Nan's Wedding

What a day.

I won't lie.  It was a LONG day.  Now, not long in a bad sense, it just was that we had a lot to do in not a lot of time.

We left off yesterday with me talking about MAC Cosmetics, hairdressers and so forth.  I lost track of time in the middle of the post and almost made myself late.  Lucky me, I got myself there on time.  Funny thing was, Nan called the salon not five minutes after I got there to make sure I got there on time...gee, thanks for the faith there Nan... *pbbbt*.

One hour, three rubber bands and exactly 45 bobby pins later, I had an up-do.  It was nice, filled with lots of hairspray and was incredibly painful to take out when I got home.  My stylist for the day, Melissa, really did a great job on my hair, but unfortunately my bangs got unintentionally sacrificed to the habitual-hand-through-the-hair gods.  So here's the back so you can see it first-hand.

After the hairdresser's it was off to MAC for a session with a make-up artist.  I lucked out completely with a wonderful artist by the name of Amparo.  She took my bare skin and turned it into something to look at. 

Nan sat across from me with a wonderful artist by the name of Caesar.  Now this is ironic because we went to the MAC at The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace... (which guarantees you get some of the best artists in the city...ah-ha!  Sheri was thinking ahead!)

Well, as Cait went with us, so did Ryan.  Poor fella, he waited for us for two hours in the mall while we were being primped and preened.  Thanks to Cait, she got photos of while we were getting fixed up!

While Amparo was working hard on me, I glanced over at Nan, and what do you think I saw?  Caesar grabbing a set of false eyelashes for Nan!  I grabbed onto Amparo and said, "Oh my gosh!  She's going for the falsies! Woot!"  I never thought in a million years Nan would go for something like that, but sure enough, there was Caesar giving her the total treatment! She went for it and I couldn't have been more tickled to see her really getting into it!  She seemed like she had so much fun getting made up and let's face it, for all of those hours she made me up, I figured she deserved it!

So after it all went on, Cait got a picture of us...

While the artists took a break, we sat and visited and waited for Cait's turn.  My nephew's wife is such a cutie.  I'm so glad I got a sweet girl like her as my niece...

Amparo came back for an encore and she went to work fixing Cait up, which was a real treat because that was her first time in an artist's chair...

And so, three fresh faces walked out of MAC at 3:30 p.m. and ready for the big hoorah.

I got home at 4 p.m.  Enough time for me to unwind a bit, catch my breath, organize what I needed, my clothes and so forth and get dressed.  But you know me, it's never that simple.

The day had gone off like a choreographed stage show up until the moment I got home.  I sat down to relax and picked up the phone to call Nan to verify what time I needed to be at the wedding chapel.  Carl answered.  We visited for a few minutes and I asked him about the times and so forth and he said, "Well, we've got to be there at 5:45, you can be there by 6.  If you don't want to miss anything, be there by 6."  When I asked him if he was excited, he replied, "You know me, I'm excited, but I'm internalizing it."  Yes, this is my big brother...appropriate, isn't it?

In the midst of my downloading the photos to the computer, getting my clothes out and so forth, time (which we all know I have no sense of whatsoever, hence the phrase "temporally challenged") slipped by and before I knew it, guess what, I was running late.  How does this happen to me?  Ugh.  

I dashed on my clothes, fixed my bangs which had unfortunately been sacrificed to the habitual-hand-through-the-hair gods, put on my jewelry and zoomed out the door, looking like this...

(Disclaimer: I don't photograph well.)

When I got into the car, the clock read 5:45.  I stared at it for a moment, looked at the car ceiling and screamed, "How does this happen to me?!?!"  I put my foot into my gas tank and headed off.

Now wouldn't you know it?  Come on, you know where I'm going with this...yes, yes, if there was a red light, I caught it.  If there was some poky jackass in the middle of the road, I inevitably found them.  I was ready to commence hari-kari at a few points.  But lucky me, in my preparations, I had also made a visit to Mapquest...yes, I wasn't going to get lost getting there...

So, I'm on the 95 zooming into town going Mach 5 in a car that was built for fuel economy, not speed.  Did you know that a Prius will run on electric power at 80 miles per hour?  Yeah, found that out.  *facepalm*  I get to the Spaghetti Bowl Interchange (yes, Las Vegans really do call the interchange between the 95 and the 15 "the spaghetti bowl" because it looks like it), I get onto the 15 only long enough to get to the Charleston exit, I get off only to be met with what?  A red light.  The clock glowed at me saying, "5:50."  My heart at that point had sunk into my gut.  I was going to miss the wedding and Nan was going to kill me.  With visions of Nan laying me low for being late...I cringed.  Sitting there, nervously twitching in my seat, I waited for the light.  And I waited, and waited, and waited.  It felt like the longest stoplight in human history.  Finally it turned green, I hit the gas, made the left turn onto Charleston Boulevard and what do I get again?  A red light.  The clock glowed 5:55.  At that point, my adrenaline had gone into overdrive.  I sat with my head in my hands, thinking, "They're going to start without me and as well they should."  I got mad at myself for my temporal handicap.

When the light turned green, everyone seemed to know I was on my way to a wedding because by some miracle, people either turned, changed lanes or something to give me a clear shot to Las Vegas Boulevard.  I made a left onto the strip and I look down at the speedometer, knowing that I'm near the courthouse, police station and every other type of government building with a cop in front of it, I reminded myself to keep the speed down even though I wanted to floor it.  As I passed in front of the wedding chapel, the clock glowed "6:00" at me.  I knew I had missed it...I make a quick turn into the chapel parking lot, hop out of the car, break out into a dead run (in heels mind you...kudos for my athleticism in formal wear) and get into the door of the chapel.  Dad and Carl were waiting outside the chapel that they had rented for the ceremony.  I hugged Carl and asked him, "Did I miss it?"  He looked at me and said, "How could you, it's just now 6 o'clock?"  He could tell I was relieved beyond belief that I had made it on time when he said, "You're on time, don't worry."  Come to find out, the clock in my car...

It's 5 minutes fast.

As I walked in the door, I find my cousin Nicole and her daughters came to see the event, Mom, Ryan and Cait were all tucked into a pew and there I was hoping I hadn't missed anything when Mom and Dad had shown up at 5:00. They'd already been waiting an hour.  After I showed up, it was still 20 minutes before the ceremony started.  So I sat visiting with my cousin and her daughters and caught my breath from the sprint to get there.

Nan and Carl got married at a sweet little chapel called "Mon Bel Ami."  When I walked in, I noticed it was lovely.  It was decked out in a warm yellowish hue, there was striped silk buttery-colored bunting and lovely flowers everywhere.  Carl looked dashing in his suit and tie, Mom had been primped and preened as well, so she looked fabulous, Dad was looking good in his blue suit and a lovely tie.  Ryan was sporting a tie and Cait looked lovely in her purple shirt and pencil skirt combo.  The whole family looked wonderful.

The gentleman who did the service came to the front and gave us a few hints and tips about the whole thing.  Nan and Carl had contracted a photographer, so we couldn't take pictures inside during the ceremony, you know, the whole, "Keep your arms and hands inside the vehicle at all times" speech that goes with any type of ride...ok, I'm kidding, but he did tell us what was going to happen and what we would be seeing, when to stand, when to sit, etc., etc.

Then it was finally time.  The music started and Dad walked Nan down the aisle.  Nan chose a very sedate suit to be married in, it was a beautiful ivory white and she carried three white roses.  

During the vows, Nan started to tear up.  Which of course, if you've ever seen the film "Steel Magnolias" you'll remember the Dolly Parton line, "If you cry, you'll make me cry.  I have a strict rule that no one cries alone in my presence."  I started to tear up with Nan.  I sat there thinking to myself, "No, don't cry, we just spent a ton of time at the make-up artist...don't you dare shed a tear..." and I held it together.

In all it was just beautiful.  I cheered when the official turned Nan and Carl around and presented them as husband and wife.  I finally, FINALLY have a big brother.  Thank goodness...I waited long enough.

After the hoorah, we headed out to Carrabba's for dinner.  Italian.  Nice.  I made the mistake of ordering their Lobster Linguine...oy veh.  It was like eating antiseptic. I sent it back and just went with a safe choice, Fettuccine Alfredo.  But all in all, it was so sweet sitting down at the other end of the table from Nan and Carl as I watched how happy they were.  

We got done with dinner by 9 p.m.  As I headed home a song Nan says is so true, Nickelback's "Gotta Be Somebody", started playing on the radio.  Behind the wheel of the car again, I ironically turned west onto Charleston Boulevard on the way home.  But it wasn't just the car that was facing west, it was my mind that was wandering 2500 miles west of where I was, thinking about KP all the way over in Hawaii.  The song kind of made me tear up at that moment because if Nan (who went through divorce, cancer, mastectomy, chemotherapy and all sorts of aches and pains) got a happy ending, there's no reason we all can't have a happy ending of our own.

There's gotta be somebody for me out there...

But enough about me and my dire need for KP...

Grats to Nan and Carl, the best big sister/big brother combo ever!  I'm so thrilled for them both.