This weekend was full of unexpected excitement. On Friday I was bummed because some friends of mine, Kim and Dannon, were going to get married on Saturday in California and I believed there was no way I could go. I decided to scour airline flight prices one last time to see if there were any last minute deals. Amazingly there were (FYI it is often inexpensive to fly on a Saturday) and after checking to make sure my hubby was okay with me ditching him last minute, I bought my ticket to Cali. My flight wouldn't be leaving until the next morning, so Darren accompanied me to my first street capoeira roda.
I've been doing capoeira a few months now. I fell in love with it during my first class in Bahia, Brazil and loved the capoeiristas I met in Guam, so one can be sure I quickly joined the group in my current town. Although I still have terrible form (Oh, the sadness of my bent leg!) and so far no finesse, I decided to brave making a fool of myself in public anyway. We do rodas in class, but I was so much more worn out during this one. It must have been all the excitement and adrenaline--and the fact that somehow I played three people in a row.
The next morning I woke up at 5:30AM and drove myself an hour and 20 minutes to the airport. Thankfully I had a direct flight, but it also meant that I did not get much nap time. I arrived in LAX around 8AM and began my duel with Los Angeles public transportation. I took a free shuttle from the airport to the city bus station, then took a bus to another stop for a bus that would send me in the direction of Hollywood.
Los Angeles is strange because the rich and poor live so closely juxtaposed together. For three fourths of my hour-ish bus ride everything out my window looked like a third world country. Then, suddenly, out of no where beautiful homes with manicured lawns appeared. VERY soon after this began, I reached the stop closest to the wedding venue.
My trip was so last minute that I didn't know if anyone would be at the house Dannon and Kim had rented for their wedding. It was around 9AM and the wedding wasn't supposed to start until 2:30PM. I feel horrible bothering anyone on their wedding day, but I sat on the curb in front of the house and texted Kim anyways because I didn't want to bust in if the owners were still there. Happily Kim's stepmom found me outside and indicated that I was at the right place and welcome to come inside. We chatted for a spell, and then were soon joined by Kim and Dannon themselves.
I offered my decorating services and soon the couple had me pumping up bike tires, hanging paper birds, filling jars with rocks, setting up the back drop for the ceremony, and assembling their badminton court (the latter with the aid of Devon...or maybe I was more aiding him). It was all great fun and I was super impressed by all the hand crafted things Kim had put together.
Soon enough it was time for the very awesomely non-traditional wedding. We were all sort of milling around when suddenly Dannon and Kim just suddenly appeared amongst us. We sat down on blankets and the ceremony began the couple doing a sort of "nice to meet you" dance accompanied by Ivan on the guitar (He played either "The Girl from Ipanema" or something very similar to it. He sang it in Portuguese which I loved because I think it is the prettiest language, period. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy capoeira.) The couple then had various friends and family say some nice words, we had a silent prayer (they disappeared out a gate during the prayer then returned when it was over), then our good friend Larry bound their hands together with pieces of cloth loved ones had mailed them prior to the wedding. At the same time, they said their own vows and, of course, I had to hold back the tears. It was really cute.
Besides the vows, my favorite part of the ceremony was the group kazoo jam session. Kim and Dannon gave us all a kazoo and a song book from which we all played together. I think we hummed "When I'm Sixty-four," "What a Wonderful World," and something else, but we kazooed many more songs later in the evening.
It was a small, intimate wedding and we, the guests, were the wedding party
Kim and Dannon led us in kazoo-age
I was delighted that Alicia, my friend with whom I'd studied in Argentina and college, was at the wedding. I hadn't seen her in probably five years.
After we kazooed, Kim and Dannon invited us to play games, write jokes, contribute to their scrap/guest book, and eat. I mostly did the latter (along with more kazooing and conversing with old friends).
The gave us scrumptious picnic baskets filled with couscous (Crystal's favorite), cucumber sandwiches, sauteed vegetables, and rice. We also had an abundance of yummy deserts to choose from. I was all about the cake lollies (plus it is just fun to say "cake lolly" in a British accent).
One of the things I loved the most was hanging with the group of friends at the wedding, most of whom I know from college. In fact, it sort of felt like we were back in college again. I love how people don't change.
photo below by Crystal Colon
Kim and Dannon hired a gypsy jazz band to help us get our dance on.
The sun soon set and the newlyweds pedaled off on their bikes (to their car around the corner ;) as we bid them farewell. I caught a ride back to my sister and bro-in-law's house with Crystal and Ivan (the friends that took Darren and I's engagement and wedding photos). We stopped along the way in Silver Lake where they introduced me to the very hip Intelegentsia coffee/tea shop. I was glad we could chat and hang a bit more before they take off to live in Hawaii.
photo above by Ivan Colon
On Sunday I went with my sister, Brad, and Sadie to Martha Greens--the most delicious breakfast place in Redlands. We did some clothes shopping for Sadie, then relaxed the rest of the day until my best friend Lori stopped by and we all got more delicious food at Ravi's.
On Monday I hung out with Sadie and Jess and in the evening drove to Pasadena to meet Summer. We meandered through Old Pasadena, ate ice cream and sushi (not at the same time), and enjoyed being able to chat in person. I got home late, but was happy that I was able to spend time in a short amount of time with some of the people I like the most. It was definitely worth going west for the weekend.
