this wedding that i attended recently, however, stood out for several reasons: 1)  the bride is a close friend/colleague/ex-roommate;  2) the ceremony was held out-of-state in a beautiful, remote setting and allowed me to take a brief excursion from my 7 days a week job; 3) the ceremony was to fall a day before i was to hit the big 3-3.

back in the days when we were both in grad school (99-01) bemma-gemma (bg) was my roommate for the final 2 years.  she was also asian, but about 9 years older.  we both had families in austin so it naturally made sense to live together and carpool back to town during the holidays.  bg had a very lively personality and was active so it was hard for anyone to imagine that she was in her mid 30s when she had returned to professional school.  she was a great roommate -- always drama-free, clean and tidy, had a sweet demeanor and calming aura about her which always proved important whenever i had to pull the infamous all-nighters during exam weeks.

anyways, the whole time we lived together, i don't ever recall her being in a relationship.  after seeing me come home from the occasional dates that kel had set me up with after i broke up with a.l., bg would always ask in jest when the wedding was going to be held.  my response to her would always be  "whenever you get hitched, i'll do the same; we should have a big double wedding!" just to get her off my back.  i was in my mid 20s at the time, so bg was certain i would be married way before her.   she couldn't be any more wrong.  fast forward many moons later. my bg got married on feb 2, 2007, at the ripe age of 41.

i had the pleasant experience of spending a lovely 3 day weekend in the beautiful wine country, napa valley, california to celebrate her wedding.  while packing for the trip, i came to the pathetic realization that among my professional circle of friends, there were probably only us 3 gals who were still single - kel, lk, and me.  thinking further about how i was grouped in the same category as lk in the 1st place made me even more depressed.  to top it all off, i was turning the dreaded 3-3 that very day after bg's wedding.  the caveat was that at least i would be in such a pretty locale and in the company of my good friends, q , steph, bg,  as well as q's hubby. 

the ceremony at church was to take place in the afternoon on friday.  despite flying into the oakland airport thursday evening, we stayed overnight at the redwood inn at napa to be closer to the church and reception area.  our day started off early on friday so that we could take pictures of the scenery along the way. 

1st stop was the robert mondavi winery

mondavi winery entrance

jesuit priest warmly welcoming us by the wine cellar's entrance

facing the vineyard, which was unfortunately out of season and therefore had no grapevines

next was sutter home, where we had a chance to leisurely sit by both the patio and indoor to sip wine

cocktails anyone?

chilling by the patio

note that while we're dressed to attend the wedding, we're actually going en route to the church so this wine sampling was actually done well before noon on an empty stomach.

next, v. sattui winery

to-die-for wine dip

q and i sampled a most wonderful wine dip. so wonderful in fact that she decided to buy a bottle and ended up serving the dip to us as part of the potluck valentine's day dinner about a week after our return from napa.

next stop, louis m. martini winery

at the beringer winery, there was an old tree (about 3x my age).  it fascinated q's hubby enough so we took plenty of photos of the tree. the tree was originally planted when the declaration of independence had been signed.

mixing business with pleasure before the great tree

we had some time to goof off and hence "borrowed" the gardener's cart for a prop. he was too preoccupied trimming the hedges to notice.

our strange fascination with water fountains

when we arrived at the church, q's hubby changed into his dress shirt outside of the car.  i had been contemplating what shoes to wear with the dress (peek-a-boo open toe shoes or the clunky heel one) while writing bg's wedding card. 

"oh no, here comes their limo!" q's husband panicked, afraid the gang inside the limo had seen him change his shirt outside beside our rental car. 

i quickly put the shoes on, finished my thoughts on the card, and followed the 2 from the parking lot toward the front of the church where the wedding entourage had just arrived.  bg's party, which consisted of her 3 "bridesmaids" (loosely used since they were all married; 1 was her sister, the other 2 her sister-in-laws), were barely getting out of their limo when we walked up to them by the church entrance.  we gals briefly hugged upon greeting each other.  although i had last seen bg during the office's grand opening in may '06, i haven't seen any of her in-laws in years.  present were our group from htown, bg's family rfrom austin, and steph from dallas.  another classmate, mirian, also arrived in the nick of time from sacramento, about a 2 hours drive away.  all of bg's classmates were now present and accounted for.

the groom and his groomsmen were no where to be seen for the next 20 minutes.  interestingly, this was the 1st ceremony i had witnessed in which the groom's side came late.  the entire group headed inside the church to prepare for the ceremony.
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that was a lengthy entry! to be continued.

despite my original plan to stay with q at the gaylord texan resort  had d not attended, i ended up taking hl's offer to stay at his new home instead since d managed to get clearance for those days at the last minute and this arrangement would not impose on q's generous offer.  hl had just married and moved into his new, lavishly furnished home in the north richland hills area and was barely settled in.

since i wasn't officially registered with the wm event, the next 2 days' itinerary were open.  hl happened to be off during that weekend and played tour guide, taking us to several places in town, including the resort where i was suppose to be lodging.

inside the gaylord texan resort, at the entrance to the convention center, is a replica of the alamo:

by the elevator in the middle of the resort's atrium:

the many behemoth x-mas trees on display, adorned with encircling railroad tracks for the miniature model trains to traverse through:

nearing lunch time, we decided to go to the riverwalk cafe.  it is almost like san antonio's riverwalk, except on a smaller scale, indoor (part of the gaylord resort), has colorful koi fish and catfish in the 'river' that's built around a cafe dining area, and probably a much cleaner water recycling system in the 'river'.  we spotted a bunch of kodak picture moments along the way where santa was nearby as well as other nativity scenes. 

at one point, i saw the cute elf display and wanted to have my pic taken.  despite the handful of kids patiently awaiting their turn, i managed to bully my way up front for a quick pic here (afterall, the guys were anxious to get lunch). caught on camera is the lil girl, cute as a button in her pink santa outfit, slightly amused (or maybe confused) upon seeing me trying to cram my head into the opening.  i might have even cut in line directly in front of her.  it's a dog eat dog world, kid!  you snooze, you lose!

on sunday evening, when steph and q were done with class, they joined us downtown dallas for some fun and play.  we ate a good cajun meal at razzoo's before heading out in the blistery weather.

it was nearly 40 degrees outside at this time downtown.  we spotted citystreets nearby and impulsively decided to hang there because 1) we wanted to avoid the cold outdoor 2) other establishments were closed at the time being that it was after 10 pm on a sunday.

as we entered the familiar refuge, citystreets' layout instantly reminded me of the good old days when as 2nd year optom students, q and i would go to various nightclubs (citystreets included) to party and dance the night away.  so there we were, transported back in time as q and i stood at the stairway leading us downstairs to our source of entertainment.  we followed the hip hop music to a dance floor where according to d, all the "nasty, skanky hos" were dancing.  there were about a dozen or so dancers on thedance floor.  i grabbed q and wanted to dance to keep warm.  steph and hl's wife were definitely not up to it and refused to move from the booth.  they settled for a group pic instead:

next, we entered the 80s room, which overlooked a billiard table and bar. the dance floor was empty.  d suggested the karaoke section after that.  after hearing performers belt out tunes like avril lavigne's "i'm with you", dido's "here with me", the killers' "mr brightside" for the 1st 15 minutes, we decided on the b-52's "love shack".  it was a good idea at the time.   american idols we were certainly not!  hl stealthily videotaped our pitiful performance on stage.  were it not for d's stellar control of the chorus, we would have been booted offstage.  as we played back our performance during the snug trip home in hl's car (there were 6 of us in his wife's accord), the gang could not help but laugh as i pointed out that there were people in front of us hastily standing up to leave left and right during our brief moment in the spotlight. 

i mustn't forget the highlight of the trip.  before we left citystreets that evening, q managed to relive our graduate school days.  the night would not have come to a pleasant ending had q omitted her infamous routine:

shaking her bootilicious bootay in the cage at citystreets' atlantis room: 

talk about deja vu 1999!

this calls for a nostalgic walk back in time.

it was 1992. i was an 18 year-old nerdy senior in high school who was about to approach graduation.  by nerdy i meant braces, large plastic glasses and a reputation for getting straight a's every quarter.  during the weeks leading up to graduation mama had questioned me about  why i wasn't going to the prom like other teenagers since all her young clients were having their nails done to prepare for the event.  because no one wanted to take an ugly duckling to the prom, i wanted to tell her.  in reality, my sour grapes coping mechanism kicked in so i told her that i was not all that interested in attending.

anyway, fast forward a week later or so later.  after we were done with class,  wilson lee handed me a handwritten note folded neatly in the shape of a tucked packet, origami-style, as we were about to go our separate ways to lunch. on the note he had asked me to join him in the annual senior school prom. my heart raced a bit as i let that idea sink in.  wilson at the time was the new kid on the block and a much-coveted eye candy for the girls.  on a side note, even back in the days before cell phones and text messages were common place, men were not too keen about one-on-one interactions. i responded yes to him via a phone call.

i secretly had a big crush on wilson at the time. he had just recently moved into boring, conservative temple city (a town of about 40 to 60 thousand people near pasadena) from the hectic nyc metropolitan. he looked quite out of place --albeit in a good way.  he sported a fashionable spiky gelled hair in the front and a long blonde wisp of a tail in the back. he was a quite a trendsetter and way ahead of his time wearing what was to be the precursor to a mullet that would've driven billy ray cyrus green with envy.  to top it off, wilson had an impeccable fashion sense and an undeniably recognizable yet cute bronx accent.  he never asked for "water"; it was always just "wata".  if the new wave look at the time was the shizznit, he was even transcending the experimental fashion code of the time.  he even had a hot red mr-2 sports car to boot . i was instantly smitten.  i admired his sense of style from afar and was too shy to let him know.

the prom took place in the irvine hilton, about 45 miles away. this ended up being not too far from the future alma matter. the prom theme was "hold on to the nights", alluding to richard marx's hit earlier that year.  quite apropos, considering that i was a huge fan of my mullet-sporting singer at the time.  prepping for the big day was not a problem. minimal makeup courtesy of my bff, lina; hair teased and sprayed to my liking so firmly planted in place that a tornado couldn't have budged it; and the traditional puffy sleeve, pastel pink prom dress.  in my defense, i had hand-selected the dress due to its lovely southern belle look with the 3 tier layers (or so i had thought at the time).

making arrangements to get to the prom was more of a problem than the prepping and primping for the event. i had to promise mama to be home by midnight. this was a monumental night since it was my 1st real curfew; prior to this, i had never been allowed to stay away from home so late with a guy before (oh how times have changed). actually i had never gone on an unchaperoned date up to this point, period.  yes, a wallflower, i tell ya.

my bff at the time, lina, went the extra mile to play along with the charade for mama's sake.  she came by the house 30 minutes early to "pick me up" with her date and wilson in tow, so that we could "all carpool together" for mama's peace of mind.  wilson was quite dapper in his coattail tux and even remembered a pink corsage and boutonniere for us. as soon as we left the house, lina and her date left in his baby blue vw beetle, while wilson entertained me for the remaining 50 minutes' drive to irvine in his hot red 2 seater hot rod.

we had very little small talk and they were awkward at best. he disclosed that his parents took him out of nyc because they were nervous about him befriending gang members over there. as we were talking , it felt like his life story was eerily mimicking the plot from wil smith's the fresh prince of bellaire, except with much poorer dialogs. his parents seemed well off. they were living abroad and doing business in taiwan for years now, leaving him to his own devices. wilson's main source of communication with them was through a pager. back in the days, most students didn't even have pagers, much less the high tech cell phones that pretty much make up a major form of communication for teens today.

to my naive eyes, mr. wilson had it all -- he was mature, street-smart, had the looks, the charm, the threads, the car, the cool gadgets, and any girl that he wanted. he was the 90's version of today's uber metro man with a dash of bad boy seasoning in the asian stew.   he was not too far below the rank of a deity in my book. thinking of him in this debonair renaissance man mentality had me nervous and fidgety during the entire trip and i was sure he could tell. looking back this was the most nerve-wracking trip i had ever taken as a passenger. the trip took 50 minutes but felt like 5 hours. that plus thoughts of mama's overwrought precautions echoing in my mind all night.  she must've told me these things at least a dozen times by the time i had left: don't be alone with him; make sure lina is always around; don't let him take advantage of you; don't do anything stupid; a few seconds of foolishness can change your whole life, etc.

during all of grade school and even throughout college, i've always been a shy wallflower and not much of a talker (again, oh how times have changed). it was very evident that night. now that it was just the 2 of us in the compact sports car, i was even more intimidated by wilson's presence.  with thoughts of mama's lecture fresh on my mind and me envisioning my lascivious date in his godly pose upon mount olympian conjuring up sleazy activities for us post prom celebration, it was just a tad more difficult to be comfortable around him.

EN VOGUE: 2 of mama'screws are either 1) shamelessly posing in front of an old fishing boat, or2) taking cover as a flock of seabirds fly by. mama's in the straw hat and appears quite worry-free and guano-free.

look what the stork dropped by-- a water crane!


A PIECE OF AMERICANA:bonding time for 2 families celebrating the holiday. taken on the return ferry trip.



PORETTO BEACH: beach we passed going along the coast heading back home.

after we took the ferry over to the island, mama's crew realized it wasn't as easy trying to buy seafood in the black market as they had thought. the vn fishermenfeared their jobs would be on the line if theydiverted the products to us rather than the company they were contracted to. needless to say,we took the ferry back over to galveston, empty-handed. all thiswithout ever setting footon the beach. there were many sunbathers on the sand though, but romping in the sand was definitely not in store for us.

i think the socal beaches have spoiled me. we didn't even bother to stop to wade in the murky water that was filled with tangled seaweed and god knows what other types of pollutant in there. beside, i didn't bring a swimsuit, and even if i had, i'd have to be in a far, far away place (i.e. out of this country) to be comfortably anonymous before daring towearthe 2 piece bathing suit.

in the end, the understandably disappointed villagers came home empty-handed without the shrimps and crabs, but managed to stop byhong kong supermarket where they were able to fill the 2 huge ice chests with frozen food, fresh vegetables and fruits.it was nearly 10 pm when they left that evening from my apt.