Mandy's Wedding

Well, as you can see from the silence on my blog lately, I have been sticking close to London and taking care of business (literally, it's busy season). Plus, my weekends have just been full of other fun and exciting things...I just can't think of what right now. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago now I took a super-fantastic trip to HOME!!!!!

My friend Mandy was one of my first friends after I moved to Colorado. She and I were in the same high school class and when there are only 5 girls in the class, you tend to bond. She and I continued to be best of friends throughout college even though we were in different places and we moved into our first apartment together back in Denver after graduation. At the time, I was in grad school and she was starting her job at Lockheed Martin. We lived together for a year before I moved downtown to be closer to work and away from the suburbs. She happens to like the suburbs, so she stayed. Shortly after that, she met Danny through friends and they were engaged this past spring.

Now I'm not the sort of girl who LOVES weddings or has everything planned down to the minutest detail for my own, but Mandy and I would occasionally talk about weddings and we both knew that we wanted each other to be a big part of our special days (we are a little bit girly!). Mandy emailed and then called with the news of her engagement and asked me to be a bridesmaid. I knew it would be very difficult because of the timing (September is a MAJOR deadline time in US tax) and the cost of a plane ticket. I hmmmed and hawed for several weeks but finally had to just say I can't commit to being there. It was sad for both of us, but we kept in frequent contact and I helped the best I could with the decisions and listening to endless options regarding every aspect of the day.

WELL, about a week before the wedding, a sale popped up on tickets to Denver that I just couldn't resist. I had continued to look for tickets because I hadn't yet come to grips with not being there for her, even if I wasn't going to be standing beside her. So, when a ticket that cost only $480 (not kidding) came across, I jumped on it. I didn't tell Mandy I was coming, but made arrangements with her family.

I can't tell you how excited I was to go home! After a long, sleepless plane ride, I came into Denver on a Thursday night and was picked up at the aiport by a friend because I was also surprising my mom. Friday morning I drove up to my mom's house and surprised her (after some prodding to get her to come to the door) and spent some time catching up with her (and the piano). Then I headed down to Mandy's. She was completely surprised and even stared at me for a couple seconds as if she didn't know who I was! We had a great day together finishing up some final things, going to lunch and chatting.

I also caught up with some old work friends, helped out at the wedding Saturday morning, attended the wedding (of course), had a couple really great dinners at restaurants I had never tried (hooray!!!), went to church, had lunch with my brother and watched some of the first week of the NFL! I loved driving again and playing the piano and hearing the office gossip from the Denver office. I had way more fun than I had ever imagined before I went back to Denver and it was very tough to board the plane back to London on Monday. But I know I am also enjoying seeing new and different things here and I'm not done with that yet!!

This turned out to be a much longer posted than I anticipated, but I'll leave you with some pictures from the wedding...Stay tuned for updates from my newest travels which will start up again next weekend!

You know the saying: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Well, most of us lop off the end that says: And sixpence in her shoe. Mandy's friend Mary remembered this part and I happened to have 6 pence in my purse. (There is no longer a sixpence coin, but 5 pence and 1 pence work.) So Mandy glued these to her wedding shoes - how fun!

The wedding party

Mr. & Mrs.!

This is me with Mandy and our friend Joleen - we have all been close since high school. Joleen just got married in May. And, yes, I am MUCH taller than either of them (to be fair, Mandy had her shoes off and I didn't).