Whew!

This weekend was FULL.

Friday night we drove up to Ardmore, Oklahoma right after work to celebrate Shannon's dad's birthday. We were supposed to stop and get two bottles of wine on the way up, for a wine tasting game we would be playing later in the evening, so we stopped in at a little liquor store somewhere in the Denton-ish area. Shannon was in charge of finding a white, and I was in charge of picking a red, and we weren't supposed to tell each other what we got. I was tempted by a couple brands with silly names or labels, but I ended up getting a $7.99 bottle of Chilean Carménère, mainly because I'd never heard of it and had no idea what it was. Once we got to Ardmore, we were greeted with a delicious steak dinner, after which we got started on the wine. Basically, you have four different bottles of wine and you each get two cards--one that has descriptive words for red and white wines, and one where you can write down the words you think go with which bottle of wine. All the bottles are placed in numbered bags so you can't see what you're drinking. Anyway, in the end, I liked mine the best. And hurrah for it only costing $7.99! We stayed up awhile longer, watching Spirited Away on tv, and then we went to bed.

The rest of the weekend was crazy. We headed back to Dallas at around 10:30 to grab lunch with Jaime (she and Todd had arrived while we were in Ardmore), and Todd got back to the house from a demo not long after. Todd and I planted my garden (basil, dill, cilantro, rosemary and a white Cloud Nine eggplant), and then the guys left for Sara and Jon's rehearsal while I headed to Discount Tire on my donut to replace the tire that went flat on my drive home from work Wednesday night. Then it was time for Jaime and I to head to the rehearsal dinner. Very fun. After the dinner ended, we all went over to Trent and Amy's to hang out. Even more fun. We got home at 2:00 a.m. and complained about having to get up early.

The next morning, I showered, borrowed one of Jaime's dresses and headed to the Old Red Courthouse with the guys to assist Todd with the wedding photography. The wedding started at 1:30. Sara looked amazing, and the wedding was beautiful! Also, there was bacon-wrapped chicken and cheese cubes at the reception, which I ate several helpings of because I was starving and, therefore, kinda grouchy. Then Sara and Jon drove away and the rest of us drove to Chili's, where we ate and hugged each other and said goodbye. Jaime and I drove home together, stopping on the way to get milkshakes at Steak 'n' Shake and more laundry detergent at CVS (feeling sad that the Walgreens was not yet open). Then we all sat in the same room, all quietly doing our own things. Later on, Todd and Jaime and I played a game of Alhambra and then they headed back to Austin and Shannon and I went straight to bed.

It was really, really nice to spend so much time with so many old friends who feel like family. I love those guys! And I'm so, so happy for Sara and Jon (who we got to see again briefly late last night, when they brought over Jon's tux for me to return today)! So yeah. The weekend was ridiculously busy, but very, very, good.