one big weekend

dang. dang. so much happened. so little willpower to blog it all.

mere arrived thursday night just as my shift at work started...imagine me running towards her in the parking lot with arms wide open. it was like that. she and christy hung out for awhile, there was vossing, and christy and i ended up hanging out in a bikerish bar next to marsh while meredith sat on a kitchen floor in sunblest. it was odd.

i'd spent the day cleaning like mad only to come home to utter chaos thanks to the fact that jacki turned out to be somewhat of an irresponsible guest (dog poop and pee all over my room, stuff chewed up, tv blaring, lights on, the front door unlocked, food eaten...). julia came back with a very VERY drunk jacki in tow. it was probably quite an experience for meredith.

meredith didnt seem overly allergic to my cat. God bless you, Jezebel (wait....that's just too funny in a biblical sense).

friday meant driving up to IWU early in the morn for chapel at 11, then roaming with matt arnold and going to elwood's "Airport Restaurant" (me, mere, matt, and jon) for elk burgers. that's right, i ate an elk. we discussed how much it sucked that meredith hadn't thought to bring her camera with so that we could have our pictures taken in the airplan next to the restaurant...the very same airplane that the man at the next table ended up taking off in 15 minutes later. it felt much like a near-death experience.

meredith, being the official Wedding Photographer, went to the rehersal dinner. katie gave jo and i swipes at wildcat (thank you katie!).

dignal and christy showed up that night, and we also got to see melissa jo and david (WHO ARE DATING NOW...FINALLY) (FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY). we decided we were going to beatniks, but there was a cover charge and that was no good so we headed to southside diner. jon and sarah got into an ugly theological fight. a ghetto ten-year old entered on roller skates (not blades, actual roller skates) and plopped down to order a coke and tell the unimpressed waitress about his roller-skating lesson woes. jon got so inspired he ended up writing on napkins.

the old crew ended up crashing at katie wright's...dignal, mere, christy, melissa, katie, and myself. we went to bed fairly early (for us). we're old.

morning brought The Cromer-VeenKant Hookup Extravaganza of 2005. everyone got up too early, got ready too early, and sat around waiting for boyfriends to arrive (those that have boyfriends) before it was time to head to the church and watch our beloved friends get married for better or for worse.

we arrived at Brookhaven, signed the guestbook (Susan Creviston! HA!), and sarah, melissa, and i popped into the bride's dressing room to gush for moment. jenalee was upset because she was being stood up by Jesus (no, really, she's with a guy named Jesus. not hay-soose, Jesus.)

matt arnold arrived with his parents and little brother Jesse (i had called the day before and asked that jesse come and be my date). digs and i sat with the arnolds, one on each side of jesse. mrs. arnold and i were wearing the same pair of shoes. crazy!

the wedding was quick and simple, and so emotional for us. there was a slide show that i almost cried during 3 or 4 times. the thing that saved me was cromer's random pictures of wild animals that no one has ever heard of. it was pretty funny. kim was beautiful, and was barefoot...to show her love of the African people, i believe. the best part was the kiss -- dignal and i made half-hearted plans to give a standing ovation, but cromer's friends from africa (about 8 or 9 missionary kids -- all guys) started yelling masculine encouragements in english and various african dialects. kim turned a funny shade of pink. cromer kissed her hard, and went back for seconds. IT WAS GREAT. he later told me that was the only time i would ever see him do that.

then was the reception, and some of the ol' gang decided to head outside and mess up the getaway car a little (deodorant was used to write on the windows, cans were stolen from the church recycling drive and tied with knitting yarn to the back bumper, and the africans showed up in the middle to prop the front up on cinder blocks and do something with wires to cause a great amount of smoke to come out when the car was started).

we said our goodbyes to the arnold family. matt, mere, digs, and i went back to beatniks for smoothies (a mt. dew in my case) and a hummus plate. afterwards we ended up strolling through marion's oktoberfest and arts fair (not much to speak of arts-fair-wise) and then took lots of model shots of each other in back alleyways. there is a ton of incredible brickwork in downtown marion's alleys. i want to play there again.

back to katies...some laying on the grass, tree-climbing (mma) and bird's nest stealing (mma). we caught the second half of the homecoming soccer game and enjoyed the hodson scotsmen (they played pickup sticks with their various weaponry...what's not to love?!). dignal left us (she was depressed & depressING because of wedding aftermath). mere and i met jon at curfman's gallery opening. jon and i spent a lot of imaginary money on prints of the photos and then debated wether or not to buy them already framed or to cut mats and frame them ourselves...i voted preframed because it would probably cost the same either way and would be easier. jon disagreed. but what does jon know, really.

dignal showed up to drop off my camera and lawn gnome...er, Spanky. she ended up leaving again.

then there was the GreatDebate as to what would happen then...matisyahu was obviously not happening, jon was losing focus, and we were all a little tired. jon threatened in his best whiny voice to not do anything, and looked to follow through with it. mere was removed to go fetch some fresh-brew, a brief conversation was had...silence....and upon mere's return all of the sudden plans were back on. barnes and noble got some late-night business and then amelie was watched.

and i'm fairly certain that jon doesn't really hate cats.