and has retained many of the theatre architecture.  Then we made our way to Chateau theater and enjoyed the movie.

It was awesome! It totally was not what I was expecting, but WAY exceeded my expectations.  I had expected it to be a super trippy rendition of the Disney Alice in Wonderland, and instead it was more Alice through the Looking Glass meets the Jabberwocky.  The characters were a lot deeper than I had assumed they would be, Johnny Depp was amazing as the Mad Hatter, and Alice was wonderful.  Stephen Fry (who I absolutely love) played the voice of the Cheshire Cat and Doormouse was amazingly full of spitfire.  While I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was taking a child under the age of 13, it was fabulous.

I stayed over with Rose at her Houseparent's home and met their psycho kitty whose name is Alice and who reminded me of Alice from Twilight (yes I did watch the first movie and Rose has continued to pressure me into reading the books, but I have thus far withheld against the assault.)

Sunday we went to Rose's church and the music and my state of exhaustion hit me really hard.  They had really great songs and I choked up a lot while singing.  The sermon was also really good.  I got to meet several people who are going to be in the wedding as well as having faces to put to names.
After church we went back to Tony & Jan's for mexican and hanging out.  For a while they talked wedding talk with Rose and Johnny and then Johnny had to go to work and Rose and mom talked more while Dad and Tony watched Nascar.  I had a roaring headache at that point, and sat in the recliner with my hat over my eyes.  We left after 4:30 and made our way home.  Again I slept in the car for about 2 hrs, waking with a little reprieve from my headache.

It was nice to be home again, and I remade my bed and sat down and read a book before going to sleep.  This morning I had breakfast and went to work at 11:30.  It was the kind of morning that I would have loved to have stayed home and enjoyed some quiet time with a book by a fire.  The fog had rolled in so thick that you almost felt as though you were the only person on the face of the earth.  While it closed you in, it was a comfortable kind of sensation.  It made me want to have someone to share it with.

Now, I am finding myself fighting the roaring monster of my headache again...Tomorrow I have the day off from Duluth and work 4-8 at my new job.


Maybe I'll make scones tomorrow...