weekend update

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but as you can imagine, I’ve been a bit preoccupied lately with the new gig.

The weekend was a lot of fun. I made it out of Lansing on Friday just in time to avoid a huge line of storms that ripped through Mid-Michigan. By the time I made it to Stef’s house I had about ten minutes to change my outfit before we took off for the cocktail hour at Cranbrook to kick off her class reunion weekend.

While I was happy to spend some time hanging out with Stef, her friend Nick and a few of her classmates, the layout for the event was kind of lame. They had everyone congregate outside really close to the building that houses the school’s swimming pool, even though there was this big open space nearby that went un-utilized. As a result, everyone was bunched up near the bar (for the free drinks), which made a hot day seem even more unbearable.

After about an hour we took off for dinner at P.F. Chang’s with the group of friends we’d been hanging out with at the cocktail hour, which I think we all enjoyed a lot more.

I was pretty exhausted from the long day by the time we made it back to Stef’s house later that evening, so I went to bed at 11:30 and proceeded to sleep like a rock for about ten solid hours.

Stef and I got up and went out for breakfast at Kerby’s on our way to the lake on Saturday morning. Her folks were already at the cottage by the time we got there, so we got settled in and went outside to bake in the sun for a while.

Being the idiot that I am, I decided to take a Benadryl for my allergies and go outside without any sunscreen on.

After passing out in the adirondack chair for about 30 minutes, I woke up when my skin started to melt. At that point I decided it might be wise to go inside and pile on the SPF 80 with a trowel.

A little later that afternoon we went out for a boat ride with Tim and Teri, then took off again later that afternoon for the main reunion ceremony, which started at 5-ish.

There were a lot more people at the event on Saturday (every five-year class was invited), but the turnout for Stef’s graduating class was still pretty low. Even so, we had a good time hanging out with Stef’s friend Lindsay and her boyfriend, Paul.

We hung around long enough for the girls to be in their class’ group photo, then went back to Stef’s house where we met up with a few more CK alums for a bonfire out by the pool. It’s not a stretch to say that this was the best part of the weekend’s reunion festivities, mainly because there were fewer retirees and more s’mores involved.

Stef and I went back out to the lake on Sunday for the afternoon. While my Batman tan lines had already set in, I didn’t make the mistake of forgetting to put on sunscreen the second time around.

Tim took us out for another boat ride before dinner… both were fantastic.

Teri had whipped up what basically amounts to the perfect summer meal: burgers, corn on the cob, homemade potato salad and lemonade.

Stef and I took off shortly after we ate, and we barely made it back to her house in one piece after driving through this God-awful thunderstorm. We were getting off I-75 when the wall of rain hit, then got caught on Opdyke Road when trees started snapping over the street like toothpicks. Stefy did a great job behind the wheel, and ironically, was able to steer us to refuge in the parking lot for St. Hugo, which is where we’ll be getting married next August.

The storm finally let up enough so we were able to make it the rest of the way to her house. I waited for the rain to die down before I took off for Lansing, but at that point everything was already headed off to Canada.

So, aside from the storm, it was a really fun weekend. In fact, this entire post can be summed up by one of my favorite clips from As Good As It Gets:

Good times. Noodle Potato Salad.