Just Call me Voldemort

I started a new blog this weekend. It's all about my sister and how everything she touches turns to ridiculosity. For real. I did this despite the fact that I've just recently got into a groove of blogging here on a relatively regular basis. Although it's only been up and running for a little less than 24 hours, it's received pretty positive feedback so far. I know a lot of our friends have been waiting for it for years.

Anyway, since I've put a lot of time and thought into this blog and then went and started another one altogether, I'm beginning to understand how dear old Tom Riddle must have felt when he started splitting his soul and making horcruxes. Just not necessarily to such an extreme.

Don't Call Me Dramatic....Okay Go Ahead!

My sister and I are very different people. She spends 50 minutes doing her hair and makeup every morning, I spend five. She has a lead foot, I like to hang out in the granny lane. She plans to have a bunch of babies, I plan to be a great aunt. She reads People Magazine, I prefer Scientific American. She believes that everything has a place, my apartment looks like a tornado goes through on a regular basis. I think you get the point.

But there's one thing that I did pick up from her in my formative years. It's my tendency to be a little dramatic. And by a little dramatic I mean a lot dramatic. I just find that things are generally more fun if you take them to extremes. Today was a perfect example.

It was an interesting day, to say the least. It all started with an unexpected resignation of one of the key employees at work. This really affected the course of my day as he and I were supposed to be attending a grant awards reception tonight to accept a check from a local foundation. So his departure meant I had to go it alone.

I mean, I live a pretty independent life. I live alone. The best new friends I've made since moving here are the DJs on the morning radio shows who don't even know I exist. So doing things by myself isn't really a problem. But the fact that I was going into a relatively social atmosphere in which I didn't know A SOUL gave me feelings of opposition.

SO I whined about it all day at work and asked everyone I ran into if they wanted to join me. And everyone else already had plans. I guess I'm the only lame one without non-work Friday night plans. I can roll with that.

The whole shindig went smoothly, and I even made a friend from another agency in the same line of work as us. But on my way home I realized that it wasn't so bad after all. So why on Earth did I spend so much energy throughout the day making a big deal of it? The answer is simple. Cause Emily is my big sister and she taught me to be dramatic.

Check. Mate.

So I was just watching the end of an episode of Criminal Minds. And while the team was flying home, Gideon and Reed were playing chess. Gideon beat Reed with a checkmate. Reed quit. Gideon asked Prentiss if she played. And she did. So they played. Fade to black.

It reminded me of learning to pay chess with my grandfather when I was a kid. He was a big fan of the game, and quite an expert in strategery [sic]. I am also quite certain that his post-Air Force career was at Area 51, but that's another story altogether.

I'm beginning to feel that my life has become a giant game of chess. And just when I feel like I'm getting my life in check, something else happens and the world is like, "No Bekah, CHECK. MATE."

Es Verdad

"Be kinder than necessary...for everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle."

-Unknown

Back Home Again in Indiana

So this has been quite an eventful five days of fun since I touched down and the still shiny and new Indianapolis International Airport. We ate our weight in just about everything this weekend and had plenty of laughs, naps, and all around good times. I am sitting at my gate in the airport waiting for the return flight to BWI and since I am unable to log in to my work desktop and get a head start on tomorrow, I figured this was a great time to try to chronicle the happenings of recent days.

Team Perkins picked me up right around 8PM on Wednesday and our first order of business was to stop and pick up some fancy dog treats for their English bulldog, Crumpet. Now, you might think that buying fancy treats for a dog is a bit extravagant. But she is just way to cute NOT to spoil. I give you Exhibit A:

And I rest my case.

After FINALLY getting to meet Crumpet, we walked on down to the local yokel Alabama Grill. It was almost 10PM and we could only order things off the menu that could be deep fried. But it was all delicious anyway and Team Perkins introduced me to a delicious new beverage...The Flying Dragon. At least that's what I think it was called. It was a-MAZE-ing.

The next morning was spent shopping for shoes for Inga to wear in the wedding...the next day. If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done! :) But she managed to find some cute little silver ballet slipper type flats that worked perfectly. We went to Chilis for lunch and that afternoon Inga and I got our nails done. That was an experience you can read about in the previous post.

That night was the wedding rehearsal and dinner. It was an outdoor wedding overlooking the Wabash River. Which is usually not so attractive. But it got dressed up for the occasion. It was super windy for the rehearsal and since it was right next to a golf course, some guys out on the nearest putting green were being jerks and chipping balls that were three feet from the hole so they came over and nearly hit us. And they waited till the balls landed to yell fore. I've never played a round of real (read: not putt putt or wii) golf in my life but even I know that rule! We finished the rehearsal and then decorated the reception hall. It was simple and beautiful and really really nice.

The rehearsal dinner was at my favorite Terre Haute hot spot, Moggers. They had a pulled pork buffet with apple crisp and bread pudding for dessert. Since the guys were going out to have another bachelor party of sorts, we decided that we should do the same. Except for the bachelorette. We thought about going and having a couple drinks, but with an under-21 with us we didn't think that was fair. So we decided to head to the little campus coffee shop in down town and just chill out. But right next door was a brand new hookah bar called Smoke in Peace.

This was fate. With none of us ever having actually smoked hookah in the past but all of us wanting to try, it was perfect. We got two different hookahs, one was called a Yellow Submarine with pineapple, banana, and orange and the other was a random mix of mango, cinnamon, and something else I can't remember. But a good time was had by all. At 11:20 Inga and I had to go and meet David at the movie theater since we had tickets to the midnight showing of Nightmare on Elm Street.

I generally don't go see horror films. Not because they're scary, but because they are ridiculous. I just laugh at all the "scary" stuff and rarely get freaked out. So Inga and I giggled our way through this Freddy Krueger update - especially when one of the girls goes all Exorcist on us - and then audibly judged the movie for making it seem as though you can jam an epi pen directly into someone's heart not kill her. After the movie David had to pee so Inga and I waited in the hall. The two guys who were sitting in front of us in the movie walked by, one of them looked straight at Inga and said, "stupid bitches!" I wish I had heard him...I would have responded by ensuring him that I am not, in fact, stupid.

Well I slept till almost noon the next day and by the time I woke up, Inga had already left to meet the bridal party and get their hair done and photos taken. David and I had lunch at this awesomely delicious home town greasy spoon diner. Then we got ready and headed over to Terre Haute for the big wedding! It was a perfectly lovely ceremony despite the wind which broke the unity candles. A mere eight hours later we were back at the Hotel Perkins and starving like crazy. So obviously, a midnight run to Hardees was in order!

We got up relatively early Saturday morning and went back to where the wedding was to help the newlyweds clean up the last remnants of the reception. After that was brunch at Bob Evans (delicious) and a search for a flea market in Brazil. The search turned out to be pretty fruitless but we did end up on the parade route for the Brazil Loyalty Day parade....which was an experience in itself. It included the usuals like the local state championship marching band, the trucks full of boy scouts throwing candy, and the town's dance academy. But the most interesting of the displays was Santa being towed in a fishing boat labeled Jackson Fire Rescue. I wish I was making this up.

Saturday night I hung out with my friend Betty and her two boys followed by a night DDing for David and Inga at a toga party that only had a handful of togas. It was an interesting party that involved people randomly trading shirts the entire night. And I had way more fun than I expected to. It was kinda nice to pretend like I was part of the college scene again...hahah! So after driving the drunks back in the rain, they went straight to bed but I was wide awake. So I started reading the book Push and couldn't put it down until I fell asleep an hour or so later.

I slept till 1:30 Sunday afternoon and then we hit Moggers for lunch. I had the bourbon wings this time...wings that are so delicious I have literally driven across the country for them. We then went to the mall to pick up some gourmet cookies for Inga to take to her dad for his birthday on Monday.

My internal clock must have known that it was Monday once again and I woke up at the crack of dawn ready to go. So I read some more of Push and then packed my bags. We went to the Umi Grille for lunch, which was as amazing as ever. And then it was time to head to the airport. Which brings me here. Waiting for my flight. Even though I don't really want to get on the plane. If nothing else, this trip has reminded me that I belong anywhere but where I'm going.