My friend's wedding was Saturday in Chicago, a half-hour drive and four-hour train ride from my home.
Things started going wrong the morning of the wedding. We were running late and had to drive with some alacrity (consider this just a *bit* of understatement) in order to arrive at the station before our train departed. Thankfully, we made it - but things continued to go wrong when we got on the train. We were caught behind several freight trains and at one point we had to stop and go backwards to allow a passing freight train access to its needed track. We arrived at Union Station an hour later than planned and rushed to our hotel with visions of relaxing showers and air conditioning dancing in our heads, only to discover we couldn't check in until 4 p.m. - which is when the wedding began. We checked our bags into a closet in the hotel lobby and changed clothes in a filthy bathroom behind the hotel restaurant, and then carted our sweating carcasses to the hotel where child care was being kindly provided by family of the wedding party. I put my makeup on in that room and then we headed across the street to the wedding. Thankfully, our daughter had a blast with the other kids and didn't miss us at all.
My friend's wedding was by far one of the most distinctive and beautiful weddings I've ever been to. It was held in downtown Chicago at a former surgeon's college with soaring ceilings, stained glass windows and gilded molding. The families being joined were a melting pot of cultures, resulting in a beautiful swirl of saris, traditions, dances and oh my god the best food I've ever had at a wedding.
It was a lovely, heartfelt ceremony that you could tell the bride and groom put a lot of thought and love into. I loved seeing how truly radiant and happy my friend was, and finally meeting the groom, whom I had heard so much about. My husband and I reunited with old college friends and made new friends, and then we got to show off our daughter for a little while before departing for our hotel to check in.
This is where the problems began again. Our suite was diminutive in size, clearly painted over multiple times and poorly cleaned. However, the bed was comfortable and had nice coverings, and the three of us slept extremely well.
We woke up and repacked, then I looked up a breakfast restaurant a half mile away with good reviews and we headed out. Have you ever tried to walk half a mile with two rolling carry-on suitcases, a diaper bag and a toddler? Pre-breakfast? At least the kid was happy.
We arrived at the restaurant, and to our dismay, there were scores of people outside waiting to eat.
Thankfully, we had snacks and drinks from the train trip, and kept ourselves from being utterly consumed by the hanger (the hunger anger). We walked around the area with our daughter, including nearby Millenium Park, and fed baby Cheetos to grasshopper sparrows.
The food was insanely good. Like, the kind of good where you have foodgasm aftershocks, where hours later you remember how good it was and rejoice at the gustatory experience you were given the privilege of experiencing.
The joy of seeing my friend married to someone she clearly loves and the delicious food we got to eat all weekend outweighed the annoyances, for sure, but it seemed like quite the shitshow while it was going on.
So that's what I've had going on. I had these flowers done Friday, but I didn't get the ends woven in until today.
These were a mixed bag of results. I didn't find them exceedingly difficult. I looked at the trims coming up and that is where I'm going to have trouble, I believe.
I liked it, it wasn't confusing and it worked up quickly.
This is one of my favorites so far. I just like purple and yellow together.
This one was really easy, and similar in design to the loop daisy in the first batch. I prefer this to that one, however. If you squint it kinda looks like a real dahlia.
I messed this one up somehow, and I'm not sure how. It's a bit crooked, no?
#15: trumpet flower
Round these parts, we call this a daffodil. These signs of spring are one of my favorite flowers, and this works up very easy.
Up next: flowers 16-20. IIRC, there are 40 flower patterns, so we are about halfway through that section. See you soon!
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