On easy weekends

So it’s official: The Steelers kick ass and take names. Steelers-Packers, February 6^th. This year’s Super Bowl ought to be EPIC.

I obviously spent Sunday afternoon watching football, but the rest of the weekend is worth commenting on as well. 

On Sunday afternoons

Twice in one day? That’s right, lucky readers (whoever you are)! You get not one, but TWO updates from me in the span of one day – mostly because this post didn’t really relate to my work post.

Yesterday, I spent the day with my dear friend Jessica M. We watched a movie (He's Just Not That Into You, which reawakened my inner Bitchy Single Woman), bought some cake (the damn confectioner’s club or whatever was having its annual cake parade at the LJ Village Square shopping center) and Chipotle, and took ourselves to Mission Bay.

I forgot how amazingly restful that place it. Jessica took me to Paradise Point, a little resort hidden off of the bay, which had this big man-made pond covered with ducks – the friendliest, most tame ducks I’ve ever met. One cheeky little fellow kept waddling around our gazebo, pecking at the ground and staring longingly at my burrito. I kept scolding him, since I’d stuffed his maw full of bread only a few moments earlier (and you should have seen them flock to us!), but the bird wouldn’t leave us alone until we turned our backs and resolutely ignored his cuteness.

After we’d finished our lunch (late lunch, really, since this was around 4pm or so), we crumbled up some bread for the ducks in that part of the area before leaving for another spot. I also left a little trail of crumbs on the gazebo, leading toward some rice that had fallen out of my burrito.

They’re hard to eat, okay?

At the new location, the ducks literally clambered out of the pond and onto our feet – Jessica got stomped on by an overeager male, and I was splashed on more than one occasion. It was adorable, though; Jessica got one of her little friends to do tricks for his bread, while I catered to an especially patient mallard who was a little too shy to climb out of the water like the rest of his friends.

After we’d run out of bread, Jessica and I wandered down to the dock, where we chilled – literally. It was damn cold. From the dock, we could see a park that lingered on the edge of the bay; since there wasn’t much to see at the dock, we decided to leave and explore the park.

We got ourselves a bench right on the water’s edge, and sat out there for probably close to an hour. We met a retired stewardess with her little male Bischon who was actively exploring the sand. We saw boatfuls of half-naked men paddling out on the bay. We watched people cruise by on their little schooners.

And we saw an otter! Who knew that otters liked to hang out in the bay? He was adorable; he would dive under water, then surface a few feet later, and dive again – clearly on a mission, but to where? Was he visiting his friends at Sea World? Was he going for a meal at the dockside restaurant (which had pondfuls of ugly fish)? Was he striking out for freedom?

Who knows? He sort of made our day, though, just because he was so darn cute.

Oh! And at one point, while we were still on our gazebo, we saw two ducks humping. I couldn’t tell if the female was pleased or not; she seemed like she was trying to swim away. Little dude was into it, though, pecking at her head feathers and everything.

Probably more than the BSW in me needed to see.

Where we love weddings but hate hangovers

The photographers are putting up photos of the wedding! I’m excited and at the same time kind of mortified – I know they got some embarrassing shots of me dancing. Still – they did an amazing job, from what I saw at the wedding.

On to the last event – the after-party!
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The cast of characters! (I’ve taken Caroline, Amy and Erica off the list because they didn’t stick around for the after party).

BRIDAL PARTY
Jessica – the bride, whom I’ve known since 6th grade
Stephi – friend of the bride, my best friend
Annie – friend of the bride
Thuy – friend of the bride
Marianna – bridesmaid
Me (Hanna) – friend of the bride

The above girls and I have all known each other for at least 8 years; some of us have known each other for over 13.

Marisa – maid of honor; bride’s younger sister
Alexia – friend of the maid of honor

GROOM’S PARTY
Chris – the groom
Levi (aka D-Bag) – best man
Chase (aka Keebler) – groomsman
Greg (aka Gregasaurus) – friend of the groom
Creepy Nick – friend of the groom

The above guys are all frat brothers. That is a key fact – these guys are all frat boys.
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The original plan was to go to Club V20 in Long Beach – none of us had been there before, but Thuy really wanted to check it out. After I picked up the boys from the beach and returned to the hotel, the girls and I settled in for a quick nap and a change in attire. We had told the boys to meet us in the lobby at 9pm, since we needed to get to the club by 10pm in order to get in for free.

After changing into our party clothes, we got a phone call from Marianna asking us to help clear out the newlyweds’ bedroom, which Marianna and Marisa had been prepping. After dragging suitcases and shopping bags to our room, and after Marianna and Marisa elected to stay in their wedding clothes (Marisa didn’t have club wear with her), we trooped downstairs to the lobby, where we met Levi.

Levi and a couple of the girls went up to the guys’ room for some pre-gaming, while Annie, Stephi and I lingered in the lobby. We ran into the couple, who were getting some food and going to their room (they didn’t actually hang out with us either, since they had other things on their mind). The entire group came downstairs after a few minutes, at which point Levi informed us of a “minor” problem – Creepy Nick was only 20 years old (LOL – minor. Get it?).

Well none of us wanted to leave Nick by himself, so we looked up some 18+ clubs in the L.A. area. Most of the group went back to the hotel room, while a handful of us went to grab some grub – Steph, Annie, Levi, Chase, and myself, to be exact. What ensued was hilarity.

In Levi’s words, this is what happened when we rolled up to the drive-thru window:

Carl's Jr. Lady: hands us our food after dropping one cup
You: tries to hand her money for the food
Carl's Jr. Lady: waves hands frantically saying no no
You: "But we haven't paid for the food yet lady”
Carl's Jr. Lady: still waving her hands at us like a crack addict
Me: "Just go! Let’s get the hell outta here"

Basically – we got four combos for free. Best thing to happen to us all day long.
When we got back to the hotel, the rest of the party was well on its way to getting smashed. We all reached the conclusion that we’d rather hang out in the hotel rather than go out to a club, so that’s what we did. We all drank a little (even Annie took a sip of Levi’s hideously strong rum and coke) and some of us drank a LOT. At some point during the night, Chase became the Secret Shot Sergeant, Marianna shotgunned some beers with Nick, and Levi and Marisa also got exceedingly drunk.

We eventually had to move to our room, since Jeff and Whitney (a couple from Kansas that I hadn’t previously mentioned, since I never talked to them) needed to get some sleep. And back in our room, things only got crazier.

Marianna straddled and humped me at least three times. Chase fell onto a suitcase, then fell onto the floor trying to get off of it. Annie jumped on the bed, causing Greg to hit his head (let’s face it – he’s really tall). Nick tickled everybody. Marisa spooned. Stephi glomped. Levi and Alexia talked only with one another. At one point, Marianna, Annie, Marisa, and Chase were conducting Operations – Operation: Cookies; Operation: Break into a wedding party at the hotel; Operation: Booze. I LOL-ed (I was sober and they were ridiculous). At one point, Levi and Marisa got into an argument. And security eventually came to break the party up (of course I was the one to talk to them).

A group of them went to DelTaco, while Steph and I tried sleeping. A number of people trooped in and out of our room, though, and when Marianna and Marisa got back, we stayed up a little while longer to gossip with each other about the day’s events.

The next morning, we woke up rather reluctantly to get some breakfast. We thought it would be just the four of us dining with the couple, but when we got down to the lobby, all of the guys had made it downstairs. Some of them definitely looked worse for wear, but we all made it safely across the street to Denny’s. We rehashed some of the night’s events for the couple’s amusement as we ate.

After breakfast, Steph and I gathered our belongings and said good-bye to our roomies and to Chris and Jessica. We met Greg in the lobby – I’d offered him a ride to the airport – and made our way home. I took Greg to LAX, Stephi to Downey, and myself to San Diego.

Not long after I got home, I received a call from Levi inviting us down to the pool. Turns out we forgot to say good-bye to the rest of the boys. Whoops!

All in all, a fabulous wedding party!

Here comes the bride

Part 2: The wedding!
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Here's the list again, for those of you keeping track at home:

BRIDAL PARTY
Jessica – the bride, whom I’ve known since 6th grade
Stephi – friend of the bride, my best friend
Annie – friend of the bride
Thuy – friend of the bride
Marianna – bridesmaid
Me (Hanna) – friend of the bride

The above girls and I have all known each other for at least 8 years; some of us have known each other for over 13.

Caroline – bridesmaid
Marisa – maid of honor; bride’s younger sister
Alexia – friend of the maid of honor
Erica – friend of the bride
Amy – friend of the bride

GROOM’S PARTY
Chris – the groom
Levi (aka D-Bag) – best man
Chase (aka Keebler) – groomsman
Greg (aka Gregasaurus) – friend of the groom
Creepy Nick – friend of the groom

The above guys are all frat brothers. That is a key fact – these guys are all frat boys.
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The ceremony took place at a small church in Palos Verdes, so Steph and I made plans to leave at about 8:45am from Downey, just to make sure we got there in time (it began at 10am). I woke up at 7:30am, and got ready much too fast as usual, so I set out from my house at about 8:20am. I called Steph - no answer. I called her home phone number, and her dad picked up the phone. I asked to speak to Steph - and he said she was still in bed.

Of course, I asked him to wake her up. Steph got on the phone and I assured her that she would still have some time to get ready, since I planned on swinging through Starbucks. I did ask her if we had room to take Annie, since the three of us plus Marianna had rented a room at the Doubletree so we could stay the night (Annie later ended up saying she couldn't stay the night, however, so she drove herself to the wedding). After I'd bought my coffee and croissant, I drove to Steph's place, where she was running around spastically dressing herself, packing for the night, and signing Jessica and Chris' card. I mostly tried to stay out of her way.

Steph got ready in record-time, and we piled everything into my car. After dropping off some equipment at my house, we got on the freeway at about 9:20am, with a projected arrival time of 9:55am. It was cutting a bit close for my comfort, but it couldn't be helped.

With the help of Steph's GPS and my old-school written directions, we found the church with very little problems, arriving just in time. After being walked to our seats by the ushers/groomsmen, Steph and I settled ourselves next to Annie and Alexia, and behind Amy and Erica. Thuy still hadn't arrived - no surprise there, since she's chronically late (she actually ended up arriving after Jessica had already walked down the aisle!). Steph and I were actually a bit early, so we had a chance to sit and check out the crowd. The wedding party was relatively small, with mostly family and old family friends of the bride and groom present.

The ceremony began with the lighting of the candles by the siblings of the bride and groom, and seating of the grandparents and the parents. Chris walked his mother to her seat and I was so taken aback by how much he'd changed in appearance since I'd last seen him that I actually didn't realize it was him until he and his groomsmen trooped to the front of the church. Marianna, Caroline, and Marisa walked in, followed by an adorable flower girl. Then we were all asked to rise in expectation of the bride.

Jessica was absolutely stunning. Her dress was a confectionery of lace and tulle, with intricate embroidery and crowned by a veil. I could tell that Jessica had been crying earlier, but she looked purely happy as she came down the aisle. I had to look back at Chris every now and then, and he looked like he was going to burst, he was so thrilled.

The ceremony went off with no major glitches; Chris flubbed one of his lines because he was so eager to say it, which was simply adorable. The minister instructed Chris a few times that he was to protect Jessica, since she was his most precious gift, and that made me nearly burst out laughing because I had this image in my head of Chris waving a monopod in his hand to fend off attackers (apparently that and a towel rack are his preferred weapons; he used the first when a suspicious man knocked on the door and the second when several coyotes intercepted Jessica on her way home). The minister was great, cracking a coupe of jokes here and there; when the ceremony (which was relatively short) came to a close, he said, "And now, for the best part" as an intro to the husband and wife kiss.

After the Mr. and Mrs. walked down the aisle together, the party congregated outside the church on a patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean - and what a spectacular view! The photographers took lots of photos of the entire group, of the families, and so forth; my friends and I all snapped some photos, and then we made our way to the reception and the Chart House in Torrance. Again - the view was amazing. We were literally hanging over the sand, looking out onto the coast, which was absolutely perfect that day - small waves and clear skies.

The reception was very sweet; speeches were made (I think Marisa's was best), drinks were drunk (and some people got very, very drunk), dances were danced. The young people were all grouped at one table, far away from the wedding party's table; the Kansans sat at one end, the Downey-ites (Downeians? Downey-ers?) sat at the other, and Erica and Amy were stuck in-between. We mostly chatted to the people we knew, and danced with the people we knew. We all ended up chatting a bit after the reception, though, mostly because the guys needed a ride back to the hotel and the girls had multiple cars. Annie, Alexia, Steph, and I loitered for a while on the sand, watching the wedding party take photos, so we could schlepp the guys back with us, but as it turns out, only two ended up needing rides. Levi and Chase wanted to swim a little while, so I agreed to pick them up later, and the rest of us returned to the hotel. After checking in to the hotel, the four of us went to the mall right across the street so Steph could buy a shirt (we had planned on going clubbing). While at the mall, I got a call from Levi, and headed back to the beach to pick them up.

The car ride back to the hotel was amusing; we were using Steph's GPS, but Levi failed at navigating. I ended up making several left and right turns before I got back onto the PCH, at which point I could navigate for myself. The guys were highly entertaining, though, which was great - I hadn't really talked to any of them during the reception, so I didn't know what to expect. We all ended up talking easily, with lots of joking, so I expected great things for that night - more on that to come!

Kissing the maiden name good-bye

What a night!

This past week was chock-full of events revolving around Jessica and Chris’ wedding; as I was a part of the bride’s side of the festivities, I attended her bachelorette party on Thursday. The wedding itself was on Saturday, and the after-party carried on w ell into Sunday morning.
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First – a list of names you might have to refer to, as the stories unfold:

BRIDAL PARTY
Jessica – the bride, whom I’ve known since 6th grade
Stephi – friend of the bride, my best friend
Annie – friend of the bride
Thuy – friend of the bride
Marianna – bridesmaid
Me (Hanna) – friend of the bride

The above girls and I have all known each other for at least 8 years; some of us have known each other for over 13.

Caroline – bridesmaid
Marisa – maid of honor; bride’s younger sister
Alexia – friend of the maid of honor
Erica – friend of the bride
Amy – friend of the bride

GROOM’S PARTY
Chris – the groom
Levi (aka D-Bag) – best man
Chase (aka Keebler) – groomsman
Greg (aka Gregasaurus) – friend of the groom
Creepy Nick – friend of the groom

The above guys are all frat brothers. That is a key fact – these guys are all frat boys.

On with the story! This post will cover the bachelorette party, and I’ll devote the next two posts to the wedding and the after-party.
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The bachelorette party began on Thursday, at 9:30pm. We girls gathered at Doubletree in Torrance, home to the out-of-state folk for the days of the wedding festivities (some of the bride’s party flew in from NY, and all of the groom’s men came from Kansas). Caroline had arranged the entire party, starting with a giant Escalade limo hired to cart us crazy women (there were 11 of us) from place to place. We were to begin with a comedy show, but apparently we didn’t purchase tickets ahead of time and the place was sold out, so we skipped that step, and moved on to the next – the Hustler store!

Poor Jessica. Jessica was the epitome of the blushing bride; when we got into the store, I don’t believe she ever stopped blushing. Marisa is apparently quite the vibrator connoisseur, which came as a shock to her older sister; shopping with Marisa was an experience, though. Girl tested every vibrator there, unable to satisfy her demands for a stronger vibration until she found a bullet. After Marisa made her purchase, we trooped back to the limo for the final stop of the evening – Saddle Ranch!

We of course made Jessica ride the bull (what’s a trip to the Saddle Ranch worth if you don’t have a friend ride the bull?). The bride’s maids bought a Big Beer (5 LITERS OF BEER!) and drank quite a bit of it all by themselves. I’m not the biggest beer fan in the world, but I had about half a glass to help them out. The bartender gave us free shots as well, and Marianna, Steph, and I all bought shot glasses (which came with a free shot of sex on the beach) for ourselves. We stayed at the Ranch, with Marisa, Alexia, and Steph all taking a ride on the bull, until closing time (at which point, they played "Closing Time").

Best memories of the night: Marisa staying on the bull for a max of three seconds, a girl wearing a dress was tipped by the bull controller to flash the entire bar her red lace thong, and the limo ride back to the hotel. Marianna had an uncontrollable bladder; at a red light, she climbed out of the limo and ran across the street to pee behind a 7-11. That’s class, people. She and Marisa were pretty much gone; Marisa apparently slept until Friday evening. Steph and I went back to Downey; I dropped her off and got back to my house at around 3:30am. I crept inside, doing my best not to wake anyone, and promptly passed out, not waking up until about 11am.

Good times!

Frequent driver miles

This upcoming week should be pretty thrilling, as far as this summer goes (godDAMN, I'm bored).
I only just returned last night, from a weekend in Downey, but I'll be making my way back to good ol' suburbia on Tuesday. I'll probably spend the evening at the movies with my mother - we both want to see "Hairspray" - and stay the night.
Wednesday, I'll be driving up to Ventura, to spend a couple of days with my sister. Jane doesn't get off of work until 6pm, but I'd rather not fight 101 traffic at the height of rush hour, so I'll probably get into Ventura early. I'll probably cruise around and sightsee, if there are sights worth seeing.
Thursday will be spent in the company of my sister; we'll probably hang out at the beach.
I'll be returning to Downey sometime early Friday afternoon, pick up Annie from work, and head to the beach for our annual bonfire/reunion. Our yearly shindigs are usually a bundle of fun; I anticipate the same for this summer's reunion.
Saturday morning, I'll return to San Diego (hopefully in better driving conditions than this past Saturday - why is there always traffic on the I-5, no matter what time of day I'm driving?), and the following week, I'll begin working at the girls-only film camp.
The following weekend - Friday the 17th - I'll be making my way up to Ventura yet again, for Sloshball, an annual event celebrating a bunch of birthdays that fall sometime during that month. Don't ask me; it's a thing between my sister's boyfriend, and his friends. You basically play drunk softball.
I'll leave San Diego after work, probably around 8pm. I'll pick up Stephi along the way, and get into Ventura around midnight. We'll get sloshed on Saturday, and return on Sunday.
Like I said, lots of driving. But all for good times, so yay!

The aftermath

Valentine's Day came and went uneventfully. I was the RA on duty, but not a lot of anything happened, so I guess I should be grateful for a peaceful night.
Three-day weekend's been going well so far - I've been seeing a lot of KLo and Chris, but in conjunction with Sean and Morgan. The way I see it is, I'll get a lot of crap from any of them if I ditch one group for the other, so I killed the birds by forcing them to hang out with one another, and with me in the process. :D It's been a fairly successful experiment.
Last night, we went to dinner at Taste of Thai in Del Mar. Neither of my two separate groups of friends know each other very well, so I was unsure how smoothly dinner would go, but it ended up being really fun. My relationships with the off-campusers and the RAs are very different, so it was in a sense a learning experiment for me. I won't go into it further.
Chris took us all to Mt. Soledad afterwards, and it was as beautiful as people have claimed. The huge cross threw me off, but the view was majestic. The five of us trekked up the mountain in two separate cars, then wandered around the area for a little while, before heading back to KLo's place for a game of Life.
Today, we all journeyed to Zion Market, a Korean market in San Diego; I've decided that I'm going to make dinner tomorrow night for the five of us, plus Stephi. I like even numbers - this will ensure that we all have someone to talk to.I'm really excited about this; my separate groups of friends don't necessarily have a lot in common, but they do have me. ^_^ Should be fun - I haven't cooked in a while, and I like cooking for others. When I'm not forced to, anyway. :]