First of all, I know I said I would post on Friday, and I’m sorry that I am a failure as a blogger and didn’t end up doing that. It turns out that going away for the weekend and trying to get all your homework done on Friday afternoon is a bit time consuming. Who would have thought? That’s college life for ya. But to make up for it, here I go!
Well, as you may know based on my last blog post, this weekend was the big wedding weekend! My boyfriend’s sister got married on Saturday, which meant that I got to go back home to Texas for the weekend to be a bridesmaid. It was great to see everyone again and made me realize all over again how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.
The weekend started out with a flight from Montana to Denver, followed by one from Denver to Austin. I landed in Texas just after 11pm and was greeted by my parents and my boyfriend, who was still dressed all spiffy from the rehearsal dinner earlier that night that I had missed. I was already excited to see him of course (8 weeks apart feels so much longer than it is!), but for some reason it made it even more fun that he was all dressed up, even if it wasn’t necessarily for me. I guess that the cheesy side of me felt special because I felt like a princess being welcomed by a super cool prince in a festive bow tie. And I gotta admit, he pulls off the bow tie well.
That night I pretty much stayed up visiting with them for awhile, until we all decided that we should probably go to sleep so that we would have a bit of beauty sleep before the big day. The next morning we ate delicious chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (my favorite!), and then my boyfriend and I got to his house at 9 am so that he could head off with the groomsmen while I joined the other girls for bridesmaid shenanigans. The first bridesmaid activity was a trip to Starbucks (because what’s a wedding day without some caffeine to get you through it?), where we got “bride” and “bridesmaid” written on the appropriate cups. I was even adventurous and tried a new drink. (Iced chai tea latte. Do it!)
Next we headed to the venue and took turns getting massages and facials that the mother of the bride set up as a gift to all the bridesmaids. It was absolutely wonderful, and definitely just what I needed after my long travel day on Friday. I have to admit that the idea of a massage kind of freaked me out at first since I had never had one before, but I’m so glad I did it, I think I really needed it! You don’t realize how stressed you’ve been until that stress is somehow relieved, even if just a bit by a massage.
What did we do after getting pampered? Get pampered some more of course! It’s wedding day! We had professionals at the venue to do our hair and makeup, the whole shabang. The makeup artist seemed a bit confused by my request of a lack of bright red lipstick, but eventually she came to terms with the fact that I simply would only wear lipstick of the light pink variety and agreed to it. Apparently every girl is supposed to dream of bright red lipstick, but I beg to differ. Coral pink rose for the win!
Well eventually it came time to start helping the bride pretty herself up. The hour leading up to the wedding was a rather chaotic explosion of getting her into her white dress, getting her hair just right, and last minute wedding party pictures- all while the immediate family was running around making sure everything was perfect, just as any family would do on the big day.
Prior to the ceremony I learned that I was the first bridesmaid to walk down the isle, even though I was the only one who couldn’t attend the rehearsal the night before. Basically I just had to walk down the isle, meet the groomsman I was paired up with (which just so happened to be my boyfriend, no complaints here!), and let him walk me to my spot on the bride’s side. For some reason this terrified me. It was really very simple, but I’ve never been in a wedding before. What if I trip in my heels on the grass? What if I walk too fast? Too slow? What if my boyfriend goes bonkers and takes me to the wrong space? Well, of course none of that happened. I was just bring a worry wart, as always. I walked down the 5 meter isle just fine, stood in my place, and watched one of my best friends get married. It was a beautiful wedding, with an even more beautiful bride.
Next was the partayyy! Otherwise known as the reception. The bridesmaids broke out into dance during Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, I got to meet more of my boyfriend’s family, got to visit with one of my favorite high school teachers, and pretty much just danced the night away while surrounded by some of my favorite people- including the bride’s 2 year old son. He is the cutest thing ever and I have missed him to pieces the last 8 weeks. My biggest fear was that he wouldn’t remember me, no lie. But he did! Or at least he seemed to as far as I could tell. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a 2 year old.
At the end of the night I said my goodbyes to pretty much everyone other than my boyfriend and my parents, and then the 4 of us went to IHOP for some tasty food since there isn’t an IHOP within walking distance of my college campus and I had a ridiculous craving. Saying goodbye to my friends and my boyfriend’s family at the wedding was really hard, harder than I expected. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed some of them until it was time to say goodbye again. But, life goes on, and I’ll see them come Christmas time. So for now I keep my head up and continue on with this crazy thing called life.
Sunday was nice and relaxing. We woke up relatively late and my parents had another wedding to get to, so my boyfriend and I watched a movie and ate left over chocolate chip pancakes and just plain enjoyed being in each other’s company again. When my parents got back we did some shopping for some things I needed back at college, we ate cheese fondue for dinner (because I can’t come home for the weekend and not eat the deliciousness that is bagels dipped in melted cheese), and then we headed off to the airport.
Like I said before, saying goodbye to everyone at the wedding was hard. But it was nothing compared the the goodbyes of Sunday night. Not going to lie, there was much crying. In some ways it was easier saying goodbye to my boyfriend this time than it was saying goodbye to him at the beginning of the semester, but in other ways it was just as hard if not harder. On one hand, we got through 8 weeks this last time and this time it’s just 5 weeks. 5 weeks should seem like nothing! But at the same time it seemed like our time together went by so quickly. I loved every minute of it, but I had been looking forward to it for so long and now it’s already over just like that and I’m back to counting down the days again (37!). And of course it was hard to say goodbye to my parents, I have lived with them for 18 years after all! They’re pretty darn swell too.
So now I’m sitting on the plane, heading back to Montana with mixed feelings. Feeling very lucky to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard, but also already missing Texas and the people in it like crazy.
So what’s the moral of my story?
Love every moment.
Laugh a lot.
Look forward to whatever is coming next.
I miss my life in Texas like mad, but I also love my new life in Montana – and I always know that Texas and all my loved ones in it are there when I need them. I also know that although I miss my boyfriend like crazy, that we love each other and will find a way to make this crazy long distance thing work. Hey, we got through the longest part of the semester! From here on out it’ll be easy peasy. I am grateful for the fantastic weekend I just had, and it only makes me look forward to my next time with him during Thanksgiving break even more so. If that’s even possible that is!
Well, this one was pretty cheesy. But hey, that’s just me. And this is my blog. So naturally it has to be just as cheesy as me. And just as cheesy as cheese fondue, because that stuff is fantastic.
Well, thanks for listening bugs!
PS: picture caption!
Top left: my boyfriend and I all spiffied up as groomsman and bridesmaid
Top right: the beautiful bride and I!
Bottom left: the bride’s 2 year old son trying to feed me a cupcake. Isn’t he just so sweet?
Bottom right: bridesmaid selfie of course! (It had to be done)
Until next time…
Love,
Laney-Bug ❤
lovelaneybug 