An Indian Wedding

Over the weekend, I attended my first Indian wedding. Just so we are clear, I mean the kinda Indian from like India--not the Native American kind. Anyways, I flew in to New York on Friday and proceeded to take the airtran, subway, and Long Island Railroad out to the hotel.

The first night's festivities included a huge buffet of all vegetarian food--tacos, pasta, vegetables, etc. Then the party started. Basically, it was a huge dance party all night, complete with an awesome dessert table filled with cheesecake, carrot cake, banana cream pie, chocolate torte, and this amazing lemon cake. It was awesome.

I didn't know the dances at all, but the family of the bride and groom helped teach the newbies. By the middle of the night, I was a dancing fool. It was so cool.

The next day was the ceremony, complete with a fancy procession with more dancing. I also learned that Indians don't take the ceremonies seriously. They'll get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink from the bar, or just start talking. Or they will play scrabble on their iphone, like the guy next to me did.

The ceremony took place outside

It was beautiful

I, on the other hand, was like all into the ceremony. I think my inner anthropologist came out because I wanted to know the significance of everything that was happening. I even noticed that they skipped some of the parts that were listed in the wedding program.

After the ceremony, it was cocktail hour complete with an open bar and authentic Indian food appetizers. I had samosas, and these good wrap things with green chutney sauce in them. It was yummy. I also didn't think any of the food was too spicy, which surprised some of the people I was talking to at the wedding.

Until this weekend, I had never tried Indian food. It just always looked unappealing, but I was a brave foodie and tried everything. And I honestly loved it all. My favorite was the naan and some of the bean dishes. I don't remember names, I just remember what it all looked like.

This is where the bride & groom sat. The purple box is for cards and money. It's tradition to give them an amount of money ending in 1, i.e., $51, $101. It's supposed to bring good luck.

I loved how they had so many playful moments within the ceremony and at the reception. And they had more dancing, which was awesome. And the dessert bar was alright. I wasn't a fan of the desserts--they had this one that was like carrot cake that was super sweet, this one that my new friend called milky balls, which was cheese I guess, and mango ice cream.

The cake was awesome

 After this weekend, I wish I had more Indian friends so I can go to more Indian weddings. And maybe next time I get invited to one, I'll even show up in a sari. ;)


Have you ever been to an Indian wedding?

This isn't high school, but it still feels like it

Seriously, do you ever wonder why certain things happen?

You're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Well, in the past 48 hours I've run into two people I went to high school with. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. You see, I actively avoid talking with anyone I went to high school with except my close inner circle. I just feel like I've changed a lot since then, and according to most of their facebook profiles, they certainly haven't.

Incident #1 happened on Saturday night (or shall I say morning?) when I was at a country bar. Obviously I don't normally hang out at country bars, especially not dressed up in jeans and plaid shirts with my hair in pigtails. I was there because of a bachelorette party for a mutual friend.

At this point, the bachelorette was sufficiently drunk and was wandering off trying to get guys to sign her t-shirt. I was put in charge of keeping track of her. So I'm holding a huge blow up penis and watching her talk with some guys when I notice a guy staring at me out of the corner of my eye. At first glance, I think to myself "I have no idea who that is," and then approximately 30 seconds later, I do a double take and realize it's this guy Anthony who used to be super popular and played on the football team.

Anthony was always nice to me, but we never really had any classes together. I was usually in the honors or AP classes, and he wasn't. Anyways, at this point since we both know we've seen each other, I could not really walk away. So blow up penis in hand, I walked right up to him and said hi.

We ended up talking about what we've been up to since high school. Apparently he lost his sports scholarship his sophomore year of college in Wyoming and moved back here. Eight years later, he's got a degree in civil engineering and a full-time job. So here I am thinking, wow, at least he did something with himself, when he says "yea, other than working, I like to get in trouble with the ladies. It makes life interesting." Yea, obviously not the smartest cookie in the bunch.

After I told him what I've been up to--graduating from college & staying out of trouble--we parted ways with a hug. And then I maturely went over to my bff and told her EVERYTHING.

That was on Saturday. Fast forward to today when incident #2 occurred. I'm holding a container of artichoke and garlic hummus, a bag of carrots, a cup of applesauce, and a spoon, when I see a lady waiting by the elevators. I'm walking towards the entrance of our office, when all of a sudden that lady looks over right at me. And again, I did a double take.

Turns out it's one of the few girls I used to hang out with in high school. We were never bffs, but she was tolerable. We played volleyball together and were in a lot of the same classes. We stayed in touch after high school, but parted ways during my senior year of college. She came out to visit me and was a tool the entire time. Literally complaining about bringing the wrong shoes to complaining about walking everywhere to complaining about drinking to complaining about doing too little to complaining about doing too much. COMPLAIN. COMPLAIN. COMPLAIN.

After I sent her to the airport in a cab, I exhaled a sigh of relief and pretty much decided to not keep in touch with her anymore. In high school she was always negative too, but I think at that time I was naive enough to think that she just needed a friend and that if I was positive enough, it would rub off on her. That obviously didn't work.

Since then, we've friended each other on facebook. I have her on my limited profile list that I reserve for anyone that I don't want knowing about what I do. But obviously I'm in a bit of a pickle now, considering she freakin' works in the office RIGHT ACROSS THE HALL FROM MINE. She of course was like, "OMG we have to catch up!!" And I'm thinking to myself....oh great.

Have you ever had this happen to you? I don't wanna know if the universe is about to throw a third person from high school my way. Seriously. Don't. Want. To. Know.

Advice Needed & Appreciated

The situation: It's about a boy. Obviously. That's pretty much the only time I care about advice. Anyways, said boy, lives in another state. Boy and I have daily phone conversations and have "known" each other for years. I say "known" because we've never actually met face to face. We've had video chats and written letter correspondance, facebook messages and IMs, but never the actual hang out time we've both been craving.

He currently lives at home too, so that has sort of hindered things. But here's the thing. I like him and he likes me. But I hate the distance. I want someone I can see every week and still have the hour long phone conversations. He's not moving here anytime soon, and I'm not moving where he is either. So I guess you could say that we aren't meant to be, and that things will never progress. But that's what I'm confused about.

Some days we have an amazing connection. Some days he brings out the best in me and vice versa. Of course there are other days when we both are stubborn and fight too. It's not all roses and fairy tales. Like last night, I asked him how his night was and he told me he spent it with his family at home. Only, toward the end of the conversation he admitted he went out on a date with the same girl he had met, oh, last week.

I was annoyed for two reasons, which I expressed to him clearly. First off he should have just been honest with me at the beginning of the conversation. How was I supposed to know he went out on a date? I can't always ask an exact question to figure out an answer. Secondly, how can he spend time talking with me everyday and then go out on a date with a girl? He said he did it because he was mad at me because the night before I told him I wasn't going to make a trip out there to see him.

We were discussing Frontier's fall sale, and he asked me to come see him. I told him I felt like we were dysfunctional and that I didn't want to book a trip and then regret coming out there. Basically, if I go see him, I want to be the center of attention. I demand to have it. Because to me, going out of state to see someone and spend time with them is serious. And, I don't want to look like a fool. I want to know he's serious about me and I don't want to have to worry that he's interested in anyone else.

He assured me that if I had told him in the first place that I would go see him, he never would've went out with that girl. He also told me if I come out to see him, it will be all about us. He claims that he cares about me and wants to spend time together. I asked him about where I'd stay. Part of me wants a hotel because then I'd have some down time alone. But then that's more money. He said I could potentially stay with him if his parents go out of town or he was thinking of asking a friend of his from his church if I could stay with her.

Obviously, I'm in the thick of this mess and can't see clearly so that's where you all come in. What should I do?

Pros: I'd finally get an answer to if me and him are even remotely compatible. And I'd get to go to a state with warmer weather.

Cons: I could go out there and realize he's completely not for me. And then what would I do for the rest of the weekend? I don't want to regret anything. I don't want to regret going but I also want a happy ending. I want it to go smoothly and have fun. It's one thing to go out there because I wanted to see something or attend another event and then meeting him would just be icing on the cake. But if I'm being honest with myself--if I went on this trip in October--it wouldn't be because I want to go to Arizona. It'd be for him.

Travel Fridays: Frisco, CO

Photo Credit: Todd Powell Photography

My parents have been driving me crazy lately, and work has been crazy, and I finally made it to yoga last night because I was forced to because my Groupon was about to expire. Needless to say, I need some quality "me" time. Like, NEED IT NOW. So I just did something spontaneous. I whipped out my credit card, and booked myself a condo for this weekend. Granted, this weekend probably wasn't the best time to stay in the mountains since everyone in their mother will probably be headed up there, but when you need time away, you don't really care. Plus, because I booked it today, I got a last minute special deal.
The pictures online look great. The condo will have a queen bed, and TV. Awesome. I might even bring some movies along with me and some music. I am so excited. And apparently this weekend the town is celebrating Oktoberfest, so there will be plenty of stuff to do.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning and not coming back till Monday. And it will be everything I want it to be--relaxing, fun, and hopefully awesome. (I need to stop saying typing that word now, but you get the jist) I could end up watching tv or reading in bed all weekend, or I could go bike ride from Frisco to Breckenridge, or I could hike, or drink myself into a stupor with hot German men, or go shopping, or meet my future husband in a hot tub. The possibilities are endless.

How are you spending the long weekend?

Where I've been and more mundane details

Life has completely taken over. That's a good excuse for not blogging, not commenting on other blogs, and basically just hiding in my own superficial cave, right? Right.

So I've been enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I finally made it to the annual peach festival. The past three years I've missed it. One year it was due to picking the wrong day and another year it was pouring rain and I abandoned the idea. But the peach festival was fun. Ironically enough, I didn't buy any peaches because I already had bought some with my mom from the farmers market the weekend before. But M got a really cool hat & I tried on one too. And we had delicious peach dessert pizza, peach cobbler with ice cream, and hot dogs. We also got our faces painted. It was awesome.

We also got our faces painted. It was awesome.

Then all last week I celebrated my birthday in style.

I baked fresh peach/raspberry crisp on Monday.

On Tuesday, I went out to dinner with my family and attended the Rockies game, where the guy right beside me almost caught a home run ball. It was both scary and exciting all at the same time. 

Holding my cousin at the game. The tiara is compliments of my brother's dentist office--my mom got me that for my birthday complete with a star wand. 

On Wednesday night, I went out for Italian food with some of my bffs. We totally had a great girls night out, complete with wine and dessert. Oh, and funny story, before dinner I totally locked my keys in my car. Deja vu, anyone?

 The girls

Thursday and Friday were down time to run errands and basically catch up with life, and then Saturday was the main event: my birthday picnic. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from that day, but imagine 8 people sitting under trees on picnic blankets with a smorgishboard of food. We're talkin' cherry cheesecake for dessert, brownies, sweet tea vodka, beer, crossiant BLTA sandwiches, watermelon, chips...and the list could go on. It was a great time (albeit a bit stressful) but totally worth it. It was a great way to celebrate, that's for sure. 

So now that you know what I've been up to, what's new with all of you?