teresa

Elliott went to a function tonight in SF and I stayed here told hold down the fort in the East Bay.  When we talked about his plans to go to this event I told him, oh no… dinner by myself and free to do whatever I want, what will I do (filled with sarcasm and anything but a hint of imagined loneliness).

After I dropped him off at the BART station I went by Subway for a meatball sandwhich dinner, alway a good back up plan and I went back to work.  I “worked” only a little.  Cleaned up the piles and moved paper around.  Then I went through some of emails that I tend to save up of things to do.  Like we want to go to a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game, so I had an email reminder in a folder, so I ordered tickets and deleted the email.  I had some SWE business to catch up on so I did that as well.

Soon the minutes faded into another and before I knew it, it was 9pm.  The lights flickered, the automatic building energy managements way of telling me they would be shutting off for good unless I called in with my secret code to override it.  I called in another hour of light but I am not sure if the system is on Colorado time or what but they shut off anyway.  Oh well, the building’s way of telling me to go home, which I did.

On the way I home with my bag of industry journals, business newspapers, and dishes from the office to wash at home (we don’t use paper plates anymore, its a green thing) I realized something.  It is a Friday night.  Elliott went to SF and I stayed at work because lets face it I don’t have anything else to do.

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Its funny how traveling within the US can still seem foreign.  First of all I am not sure why but apparently they do not believe in toilet seat covers in Colorado.  Until today we had been all over, public, private, one-holers and fancy restrooms - none of them had toilet seat covers.  Funny thing is the toilet seats have been cleaner than seats I have seen anywhere before which to me might seem like a contradiction.  Today I went to the restroom in the lobby and went to sit down, indoctrinated into the Colorado way, when I saw toilet seat covers next to the toilet paper, I was amazed, seat covers!  While we are on the topic I also saw my first dual flush toilet in a restroom in a building of artist studios, where we had stopped to enjoy a coffee.  The building was very “green” and these toilets allowing for #1 or #2 flushes are very popular, it was cool to see one in person instead of in a magazine.

Another observation, while driving today.  Nearly all cars going only 5-10 mph over the speed limit.  All in their own lane, charging along happily and friendly.  There were a few cars who were in a hurry, but these people were not the majority.  After driving in California for a year this felt strange.  This is typically the scene only after passing by a speed trap and it usually only lasts 45 seconds.

Our honeymoon although not to a foreign country has still provided some interesting cultural experiences.

Logging on from Vail I would like to capture some of my memories.

First off many things have come to mind that believe it or not I did not manage to fit into my recent wordy posts.  Two moments I will never forget at the wedding were on separate occasions when Brad and Russell came up to me and wanted to genuinely welcome me into their family.  They said they were so happy that Elliott and I were together and that they wanted me to know that they were happy that we were married.  This made me feel so welcomed into the Goodwin family.

Reflecting on an older post we have now flipped the outlook of in a week from now, which has become a week ago we were… at the rehearsal, and tomorrow that will be a week ago we were married!

For a honeymoon update things are perfect.

Ok not everything is perfect, the hotel was a little rocky at first.  The key didn’t work, we had to return to the lobby and when we did get in we couldn’t find the bedroom (sounds ridiculous but true).  They didn’t deliver the luggage because we ‘didn’t give them our room number’…  The shower takes awhile to warm up (which I feel is karma telling me to save water and energy by taking short cold showers… an inconvenience I have not yet adopted in my efforts to reduce my personal footprint).  The maids are emphatic about cleaning and turn down services which we have finally remedied with the do not disturb sign.  And there is a detector of some sort probably smoke that blinks all through the night above our bed. 

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I am not sure if at this point I will even be able to remember all of the great times I had on our wedding day.  Although I would like to give it a shot.

If you read my previous blog you know I stayed up pretty late, could not get to sleep.  I woke up before my alarm.  I showered and washed my hair which as the girls may know some hair stylists suggest coming in with dirty hair but my stylist said feel free to wash my hair.  I laid out all of the things that Elliott needed to bring to the site and left him notes regarding the different piles.  I finished packing my bag, retrieved my dress from the closet, and headed to my car.  I was to pick Krista up at 9:30, I think I left the house at 8:30, I couldn’t sit there any longer!

I went to Denica’s for a pumpkin muffin, one of my most favorite treats!  I sat in my car and ate it as slow as I could and finally called Krista and asked if I could come by early.  She said some family was near the pool having breakfast so I could say hi to everyone.  I waited outside of the lobby waiting for her to make sure Elliott was not in sight.  I remember a guy walked by and said, “you can go in” with a pompous grin, he didn’t realize I wasn’t nervous because they would find out I wasn’t a guest I had bigger nerves.  I caught up with the Kulesza’s and Goodwin’s and saw some other friends too. 

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Night before the wedding….

Well you can be sure the house is picked up and everything is organized!  I thank Elliott for his patience with my neuroses lately.  I believe my grandmother said there’s a place for everything and everything in its place.  Well that has been me the last few weeks.  I have been busy busy organizing.  From the spice rack to the book shelf everything is clean and orderly.  In fact I am doing laundry right now, that is how sick I am.

Today we had a wonderful picnic with our family and friends at Emeryville.  It was a little entertaining because Elliott and I are in shorts and t-shirts because it has been 90 degrees in Pleasanton the last few days and as we are driving out to the Marina Park in Emeryville getting closer and closer to the water Elliott realized he didn’t bring a jacket (neither did I), and he always has a jacket, so much so that I often tease him and call it his man purse.  We got out of the car and burr it was cold and the wind was just blowing.  We sat at some picnic tables and I finally wrapped myself up in a blanket I was so cold….  Finally someone, Kaye or Debra suggested we try the other side of the peninsula to get out of the wind.  After a couple of moves we did finally make it to a group of tables that was blocked just perfectly.  We didn’t have the same view of the city and bridges, but at least the weather was quite pleasant.  We enjoyed a snack and watched the kids get to know each other, which was perhaps one of my favorite parts of the picnic.  Its funny not being a mom because you are no where near as cautious as the parents.  At one point I saw a bridge so I suggested the kids go over to throw rocks and sticks off the bridge (which went to a boat dock).  The parents stood up straight and all separately and without coordination were concerned that the kids could slip through the guardrail and fall into the water.  Horrible but that didn’t even cross my mind as I round up the kiddies to run out onto the foot bridge.  But I guess that’s what aunts are for.

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