Back home again

So I signed up for the fancy new Blogger Beta because I was curious about the new features. I like that you can label the posts to put them in categories. But due to my random posting nature, I guess most of mine would fall under the label of "random crap". At some point I'll go back and categorize the old posts.

Since I haven't posted in a month, I guess I have some catching up to do. Lots of stuff going on around here. TJ and I just got back from Pittsburgh this morning. We went there for the weekend because Kristine was getting married. So I'll dedicate this post to Kristine and her wedding.

Kristine and I met in Mrs. Rockwell's Biology II class my senior year in high school. We hit it off immediately, especially when we found out our birthdays were the same day (a year apart). She definitely made high school a better place for me (senior year was a tough one for me, for a lot of insignificant reasons that seemed monumental to my hormonal teenaged mind). She and I were two of maybe 5 Asians in our ENTIRE school of 600 people. Looking back on it, I am so glad to have had a good friend at school who had a similar background.

We did all the usual teenaged girl stuff together: movies, mall, school football games, hanging out with friends, etc. We also went on each others' family vacations and shared the same goofy sense of humor. Since I was a year ahead of her in school, I went off to college first. She came to visit me there a few times, but I wasn't the best at keeping in touch (especially since email was very new at the time).

But we stayed in touch, sporadically, over the years. Kristine went to college in Boston, then moved to Philly to work, and later, attend dental school. That's where she met Mike, her fiance. During those years she visited me in Seattle and Arizona. I saw her a few times when I was in Delaware for work, though now I wish I had stayed in better touch with her since that was the closest we had lived to each other in years. We caught up on big events via email, but that's not the same as talking and hanging out often. (Sometimes growing up sucks.)

When TJ and I got married last year, we were planning to invite only family and 1 friend each (Maid of Honor Kristin & Best Man Dave, both of whom we met at Caltech). But something just didn't sit right with me. I couldn't imagine my wedding without Kristine being there even though we hadn't talked in a long time, and were sketchy with email. So I invited her and she came, bringing her boyfriend Mike, who I hadn't met before. Since we had a very small wedding, I got to spend some time talking to them, which was great. As it turns out, it was a good trip for her, too. Mike proposed to her the day after our wedding!

We saw each other again in Las Vegas the next month and spent nearly a whole day together wandering that strange (and fun) city. It was great to catch up with her. A few months ago when she asked me to be a sponsor at her wedding (a Filipino tradition), of course I said yes.

So TJ and I made the trip to Pittsburgh this weekend. It was the first time I had been there in 8 years and the area where I used to live is a *lot* different, with a mall, tons of restaurants, and more strip malls than you can imagine (think Lynnwood).

I finally got to meet Kristine's friends from college and dental school and her cousin Manher, whom she always talked about. I guess we haven't changed that much since high school, since I *loved* meeting her friends, and thought they were really nice, interesting, and a lot of fun. As one of her bridesmaids pointed out, "Kristine's friends are so cool!" We had a grand time at the rehearsal and dinner (Buca di Beppo, Station Square).

The wedding itself was lovely. Kristine truly looked like a princess (and I hope she felt like one too!). Attending Catholic Mass was like hearing an old song and still remembering all the words. While I am not a fan of religion in general, the rituals of the Catholic mass are somehow comforting to me - the "audience participation" parts, the order of the ceremony, and the fact that the prayers and words are always the same, no matter who is conducting it. The homily the priest gave was pretty funny - he was a young guy and talked about loving the Steelers and root canals (you just had to be there).

I had some anxiety about my role as a cord sponsor, but my "cord buddy", Amor, was Filipino and knew what was going on and what we had to do. We managed to drape the cord around Kristine and Mike and remove it without incident.

At the reception, TJ and I sat with Brian, Heather, Darren, and John, some friends from high school that I hadn't seen in about 10-12 years. It was neat to find out what people have been up to, and try to picture the same kids I knew in high school now with kids of their own. Weird.

By far, the best part of the reception was the music (though TJ thought it was the steak dinner). Not sure if it was the DJ's contribution, or someone in the bridal party, but there was *lots* of bhangra. And people loved it. There were several Indian-Americans in attendance, but *everyone*, including Mike and Kristines' families were bustin' a move to the bhangra and having a *great* time. There was also a lot of hip-hop, which I loooove for dancing.

That was the most fun I've had at a wedding (besides my own, of course!). We met a lot of great people and invited them all to visit us in Seattle. I got to reconnect with Kristine, and will definitely keep in better touch now that my work schedule will be reduced (more on that in my work blog).

We didn't get much sleep this weekend but it was definitely worth it. Congratulations Mike and Kristine!