Our trip to California for my sister's wedding

Last month – on the 22, actually – we did something we had been spending months and weeks preparing for: We traveled to the California desert to attend my youngest sister’s wedding. She and her longtime partner, Allison, finally tied the knot – after 20 years together! We were so excited and happy to see the two of them get married. Even before Millie married Allison, we knew her as Millie’s friend, and she’s been a part of my family for a long time. And even before it became legal last month, I considered Allison to be my sister-in-law and the kids considered her to be their aunt.

So on February 25, 2017, Millie Colclasure and Allison Warner were married. It was such a beautiful wedding. I got to be a part of the "bride tribe" – one of the maids-of-honor. And I’m a 42-year-old married woman! But I still got to be a part of her bridesmaids. Two of my other sisters were there, too, as bridesmaids: Jeanette and Elizabeth (Liz). Both of them are also married and a little older than a typical bridesmaid. But there we were, her sisters, a part of the ceremony to witness her marry the love of her life.

It was truly amazing and beautiful to witness the joining of the Warner and Colclasure families. We love everyone in the Warner family and I even call Allison’s grandmother “Nana” just like everyone else. (So does Millie.)

My son, Jesse, was the ringbearer for the wedding. It was the first time ever he has been a ringbearer! He was so adorable and it was so cute to watch him walk down the aisle carrying the rings. My daughter, Trevor, was also a part of the wedding: She got to be one of Allison’s bridemaids. I was very happy that I and my children got to be a part of the ceremony.

We had quite an adventure getting from Eugene, Oregon to Palm Springs, California. Before we left, though, there was all this drama going on about the arrangements we had made with some people to take care of Trevor’s animals while we were gone. The whole thing stressed me out. On the day of the trip, I freaked out so bad that I thought of not going. It was either not going or putting the animals into the back of the van and taking them with us!! Fortunately, family and friends calmed me down and I was able to think logically again. (I guess I don’t handle stress well!) We made new arrangements and I set up back-up people in the event that didn’t go as we planned. Then there was more drama and I had to deal with THAT and after everything got squared away in all of the arrangements we had made, we were FINALLY able to leave.

We had planned to be on the road all night but that didn’t happen. We had car trouble in Medford. We ended up having to get a motel room in Medford for the night and then getting the van fixed the next morning. We had to get a new part for the van (OF COURSE!) but after that was cleared up, THEN we were finally on our way! Again!

The rest of the trip was uneventful. I posted updates about it on my personal Twitter account. And I took A LOT of pictures – both on the trip there, while we were there, and on the way back home.

The kids LOVED California. Jesse had been in California before, when he was one (he was born here in Eugene), but I’m not sure if he remembered much of it. They really soaked up the sun and checked out the palm trees. They had fun walking in the sand and going hiking with their cousins in the Thousand Palms Canyon.

I was so happy to be back on my home turf. Seeing those beautiful mountains and those amazing palm trees again made me feel like I was in Heaven. I never realized just how much I missed all of it. And it was good to see family again, too. I hadn’t seen them for years! Kids had grown so big since I last saw them. I was sad I didn’t get to see everybody, but I was cherishing every minute I spent with the family I did get to see. There were lots of hugs, tears, laughter and we all took lots of pictures.

It was just an amazing and awesome experience. It created a lot of happy memories I will cherish for years. Same with the kids.

I have not yet downloaded all of the pictures from the trip (though you can see some of them on my personal Twitter account!) or pictures from the wedding but I will upload them all soon. Meanwhile, the picture shared here is one I got from my sister on FB. It was great to see family again, meet new family and make new friends. I was sad to leave but we all decided that we should make plans to go out and visit more often.

So we are back home in Eugene, Oregon. I have been spending the week getting EVERYTHING unpacked, sorted and put away. We ended up with a pair of shoes and a sweater that didn't belong to us and found out they belonged to other family members! Oops! I have also tackled a mountain of laundry, restocked the house with food, and got the kids back on schedule for school and sports. Jesse is happy to be back with his basketball team again! Trevor turned in all the homework done while we were away and the people who took care of our animals were thanked and paid. We have also enjoyed sharing and looking at all of the pictures taken from the trip and the wedding. I have also been taking a little time here and there to sort through the ton of email I had waiting for me.

Many thanks to the people who helped us out for this occasion: My sister, Millie, Allison, my other sister, Jeanette, and our friends Kim, Miette, Julie, Tim and Oscar.

I may have returned to Oregon, but I left my heart in California. I guess I’m a California girl for life, no matter how long I live in another state. I’ll be California dreaming for a very long time – at least, until I will get to go back again. I hope that will be soon.  

What we want and what we get

It's interesting how we sometimes get what we wish for -- especially when it comes to food. We'll often think something like, "Gee, I could go for a hamburger right now," and somebody shows up with a hamburger for us. Or we'll think how nice it would be to try a red velvet cupcake sometime, and we'll see just that at the store bakery.

This has happened to me a time or two. Once, I saw a picture posted on MySpace; a celebrity showing a pic of his breakfast. I laughed, nodded and said, "Eggs Benedict." Then I thought, Gee, I've never had Eggs Benedict. I wonder what it tastes like. I soon found out; I was having breakfast at a local restaurant one morning and Eggs Benedict was on the menu. Of course I tried it! They were delish. (A nod to Ye Olde Pancake House here in Eugene.) Recently, I was thinking about how nice it would be to have biscuits and gravy for breakfast. At a local Dari Mart I was at one morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were offering just that as a breakfast choice for customers. Sweet!

One would think that I should be able to make these things myself. That if I want a hamburger, why not make some hamburgers? And, hey, I'm all for that! If I want to have sloppy joes for dinner, then I go to the store and get the stuff I need to make sloppy joes for dinner. If I wanna bake cookies, I go buy what I need to bake' em! That's not an issue. But sometimes, I won't have the money to buy the things I'll need to make the stuff that I crave. Or, I don't know how to make it. (Like Eggs Benedict!) Or, I won't be able to eat the stuff I crave because I'm watching my sugar intake. Or it just isn't available in these parts. (I still mourn never again enjoying one of those date shakes they make in the California desert.)

Or, sometimes, I'm just not able to make the things that I'll get a hankering for. Like the gravy on those biscuits. You know the kind; the sausage gravy. I just can't make sausage gravy. I have tried a time or two, but it just didn't turn out right. My mom was a whiz at making that stuff, but I could never get a handle on it. Nor could I figure out how to make fudge. I've tried making fudge but it didn't come out right. Ditto with steak, hash browns and fried chicken. I tried, failed, and gave up.

But now I'm thinking, maybe I shouldn't give up. Maybe I should try to figure out how to make those things again. The source of this inspiration? Corn muffins. Yesterday, I made corn muffins from scratch. It was my second attempt. My first attempt failed; they tasted gross. But these corn muffins were awesome. In fact, Jesse kept eating them up!

So I had tried to make something again which I failed at the first time. And the second attempt was a success. So why not try again with the other things?

Well, I have...with some. Steak, eggs, French toast. I've tried making them several times and never really got 'em right. Maybe I did on one or two occasions, but not consistently.

I suppose I should just keep at it. And pick up on the other things I pretty much labeled as "unlearnable." Maybe I'll get them right the next time. And if not, at least I'll work at it until I do.

Earthquake country

I've read quite a few blog posts lately in which some people visiting California go on about how they "just felt their first earthquake" (RE: the most reecent one in Southern California at the end of July) and how the way Californians react to earthquakes are "crazy."

Well, ya know what? I've lived in California long enough to know this: A LOT of earthquakes happen there. So hold on to your hat: You're in earthquake country now! And you know you are a California native when you don't freak out over it or act like the whole world must STOP. I mean, depending on the earthquake, most Californians just go on with their lives, ya know? (Just look at the way Will Smith's character reacts to the quake in the movie Independence Day. Yeah, that's a pretty typical thing. "Ah, it's just a small one. No big deal.")

Mind, that's not the way Californians react to EVERY earthquake. I had the pleasure of being in Northern California when that big 6.4 quake hit. My father and I were at a grocery store and it felt like the whole store was picked up then thrown back down. Trust me, we DID NOT go back to business as usual after that. In fact, my school was closed the next day and a lot of us were without power for a long time after that quake hit, during which we all experienced aftershocks.

A true Californian is used to the earthquakes that come with living on the West Coast. The fact that we react to it differently than someone from the Midwest or the Northeast doesn't make us "crazy" or weird. I'm sure if we experienced a tornado in Kentucky or a hurricane in Florida, we would think that the way the natives handle things like that with the greatest of ease has a screw loose, or something. (I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that people have parties when a hurricane strikes Florida.) It's just a regional thing, you know? But it doesn't make us crazy or weird. If we ALL freaked out when an earthquake struck California, THAT would make us crazy or weird!

Up here in the Northwest, the biggest threat is flooding. I experienced "flood season" during life in the desert, but I don't think I could handle something as big as what they say could happen to Oregon and Washington with the same nonchalance I've felt over an earthquake. Then again, maybe I just haven't lived here in the Northwest long enough.