Mitch-ah-palooza 3.0

This weekend we got together with out college friends for the annual celebration known as Mitch-ah-palooza. Mitch told us that we could bring Jackson along with us. We decided to take Jackson along. What a mistake!! Jackson got out of the car and ran around a little bit. When Opie, Mitch's parent's St Bernard, saw Jackson he immediately took off chasing him. We were informed that Opie thought that Jackson was a cat. So we had to call my mom and have her meet us somewhere so that they could pick him up. I felt really bad that I had upset their evening plans. I hate being an imposition on them. My parents do so much for us as it is. I feel bad asking for more. We had a fabulous time. We played ladder golf, the guys played kickball and croquet. I spent some time in the swimming pool. I got out of the swimming pool on my own this year. I was really excited because I was humiliated by being stuck on the pool last year. I had to be pushed up from the pool from behind.

Josh drank all day and ended up being the evening entertainment. Josh was performing running belly flops into the pool. He bought a straw cowboy hat especially for this celebration. He jumped into the pool with it on and completely soaked it. He kept everyone entertained and in the process probably bruised some ribs in the process. We are very lucky to have such wonderful friends who want to get together and spend such a chunk of time together. I cannot wait to next year's camping trip!!

What exactly is normal?

This weekend was the birthday of our Godson Colin. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since his birth but it has came and went. I now I talk about my own family here. Just for today I want to talk about my friend Heidi's family. I love Heidi to death. She has issues... as we all do. I really needed this weekend to put it all into perspective for me.

On Saturday I went alone (Josh had to work) to Waukesha. It was only Colin's family and Godparents (Josh and I) invited to this party. I was a little nervous because I have had a few interactions with Heidi's family in the past. Heidi's mom is a VERY dominating person. She is the type that you don't disagree with or second guess. The funny thing is that she can be so sweet and nice one minute and just go off the next. By the time I had left Saturday afternoon Heidi was neither speaking to her mom nor her sister. In fact her sister had packed up her family and left town. First of all, I feel bad for Heidi and Colin that her family had to ruin Colin's first birthday for her. Secondly, I really feel badly for Heidi, at one point in the afternoon I heard her yell "Why can't we have a normal fucking family?" I feel that the way Heidi was raised she has turned out pretty well balanced. With a mother who asks her 25 year old daughter if she has brushed her teeth and showered before she leaves the house, you have to be a little off. I spent a weekend with her mother last summer and almost couldn't handle it myself. I could not last a lifetime of the pestering.

Needless to say I will take with a grain of salt the bossing around of Mitch because that is all she knows. Hopefully someday she learns how to ask him to do something for him instead of bossing, but hey we aren't all perfect!

Houseguest

So our friend Matthew has moved in with us for the time being. Matt recently decided to change careers from law enforcement to a Customer Service Rep for US Cellular. Josh and Matt met freshman year. Matt lived on Josh's floor. He is one of the guys! Since Matt has changed jobs and areas to live he needed a place to stay until he finds an apartment. It is nice and fun to have someone that you don't get to see very often come and stay with you. I know that Josh really likes having him around. SO I am glad that he is here. I love Matt to death but sometimes I just want to scream. I forgot how when you start living with someone things start to bother you. Josh is a quiet person. He doesn't talk much. Matt talks, and talks and talks. Talks about love, sex, work, his job change, his feelings, his ex, the army, talks during movies, you name it he talks about it. Now like I said I love him to death but, sometimes a girl needs a little peace and quiet.

Skipping Work

Yesterday I took a day off from work to spend the day with my friend Heidi and the cutest little boy ever!!!! I promised Heidi long ago when she was pregnant that I would spend a day with her before she went back to work. I don't think that men understand that as well. Because neither Mitch nor Josh understood why I was taking a day off and coming down there. Mitch even said something to the effect of "I don't waste my days off".

We bummed around Milwaukee. I had to watch Colin while Heidi went to see her Dr. He ate and pooped for me. What a good little boy huh? It was fun to do that for a day but I am no where near ready to have a baby all the time.

I don't know what it was about Heidi and I we went out to eat twice, once Wednesday night and yesterday we had the worst service EVER!!! Wednesday we ate at Applebee's. It was probably 15-20 minutes before we got a waiter and she was just awful. We had to wait for drinks. My burger was bad. Gave us our bill and forgot about us.

The worst was yesterday! We went to Olive Garden for lunch. We were seated again 10-15 minutes before our waitress came. We both knew what we wanted so we ordered right away. She told her we wanted salad and she explained to us that the salad came all in one bowl like we have never been to OG before. She gave Heidi coke instead of Cherry coke. All 3 times she asked for refills. Our meal came and we didn't see her again. We asked another server to get the woman for us and she went back to the wrong table. Then we had to have her come back again. We needed refills and wanted more breadsticks. That took forever. She gave us the bill. She disappeared. We paid, she ran away, it took almost 10 minutes for her to come back and we were really ready to go by that time. Needless to say she didn't get a tip. I know harass me I don't care. But a tip is something that you have to earn and not just expect. When we have a great server I tip 15 sometimes 20% but I am really harsh when the service is awful because tips are the majority of your pay. I was a waitress for a summer. I understand how it works.

Other than that we had a great time together!! I miss them so much. It isn't like we ever lived that close to them but now that we are closer they seem farther away. I am sure that the baby had a little bit to do with that....

What about your Friends?

You know when it comes to friends it is commonly known that you either have a lot of good friends and 1 or 2 best friends or a circle of close friends . When it comes to Josh and I, I feel that we have the circle of close friends. Granted we don't keep up like we should but we are close. For me it has always been hard to keep friends. Don't ask me why, we just lose touch over time or we just grow apart. I feel the group of friends that we have now are the greatest bunch of people that we could have found.

Two of our closest friends got married this weekend. They are the type of people that everyone needs to have in their lives. Mitch and Heidi are so much fun and easy to talk to, they really know how to have a good time. I am SO HAPPY for them. They have found the true love that they deserve. There are not words to express the emotions that I felt this weekend. But, the whirlwind has left me is a blissful state when I really feel as though I should be exhausted. Their loved rubbed off on everyone that attended the celebration.

The greatest part was having almost ALL of our close friends at the wedding. I got to laugh and cry with them. I enjoyed dancing with them. You know I was astonished when Heidi told us they were having nine couples in the wedding(one dropped out leaving 8). You know what every single one of those people loved them as much as I do. What a GREAT bunch of people. I only knew one of Heidi's bridesmaids coming into this and I left feeling a closer to each of them as they all had warm hearts. Never did they make me feel as though I didn't belong, they accepted me with open arms. As for the guys, there was only one groomsmen that I had never met before, but what a guy!! This really gave me a chance to get to know these guys so well and learn about them. I came away keeping a small place in my heart for them.

The hardest thing to deal with was realizing that it was all over. Poor Heidi cried at the end of the evening because her beautiful day was gone, leaving her only with the sweet after-taste and craving more. I am saddened at the fact that these people as close as we have grown in a short period of time may only see each other a handful of times in our lives. They are the greatest kind of people to know. Here is a top fifteen(ten was just not enough)list:

Top fifteen things I will remember from Mitch and Heidi's wedding!
15. Getting my first mani/pedi now I am hooked.
14. Learning that Snuggles, who set his wedding date for the same day as ours is no longer getting married. Now we don't have to fight over our friends.
13. Sleeping with Heidi her last night as a single woman, laying there and talking just like teenage girls.
12. Dancing in a circle to "Friends in Low Places" Just like we did in p-ville.
11. Patrick hitting on everything that moved.
10. Almost falling over when seeing my ex-roommate from college walk through the bathroom door.
9. Telling my friend Billee that we were in fact having our wedding reception at a bowling alley after she told me "she wasn't getting married in Platteville because she didn't want to have her reception in a bowling alley."
8. Having Josh tell me over and over how beautiful I looked in my bridesmaid dress. (I can't wait to hear his comments about MY wedding dress).
7. Smashing Sarah's face into my boobs and having the pictures to tell about it.
6. Learning that a flush isn't all the same colored cards they actually have to be the same suit.(That was the shower weekend, but still a valuable lesson)
5. Josh winning $65 from the blackjack machine at BS's
4. Nankee saying to me at the end of the night "What you mean it's over, this is it?"
3. Heidi puking 5 times the morning before the ceremony.
2. How beautiful Heidi looked in her wedding dress.
1. Animal mating calls are a fun way to make the couple kiss.