When I was in SD for Brieanne's wedding, it was just me, my mom, Maya and Makayla. The house felt so empty without Rohit, Marissa and Malini! It was neat though, actually, because everything was calm and I got to spend more time with the three that were home. Strangely, one of the most fun parts of the visit was taking Maya to school on Monday. We stopped at Starbucks so she could get a croissant, and we saw her classmate there with her dad. So, we sat down and talked to them about school and life and what they were doing this summer...it was so relaxed and fun...I was envisioning my future life as a mom. Of course, I know it is a lot of work (I have seen my mom in action!) but I can't wait. Hopefully my kids will be as great and my sisters. (They'll be electric white in comparison, but I guess I will get used to it!)

Cousins

I got some good "cousin" shots at Brieanne's wedding, but I realized that I didn't get a shot of Eric and Brieanne together...oh well, at the next wedding I will be sure to do that. I was really happy to talk to my cousins. I didn't really get a chance to talk to everyone at my own wedding, so it was a nice treat. I also got to sit next to Seamus, so that was cool. I seriously love my cousins so much...all of them...I think it is because they are all unique and amazing people, but also because I was basically an only child for most of my childhood, and I was always in awe of siblings. They have such tight relationships, it seems really cool and lucky if you have that...I never did so I think I am always slightly envious of sibling relationships. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters...but it just isn't the same if you don't live in the same house. I think I have a unique relationship with my sisters. I have been able to watch them grow up, so I have a mixture of maternal love for them and affection because they are so cute/funny/smart/fun to be around.

Nancy's Toast

Nancy gave a toast about mothers during Brieanne's wedding...I missed part of it because I was in the bathroom, but I love this picture. I am so sad that it came out too dark! All the ladies look great, and Nancy's dress was made out of a very cool material...I think it was shantung. I have always loved shantung because colors of shantung looks so rich and luscious. On one of my trips to India I fell in love with a dark red shantung fabric and fantasized about having my bridesmaids wear dresses made out of it...hopefully someday I will have a shantung dress!

Another wedding!

My cousin Brieanne got married on April 11...it was a gorgeous sunny day and the wedding was very elegant. I felt lucky that I was able to make it! Her dress was stunning...but the best part was being able to reconnect with all of the Yeckel family, although I didn't get to talk to most of them! The time was too short...oh well, hopefully there will be another wedding soon. The Yeckel family seems to be on a roll with weddings.

Dad's Death Day

Well, Dad's death anniversary came and went this year. I was sick, sick, sick...I blame it on too much work, not enough play, and lots of bad Boston weather! To commemorate this sad anniversary, Matt and I drove out to the coast and put a moratorium on all work...I also treated myself (with mom's help) to a plane ticket home to visit my mom and to attend my cousin Brieanne's wedding. (Of course, this decision came after about 5 phone calls to my mom, sobbing and wondering what to do. Poor mom! She has five girls so I am sure she will see her fair share of sobbing women. Although, no one in my family is as emotional as I am...I am freak of the family in more ways than one.)



I love this photo of Dad because it reminds me of all of the times we went camping together. This photo was taken on one of his trips down to South America, and I am grateful to whoever took it because we don't really have any picturs of him from our camping trips---he was always the photographer.

Washinton DC, Part 2: The American Indian Museum

Matt and I only had a few days in DC, and our priority was to RELAX and hang out together...so lots of good food and rest, and not so much site seeing...But we did make it to one museum on National Mall: The American Indian Museum. (I feel so un-PC writing that name!) I had to beg Matt to go there. I don't know why I wanted to go so badly...oh wait, yes I do...I had heard there was a whole food court of traditional foods! Ha ha! But, joking aside, it was a great museum. I have this recent fascination with indigenous populations, and it might be because of all of our Mayan ruin touring that we did on our honeymoon in Belize. Anyway, they had a whole movie/exhibit about the hoopa indians that live up by Matt's hometown. He used to work at a burger/ice cream shop on the reservation. The movie of the hoopas had an interesting part where they talked about how Christians try to drown out their traditional music by blaring hymns on loudspeakers. This sounds strange to me. It seems like Christians in Humboldt would have lots of targets to blare hymns at other than Native Americans, haha!


A close up of my squid ink calamari. It was delicious! The woman in line to pay next to me was revolted by this, by I say, if you aren't going to try things, get out of the food court and besides that, it is rude to say that another person's food is revolting.


A selection of foods...conrbread, yams, and squid ink calamari. Yum!



Ok, we actually went to 2 museums. There was also a really interesting section in the Natural History Museum about the history and culture of rastafarians. I have been getting into reggae lately, so this was interesting for me. We also saw the hope diamond here, which made me contemplate our obsession with diamonds. Why do we care? I don't. I admit I like sparkly things,though. But they don't have to be diamonds. People place to much importance on those things.