On Friday evening, I had dinner with Anita, Cindy, Kanomi,
Lauren, Lisa, and Anna - most of my closest girl friends from high school. Aside
from catching up with Anna and Lisa over brunch, and running into the others at
weddings, I haven't seen much else of them! Witnessing Kanomi, Lauren, and
Cindy as mothers was wonderful and eye-opening, and it really hit home that
most of us are in that next phase of life (married or kids, or both). It's hard
to catch up on ten years of life, but I'm so glad that we had dinner. Kanomi
suggested that we get a private room reservation, and the Izakaya Kou tatami
room did a pretty good job of containing the children… and hopefully muffling
some of the screaming. LOL. We parted ways after dinner, and I met up with
Andy, Matt, and Alom at Andy's place. We headed to the Castro, to meet up with
Charles and Angie. It was a crazy night at Beaux, and Matt's first time in the
'stro - and WHAT a first night it was. After clubbing, we stopped by Brian's
place to hang out with the Cotopaxi participants, and the craziness continued.
A night out in the Castro always means a painful morning to follow.
I look forward to weddings, because I love to witness the
happy moments. Corinna's wedding happens to be especially meaningful to me, not
only because she was one of my close friends in high school, but also because I
was still close to her at the very beginning of her relationship with Jon!
Nancy was my hot date for the wedding, and I couldn't have asked for a better
one. We had SO MUCH fun catching up and she had me cracking up all day and all
night. Corinna's ceremony, venue, and outfits, were all flawless. The weather
in San Rafael was perfect for the outdoor ceremony, and it ran like clockwork.
Even Corinna's dog walked down the aisle - it was the CUTEST thing watching Race drag
the little kid around. From Corinna in her stunning dress, to the details on
the flower petal bags, and the lush greenery, it was absolutely picture
perfect.
After cocktail hour, we moved indoors for the reception. The
hall was HUGE and well-lit with wonderful floral pieces (which we later found
out were arranged by Nixon!). The party favors were Asian snacks and adorable
fun fact cards with all different statements about the bride and groom. The ONE
TIME I didn't order the steak at a wedding, it was actually decent. I did enjoy
my mushroom ravioli, though, so I wasn't disappointed. I loved that Corinna and
Jon asked for volunteers to demonstrate kisses for the crowd, and that they
then duplicated the kisses in an adorably mocking way. What a great idea! The reception
flew by as fast as the ceremony did, and before I knew it we were dancing with
Corinna to some awesome throwbacks. We actually stayed after everyone else had
left, and spent some more time with Corinna before heading to karaoke.
We got back to the city after midnight, and Amy, Nancy,
Drew, and I went to DO RE MI. LOL. Regina met us up there too, and I think we
were karoke-ing for 3+ hours. It was so fun that I don't even know where the
time went! We even ran into Kirby there, and he sang with us too. I thought
about how great it would be to move home, and every weekend could be as
awesome. And then Sunday morning rolled up on me and I re-thought, boy I'd be
hungover every weekend if I moved back. HAHA. Growing up in the city was rough at times, but as I look back at my formative years I appreciate every person and every experience more than ever. I had some really good times, with amazing people that still invite me to their weddings after 5+ years of not seeing each other. That is really something special. And during dinner, Nancy recalled that her most vivid memory of me was when Danny was getting ready to defend me (which I can hardly remember the details of). Through the night, a few other people mentioned Danny too, and it reminded me of how much I regret not attending his funeral. Even though we ended up having our differences later in life, he really was so very dear to me those first years in high school. Had I been a more mature person, I'd have known better than to miss it. That's one regret I'll never be able to shake.
On Sunday we hung out with everyone at Dolores Park for
Lisha's birthday. Lots of people came out and I tried to be as social as
possible even though I was exhausted and hungover. I think the best part was
when we sang happy birthday to her in the middle of the park, in front of a
gazillion strangers. How cool! I don't know if anyone got that moment on video,
but I hope someone did. Before we flew out, we watched Babadook with Andy. O,
M, G, creeeeeeeee-pyyyyy.
