i was all, “how soon can we go?”

we started at st. croix vineyards which was very tasty and good, but it was also lunchtime so i was a little distracted.

bertine is good at jazz hands!

we ate cheese and crackers in the car on our way into downtown stillwater for lunch and another winery.

pull-tabs and romance, indeed!

northern vineyards was not great, but i actually left with three bottles. i guess i figured i’d rather have wine i could make into sangria than pay $20 for tastings that no one enjoyed very much.

hello, stillwater lift bridge!

alexis bailly: so so so yummy

so yummy, in fact, that i forgot to take photos here because i was so focused on the wine.

final stop: cannon river winery

this band is called “jas” and that woman has a spectacular voice.

vani took a much shorter “tour” than i did, so she browsed around with my camera for a bit.

then i finished my tour.

good snack for the buzzed ride home.

prior to the wedding, i did some crafting with kristi.

and once that was done, we were allowed to have fun. (not that gluing and cutting and measuring isn’t fun… it’s a different kind of fun.)

the rehearsal dinner was two nights before the wedding, and kristi told us about when she knew she loved jared. it was sweet.

the day of the wedding, the ladies all got up bright and early to get fancy hair-do’s. jen didn’t get a ‘do but she brought mimosas and conversation to the salon.

i wish my bangs looked like that every morning. all mod and sleek.

and though i took a few more photos throughout the afternoon/evening, i gave my camera to jason to document most of the day.

the ladies’ bathroom was garish and awesome.

i never have any photos of myself from events. i will be giving my camera to jason more often, perhaps.

i can’t wait to see the photos from the photographer’s session in this bathroom.

oh, oh! here are a few photos that i caught:

and then, just like that, they were married!

what is that face i’m making?

and the toast i couldn’t make because i was already so overwhelmed with joy for the day that anytime i tried to tell it, i burst into hysterics: when jen arrived in minneapolis a few days prior to the wedding, we were discussing the duties of the maid of honor. i think she brought up the tradition of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” oh, shoot, was this something i was supposed to take care of?! we talked it through though and decided that kristi had three of the four: something new was her wedding/engagement ring, something borrowed was the slip i had loaned to her, and something blue was the necklace that she was wearing. but where was her something old? i was stumped. i thought about it up until the wedding day, but has basically resigned myself because i had nothing old and no good ideas. so as we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, jen and i were telling this problem to corinne, kristi’s mom, and erin, jared’s sister. “well, she’s got you guys – her old friend.” at the same moment, jen and i let out a happy sigh – so overly cheesy but absolutely perfect. thank you for that, erin!

instead i toasted about how i was a bit over-protective of my girl and may have accidentally-on-purpose crashed their first date, but seeing how excited jared is now to marry such a fantastic girl makes me happy. of course i said it a lot less concisely and more blather-y (“i might cry so i have to keep this short”) and then i forgot to toast at the end! bah! oh, well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pork-chop/4654608021/

dancing! the band was super fun.

and by this point i was a little drunk on wine and wedding. dancing with jason was a highlight of the evening, even though i may have twirled in the wrong direction a couple times.

then i guess the camera got put away for the night. when the party was over, we moved it over to the hotel for a little bit longer. it was an excellent, happy night!

the next day was a little difficult. checkout was noon, so we had to get up and get out. too early. and then the hotel’s kitchen had closed so we had to go search for food. ugh.

we hung out with a few other family members while kristi and jared opened millions of gifts.

then there may have been a nap that lasted for several hours.

many cheers to my dear friends. i wish you a lifetime of awesome!

sangria, spaetzle, speck, und schnitzel

oh! and chris’ fried sauerkraut balls.

while watching inglourious basterds.

these cats are lazy.

cousin jamie organized a surprise 50th birthday party for aunt laurie at buca di beppo. she really was surprised! it was fun.

ooh! and delicious!

happy 50th, laurie! i hope the first month of it has been stellar.

ampersand got her first solo visit to the vet recently. i was being an overly worried cat-mom and decided to take her in one morning when her eyelid was mysteriously swollen. it was out first trip to pet central animal hospital since we have all been relatively healthy in the last year. ampersand didn’t think it was that great, but dr. ngo was very attentive and gentle and the whole place was clean and bright. it’s good to know that we’re so close to such a nice pet clinic and that they were willing to squeeze me and ampersand in on very short notice.

by the way, ampersand was fine. she probably just got into something she shouldn’t have. she healed after a few days of ointment and she’s back to fetching to biting ellipses!

kristi and laura got married on the same day, so this photo is them stretching their faces in preparation for a full, long day of smiling too much.

we started the party at the red stag supper club for elegance and stylishness then moved over to the u otter stop inn for karaoke and lettin’ loose.

we had to call her “bride-to-be kristi” during karaoke because there was another gal named kristi singing that night, as well. towards the end of the night it became a fun thing to yell. everyone at bars at 2 a.m. is loud.

i know jen is blurry but she came specially from hawaii for this get-together (okay, not really) so i wanted to post this photo.

i don’t remember why we asked this gal to be in a photo with us, but she did an amazing rendition of celine dion later in the evening. no, really. she belted that sucker! also she reminded me of jenny lewis.

kristi insisted on helping me sing kim carnes so i eventually just gave her a microphone.

kristi really didn’t want to stop believin’ — she wanted to hold on to that fee-e-e-lin’… of being the bride-to-be (and center of attention). she may deny it, but she enjoyed the limelight, i think.

the following morning, we went to brunch and she held up surprisingly well.

fun with friends!