Weddings and Friends

I've done a bit of traveling lately: Colorado and Kansas City, mostly. I went to Loveland/Boulder/Ward, Colorado, to be near my good friend Kristina while she married her love, Tyler. I went to Lawrence/Kansas City, Kansas, to couchsurf and celebrate the fourth of July, see Israel, and be his date to his friend Amy's wedding. In between, I spent a lot of time in the car in the wee hours of the morning, and my dear, dear friends the Camachos (Kristina's brother and sister-in-law and their daughter Sophia) came to lincoln for a day to eat at bread&cup (yes, seriously) for their anniversary. Here are pictures (they are supposedly worth thousands of words, which I'm too tired to fret over tonight):
This is the view from the pretty spot in the mountains where Kristina got married. I'd never really been to the mountains before, at least not since I've been old enough to remember, and they repeatedly and consistently took my breath away.

Laura and Kristina. Aren't they pretty? I love them. I hadn't realized how much I missed them.

This is Kristina and Tyler. I really like him. Obviously, she does too.

Kristina the beautiful bride, and the only person so far to have a wedding that made me want one too.


Here are Sophia and her daddy Leslie at the rehearsal. Sophia, who is only two (doesn't she look about five?!), was telling us all about the mosquito larvae swimming in that puddle! I swear, this girl is smarter than I am...I was happy to be the official Sophia-watcher during the wedding. I think I look a bit stern and matronly in this picture, but really, I just couldn't scootch down to Sophia's level in that pretty dress while maintining my decency. Here, she is telling me about the coffee drink she is making for me, which also has ginger and chocolate in it. For real.

I brought Sophia some finger-puppets to try to win her love, thinking she probably wouldn't remember me much after nearly a year apart. Instead, she ran to me and threw her arms around me before I even got them out of my bag. Pretty soon she was asking me, "Where are your kitties?" remembering the last time she was at my house, playing with my roomie's cats!

Wowzers, yeah?

When the Camachos were in Lincoln for a day, I got to wait on them twice at bread&cup. Here we are with Kevin, my boss, the owner.

Laura, Sophia, and I also squeezed in a quick zoo trip, which was remarkable considering the length of their stay and my tiredness after driving all night home. Here we are on the zoo train. I love going to the zoo with Sophia, and having the catch-up time with Laura.

The next weekend I drove down to Lawrence, Kansas, to meet Israel. After a little over a month apart, I was pretty excited. I met him at a local brewery where I waited with my computer and a lemongrass rye beer.

While we were in Lawrence, we couchsurfed with a nice girl named Kelley. Her roommate had a little kitten whom I liked a lot. My first couchsurfing experience was quite good; we had a room to ourselves and plenty of floorspace and blankets. They took us to see fireworks and shared 4th of July cupcakes with us!

Here we are at Amy's wedding. I'd never seen Israel dressed up before! He was an usher and played music at the reception.

The next trip is in two and a half weeks. (Unless you count moving later this week.) I'm taking the midnight train to Denver, meeting Israel, and then flying with him to Portland, where we'll see friends and go to yet another wedding. I think I'll just wear the same dress for all three, for continuity's sake.