sleep-in

moving day is fast approaching and i only have a few more major tasks to accomplish before i am ready to fly the bennett coop. today's mission: buy a mattress.

this will be my first grown-up, not-a-twin mattress, and will also be the first mattress i have ever purchased by my own, adult self. it's a big day. i've been listening to this song to get myself ready.



wish me luck! and feel free to come sleep over any time.

... then comes marriage

are you still there? have you been waiting long? can you forgive me for being slow and absent and neglectful? do you want to see a bunch of pictures of ck's wedding?

it was a gorgeous, wonderful, sunny, happy wedding. just like i knew it would be. it was also a chaotic, exhausting, full-of-hilarious-mishaps wedding. just like i knew it would be.

carl and ck were not on time for anything, except for the ceremony. a brother-in-law and several flower girls went missing in the morning and couldn't be reached because said brother-in-law has a swiss cell phone that no one could get through to because none of the phones in the house were working. i spent two days before the wedding delivering gift bags to out-of-town guests, showing up at a series of random houses as well as hotels where said out-of-town guests were not actually staying. none of the tuxedos for the little nephews fit, so everyone traded up to the next oldest nephew and then the littlest baby got wrapped up in the biggest jacket for the pictures.

and the pictures. oh man. with six siblings on one side, three on the other, plus spouses, parents, nieces, nephews, 14 bridesmaids and some groomsmen as well, and with everyone running late from the temple to the luncheon and from the luncheon to the reception, pictures were a mad and mostly dysfunctional dash and i am pretty sure there is a small child crying, frowning or sticking out his or her tongue in just about every one.

but it was a day so full of joy and celebration that none of that seemed to matter even one little bit. carl and ck both cried like babies at the altar as they were being sealed. i have seen lots of friends get married over the years, but i am not sure i have seen friends as in love and happy to be with each other as these two are. and, honestly, i could not be happier for them. i have known both carl and ck for a long time now, and i think that each of them is one of the best people there is. and the best deserve the best. and that is what they both got. i think it speaks volumes about carl and ck and the kind, loyal, giving way they live their lives that literally hundreds of people were willing to come from all around the country and the world to celebrate with them on such a happy day. i am certainly glad i was there to share it.

and now, millions of pictures!























we ate gelato and crepes and fought over the tossed bouquet and danced the night away and furiously packed ck's honeymoon suitcase, and then the lovebirds were off. (had carl known how much ck was going to pack, perhaps he would have rented a larger car.) and then, though i think we all hated to see the day end, we dragged ourselves away. i, at least, left a little happier than i had been when the day started, with a little more faith in love.

nothing to see here

to borrow a phrase from my therapist friends, i am just going to name it and claim it and say my blogging has been sort of pathetic lately and i'm real sorry about it.

the thing is that these days i am just mostly working and going to utah. i head back to the beehive state tomorrow as a matter of fact (again) for ck's wedding (first time).

i've also been doing a little furniture shopping and am currently debating whether i have enough of a sustainable creative-type personality to rock a french blue antique dresser. any thoughts you might have on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

i guess i could also tell you that dana and i went to see patty griffin at the 9:30 club on saturday and it was, well, there are no words. patty griffin is an emotional powerhouse with a voice that gives you chills in the best sort of way. dana cried when she sang "up to the mountain." it was that good.

but you know life is a little slow when the only other thing i can think to tell you is that uncle bob went out and trimmed the front bushes this morning. in his highwater pajamas. and bare feet. actually, it was sort of awesome.

but really, that about wraps it up. so. i am going to go to utah (again) and you have a good week and we'll catch up on the flip side. sound good?

happy picnic, mr. president

yesterday was $1 smoothie day at robeck's. so that's always a good day.

and tuesday was the congressional families picnic at the white house. so that's always a good day, too.






last year, as you might recall, this happened:



this year i got another handshake, but only had time to snap this little number before el presidente was whisked away.




because, you see, the obamas were late to this year's picnic (not like there is oil leaking into the gulf or anything else that might take their time) and michelle had a bad cold, so she didn't meet the assembled crowd at all and the mister worked his way through pretty quickly.

seriously, though, even a fast handshake is enough to put me in cardiac arrest. i just sure do love that obama.

other handshakes of the night: nancy pelosi, al franken (and his wife. guess what her name is? frances!), barney frank and rahm emanuel, who is shorter than you think he is, but also much less vitriolic.

the biggest drama of the evening actually unfolded before we even left the house, with a very spirited discussion of what everyone was wearing. heidi had on too much jewelry (i actually thought it looked fine but she took some off), heather wasn't wearing enough (she put on what heidi took off), i looked like i was going to church (i changed) and why was aunt joyce the only one of us ladies wearing pants? (she didn't change.) the vote was split on uncle bob's baseball cap (he ended up not wearing it, and also did not take my advice that a cowboy hat might be the way to go), it was pointed out that nathan was wearing the same shirt he has worn to the picnic three years running, and we spent a long time talking about whether beth should just be allowed to wear her princess outfit to the white house, or if we should put her in a real dress. the real dress won, sort of. because halfway through dinner she was wearing this.




following the theme of "taste of the states," there was food from all different regions of the u.s., with the pecan pie being the clear winner for deliciousness.








there were condolences all around for uncle bob, and we told the kids to soak it all in because it was our last chance. at least until one of them is elected to the senate (or the presidency!) some day. because if al franken can get elected, there is hope for the bennett dynasty yet.

rocky mountain hi(gh)

my first order of business is to inform you that sallee and i rode our bikes for 60 miles on saturday, in three hours and 18 minutes, which we both agreed was a) a personal best and b) a miracle.

in other words, baby birthing and poor training and every other obstacle aside, not only did the little red riding hood not kill us, but we killed it.

and, as usual, it was totally awesome. mostly because the little red riding hood means hours of pedaling and talking and singing john denver with sallee, which i could do every day of the week and not get sick of it. the weather was also perfect, the rest stops were well-stocked with chocolate and red vines and peanut butter sandwiches and delicious diet coke and, in a stroke of amazing luck, emdawg was at the finish line. that's two out of three times she has met us at the finish line of this ride. and that is friendship. plus, we got crowns.

i think i have mentioned before that the little red riding hood totally changed my life when we first did it four years ago and it was really fun to be back and to think about doing that ride for years to come, some day soon with our own little girls in tow. (we figure baby claire can do 18 miles by the time she is two years old. right?)

and, as if that wasn't enough, i managed to squeeze in a few other things during my 50 hours in utah.

like, lunch at greek souvlaki and dinner at mazza with the grandparents and uncle john. some of my most favorite food.

and a bonfire and s'mores with some of my favorite grown-ups and one of my favorite babies, kyle, who is not a baby anymore at all, but who is running around and saying words and generally slaying with his adorable-ness. holly and evan taught him how to say my name ("fwancie!") and my heart almost melted.

plus, for my other main event, i got to meet ms. claire and snuggle her and sing to her and change her diaper and feed her bottles and tell her about all the things we are going to do together and see her be blessed and then eat delicious pulled pork and eclairs (get it?) and homemade root beer to celebrate. oh, and don't worry, sallee and i wore the same dress to the blessing. great minds and all of that.

and then, almost as soon as i got there, it was time to go home. this happened when i picked up claire to say good-bye.



i felt the same way.

pedal pushers

i leave tomorrow morning for utah and the little red riding hood bike ride and so, fueled by last minute training panic, i have spent most of my time this week in spinning classes.

don't worry if you thought the little red was still a couple months away. so did i. obviously.

jaron suggested that i try to take over my spin classes, a la dwight schrute.



i opted for panting and panicking and praying that my head/heart/soul/will to live would not explode instead.

but, i think i am ready to go! sallee and i are approaching this year as a rebuilding year (cause sea-level dwelling for me and birthed a baby two months ago for her), so the motto is, ride until we want to stop, and then eat a bunch of candy. definitely something i can get behind.

wish us luck!

(and if you live in salt lake, come celebrate our survival saturday night with s'mores in sallee's backyard. i'd love to see you, and we'll let you praise us all you want.)

forget about it

for the past week or so i have been completely captivated by a series on slate.com about elizabeth loftus, a memory doctor.

yes. a real-life memory doctor. turns out it doesn't just happen in the movies.

i won't pretend to understand all the science involved, but from what i can gather this woman has figured out how to make people think things that never happened, happened. or to make people think that things that did happen never happened at all.

the implications of such a thing are, clearly, mixed. convince people that they once became violently ill after eating strawberry ice cream and they'll probably eat less strawberry ice cream and next thing you know, poof! obesity epidemic solved. but, convince somone that they saw a particular person or kind of person commit a crime, when in fact they did not, and poof! we have a much bigger problem on our hands.

the obvious hollywood parallel here is "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind," which seemed enormously far-fetched before i started reading this series, but now i am just not so sure anymore. and it got me to thinking: would i really want my memories erased?

i mean, sure, it sounds nice. rejection, pain and heartache all gone? embarassment, mocking, scorn all disappeared? seems like we would be idiots not to go for it if we had the chance. if i couldn't remember every rejection of my life in clear and painful detail, maybe i wouldn't be so hesitant to open myself up to those kinds of experiences again. i would be braver, less inhibited.

but i also think i would be totally dumb. operating without the benefit of any useful experience doesn't actually seem like an advantage in the end. and that is what memory is to me. experience. teaching. if i can remember it, it can guide me and inform me, even if it sometimes makes me sad.

so, i think i'll pass on the memory modification for now. though it is sort of fun to think about what you would get rid of if there were no consequences to you or anyone else. i would start by eradicating the mean girls in kindergarten who made fun of me because i loved "he-man" and made me sit on the boys' side of the circle during story time.

how about you?

r and r

i have been feeling, as of late, a little bit like i am losing at life. i felt behind at work and at home, preoccupied with things i am sick of thinking about and worrying about, flaky and tired and like most of my time and effort was going to things out of my control.



one word summation: blerg.



so, with a long weekend looming and lots of people out of town and no committments or arrangements or anything else on my calendar, i sat down and made a list of all the things i wanted to do with three blissfully unplanned days.



and then i did them. all. it was magical. and i feel, once again, like i am ahead of the life-game.



weekend accomplishments included some lame but really necessary and thank-goodness-that's-done stuff such as: making a pile of documents to be shredded (bless that i am not audited by the IRS any time soon); buying sheets and towels and packing up my winter clothes and ordering a darling new quilt in anticipation of The Big Move (aka: TBM); cleaning the bathroom; so much laundry!; cleaning out my closet for the 900th time.



but mostly i spent three days doing a bunch of really fun stuff that i really wanted to do, like wandering around capitol hill and eating crepes at eastern market with liz, watching "iron man 2" (too many explosions, not enough downey) followed by delicious pizza with emily h., "young victoria" (i would like a marriage like albert and victoria, minus the nine children and premature death by typhoid, please), "exit through the gift shop" with LK at the totally awesome e street theater (if this is playing where you live, you must see it. so interesting, so funny and shepard fairey is so dreamy) and starting "battlestar galactica" over from the beginning (so far just as good the second time around). plus brunch with doobie and tara at american city diner, a really fascinating exhibit at the renwick of art created by japanese-american internment camp prisoners (thanks for the tip, dad!), a bike ride with athelia, some reading, and two naps! and, icing on the cake, i got to wear my new favorite skirt, which is a testament to retail miracles since i coveted it for months but refused to pay $98, and then one day it was $19 and i snatched it up.



all of which i captured with this awesome new camera app on my phone that makes your pictures look like they came from the 1960s.






















thanks, memorial day weekend. i needed that.