Wedding Pictures

Long awaited, much anticipated - pictures from the wedding.

Yes, there was dancing and ol' Ev did a great job. I steered clear of the dance floor, but Maddie ended the evening as the Dancing Queen - she had moves that no Gottschalk has ever seen before.

Sistas, Sistas... We had our hair done professionally, which was a first for me, and Leslie and Emily showed up not only with the same outfit for dress rehearsal but also with the same hair cut. We all look the same now, well I don't have the hairdo, you can definitely tell we're sisters.

This is the rehearsal here. Maddie was out of control all weekend, simply overwhelmed with the fun and excitement of it all, combined with a pretty bad cold.

Here's the whole wedding party. It's not the greatest picture, but you can see how many of us there were, and maybe you can tell that the church was gorgeous, minus the harvest that's going on in at the bottom of the stairs. They wouldn't let us take it down for the ceremony, which is a bit tacky, in my opinion. Maddie is absent here because she was so sick and had a nervous breakdown that had been going on all day - though she sucked it up long enough to walk down the aisle. She was removed from the premises about ten minutes before the whole shebang was over. Bless her heart. Okay, here's one more picture of her as she was walking down the aisle with Ethan, the ringbearer. She had her eyes shut or was staring at the floor the entire length of the very long aisle.

All in all, it was fantastic. Nothing went wrong during the ceremony and the reception was the best celebration ever - just like Ev wanted it to be. Everyone had fun in the strange collection of people that was there. I don't think it could have gone better.

If you want better quality pictures, or more of them, email me. I can send them to you.

There was a wedding.

And it was beautiful.

The church, the music, the bride, the party - perfect.

I'm so tired. I've partied hard and I've won.

Why, you ask? I didn't get married.

No, but my brother did. And I got not only a new sister, but a new family.

And I was able to see old friends and most of my relatives, and Maddie and Katie.

And I'm not going back to school this week.

Like Liz mused this past week, am I happy or sad? I'm content with this mix of emotions. Life is good.

(picture will follow after parents download their pics)

This may annoy you - all of my posts jumbled together

Someone recently told me that i talk with my hands too much.

so i've been watching

and i do

i don't ever remember having this problem before. what's wrong with me now?

then again, i never spoke before - i was quiet. didn't talk to people.

perhaps I've always done this.

wonder what my imaginary friends thought when I was little and talked with my hands to them.
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I sleep like a rock.

this is awesome.
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Not to be superficial, but I figured out what bothers me about AnnaLucia on LOST. It's her teeth. They're too perfect and too white for living for 48 days on a beach without brushing your teeth. They'd be gungy and gross.

And they look fake - too straight, too...I don't know.
But i like her more, after this week's "extended" episode - since when is extended 4 minutes. That's crap. I thought it was 2 hours or something.
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The guy sitting next to me eats something every Thursday morning. The sound of eating.

ew.

You know the one I mean. The dog licking himself. The swallowing, tongue-ish noise that proceeds from the mouth when eating.

I hate that sound.

Issues

The problem with living in Tornado Alley is simply that - tornadoes. Everybody hates them. They're scary, and not because they are hollow swirling tunnels of air coupled with thunder, lightning, and epic winds.

No, tornadoes are so terrifying because they are here before you know it, they completely destory your lives, and they're gone before you can even shake your fist at the sky.

We survived two of them today - Bird and I cowered in the basement stairwell, the only safe place in our very much windowed and widely open-spaced house, while Katie braved the storm in her Mitsubishi (don't do that again, Friend. Come on).

Sometimes I try to think of what I'd do in response to a complete destruction of my life by natural forces.

And I think I'd quit school and seriously consider a hermitage. Why not. If all my material possessions were taken from me, nothing would be stopping me. A simple life simplified.

Kind of sad, if that's all that's keeping me away from a life of hermitude.

Comfort

Something about reuniting with old friends, being able to hug them, smell them.

Something about random simulataneous comments like "Buck up" and "hyphen...hyphen...no, wait, Dash!"

Something about feeling at home in a strange place simply because of the people you are with.

About crying tears of joy when you see someone, confident of their joy, too.

Seeing you, all of you, was the biggest blessing.

I didn't even know how much I was lacking, how lonesome I truly was.

Three cheers for us! And random TU reunions.

And who is this beautiful baby? How can they both be so big?

Roller Derby, anyone?

Why is she so darn cute?

Three Shouts

Because I get to see Elaine and Cat this weekend!

WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!

Could I be more excited?

It's documented

Everyone who has visited this site in the past month knows about my sleeping problems.

No one knows the cause, and that's troubling.

However, I'm grateful to my mom's friend, Patty, who has started selling this energy goo that has brought new life to me...I think.

Even though it hasn't done all that they promised it could do, I sleep through the night most of the time, and I have more energy during the day than I've had ever, in my life. I honestly feel like I can focus more.

This is crazy. It's Energy Goo.

Ok, so that's not the real term. But you already knew that.

It's actually called Ageless Xtra which Yes, does sound hoaxy.

But everyone who knows me, knows that my body is like a 60 year old woman's, falling apart here and there a little more every year. And I feel better. And I have energy. That's gotta mean something.

If you're interested, I can hook you up with a sales rep, Patty.

More of my testimonial to come, as I continue on this journey down the Ageless Road.

But if you want the truth...

Yesterday, my boss discovered that I hate some words. He threw out a word that I hate and many people are fine with, and when I crumpled on the floor, rocking back and forth like an autistic child (is anyone surprised with that?), that's when he apologized.

But shortly thereafter, he started "testing" words - saying one and waiting for the same great response. He didn't hit any others, but I warned him that if he kept on playing that game I was not above walking out of the office and never coming back. No one doubted that, for some reason.

Even though they know so little about me, they can tell when I'm dead serious.

Today at work, I'm not sure how we got on the subject, but all of the sudden my friend and co-worker states that she thinks so-and-so's problem is that he/she doesn't get enough sex. Though I was trying to write an email to a student, I couldn't help but hear that, and laugh.

What else can you do?!

Another person in the office disagreed that said person didn't get enough - but did my co-worker mean frequency or number of partners.

I was in shock. Where are we again?

Topics in my office range from pets, family issues, road rules, LOST, movies, people, etc. The list could go on forever. But I wasn't prepared for this one.

Then, my dear friend says, "Actually, I think it's Lana who isn't getting enough sex." And the person with whom my co-worker was talking said, "Now that I'd believe."

Did I ask for my sex-assessment today? Wasn't aware I'd be facing that when I got up this morning, or maybe I wouldn't have left the house.

Oh Place that I work...You are so crazy!

I suck at blogging

I can't even come up with things to say anymore.

Sorry to whoever looks at this.

You probably shouldn't waste your time here.

Use the "Next Blog" button to move on.

New Besties!

I feel that Christina and I have a new common link, which is Insomnia.

It has recently decided to show me it's full force, and I wonder how it can go on.

The best story took place on a dark, cold night in the middle of a wind-swept rural city.

I stayed at a friend's house pretty late for me - 1 am - and crawled exhausted into bed about thirty minutes later, ready for some brilliant sleep which I've been lacking for at least a week.

At 5:30, instead of the usual 3:30, I awoke to the insatiable itching (seriously, what is this?) and I had to get out of my bed. I was hot, too, as if I'm picking up on my mom's hot flashes or something.

I stumbled my way down to the couch in the family room - it's pitch black in there and has an air machine that I thought could help me sleep; I love the white noise. Just before I collapsed on the couch, I noticed the blanket, which has a few white spots, appeared to be strewn on the couch, not folded, where I knew it been before we all went to bed.

As my misty mind processed the out-of-place blanket, a groggy voice said, "What?! Did you come down to sleep here?"

It was my mom.

"Yeah," I answered, "but I'll go somewhere else."

"No, you can lay here, I should probably shift positions anyway. What time is it."

"6:10"

"I have to get up in thirty minutes, anyway."

But I walked out of the room, found another couch, unplugged all the Christmas candles in the windows and shut the blinds to block out our the blinding streetlight.

Five minutes passed before Mom walked through on her way upstairs.

Twenty minutes later I heard her alarm go off.

Shortly after that, I heard Jackson - my huge black and white cat - calling to anyone in the house with long, distressed cries from the garage. The horrible windstorm outside had him in a panic. I brought him in for a while but he couldn't sit still. He paced along the back of the couch (this time in the basement - another couch), sniffed the edge of the door, cried to go outside, and paced on the blanket I had wrapped around me. When I let him out into the tornado outside, he stood there for a few seconds and wanted right back in.

I got him to calm down before I had to turn him back out into the garage. And I slept after that, overslept my alarm, that is.

What is wrong with me?

In the sky

It's been so long I had forgotten what it looked like. But tonight, as I was trekking the two miles home from school, I once again saw my soul in the sky.

I miss the sunsets. Elaine and I used to experience almost every single one together as we'd walk to the DC across campus. More than any other college experience, that's what I miss. The beauty was overwhelming. Once we'd discovered that everyone's soul displays itself at some point in the sunset or sunrise, we'd often see mine as we walked to dinner and Elaine's on our way home. It's the rich colors - they call to you, and that's how you know which color is yours - it pulls the deepest.

I've been sad this semester, knowing that I miss the sunsets - a time that had been so sacred. I'm either holed up in my basement or in the library, and the colors change from day blue to night blue before I know it.

Liz mentioned the other day that brilliant music renews her faith in God, and I wholeheartedly agree. She'll go in with me on this, too, that Nature, whether sunsets, Autumn colors, the desert at sunrise, or the ocean in the early morning, these moments of absolute glory renew my faith in God. They speak to a part of our souls that does not communicate in words - only colors.

I only wish my friends could have been here with me to experience this magnificence once again.