Friday blathering

It's early morning in Seattle again- someone woke up on East Coast time.

No work today! The Parents flew in from Italy via Colorado (the new baby takes precedent over EVERYTHING now) and I am so excited to drive down to their house and talk their ears off all day long.

The flights were uneventful. I sat next to a Mr. Fidgety on the way home and when he finally scooted out to get a seat next to his wife, Phillip and I had three seats. I am not used to flying domestically. I am used to really really really really long drawn out flights that either go straight across the world or stop 15 times on their way to the final destination. That four hour flight from Cincinnati is NOTHING. Still, they are all planes that take off and land and experience turbulence so on the nervousness scale, all flights are equal. Thanks to the extra seat and a double dose of Dramamine, I made it home without the pilot having to come out and strap me down. This is it for airplanes until September, hopefully.

Also, I need a vacation from my vacation.

I still haven't figured out what wedding stories to tell- or should I say, which ones to tell that won't get me excommunicated from the Bride. Ha. I must say, though, that putting on that purple bridesmaid dress was like putting on Superman's cape. In that dress you are Invincible Bridesmaid and whatever you say goes. You can even boss around the bride. When you are wearing your dress and your hair is all pinned up and laquered to your skull, you can swipe that cell phone away and say "No! No more 'checking up on things'!" and the Bride? Must acquiesce. Because you are wearing The Dress and no one is going to mess with that. Late to the reception? Run that red light! No cop is going to give you a ticket when he sees a car full of purple dresses. We ran into a bit of competition at the rose garden where we went to take pictures. The garden was host to about 18 brides and their 400 bridesmaids, all wearing less pretty versions of the uniform. But we were working those dresses, Internet, and with one flick of our bouquets, the other bridal parties went running. Even at the reception, when we walked by the dessert table and the 300 chocolate-dipped strawberries that we were not supposed to eat until they cut they cake- I picked one up anyway. And so did the other girls. And we popped them in our mouths and glittered triumphantly at the videographer. Because we? Are the bridesmaids. And also? WE SPENT ALL MORNING DIPPING THOSE FREAKING STRAWBERRIES!

I have never had so much fun and been so exhausted at the same time. The two things may have been intertwined- everything is much funnier when one is nearly delirious.

At 8 am I have just finished my second load of laundry. I also need to scrub the tub, put the mail away, break down some boxes, hide the Xbox sitting on the mantle and weed- oh, the weeding that must be done!- before my mother shows up tomorrow with her white gloves and her magnifying glass. Also, it is RAINING. The babysitter in Cincinnati asked, "Does it REALLY always rain in Seattle?" and we said "No no no, it rains a little, but we had such a gorgeous spring and last summer was really hot!" But now it's raining. Rain rain rain. Gray ugly overcast. Also, summer in Seattle for us will always be the summer we got married which was 10 degrees hotter than hell, so we will never have an accurate frame of reference. But the babysitter, she was right when she added, "At least there's things to DO in Seattle." This is true. Cincinnati? Not much to be excited about when the cute new shopping mall and movie theater is across the river in Kentucky. That's right. Kentucky.

I may harbor a certain fondness for the Red States, but I am certainly not going to move there. Heavens.