I keep intending to write entries here yet I never quite manage to get around to actually doing so. I’ve been feeling much less malaise-y lately, so there’s stuff to write about: I’ve started a new knitting project, gotten my long-delayed tv quilt moved along so it’s now ready for quilting, and been reading more. I’ve even spent some time in the basement chipping away at the wall o’ stuff I probably don’t need but haven’t managed to let go of. I hope to expand more on that stuff soon, but today I have a trip to write about, a quick three-day weekend jaunt to Chicagoland, where Mr. Karen and I went to our niece’s wedding. This particular niece was born not too long after Mr. Karen and I got married—she was in our wedding party in utero—and it was wonderful to see her all grown up and getting married herself to a man that seems to make her very happy.
Rather than make the drive stressed out and tired on Friday night, we used that time to pack and left late Saturday morning after getting to sleep in a bit. Of course we encountered multiple road construction projects on our way—it is peak season for that sort of thing, after all—but none were so bad that we considered getting off and blazing a trail on surface streets as we’ve done on other trips along this route. We made it to Illinois in time to drive out and have dinner with Dale and Joan before collapsing at the hotel (it’s only a one-hour time difference but it makes me weary nonetheless). Sunday we checked in with my mom and found the best thing we could do to help was not add to the last minute preparations commotion and just get ourselves to the church that afternoon, so we ended up using some of the time freed up to take a walk along the Fox River, learning some things along the way (there was a roller coaster there in 1909, and there is a pedestrian bridge under the tollroad now).
The wedding was held in the same church where the bride’s parents were married and the bride was christened (and I went to an organ concert before either of those things happened but that’s not especially relevant). The weather was gorgeous, couldn’t have asked for better, and the service went very smoothly as far as I could see. (And was nowhere near two and a half hours, thank goodness, because one of those is enough for me. Or maybe not, since I did not learn the lesson about cleavage and went with a deeper v-neck this time. No one said anything about it, so I assume it was okay.) The rest of the day unfolded as you might expect, with lots of picture taking and food and conversation and dancing for those who were not too involved with the food and conversation. Monday we had brunch with my mom before heading back home, happy to have gotten to spend time with family we don’t see often enough. The only bad part of the trip was me tumbling down a very small flight of stairs (rushing around in four-inch heels in an unfamiliar environment is not a good idea, in case you were wondering), but ending up with a few scrapes and bruises and sore muscles just means I had a good time, right?
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