A Country Weekend

Weekend before last I left behind my comfy city life and internets for the country in Owensboro, KY. My friend Rachel was having a wedding shower. I carpooled with my friends Cassie and Matt. Matt and I were ashamedly late arriving to Cassie's apartment; thankfully, she was not too upset with us and did not give her teacher lecture. Despite the fact I was responsible for being late, I placed the blame on Matt saying he had to change four times before we left his apartment (note: he came up with the excuse and gave me permission to use it). Cassie drove to Owensboro as she was an expert at navigating back roads and had a car that would actually make the trip. The scenery was really pretty; we saw lots of farms with HORSES (yes, I'm still a 10 year old girl who gets excited at the sight of horses).

We only got lost a little bit due to missing/poorly placed signs and some street address confusion. We arrived at Rachel's and chilled for a little bit, playing with her kitties and puppy. Then we went out to the Bridesmaids luncheon at a new, slightly fancy international restuarant. I ordered a Mahi Mahi stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese served with pesto fries. The food was good, albeit the portion was rather small. Not having eaten all day, I was still starving. Cassie felt the same; we went to the Dollar General right after lunch to get cards and wrapping paper, but also bought a big bag of pretzels to share. We went back to the house where Rachel gave us our bridal party gifts; she gave me a spangly, bohemian necklace & earring set.

We hung out a little more at the house until it was time to go out to her Grandpa's (on her dad's side) house way out somewhere in the country further than we were before. The house was beautiful with the most fabulous screened porch and gazebo ever! There were also horses and barn kitties present. We ate a great dinner of ham, other stuff, and the best baked beans in Owensboro (that Rachel's dad made it a point to pick up personally). Rachel opened presents, and everyone just sat around drinking and talking the rest of the night.

We got to the swanky hotel Rachel's parents put us up in late that evening. Matt and I went in ahead of Cassie (she was doing something important, can't remember what). Matt mentioned how nice he felt in his business attire and it looked like he just came from an important business conference. I said to him, "Matt you know it looks like we're having an affair now right. We're both in business attire and walking into a hotel together. Men only go to business conferences to have affairs, you know." We had a good laugh over it. The next morning we got up early to eat breakfast and go to church. Cassie left super early for choir practice. That left Matt and me to get ready around the same time. I told Matt when we were both getting ready in front of the bathroom mirror, this was married couple behavior, and I fully expected him to leave his imaginary wife for me. As we were leaving the room, Matt said, "Damn, it does look like we had an affair. We're both leaving the room and getting in the elevator without looking at each other."

Rachel's church is a Methodist church. All of us joked about Matt and I being Catholic and not having been to Protestant church but once. We needed a little instruction as to what the proper behavior was. Rachel warned us her preacher was really wacky, and told us not to judge all Methodists/Protestants by him. The preacher made obvious jibes at Catholicism talking about the Sacrament; he compared Catholics to pagan heathens. He then went on random tangents about spiritual and physical gifts/talents and something about football; I got kinda lost in the Southern church metaphors. We all chuckled in church but refrained from inappropriate behavior since Rachel was getting married in the church and with many of the same people present (who were all very nice, I might add). I think the most notable moment of the service was when Cassie and Rachel sang a duet together; it was such a pretty number.

Following church we got lunch from Ritzy's; it's a local Steak-n-Shake type place that Cassie kept raving about for its cherry amaretto shakes. We took the food and at Rachel's aunt's farm. This was the first time I'd been to a real farm. We went to the pond and saw giant Coi and Catfish. There were chickens and Guinea fowl wandering all about the place. There was a really nice dog and barn kitties galore (all of whom where either black, black & white, or gray)! The barn kitties were really sociable unlike the ones we saw the previous night. We saw a momma goat and her two babies. We got to hold baby chicks (one had just hatched that morning)! The best part was when we got to pet the horses! There were five total, and one was a six-month-old colt! I probably acted like I was an elementary school kid the way I was squeeing and getting all excited about the animals.

We eventually had to leave to get back to the church for the second wedding shower. The basement was decorated to fit Rachel's western theme. We played some fun shower games, snacked, and watched Rachel open presents--best of which was the infamous "Ugly Bowl" which had been in her family for a long time. Rachel vowed to turn it into something beautiful. I said, "Rachel you can bedazzle it!" She said, "I'll bedazzle it and give it to you at your wedding. It's time the Ugly Bowl found a new home." After the presents were all opened, Cassie, Matt, and I booked it back to Louisville where I gushed to Dustin all night about going to the farm and petting the animals.