Missing Friends

Eric and I have been noticing lately that things seem pretty weird on the weekends when our phones are quieter than normal. Usually, our friends Christy and Jeff would be calling us up to see what we had planned for dinner. We'd be planning to get together to watch the Vikings play on the weekends and we'd be considering whether we should buy tickets to a Gopher football game or two. We miss our friends Christy and Jeff, but we have heard (by way of Christy's blog) that things are going well in DC. We wish them well and can't wait until they're back for the holidays.

Two Weddings and a Day of Recovery

This past weekend, we attended two weddings (one Friday night and one Saturday). Friday the wedding and reception took place at the Mill City Museum, a very neat venue for a wedding. It was unfortunate that the skies were rainy because it would have been an absolutely beautiful place for an outdoor wedding. Fortunately, that did not dim the spirits of the Bride and Groom who seemed to soak up and enjoy every minute of their big day. Saturday, the wedding was preceded by a very neat slide show of pictures of the couple from infant to current. It was a neat way to introduce the Bride and Groom to the audience. Both weddings were beautiful and both couples looked so happy to be embarking on their new adventure together. Eric and I found ourselves thinking back to our wedding day and remembering our happy moments. We also found ourselves feeling rather a part of the old people crowd. This is the first time I have attended a wedding and really felt old. On Saturday the Bride and Groom, their wedding party and all of their friends just seemed so young to me. I am finding that the older I get, the younger everyone else looks... Maybe it's due to my upcoming birthday, or maybe it's due to the pregnancy hormones. Either way, it's a new feeling for me. But the thing that makes me feel old the most is the fact that it took all day Sunday for us to recover from all of the festivities. Somehow, I just wore myself out. I guess it's hard work eating good food, talking with friends, and sitting in a chair watching two people commit themselves to one another. We have one more wedding to attend this summer, in mid-July. I wonder what new feelings and experiences that wedding will bring...

The Things We Do For Friends...

Thursday night brought another big downpour. I drove home from work thinking to myself "OK, this is going to be interesting". We were planning dinner with friends at our house on Friday and ribs were on the menu. In order to prepare ribs right, according to my recipe, they have to be grilled the night before and then slow cooked all day long to reach the appropriate tenderness.

So in the middle of the downpour, Eric donned his rain jacket and headed out to start the grill. I checked the weather report on the news. "Belinda says this is the let up," I called.



"Are you kidding me?" Eric responded. "Look at me."

Steam rose off the grill as the raindrops hit the cover. Well the ribs will be grilled and steamed, I thought.

Eric braved the weather for about 45 minutes until the ribs were seared and ready for slow cookin', all the while muttering to himself "the things we do for our friends. They better appreciate this!"

Well, it was worth it. The ribs were tender and smoky and we all enjoyed them last night with a number of good sides and good conversation. We should do this more often, I thought. But I'd better not ask Eric to grill in a downpour again anytime soon. I'd better save that for special occasions.

Golden Valley Clean-up Crew

On Sunday we spent the day helping our friends Juliet and Mike clean up after a big hail storm hit their neighborhood. Juliet and Mike are in the process of selling their house and unfortunately the storm destroyed much of their beautiful landscaping, tore apart their chimney, broke a couple of windows, and damaged their siding and roof. The hail tore most of the leaves off of their trees and brought down a number of smallish branches.

While Eric and I were running errands, Juliet called and asked if there was any way that we could possibly come over and help. Juliet had just gone out on the injured reserve with a back injury and Mike was left to do the yard clean-up alone. Of course, we would be there to help. So we quick bought some sun screen and headed over to Golden Valley.

As we approached their neighborhood, it looked like all fall. Leaves and debris were everywhere. The normally black roads were bright green. When we reached Juliet and Mike's house, I was actually surprised by how good it looked. From Juliet's description over the phone, I imagined it would be much worse. But Mike had already been very busy cleaning up the back yard so quite a bit of progress had already been made. Juliet and Mike took us on a tour of the damage and then we quickly put ourselves to work. By the end of the afternoon, the yard was ready for open house traffic again and we were ready for dinner.