August 5, 2018
We have been busy the last few weeks preparing for a party for our son's 45 birthday. It is a themed party and since he reads my blog on occasion I'll leave those details until after the party. But there have been other things going on as well. Weddings and St. Louis Cardinal baseball game. There were preparations to travel to Arkansas for a young relative's wedding. That would be followed by a drive from Arkansas to St. Louis to watch a Chicago Cubs vs. St Louis Cardinal baseball game. Three nights of hotels in different cities. Another wedding in September in Oregon is just on my list of things to prepare to attend.
Planning for the Oregon wedding is required, also. Hotels and or homes have to be booked. With the trip to Oregon with my three sisters & two of the husbands the accommodations must work for slightly less mobile persons. Flights have to be coordinated for transportation needs. Yes, the last month has been busy with working the different trips. To complicate my mind the bride (my great niece) in Oregon has the same name as the sister of the bride in Arkansas. Add in that Hubby and I have lost weight over the last year, about 2 sizes of clothing for each of us equals no dress clothes that fit.
Hubby had a custom made suit for our 2016 European trip. It has free alterations for life. He took the suit in at the end of June for the alterations. It was ready 10 days ahead of time. I had been on the lookout for a suitable outfit for myself, too. In July I found a darling jacket with just the right amount of bling to work fine. I had slacks and a blouse at home that would go perfectly with the jacket. Everything looked on track for the Arkansas wedding. I sat aside the wedding planning to work on the birthday party invitations. Those were mailed so I thought things were all falling in place.
Then a question came about our hotel reservations. In checking the reservation and the location in relationship to the rest of the family I noticed the dress code for the wedding, cocktail attire. I knew the outfit I was planning did not meet the requirement. It was 4 days until the wedding. A quick scan of possibilities ended with my deciding some material I had would work to make a blouse and skirt. I sat about altering a pattern I had on hand cause it was too big, too.
As I have issues with my upper back and neck, I could only work in 2 hour segments. Finally I started sewing the garments on Friday afternoon. Sewing machine tension was being squirrelly. The tension problem cost too much time. It was one in the morning when I put the blouse on to check the exact hem height with the jacket length. I looked in the bathroom mirror. The lavender of the jacket clashed with the blouse in the bathroom light. I went to the sewing area and it still clashed. Fine. Let me see my options. Found something that would not meet specs but would work better than the white top. Into bed to grab a few winks before time to leave.
While I was sewing Hubby had loaded everything in the car so all we would have to do was the last of the bathroom stuff, pile into the car and leave. And that is exactly what we did. On south 35 east in Dallas we hit an area that was down to one lane. We moved about 10 feet in 30 minutes while other lanes passed us by. We were in the lane everyone needed to be in so all that traffic was cutting in front of us. After a brief exchange of words with the designated driver (Gentle Hubby) we moved into the traffic that was passing us. Took the next exit, again aggravating some of the people that had just passed us and worked around the traffic jam. Back on track we were heading out Central Expressway in Highland Park. Hubby turned and said, "I forgot my dress cloths!". "Well, s*^%, me, too", came from my mouth.
A quick bit of trouble shooting and we had a plan. A store just off the highway with a 20% discount was on our route. In and out as quickly as possible. Which is not quick when pants and shirts have to be put on to make sure. And we are old but not too particular. Just make sure everything is covered and one has room to move. A few dollars and $160 later and we are back on the road. It is still 4 hours to the hotel. By this time we were now 2 hours later than we had planned to be on the road. But with the wedding at 7 we would make it with about 20 minutes to spare.
As we neared Fayetteville, around 5:45 our cousin and uncle of the bride, sends a text asking where we were. We answered heading to hotel to change clothing. His answer was the wedding starts in 13 minutes. Why did we think 7? Is that the time of the other wedding? Who knew, who cared. We sailed into the hotel, Hubby's new shirt needed to be pressed. I had taken all the tags off while we were traveling so at least that was not still to do. Me and pantyhose plus makeup while Hubby pressed his shirt and dressed. The venue was only 7 minutes from the hotel. We made it by 6:20. We were seated in time to see the exchange of vows and the kiss.
And we looked pretty good in our new clothes, too.
By the way, a lot of the women were wearing slacks and tops. Guess I could have gone with the original outfit. Oh, well. Ready for the next party!
Planning for the Oregon wedding is required, also. Hotels and or homes have to be booked. With the trip to Oregon with my three sisters & two of the husbands the accommodations must work for slightly less mobile persons. Flights have to be coordinated for transportation needs. Yes, the last month has been busy with working the different trips. To complicate my mind the bride (my great niece) in Oregon has the same name as the sister of the bride in Arkansas. Add in that Hubby and I have lost weight over the last year, about 2 sizes of clothing for each of us equals no dress clothes that fit.
Hubby had a custom made suit for our 2016 European trip. It has free alterations for life. He took the suit in at the end of June for the alterations. It was ready 10 days ahead of time. I had been on the lookout for a suitable outfit for myself, too. In July I found a darling jacket with just the right amount of bling to work fine. I had slacks and a blouse at home that would go perfectly with the jacket. Everything looked on track for the Arkansas wedding. I sat aside the wedding planning to work on the birthday party invitations. Those were mailed so I thought things were all falling in place.
Then a question came about our hotel reservations. In checking the reservation and the location in relationship to the rest of the family I noticed the dress code for the wedding, cocktail attire. I knew the outfit I was planning did not meet the requirement. It was 4 days until the wedding. A quick scan of possibilities ended with my deciding some material I had would work to make a blouse and skirt. I sat about altering a pattern I had on hand cause it was too big, too.
As I have issues with my upper back and neck, I could only work in 2 hour segments. Finally I started sewing the garments on Friday afternoon. Sewing machine tension was being squirrelly. The tension problem cost too much time. It was one in the morning when I put the blouse on to check the exact hem height with the jacket length. I looked in the bathroom mirror. The lavender of the jacket clashed with the blouse in the bathroom light. I went to the sewing area and it still clashed. Fine. Let me see my options. Found something that would not meet specs but would work better than the white top. Into bed to grab a few winks before time to leave.
While I was sewing Hubby had loaded everything in the car so all we would have to do was the last of the bathroom stuff, pile into the car and leave. And that is exactly what we did. On south 35 east in Dallas we hit an area that was down to one lane. We moved about 10 feet in 30 minutes while other lanes passed us by. We were in the lane everyone needed to be in so all that traffic was cutting in front of us. After a brief exchange of words with the designated driver (Gentle Hubby) we moved into the traffic that was passing us. Took the next exit, again aggravating some of the people that had just passed us and worked around the traffic jam. Back on track we were heading out Central Expressway in Highland Park. Hubby turned and said, "I forgot my dress cloths!". "Well, s*^%, me, too", came from my mouth.
A quick bit of trouble shooting and we had a plan. A store just off the highway with a 20% discount was on our route. In and out as quickly as possible. Which is not quick when pants and shirts have to be put on to make sure. And we are old but not too particular. Just make sure everything is covered and one has room to move. A few dollars and $160 later and we are back on the road. It is still 4 hours to the hotel. By this time we were now 2 hours later than we had planned to be on the road. But with the wedding at 7 we would make it with about 20 minutes to spare.
As we neared Fayetteville, around 5:45 our cousin and uncle of the bride, sends a text asking where we were. We answered heading to hotel to change clothing. His answer was the wedding starts in 13 minutes. Why did we think 7? Is that the time of the other wedding? Who knew, who cared. We sailed into the hotel, Hubby's new shirt needed to be pressed. I had taken all the tags off while we were traveling so at least that was not still to do. Me and pantyhose plus makeup while Hubby pressed his shirt and dressed. The venue was only 7 minutes from the hotel. We made it by 6:20. We were seated in time to see the exchange of vows and the kiss.
And we looked pretty good in our new clothes, too.
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| Post ceremony photo time. |
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| Cousins, Hubby is looking at the camera. |
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| Its a party, put down your phones! |
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| Bride and Groom leaving for their honeymoon! |
By the way, a lot of the women were wearing slacks and tops. Guess I could have gone with the original outfit. Oh, well. Ready for the next party!
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