Catherine and Ben's Wedding Day

Sunday, May 17, 2015
My aunt and uncle invited me, my mom, my grandma, my cousin, Jacqui, and her fiance, Cory, to breakfast. After breakfast our waitress was asking where we were from and he said her "husband" is living in Ohio and while she was talking she was whipping a knife around that I was sure going to go straight in my eye. Luckily, we all left unscathed.

After breakfast Jacqui and Cory were going to go back out just to see how far the church and reception were from each other, and they invited me along. They asked if there was anything I wanted to see and I mentioned the capitol. We walked around and I took some pictures. We ended up back at the art festival too. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to be a tourist for a second. It made me feel like I was on a vacation!

Later on, it was time for the wedding! It was at the cutest chapel which was luckily air conditioned! We aren't used to the hot weather. ;) The wedding was beautiful, but I'm so mad my pictures turned out terrible. I want to use manual mode all the time, which means I rarely use a flash. So, unfortunately all my pictures of the bride and groom are horrible. Sorry, Catherine and Ben!

Their reception was at this Lebanese restaurant called Sitti. It was a beautiful building and the food was absolutely delicious! We ate, drank, and were merry with dancing in there too! After the reception I joined my cousin, Matt, and his wife, Brittany across the street at a bar where Catherine, Ben, and some of their friends were at. It was one of the funnest weddings I have been too. I absolutely love my family. I'm so sad that I'm going to miss Jacqui and Cory's wedding next April since I will be in Russia!

Now, off to watch the Cavs game!

Raleigh, North Carolina

Friday, May 15, 2015
Mid-May my family and I headed down to North Carolina for my cousin's wedding. It worked out nicely because we left right after work on Friday, so I was able to still sub for my favorite ESL class! Unfortunately, we did get stuck in traffic so it took us longer to get there than it should have. I thought the ride went pretty quickly, but that was probably because I spent 2.5 hours watching Gone Girl since I just finished reading the book!

We stopped at a gas station somewhere in West Virginia and my mom was obsessed with telling me there were so many options for guys down there. My grandma also pointed out that some old guy was checking me out from the corner of his eye. So, yeah, as you can tell my family thinks I have a husband waiting for me in West Virginia.

Around 2 am we finally got to the hotel. It was the CRAPPIEST hotel ever, and that is exactly why you never ever put me in charge of making decisions. If anything, it was good for the stories.

Saturday, May 16, 2015
The next morning I texted my uncle and cousin to ask what there was to do in Raleigh. Neither of them got back to us in time so while we were driving around (looking for the church and reception as well) we came across an art festival called Artplosure. I really liked walking around looking at all the neat things people made. A lot of stuff was really pricey so none of us really bought anything, except ice cream because my mom and I are suckers for it.

Being from Cleveland we weren't used to the sun so we ended up stopping at a CVS for miscellaneous things including sun screen. I'm not tan at all, but I was never considered about being in the sun. I don't know what happened but within the last couple years I won't go in the sun unless I have sun screen on. I hate being sun burned. Afterwards, I finally got a text back from my uncle and he and my aunt were at the same place so while we were eating Jimmy John's they joined us.

My cousin and her fiance ended up coming too. So we sat and talked with them a bit then the four of them had to go because they had wedding stuff to take care of. We ended up back at the hotel for a little bit then headed to the hotel more of my family was staying at. Their hotel had a pool so we sat around while some of them went swimming.

Afterwards, we all went to Olive Garden. There were 12 of us, and we were THAT family that comes in late! I hated being there that late because I know how much of a pain it can be. However, my family is pretty easy going and we don't complain, most of us also got the same thing so our orders weren't too complicated! It was a fun dinner. I entertained my cousins with stories of Boston Market, and I think they found it pretty entertaining!