Weddings and Spring

My brother is married! Oh my goodness. The wedding was really fun, they had a beautiful ceremony and really nice reception. Jackie looked so beautiful (Joe looked pretty good too ;) ). I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time, which is always gratifying. Kathy took me out to a fancy dinner downtown Thursday in Chicago, and Friday morning we walked around downtown before driving to Galena for the wedding. Friday night was the rehearsal and appetizers at a restaurant in Galena. The restaurant was great, we had a couple different rooms so people could just sit and mingle.

Saturday we woke up and walked around downtown Galena. The town is really cute, sort of like Stillwater in that it's a river town that runs on tourism and antiques near as I can tell. Then the wedding was at a chapel about a half hour outside of town, up on a hill. I played my flute and read the poems without falling apart too badly, which is always good. Joe and Jackie left the wedding in a horse-drawn carriage, and the weather held out and didn't rain on them. Afterward everyone headed back to the hotel, where the reception was held. My mom's friend Joni did all the flowers, which were so beautiful. They played "Circle Game" for Joe and my mom to dance too, and it was quite fitting as she sang that all the time to Joe when he was little. All in all, a pretty great day.

It's Spring...who knew?

Studying consumed my life, so it's been so long since I updated who knows if anyone will even read this. Oh well, here goes. It is April in Chicago. It is finally warm enough some days to remind you that it will eventually be nice. I am finally done studying, and it feels great. So great to have some time again. Friday I finally caught up on many of the things I had been putting off: cleaned my room and my car, and did laundry. It was great.

Saturday I headed up to Milwaukee to visit Kathy and Bilhenry. It's always great to see them, and it was really fun to get to go to the church where Kathy has been the interim pastor. They took me to the art institute, which is always exciting. On Sunday the Easter bunny even came! All in all, it was just great to see them and really great to be up in Milwaukee.

Now on to this weekend. My aunt Kathy is flying in from California to Chicago on Thursday night. We will hang out Thursday night/Friday morning, then head to Galena, IL for Joe's wedding. Should be pretty exciting, sounds like there will be a good Shields family and friends turnout.

That's about all I've got for now. I will try to get back in the swing of things and write here once in a while!