Rach and Kev

FIRST - You have GOT to check out Jedd Goble's video montage of the day - it is FANTASTIC! Here's the link.

What you might see in a newspaper announcement:

On Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 Rachel D'Aun Goble of Pleasanton married Kevin George Carey of Lafayette surrounded by many loved ones on a gorgeous evening at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. There is some debate over how they first met, but either way it is clear the couple are very much in love and make a fantastic pair. Kevin and Rachel plan to honeymoon in Italy and Thailand.

The real deal:

The rehearsal dinner was O-mazing. Just a really fun night at Postino thanks to fantastic planning by Linda and MC'ing by Chuck. Lots of funny and heartfelt toasts. Kevin turned sheet-white when I got up there and admitted to embarrassing things about us as kids and he wasn't sure what was going to come out of my mouth. HA! I'm laughing to myself thinking of that exact look on his face.

The day of the wedding all the girls met at D'Aun and Roy's house and did all the pretty princess things like hair and makeup and nails and giggles and gossip. And of course... what's a pretty princess party without food and a bride looking so - um - gorgeous?...


Haha ok was that a mean way to first show off the bride? Well if you had watched the video link it wouldn't be the first you saw now would it!? So unfortunately this is the part of the story that was heartbreaking. Even dudes get why this is the worst thing that can happen to a bride on her wedding day (next to the groom ditching out, I guess... that would have been worse huh Rach?). Ok so here is Rachel first getting on her gorgeous dress at Wente so she can take some pictures and then see Kev. We're all right on schedule at this point...

Notice Rach and D'Aun's faces... something is not quite right. The conversation went something like this:
Bridesmaid Chorus: Oooh, Rachel! Stunning. Love it! Amazing, Gorgeous!
(Dress not quite zipping up, people adjusting it on her to get her to fit just right in it so it will zip...)
Rachel: This is not my dress.
D'Aun/Jen/Bridesmaid Chorus: Nooooo. No, no. That's silly. This is your dress! This is totally your dress. This is your dress, right?
Rachel (still totally composed): This doesn't feel like the dress I tried on in the last fitting. I really don't think it's my dress. The size on the tag is smaller than the one I ordered.
Bridesmaid Chorus: ....... !(@*$@&^@!)(!@*!#&*%$*!(!(!*@*&

And then panic mode ensued involving Clarissa's Couture in Walnut Creek being called multiple times (It was Sunday! They were closed! No emergency number!) and my mom marching down there and banging on the door and asking nearby businesses for backup cell numbers of the Clarissa's people... nothing. A prayer circle began around Rach when the realization that they had given her the right dress fitted for some other bride set in but really... the girl just needed to see Kev. So Kevin (now on Wente grounds also) was summoned into the girls room and marched dutifully in to comfort a still-keeping-it-together-but-a-teensy-bit-emotional Rachel. Rach was a whole new happy girl hand in hand with Kev after that and a fun wedding party toast really kicked off the party :)


Ah, but what did we end up doing about the dress you ask? So the wedding coordinator ended up tracking down a seamstress on her day OFF who raced over and literally LITERALLY sewed Rachel into the dress she had by adding a panel to the back of it and doing a really cool crisscross weavy kind of thing to make it look fantastic. And it did, it looked wonderfully fantastic. Here's a happy Rach patiently getting sewed into her now-custom designed dress...


And then the rest of the day... man... it was just FUN. Rachel's creativity and vision and style came alive in the venue. The boys standing before guests arrived looking at everything gives you a sense of what it all looked like...

Announcing for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Carey! (Love that Emily is giving a big hallllllelujah! haha)

Love this one of the ladies in their post-vow sunglasses. Especially the little girls - the looked SO cute!

Awww... first friends :) Oh ya - forgot to add that Kevin FORGOT the marriage license at home so I made a run and get it in the middle of the reception. What are first friends for?

We danced the night away (which clearly I don't have good pictures of since the camera would have inhibited my hot dance moves!) and all too soon, it was time for Kev and Rach to hightail it OUTTA there in Roy's old Ford that was sufficiently dressed up with streamers and a "just married" sign.

What you don't know or won't read in a paper:

There was something so spiritually RIGHT about this wedding. There was not an un-ugly cry to be found when Rachel walked down the aisle towards Kevin. I have a softness in my heart and fresh happy tears in my eyes when I think about the Goble-Carey wedding because it was - it REALLY was - a blessed day where two very well loved and cherished people in their own right became one very well loved and cherished couple.

I Eat Stories Like Grapes

It took me all Summer to get through East of Eden for two reasons:
1. I forgot it in the back seat of my car before a trip and had 750 pages worth of distraction by a Harry Potter I picked up at the airport as a substitute.
2. From the very first page, I knew it could be one of the very best novels I ever read. So I allowed myself to slow down my eyes, quiet my mind, sit with each chapter, and marinate in its deliciousness.

If you read East of Eden (or should I say WHEN you read East of Eden), may I recommend the Centennial Edition pictured above? It has those serrated and offset pages that feel sacred against your fingertips.

I'm finding it difficult to summarize why I loved it. Or make a pitch for why YOU will love it. Perhaps there are too many possibilities to package. For me, it was the familiarity of the Salinas Valley setting. It was the complexity and honesty and under-explanation of the characters. It was so much history in english. And many, many things in between.

The wonderful thing about East of Eden is almost without exception (I've found one so I have to say "almost"), everyone who finds out that you are reading it clasps their hand over their chest and exhales a huge "OHHHHHHH my god. What part are you at?! Can you believe how evil Kate is?" No actually, I can't believe it. Her sharp little teeth are my favorite representation of her inherent evil. And speaking of, IS she inherently evil? If one of the central messages of the novel is "thou mayest" then she must have chosen that evil right?

"Maybe I will tell you some time when I can tell and you want to hear."
"I'll want to hear," Samuel said. "I eat stories like grapes."
"A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore."

Shane and Carissa McLean!

Writing their names out like that makes me even more happy than I imagined it would. Shane and Carissa said their "I do's" last Friday, August 21st. They held the ceremony and reception at this really neat mountain home in Boulder, Colorado on an absolutely perfect night.

Unfortunately my camera battery didn't make it through the whole night so I didn't end up with many pictures, but here are a couple highlights... 

Oh Carissa, you are lovely beyond words.

You may kiss the bride, man!

This one is for Big Wiz, who is definitely the most likely to ask about the food and cake :)

My camera held out just long enough for one with the bride and groom - Yay! (Yes, I'm wearing the same dress as I did to Erica's wedding AND to Staff Ball in DC. Shut up.)

It was a very quick trip - I flew into Denver on Friday morning and out Saturday afternoon but I am just SO glad I was able to make it. I was thinking about how with people you know are going to be your friends forever, the meaning behind being present for something as huge as a wedding is going to grow exponentially as we get on through the years. 

And there will be many sweet years to come for these two :)

Baby Don't Ya Wanna Go...

...back to that same ol place SWEET HOME CHICAGO.

When I was in Madison I caught wind that the FRENCHIES were going to take Chicago by storm along with an epic gaggle of DC gays for Market Days. Well I simply could not have them having all the fun without me so I rationalized that I needed to take a trip there to meet with the NP program I want to get into anyway and bought a ticket I couldn't afford.

There were SO many people in town! It was like every time I turned around in the bars there was another DC person I wasn't expecting. They practically transplanted Logan Circle to Boystown. It was glorious! 

We did have to get some touristy things in of course, so we went to the top of the Sears Tower (or Willis Tower now apparently). It was a miserable two hour wait to get to the top, but once we did the photo shoot ensued. 

They have these cool see-through boxes coming off the side of the building that you can sit/lay/stand in and look straight down the billion floors under you. It's really exhilarating actually! Here's Luis, Bobby, and David "falling" down to the city streets...

Walking on air!

Ah I just love this picture. I need to frame it. HOTT.

This is the scene from our little VIP area we made for ourselves on the sidewalk looking out on Market Days 2009. It was CRAZY! GREAT dance music, by the way. We found ourselves saying "Why don't we always party outside like this!?"

Too cute we are :)

By FAR the BEST picture of the whole day if you ask me.

Each night brought with it a different adventure and I literally saw the sunrise more in those few days than I have in probably five years. Ridiculousness, of course, but it was just no time to be sleeping! The last night we were there was Madonna-Rama at one of the clubs and we were all like completely exhausted from the weekend so everyone was kinda tuckering out and the boys asked me if I was ready to go. They are used to me being like YES let's GO and this time I looked at them and in all seriousness was like "I am NOT leaving until I hear Like a Prayer." I was resolute. So we waited around for another hour or so for it to be on and then performed it aggressively on the dance floor. Love it. 

Not surprisingly, Patrick and I still managed to get ohhhhh about 20 hours of coffee shop reading time in. I even discovered this great used bookstore on Broadway and injudiciously bought a "Complete Works of Winnie the Pooh" that was screaming my name. Actually, speaking of Patrick - you will notice he is not in ANY of these pictures. THAT'S because he hasn't given me the pictures off his camera from that weekend yet. Lame. (Patrick seriously, I want those cute ones of us on the bed that we had a good giggle over (ooh that could be interpreted badly haha). Also the "GET YOUR ARMOR" ones too! OMG! I want to see those right now!)

Oh! Also noteworthy - Kathryn and I had breakfast for dinner at a great little neighborhood gem of a diner near Clark and Belmont (look at me with all my Chicago street knowledge!) AND Patrick and I both had flights out of ORD at about the same time so we went and actually met up with Stef and Tricia who were passing through on their way to Australia so we had a little pow-wow with them before leaving town right in the middle of Terminal B.

Damn I love that city. I can't wait to call it home. If only everyone who was there that weekend would do the same :)

Tragedies Abound

Terrible things are happening to dear friends. 

This is to be expected when we are lead through a world that's not our home. I stole that line.

Is the shock value in all of it a result of being young? In another 25 years will I be less shocked, less devastated?

I want to unapologetically talk about some things I'm thinking about. 

I'm feeling really overwhelmed by all of the things that are going right. My body is functioning as it should be. Being a student of anatomy right now makes that realization more remarkable than ever before. It is more apparent than ever that we hang in a delicate cradle of grace with anything related to our bodies. I am so glad I am starting to understand that reality. 

Jacob wrestled with God. Do you bible scholars ever think about that? He WRESTLED with GOD. Genesis 32 right? We really are left with no details of that exchange. We can suggest that it had something to do with Jacob's guilt over his past with Esau but even then... not really. Of all the things to wrestle with God about and it's about Esau? I don't know, I just... am not convinced it was reduced to just that. But we don't know and we won't. We only know that it happened. And what I take is this... Wrestling with God doesn't mean we deny him. It doesn't mean we turn away. It doesn't mean we don't trust or love or thirst or deny. Wrestling is another form of exchange. Of balance. Of understanding. Oh God won't you give me a kernel of understanding after this match is finished? 

I'm overjoyed by the liberation that comes with true faith. No play acting, no apologetics, no censorship. I'm gritty! I'm crass! I'm immature! I'm provocative! I'm unconventional! I'm grounded. And oh, my roots are growing deep with every drink.

I see my need for external validation peeling away one layer at a time. I'm not sure why this is important yet but feel that it must be. 

Friends, we must talk to friends in crisis with the same persistence we do in peace. We must approach them with confidence and care and compassion. Now is not the time to be silent! Be bold with your friends. Always.

Thankful and angry. Certain and shaken. Uplifted and off-base. 

I remain,

Confidently humbled. 

Today I'm Thankful for...

Being too lazy all week to take the picnic blanket out of my trunk... Without knowing it was still back there, I would not have detoured up to the Mission and siesta'd for a glorious bee-hummed hour by the rose garden. 

Hand-delivered soy au laits, wahoo's tacos, and frozen yogurt.

Little imaginations that can make a cartoon-like character out of any plastic object. Little mispronunciations like PO-sha, doe-fin, hay-ulp. Little misunderstandings like small intestines being referred to as 'small intesticles.' 

Gavin DeGraw channel on Pandora. 

84-degree, no humidity, no bug, mid-July California summers. 

Health. 

Clever greeting cards that elicit an in-store giggle.

2nd Annual Summer Trip to Madison

I think it quite appropriate to make this a photo-heavy post. Madison trips are always a whirlwind. Jam packed with food and beers and putt-putts around the lake and me complaining that no one ever teaches me euchre and 867-5309 finger attempts and Wisconsin Fantasies coming true in the Corn Toss Tournament.

First... PATRICK! UGH it had been six months since I had seen him. Six awful - just AWFUL - months apart! I am pleased to report we slowly chipped away at the laundry list of serious conversations (role of "T" in the GLBT, monogamy, metaphysical body) we had been waiting to discuss and are sufficiently caught up. Linda caught multiple pictures of us being excluge but... well... that's nothing new and not going to change ha.



Night one we had a delicious dinner at Old Fashioned with Bill and Melissa - many a Spotted Cow, Big O, and cheese curds that disappeared in under 3 minutes. Not that I'm admitting to the crime. Then we met up with the Waubesa crew at Christy's. Here is some hilarity from that night with Cory, Eric, and Kelli...

An unplanned yet perfectly coordinated "up high" and "down low" by the brothers...


Aggressive fist pumping happens early at Christy's...


Yipes, Patrick. Patrick - 0, Cory - 1.


Look at their faces in this pic! Classic. Love that this is caught on camera.


Day Two! The weather was not as sexy as Cory's outfit so Rhythm and Booms got postponed until the next day. UGH! Ruined the plan! We were bummed, but we had a great fun day around the house and on the boat anyway :)


Farrah found a friend! Flo tried to convince everyone the fanny is coming back because she read that Madonna was wearing one in Africa or something. Really, Madonna? Could you not further embolden Flo?


Brothers don't shake hands... brothers cuddle.


No trip to Madison is complete without Flo and Bugs. We got into the forrest in like four spins and made tree-sitty-fo (as opposed to Flo's previous forrest showing of only sitty-two).

Corn Toss Tournament day just might be one of the best - if not THE best - day of the year. Better than Christmas I daresay. Here I am ready for the day with my Wisco/Sconi (or whatever it is you want to shorten it to) mug. Patrick didn't like the handle but I felt I had to overcompensate for my non-resident status.

 

We draw partners through matching cards... here's Team Stefatrick talking pre-game strategy.

"Hey, you wanna take a picture of your biggest fan?"

I love how you can scan this picture and see about a thousand little things that are going on (ie Josh and Chris gossiping like little girls by the bracket, Emily and Laurie shooting the breeze, Patrick giving a side five after a good toss... and is that Flo I spy back there social butterflying around?)

CLCTT Commissioner Cory dutifully filling out the bracket...

Too cute to leave out :) Patrick is abnormally excellent at self-takers.  

Bill and Cory emerged victorious and are two time defending champs. I swear I'm going to practice every single day for the next year so I can be more competitive. (That's a lie. I just lied.) Group shot 2009...

So due to the postponement from the day before, we finished up with the tournament and high-tailed it outta there to make it to Rhythm and Booms in time for Little Vito and the Torpedoes. I think we got there literally as they were starting their set. And let's just say I was QUITE in the mood to sing loudly and double fist pump. At one point, Patrick had this circle of little kids around him that were copying every dance move he was doing from shimmies to twists. It was just the most darling darn thing you've ever seen!

3 bags in the hole was my 2008 Wisconsin Fantasy but I'd say this picture is about as close as it gets to outdoing last year!

Taken during the Craig Scott 'Summer of 69' solo. Extreme audience air guitaring ensues as far as the eye can see. 

Kick ball-change, EXTEND!

Um. We were really hungry after scream-performing Boys II Men "End of the Road" in Eric's car on the ride home (complete with Cory taking it deep with the "Baby... I knew you were wit dat other fella... I just didn't care") so everyone went straight to the brats. I don't think Cory or Eric even waited long enough to heat theirs up. Cory is like... cavemanning his. 

When I was flying into Madison I was thinking how I could have never anticipated how special this place would become to me. I really love it there. I love the kind of fun we have, the kind of people I spend time with, the kind of retreat it provides. I love how they all love each other. And I, too, truly love them. 

Yellow Wood Coffee and Tea

I looooooooove Yellow Wood Coffee and Tea in Alamo Plaza. Bottomless cup of coffee (no refill charge... HELLO! NO REFILL CHARGE!) served in cute yellow mugs. Actually there's not anything particularly cute about the mugs but I like that they're yellow. I pick up what they're throwing down on that one.

It's a gorgeous cool 70* here today and the outside tables are packed with tennis moms getting their morning gossip. Inside, a bunch of old guys wearing vets hats swapping stories like only good old boys can, a couple quiet readers in comfy chairs by the tropical fish tank (classily done, I promise), and me... trying to ignore the guy next to me training new people on a web-based business tool and catching up on a million different things at a corner table.

Did I mention they have power outlets next to just about every table in the place? Mercy.

Patrick Kelly, get here quick(ly). It screams of us.

Mr. and Mrs. Ben Tompkins!

After a few "low heavy cloud" delays into SFO, shipmate Erin Maus made it to California soil for the very first time! We joked it is ridiculous she has been to the likes of Dar Es Salaam and Chennai but never to CALIFORNIA before now. It was a whirlwind, but we did an okay job of giving her the basic lay of the land which of course included a shared hot fudge sundae at Ghirardelli :). It has been June Gloom around here all month but the skies parted for Erin and we had an absolutely PERFECT day to walk the bridge on Saturday morning.



We picked up additional shipgirl Paige who was in the city having lunch with friends that morning. The feeling of reunion is so strong with these girls - but I do have to say Big Wiz was sorely missed. The interesting thing about Big Wiz for me is she is now so strongly associated with DC for me and it isn't until I'm back with the SAS girls that I am reminded of many parts of our relationship from those early days.

SOMEHOW we found a way to carry on without BW and ambled through the Berkeley hills up to the Brazil Room at Tilden Park for Erica Davidson's wedding to Ben Tompkins! Lately when I talk about friends, I find myself ending the conversation with "I love that friend... I don't know anyone else like her/him." Erica is no exception. I love Erica... I don't know anyone else like her. So with that spirit and the memories all the way back to Rancho swim meets through afternoons at Shannon and Christie's in elementary school to romping around Beijing in an loathing haze, I was overjoyed to watch her say her vows to someone so wonderful and bathe in the happiness she so richly deserves.

This smile was big... even for Ers!



Gorgeous setting with the trees all around...



Cake cutting!



Girls with the bride (this after Erin and Paige tried to sneak in one WITHOUT me! Ugh.)


The wedding was such a great reason to get the SAS girls together and we have now tasked Paige with planning Greece 2010 (I will be taking a calm back seat to those details and let Paige carry the torch... my how far we've come, huh Paige! ha). It was also very fun getting to see a BUNCH of long lost pals from Erica's class or Burton Valley such as DORI who I just love and am excited is back in the area.

Of course any California visit would be incomplete without a trip (or two) to In-N-Out, so we indulged (Not my fault! We were on our way to the Roundup when Erin passed out so the alternative was... well... food):

Paige is really excited for her burger!



Except... not so much for the "spread"... I guess I now understand why I have never heard of someone getting the sauce on the side before. Yuck.



As BW so appropriately commented... these are the exact same faces we made after the Ambassador's Ball dessert table (and by dessert table I mean the one we built for OURSELVES from the REAL dessert table. Oh my god it is so gross thinking about that you guys haha).

Soft Launch

I think I'm back. I think I'm ready to be back. I was writing in my personal journal the other day (well, what I should say is I started a personal journal the other day) and forgot how lovely it is to put thoughts to pen. Or screen, in this case.

Much has happened that I cannot recount fully. Thanksgiving in Madison, a whirlwind trip to Santa Barbara to surprise the family for Christmas, and a dreamworld trip to Barcelona and Rome for New Years marked the holidays. Snapshots of dancing unabashed in the Barca apartment, absorbing the monks' organ practice in the Montserrat cathedral, standing in endless lines at Carre Four, waltzing through the streets arm in arm with Vincent, and the most warmly elegant dinner in the flat overlooking Piazza Navona in Rome come to mind. Truly, the most fulfilling possible use of those two weeks of life.

January was marked with the end of an era - certainly for my life, if not the country's. My decision to stay with the Boss until the end and to be the last to walk out the door with dear colleague-friends was important. Anyone who works or has worked in public office can understand this and the rest perhaps cannot.

Inauguration weekend was as historic as promised and perhaps will not be fully realized until time allows for context. I dove head first into it with gusto - standing in nose-numbing weather for U2 and Springsteen's sound checks at the Lincoln and the reflecting pool concert the next day. And for the Swearing-in itself, although the ill-fated "purple gate" was unforgiving and ultimately forfeited for a beer and tv screens of Chinatown's Green Turtle with Meredith, Remy, and Lo.

Ah, but that was to be twice redeemed by the best seat - or press stand, shall I say - of the night at the first inaugural Neighborhood Ball where the President and his Lady gave their first dance away to Beyonce's "At Last." And Denzel and Mariah and Faith and Mary J and Shakira and Queen Latifah and Vanessa Williams and Alicia Keys and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jay-Z and Sting and Stevie. To name a few.

The Staff Ball followed on the next night despite utter exhaustion from the previous days. And to be a part of it all, for me, was like being a fly on the wall to someone else's party. But I showed up, listened, and tried to laugh... like I always try to do... and I am so glad I did. Because I was, ultimately, a most humbled beneficiary.

I left town having not grown tired of the Capitol Dome in my rearview mirror and having not lost the swell of pride come over me when writing "Washington, DC" as my return address. And that to me is a wonderful testament of my feelings towards the time and friends I left behind.

The long way home included stops in Buffalo, Chicago, Lincoln, and Denver but ultimately landed me in Tahoe for a few weeks of quiet and many, many naps.

March, April, and May passed without much incident except for the runnings of my mind and the wonderings of what to do next.

So in following the tone of this expose, I should announce that I have started on a new path towards getting my Masters of Science in Nursing and becoming a Nurse Practitioner. The lawyers of the world all seem miserable and the corporate world seems self-satisfying and I just don't think I like either of those options for myself. When asked, I haven't quite made the leap from "I am thinking of being a nurse practitioner" to "I am becoming a nurse practitioner" but now that I am spending my days learning about simple squamous epithelium and the histology of the nervous system, I'd say I am at least crawling towards that leap.

Thank you, dear friends, for your love and prayers in these months. Though so much is still unspeakable, thank you.