My first Quinceanera (24 years too late)

On Saturday I attended the Quinceanera (sorry I don't know how to get the accent on the n) of Erica, the daughter my friend and fellow thyroid cancer survivor Juanita from church. For those who don't know (I didn't) this is a coming out party, if you will, celebrating the girl's 15th birthday. It's a custom that is celebrated mostly by Hispanics in this country. Historically, I read that it probably dates back to the 16th century Spanish tradition of presenting the 15-year-old daughter to society.

The festivities began with a mass celebrated at St. Jude. Erica's 12 attendants (six guys and six gals) processed in just like wedding attendants would. She also had an escort who walked in with Father Doug. Erica was walked down the aisle, flanked by her parents, in a stunning dress that would have been appropriate for a bride. The female attendants' dresses (they wore my favorite color, after all) were absolutely beautiful and her six male attendants, her father, her brother and her escort wore tuxedos. Her mother wore an elegant ball gown.

After the mass, there was a dinner catered by Mexican restaurant La Mesa, a presentation and a dance, all at the Wichita Ballroom. I've been to weddings that weren't nearly this elaborate. I was fascinated by the whole process and in awe of all the planning and funds that would be needed to pull off this type of fete (again my apologies on the missing accent). They've probably been saving and planning for this since she was born.

The cake was enormous. Unfortunately I left before it got cut.

There was a mariachi band at the mass and they also played during the reception. I LOVE the decoration on the sides of their pant legs!

Once the meal was finished, the presentation occurred and then Erica shared a dance with her dad after the changing of the shoes. I guess the changing of the shoes signify her leaving childhood and entering adulthood.

After all the formal dances were completed, she and her attendants led a conga line through the Ballroom.

The guests were all attired in wedding finery (except me who didn't know any better, but I was wearing an orange shirt, so at least I fit in with the color scheme) and there were gifts and a chocolate fountain. Last, but certainly not least, there was an open bar. I left for home in the middle of a downpour, but nothing could dampen the day's festivities. I'm thankful to Juanita for inviting to me to such a special event.

The Dark Knight

Well, I agree. Heath Ledger was unbelievable as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" movie. Saw it last night with my niece Katie and her boyfriend Frank. (They'd already seen it, but wanted to again--Katie only slept through a small portion of it!) I also sat just three seats away from fellow blogger and friend Lori and her husband Brian in the packed theatre. I'm usually not one for that kind of action movie, but this one was really good. I thought it was just a tiny bit long (it's about two and a half hours), but really it kept my attention the whole time. And really, the cast has some of my favorites: Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger. The only really troubling part for me was the hideous disfiguration of my heartthrob Aaron Eckhart. Please don't make him look like that ever again. If you haven't seen it yet, go. I don't think you'll regret it.

After Harvest Festival 2008

This past weekend I attended the Ellinwood After Harvest Festival. It's a weekend set aside (always the third weekend of July) to celebrate a good wheat harvest or compare notes on a bad one. But mostly we just drink lots of beer at the beer garden (the sign says beverage garden, but nobody calls it that).

It's a great chance to see friends from high school (if you want to see them) since that's the weekend each year when classes come together for their reunions. Last year I celebrated 20 years of being out of high school with the class of 1987. This year I got to see some of my friends from the class of 1988, who are still just as funny as they ever were. The quantity of alcohol I drink each year is usually proportionate to the lack of sleep that I get: so the more beer I consume, the less I sleep. This year was no exception. Although this year I did get in a little earlier than in years past. One of my friends said it best: "Our curfew for the AHF is 4 a.m." I am happy to say I met curfew both nights.

Here's the drill: You show up at the beer garden by 9 p.m. Close down the beer garden at midnight. Move to either the American Legion, VFW or Fatty's bar in town to continue the party until 2 a.m. After that it's a crap shoot. If you're an Ellinwood resident, people might show up at your house. Luckily my group got invited to Jean and Rich's house for a continuation of fun and we didn't have to go somewhere we weren't wanted. I left town at 3:14 a.m. when I just couldn't stay awake any longer. Saturday morning is tricky. There's a parade and it's usually pretty good, so if you aren't too hung-over (I wasn't) you show up and sit on someone's lawn or a street corner and watch the parade roll by. Last year I had to be in the parade since I had a class reunion and that's never any fun. The parade started with a flyover and Caden was very interested in the planes. My brother-in-law Kenny tried to hide, but I spotted him with a beer at 10 a.m. He's a farmer which means the After Harvest Festival was designed with him in mind, so I guess it's OK.

There were cars...

...firefighters riding on antique fire engines...

...red hats (that's my sister Teresa in the pink shirt toward the front of the float looking down--she's technically a pink hat [under 50] for another year)...

...the class of 1958, celebrating their 50th (that's my dad Larry in the red shirt and overalls on the back of the float and my uncle Ed to his left in the red shirt and jeans)...

...the class of 1968 who better have won the best float award (they were blasting music from the '60s and singing and dancing with great enthusiasm)...

...and no parade would be complete without the Shriners.

My friend Kayla and her two daughters Lacy and Kelcy watched the parade from across the street. That's her brother-in-law Wes sitting with them on the blanket. That's prime candy area!
On the way to the car I saw my friend Lori and her daughter Brooke on the sidewalk waiting for their ride.
It was a good weekend. I'm glad I was able to go and see some familiar faces and catch up with some friends. I don't get back for it every year, but it's always fun when I do. It's a lot like Vegas: whatever happens at the AHF stays at the AHF!

Caden's 1st birthday

This past Friday was Caden's first birthday. His parents threw a party to celebrate on Saturday. Even though Caden didn't feel so good, he seemed to have fun. He played with Zach and his other friend Brooklyn in the new treehouse that his Grandma and Grandpa S. gave him.


After hamburgers, brats and all the trimmings, it was time for cake and ice cream. Caden didn't hesitate to dig in.

When he was finished with cake, he got a quick bath and snuggled into his jammies to open his presents. His favorites were the tractors (red, of course) and implements he got. Mostly he wasn't that interested in opening presents anyway.

Not long after the presents were all opened, he bid everyone adieu and retired to his crib for the night. But the rest of us partied on in his honor until dark.

Guess who I met

Last week I went to Oklahoma City to see my nephew, Christopher. He works for Lyric Theatre and is the second-in-command in the costume department. I went on opening night of "Swing!" to see the show. Wichita's own Barb Schoenhofer was a featured singer in the show. She and Christopher Morgan were my favorites. While I've met Barb before (when she was in "Cabaret" at Lyric two years ago), I had never met Mr. Morgan. I was impressed with him on stage. And even more impressed that his wife is Kim Fields (aka Tootie from "Facts of Life")! She was tending to Sebastian, their one-year-old son, when I met her in his dressing room before the show. It was quite exciting! My nephew asked her during the show (she was in the dressing room watching the show on television) if she'd mind taking a picture with me. She graciously agreed, but by the time we got a chance to find her they were already gone. Christopher was going to try to get a picture with her and send it to me, but I haven't gotten one yet. If I do I'll post it, I promise!

After opening night of the show, there's a reception at a local restaurant where the cast and crew mingle with the audience from the show. I didn't see too many audience members there, but the cast and crew where there in full force. I got a free drink and a couple of egg rolls out of the deal, so I was happy. When we left there we went to a bar having karaoke night and Christopher (my nephew) and Barb did a duet. They sang Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and even though they'd had several cocktails, they still rocked it. I couldn't resist posting a photo.

It was a good trip and if I'm not working yet in early August, I think I'll go for the opening of "Urinetown" since I haven't seen that one yet.

I also got a tour of the costume shop where all the magic happens. This is just a glimpse of it. This is a huge room where all the costumes are arranged by show.

A couple of the sewing machines.

Since no trip to OKC is complete without a meal at Iron Starr Urban Bar-b-q, we ate lunch there on Wednesday before I came back home. Yummy.

This is gonna be a long one

Since I haven't posted in forever I've got a lot of catching up to do. I decided some bullets would help me to separate things and help me be more concise (my sisters will appreciate that immensely). Here goes...

• A couple of weeks ago I got to spend an afternoon with some of my cousins on my mom's side of the family. The four girls that my mom's oldest sister had were in town from Dallas/Fort Worth, Colorado and Montana to see their dad in Salina and they all came to Ellinwood to see those of us who still live in Kansas (which is most of us). We spent the afternoon at my sister's house getting caught up on each other's lives and laughing over our childhood memories. There was also talk of our next reunion which will be two years from this month.
• I have been to Ellinwood several times this summer just to hang out or attend family functions. One of the trips was intended to participate somehow in the wheat harvests of both my brother-in-law and nephew and my uncle and cousin. Hours after I arrived, there was a torrential downpour and harvest was halted immediately. Neither operation started up cutting again until the day after I left to come back home. Wasn't meant to be, I guess. I think it was that same trip, I went to Caden's house (he's my great nephew in case you've forgotten) and stayed with him while his mom and dad went to see a movie ("Get Smart"). He slept through my visit and I listened to his breathing on the baby monitor, but I feel we still bonded. I played with Copper, the yellow lab, who stayed up late to make sure Andrew and Rachel got home safely and I vacated the premises. Apparently he doesn't like the way I play fetch.
• Met my friends Janette and Kathleen for one of our regularly scheduled girl's nights. We ate, we drank, we paid, we left. In between there was a lot of talking, but I'm not at liberty to discuss any of the topics in such a public forum.
• For the first time ever, I attended the quilt show at Century II. I met my friend Lori B. and her mother-in-law there and we looked at quilts and did some shopping at the vendor booths that were set up. It got me out of the house after a very rough week and I'm grateful to you, Lori, for calling and suggesting it.
  
• Book club was the last week of June at the home of Amy D. in Derby and I took my newly pedicured feet, a crockpot of my (now) famous cheese dip, a bag of tortilla chips, some longneck Bud Light Limes and carpooled with Suzanne, Tara and Deb. It was wonderful to see everyone. Two attendees I'd like to highlight are Jill who now lives in the Kansas City area and hasn't been to a meeting in ages and Kerri who is leaving us for the humidity of Houston. The food was wonderful and the company was even better. Unfortunately, there was another round of layoffs where I was formerly employed and some of the laid-off (welcome, Deb) were among us.
• I've been swimming with my friends who live on a lake out by Maize a couple of times. One of my new favorite things is floating on their lake watching Bella play in the sand or swim around me. One night when I was out there after Steve got home from work (work: what's that?) he grabbed his ski and we watched him get pulled behind the boat. Some of their neighbors did some trick skiing and others used the ski jump to delight us with their abilities.
  
• Joyce, one of my good college friends, lives in Colwich and I visited her and her family one afternoon. Her daughter, Gabrielle, had surgery in June to remove a bone cyst. She's had to be in a wheelchair for six weeks after the surgery, so it seemed easier for me to go to them. It was another afternoon spent chatting and getting caught up.
• Last week Terri and Zach came down for a visit. They were brought here and dropped off by my mom and niece Victoria on Wednesday. They spent one night and then my stick-in-the-mud brother, Mark, came down to get them on Thursday. I thought they were spending another night (so did Terri) but Mark didn't get that memo and they ended up going home even though I offered to buy him some new underwear. He told me to save my money. Zach is now walking on his own. He likes hiking his leg up quite high to get started and when I do that with him he laughs at me.
• With the quilt show as my catalyst and inspiration, I gathered up a project and went to Valley Center one afternoon and did some quilting with my friend, Sue, in her basement. We stitched and chatted and I am proud to say that the t-shirt quilt I started over five years ago is now finished! It's in the dryer as I type this and am planning on sleeping with it on my bed tonight. I'll take a picture and post it later. By the way, this is the first and only quilt I've made for myself. All the others I've made have been gifts.
  
• Went to see the movie "Wall-E" with Jennifer and Bella. It was good, but a little scary in some parts for three-year-old Bella.
  
• Attended a family reunion last Saturday in Lawrence. I hitched a ride with my dad's cousin, Carolyn, to save gas money. It was a good time seeing the descendants of my dad's maternal grandparents. I even squeezed in some time shopping (at a fabric store) on Massachusetts St. and dining at Free State Brewing Co. before the day was over and we headed back down the turnpike to Wichita.
• I've had lunch with lots of friends over the past month and a half: Linda, Heather, Christina, Melanie, Lori B. and Sue. I'm due for another round soon, ladies!

I know it sounds from this list as if I've just been running around a lot. To a certain degree, that's true. These are the kinds of things I wanted to do while I'm not working and I have the opportunity. It's important to me to reconnect with friends and spend some quality time with them and not just a fleeting telephone conversation here and there.

When not lunching or meeting with friends, I've had my nose in a book a good portion of the time. And that grass doesn't mow itself. I've got some beautiful flowers growing in my yard and in pots this year. I've been able to tend them so much more consistently with a pesky job to get in the way.

Do not despair, I've also been searching diligently for a job and have had a couple of interviews and sent out many resumes. I feel like I'm close to a job offer from one company, but I'll wait to hear so I don't jinx anything. So fingers and toes crossed, people!

On the agenda tomorrow: lunch with my friend Laurie and then a root canal. Aren't you jealous?