Lumas 20, 27.

COMMENTS
- I'm very tired and don't feel so much like writing now, so pleas excuse any brevity.
- I last left you on Wednesday the 6th. It was a relatively late day at work, and I was exhausted from the concert on Tuesday. I'd announced the first night of my two day "show," so I slept for about an hour, then frantically cleaned until eight. Ultimately, the only attendee was Meridith, and with only one visitor, we decided to bypass any performances and just hang-out.
- Thursday the 7th was a short day at work. Again, I headed directly home, but spent the afternoon cleaning. This time, Gemma, Christian, Sky, and Bill arrived for the show, and it proceeded from there. We finally wrapped up after eleven. I thought things went well.
- I've been listening to Doris Henson this whole time.
- Friday the 8th, work got out around two-ish, and I went home and packed and readied for the weekend. Now, at 4:30, it was time for me to take the 1:15 trek to Jessica's where I'd meet her and my brother would pick us up. Through the miracles of public transportation and rush hour, and the way the two typically interact, I waited forty-five minutes for a 147 (at which point four arrived, end-to-end), and didn't make it to Hyde Park until 6:15. We got off to a late start, talking about music while I played more Doris Henson and also subjected them to Depeche Mode. We finally got in well after midnight, but we all sat up with my parents and sister until four, talking.
- Saturday the 9th, Jess and I slept in until almost one. By 1:15, we were on our way to go shopping (for wedding stuff) with my mom at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We swung through Halo Burger on the way out. We made it home by after three, and after intense vehicular negotiations with my brother and sister, left to get me shoes (awful shoes that stung my feet; I've reverted to the old) and update the registry at JC Penny. Then we returned home, picking up pizza at Muncheez on the way.
- This was another highlight of the trip; coasting along, driving through the hills of Flint Township to Beecher and River and rolling back down into Flushing.
- After dinner back home, my parents presented us with an early gift: a scrapbook for (and including out tickets for) our honeymoon in Belize. Jess and I looked through the materials with them, we went into town to visit with Grandma Coyne and Aunt Georgia, surprising them in the middle of wrapping something, and after a nice visit there, we moved on to the A&W. Riverbank park, incidentally, was showing a movie and was overwhelmed with the kids. 8th grade on up, it was just like the swarms in a sitcom. A number of kids were making noise in the restaurant, and about a dozen left without leaving their waitress a tip, and then ourside, we caught some sitting on my car. I was going to slide in and honk the horn at them, but before I could, Jess snapped at them. We really need a pair of walkers to shake at these kids. Back home, mom began showing Jess how to make potato salad, but I went to sleep on the couch, woke up, and had moved upstairs by one.
- Sunday the 10th, we got up and there was a pitch of activity getting ready for the shower. We dressed and showered and made it over to Peg's by one. In the end, the party was attended by Peg (who was hosting it), all seven Coynes and grandma Mascroft, Naheda, and Marsha, Dave, and Carly DeVoe. We ate sandwiches on Swedish Rye and tortillas with dip off suspiciously new looking Fiesta ware. We played games in which my brother and I were dressed up in bridal dresses made of tissue and toilet paper (my aunt and the DeVoes seemed to enjoy dressing me up) and then played quiz games about each other (involving factoids about Jess and me and others' wedding advice) as we opened gifts. And the gifts were wonderful, but so was their presentation. We got just about all of the barware on our registry and a spended wine set from my grandma, a number of cooking and serving pieces (including a steamer filled with my sister's puppychow mix, and a bundt cake pan with a Kahlua bundt cake), and a few more keepsake items. Also, most of the guests had brought recipe cards, so we're already building the beginnings of a collection. John Crawford and Sam also visited, and we talked for awhile before the party started to wrap up.
- Finally, we returned home, where we intercepted Kaite Cawood, who I haven't actually seen in three years, David, and their daughter Lillian. She'd brought us several books (including a wedding voodoo doll set), but the best part was Jessica finally having the opportunity to meet them. Lillian, by the way, is now four, and is well on the way to what will likely be a brilliant and serious career as... I know not what, but I was intimidated. She told us that she was already in school, and while we all had to head out, the visit capped off a perfect midsummer visit.
- Jessica, Sam, Caitlin, Cody, and I piled into the car, which was also crammed food of foods and takeaways. Cody drove, and then me. We dropped off Jessica in Hyde Park, and the rest of us rode on to Edgewater Beach by about 11, Chicago time. I showed Caitlin and Cody the roof, did the dishes, and went to bed. It was just after twelve.
- And that's my short description of the week.
- Okay, okay, I'll probably restore the "of the days" by September, because these posts just seem a little empty without them. I'm also thinking of cutting the abbreviated entries, because no matter what I try, they still look ghetto to me.
- The number of entries will probably be sporadic at best over the next two months, and you can probably count on me to not post more than once or twice during the month of August (probably mid-August). Things will be singing again in September, when I'm settled into my new routing in New York. Not such a problem, considering my once formidible readership has plunged to practically nothing in the last month or so. Is that a summer thing?

QUESTION OF THE DAY
If you were a book, what would your title be, and what would your cover look like?

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