Haylody / Melley

Friend and fam fall footage.

 

Fall Fam Fun

We gave Hayley the flower arrangement "we" made her. I mean, Melody did it all and I kind of helped. She was the mom and I was the kid in the shake-n-bake commercials of yesteryear. 

I moved my stuff from one car to the other just like I used to as a child of divorce in 1990s McDonald's parking lots. That opening scene of Bye Bye Love was very accurate. Actually this was nothing like that because we were in a charming Vermont bookstore parking lot filled with laughs and love. This was the meeting of modern consciously uncoupled emotionally mature parents and their angsty 38 year old daughter. My childhood drop offs could never.

The first half of the trip back to Hayley's house was great and the second half was a weather nightmare. It was pouring and foggy while driving on very windy back roads of Vermont and Massachusetts. When Stephen texted Hayley to pick up ice cream on the way she was like "No way!". Understandable. But then we made it back and he had a delicious dinner ready to eat. He also had picked up a pie (that would've been even better with ice cream). Ha!! It was still yummy sans a la mode. 

I was greeted by both Nubbin (the brown guy without a tail) in the middle of each night and woke up to Teenie (the little black and white girl) cuddles both mornings I was there. Truly like being at home!

It took Georgia a little bit to warm up to me. She kept giving me these very sus looks, which is fair given that I hadn't seen her in 10 months. We played with Play-doh and made cubes and snakes and balls. She asked me to make an owl and when I gave it to her she rolled her eyes and said "No." I'm just sticking with Play-doh snakes from here on out. Clearly my owls are not it. 

We walked around outside where Georgia showed me all of their Halloween decorations and even spotted Batman (the neighbor's cat). It was still surprisingly warm for October but still a relief from the hell that is the Florida sun. The weather called for 100% rain all day so we thought it best to stick with indoor activities. 

       

We spent the morning at the Eric Carle Museum (the writer and illustrator of the famous The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a ton of others). We ran into one of Georgia's acquaintances from daycare but she was not into it. We've all been there, out in public running into people we don't want to. Georgia and Stephen hung out for story time while Hayley and I walked the Horse Tales exhibit. Then we walked it again with Georgia. We  played with the puppets, watched her brush some horses hair in the barn, and even drew our own horses; mine looked like it had seen some shit. 

 

We headed back so Georgia could get her nap on but not a minute earlier than she's supposed to. So we were jamming to Elmo's Version. While Georgia napped, Hayley took me on a little drive to their downtown where we got some bagels and coffee. We walked around some cute shops and we made it back to the car just as it was starting to rain. 

 

We had some outside time where it was still on the warm side. Do you see all our short-sleeves in these photos taken in October?! Georgia had been asking for ice cream since she woke up and it was finally time to go enjoy a scoop or two. We went to a local place they frequent and it was delicious! By the time we made it to the pumpkin patch the weather was even rainier and windy as hell. The temperature started to noticeably dip and by morning we were waking up to some real-ass chilly fall weather in the 50's - of course on the day I left. 

      

Georgia went to bed and by that I mean she just hung out in her bed and talked/sang to herself because she didn't fall asleep for a long time. She certainly can entertain herself in there though. Ha! We all wanted to watch a movie and ended up watching The Lost Boys since Hiley had never seen it. Vampires! Rory's grandpa! The two Coreys! What's not to love?

It was a nice little morning of cold air, cute cats, and more books. I have never seen a child, especially a toddler, so into books. Like Hayley or Stephen would read to her and she'd sit there engaged the entire time. Then she'd run to get another book and want to do it all over again. I was even initiated into her book club when she asked me to read her a Peppa Pig Halloween book (I'm pretty sure Hayley and Stephen could recite this one word for word by this time) and her brand new one Hayley got at that hip bookstore we met up at. After she got a few books in we went outside to take in the chill. I got to finally wear a sweater! Stephen got out his tripod (gdad style) and took some cute photos of us. It was during this time we all witnessed Batman in a bush trying to get to a chipmunk. Eventually the neighbor was able to save the chipmunk but it was only moments later Batman was back on the prowl. Cats, man. 

We went for a short trail walk through a nearby forest where every inch of the ground was covered in leaves. We made it to a creek and had to head back so Hayley could take me to the airport. It was a short trip but I still had such a good time hanging with the fam in their space. I always love visiting them. Can't wait until Christmas. We better brush up on our 90 Day Fiancé...

 

 

 

   

Wedding Eve

Dustin had to catch a 7am flight which meant we were up by 3 except Dustin struggled a bit with that and we ended up later than usual. My anxiety was through the roof because if you aren't early you're late. Ha! It worked out fine and not only did we make the flight with plenty of time but we YOLO'd into a first class upgrade (that we paid extra for). Can't take money to the grave so why the hell not. Neither of us had ever flown first class so it was quite a treat. The seats were of course so much more spacious and we only had to sit next to each other so no awkward stranger interactions! We also got a full on meal. Dustin didn't want his because he was still in the process of waking up but I took mine because when in first class... There were slices of cheese, grapes, a turkey sandwich, nuts, etc. Honestly it was TOO much food for one person and I didn't finish it. I did however finish the new documentary Britney vs. Spears which was heartbreakingly necessary. I also got some reading in. So it was a very productive morning to say the least. 

We gained an hour when we landed at 8:30. We had plenty of time to get our rental and head on over to the brunch. The problem with our rental (an new Ford Escape) is it didn't have Apple CarPlay and the navigation system that came with the Escape was straight out of 2010. It was hard to use and looked so dated. We just ended up using our phones which was annoying but it did the trick. 

We arrived at Erin's sister's house for the brunch she was throwing for the bridal party and some close family that were also in town already for the festivities. 

When I walked into her house I was blown away by her decor. The front sitting room is a VOIBE. It's so my jam with it's pops of color, plants, and eclectic grouping of art. The rest of her house was just as stunning. I loved the black wall in her living room! Erin and Meagan can decorate a house like it's no one's business.I'm always blown away with their talent. 

We said some hellos and then Meagan let us go into her bedroom where all the keeties were hanging out. They have THREE orange cats (Pico, Chip, and Queso). You know I'm a sucker for a food named cat! They all were drawn to Dustin's shoes which Cheeto lays on quite frequently. 

I was excited to see Erin's Aunt Ali (whom I used to work with when I was in high school at a law firm and is how Erin and I met!). It had been so long! I also got her sweet new mother-in-law and her sweet cousin Mia. I pretty much knew everyone else. It was a really sweet and welcoming group of people. 

 

We followed Erin and Jon through the pot-holed first roads of middle-of-nowehre Texas to their house. They moved in earlier this year and we hadn't seen it in person yet. We pulled up to their Halloween decorated lawn. I've of course seen their house via FaceTime but it was so nice to see it in real life! The whole place screams ERIN with it's cozy, classic, brightness except for Jon's room which is floor to ceiling sports memorabilia and honestly cool as hell. I could totally see Dustin doing something like that but we just do not have the room. 

We also got to see their babies Sadie, Charlie, and our old friend Peach! I love those three so damn much. They are basically my own fur-children. Ha!

Dustin and I went to our hotel to check in and to take a nap. We'd been up since 3am and were dragging. But once again Dustin wouldn't wake up from his nap and we ended up being 15 minutes late to the rehearsal dinner. I was really upset about this because I hate being late to anything but especially important things. Also, I didn't want to let Erin and Jon down. I apologized and we got on with it. 

The dinner was at Maggiano's which I didn't realize was a chain that even exists in Orlando. Who knew. Not me, apparently. Erin and I were practically twinning in our very similar navy blue dresses. So much changes and so much stays exactly the same. 

The night was filled with Italian food, funny speeches, and lots of drunk girls in the bathroom (a wedding party and apparently some homecoming high schoolers). Meagan found an unopened bottle of champagne in the bathroom and didn't want it to go to waste so... Maggiano's was hoppin' to say the least.

We ended the night with a walk-down-the-aisle-run-through and called it. Only one more sleep and Erin would be a married woman!