Weekend in The 'Shire

The weekend started out great on Friday when my company, sensing that no one was getting any work done anyway, closed the office at 2PM. Adam picked me up from work soon thereafter and we were on our way to Manch. Once checked in, we got to relax a bit and Adam got to take The Best Shower Ever because we had requested a handicap accessible room to make it easier for The Crutch to hobble around. And this entailed a walk in shower, WITH padded seat. I have not seen him that psyched in a long time and to celebrate he took a 40 minute shower. That everning, we met Adam's brother and sister in law for dinner and drinks in the restaurant in the hotel lobby where I told way too many inappropriate stories and drank a few too many martinis. Par for the course!

Saturday morning we woke up early to attend the wedding festivites and after a few debacles (the clock in out hotel room being 1/2 hour slow, the iron not working, Adam thinking he knew where the Bedford Village Inn was when he was really thinking of the Manchester Country Club) we arrived at the BVI a tad late but just in time to see the gorgeous (GORGEOUS!) wedding ceremony. Seriously, this is the best spot for a wedding ever:



It was an outdoor ceremony and WHAT a day for it. Completely lovely, everyone looked so beautiful and PJ and Nicky are pretty much one of the cutest bride+groom pairs I have ever seen.



After the deal was sealed we all headed into the Inn for the reception which was every bit as lovely as the ceremony with the added bonus of an open bar.


Look at this fabulous centerpiece! I love the jar! (And I got to take it home. Come to think of it, it's still in my car. Oops!)



We had a blast at the reception, Nicky did a very good job with the seating and our table was all other fun couples and we all had a blast drinking, telling stories, hanging out.

And then when the reception ended around 4 we all headed to the bride's parent's house for a killer after party that involved more and more booze, devilied eggs, and speaking French (a lot of the bride's family is from Canada and you know me, I start trying to speak French after a few wines with AMERICANS so these people were in for a real treat. I am sure they were psyched). We ended up leaving around 9:30 PM which, if you think about the fact that the wedding started at 10:30AM makes this basically a 12 hour wedding. And I would have lasted even longer but in a wine haze I took one (?) of Adam's Vicodin to battle the beginnings of a headache and, well, that turned out to be a poor idea. Well, a great idea at first but later a very, very bad idea. But still, just about 11 hours partying? What am I, 23?

The next day we checked out of the hotel and decided instead of going straight home to take the scenic route. So we drove through Deerfield (which I loved, maybe I have seen too many movies based on Jane Austen books but it looks JUST like Darbyshire and I of course commented on this relentlessly), and Barrington and stopped at this adorable fine foods/general store named Calef's and picked up some nice cheese, fresh maple butter and homemade bbq sauce. Then we swung into Portsmouth for lunch at the Muddy River Smokehouse and some shopping, then since we were right there we swung over to Kittery, ME to get in on some outlet action (where I had no luck anywhere but the Yankee Candle Outlet, and there I spent like 3 times what I normally spend on candles. Isn't that always the way!?). And then finally in the early evening we made our way home because we are old and this weekend took a lot out of us.

I will tell you one weird coincidental story though, to end an already too long entry:

At the wedding, the girl I was sitting next to, Holly, had the cutest pill box. Being a hypochondriac, I can really get behind the idea of carrying a pill box of various meds around. Hers was a particularly darling stainless steel box with an enameled picture of a pink poodle with a rhinestone collar on the front. I fell in love immediately. She told me she bought it from some local artist in Providence and I made a mental note to visit that shop when I was next there. So fast forward to the next day. Adam and I find the lone street parking spot available in downtown Portsmouth and there is this cutesy boutique right there so I pop in for a quick look around and there, for sale at the counter, is the exact same pill box I had admired at the wedding! Apparently that owner of the store had seen the artist's stuff in Providence and had ordered it because one of her best customers loves all things poodle related but it turns out she already had a pill box with a poodle on it. So I, of course, buy it and I am now the girl to come to if we are out and about and you need an advil or tums. Or half a vicodin (what?).

Anyway, Monday was my Sunday which means I did a ton of laundry and cleaned. Exciting stuff. I was of course, a tad depressed to return to work but 1) my Amy Burhoe ring arrived and is totally precious and 2) a bunch of us are going out to lunch this afternoon which should break up the day nicely!

So how was your weekend?