And I Never took a shower

Friday, September 6, 2024

I hopped out of bed quite quickly (okay, astonishingly quickly because it was directly after I woke up, not after 90 minutes of playing on my phone) because I needed to make cupcakes. My friend, Mark, is having a birthday party tomorrow and I made chocolate cherry cupcakes for him. I didn’t pause to take a shower, because I figured there would be time while baking or cooling or something. Nancy joined me after a bit, and that just made everything more fun. We got the cupcakes baked, the cherries stuffed inside, the frosting made and piped. We scrounged up three different lunches for three different people.

I was on my way to the shower when Donna called to make a plan for tomorrow. Plan, plan, plan. She said to bring along a dress possibility for her to borrow for the wedding next wedding. Nancy and I went to the closet and looked and looked and picked and picked and had a great time.

I was on my way to the shower when I thought to ask Nancy what jewelry I should wear with my dress to the wedding. That turned into trying on my dress (and dancing around) with the jewelry, followed by a lovely photo shoot. We watched a Facebook lady show us how to pose for photos yesterday. Her people looked REALLY better than when they just stood there, so we tried it out. We laughed REALLY hard, but to be honest, our pictures were way better than just standing there ones.

I went to shower, then decided I needed to pack first, and that my hair didn’t look that bad, so maybe I could skip it. I was just going to ride in the car and then sit in a hotel. I was going to see no one.

While packing, Carla and Mark arrived to pick up the cupcakes, so we visited for a few minutes. (I saw them) The no shower was definitely going to happen because our time to leave rapidly approaching. Keith got things packed up and we got in car only a few minutes late. I was wearing my very cute France hat, covering up my not good hair, but in a few minutes I was on fire and had to take it off.

We went to Taco John’s in Menomonie for dinner. I thought about the fact I should have put my hat back on. Oh well.

We dropped Nancy at Emma’s house for an overnight visit. We are staying at a hotel tonight because of chamber orchestra in Eau Claire, so I will go back to Menomonie tomorrow to get Nancy. Emma and Levi looked good (and showered). We stopped for a minute to pet kitty Phoenix but had to leave quickly to make it to rehearsal. The map people gave us an entirely NEW WAY to go from Menomonie to Eau Claire. What? How is that possible? Neither Keith nor I had ever realized that road existed. It was glorious. The sun was shining on the trees, we were the only car on the road, and everything was new. Win!

We saw an art fair in town as we went to the hotel (new hotel to us – the Oxbow. It is farther away from the theater, but totally fine in this nice weather. I hope we are back to being close when we are here in January). Keith went to rehearsal, I put on my little hat (I felt I was probably adorable), and headed to the art. I really enjoyed the walk and liked looking at the crafts. There were tons of UWEC students there and signs told me it was Welcome UWEC students! time, so that made sense. I saw lots and lots of people. I walked downtown and around the library (where was the library before where it is now? I have to have used the library when I lived here, but I have absolutely no memory of it), then back to the hotel.

I did tons of Duolingo Italian and read a bit until Keith came back. He wasn’t here five minutes when we heard what sounded like a live New Orleans style band playing When the Saints go Marching In. We did squinty confused eyes at each other and went out the door looking for the music. We walked a block down Gallaway and there, in a bar with a giant open garage door door, was a New Orleans style band playing. A lady by the door said C’mon on in, it’s free, so we did.

For not going to see anybody, I was going a lot of places.

Keith knew one of the trumpet players (who came to UWEC a couple years after we left), and the tenor sax player (Jeff R, for Jerry and Barbara) is an old friend. We stayed until their set finished. I really, really enjoyed the music. Keith went up to Jeff after they finished and said, Hey, how come you didn’t call me if you needed a sub? His eyes got really big and he just burst out laughing. He said he would always call if he knew Keith was around.

Now we are back in our different hotel, eating grapes. I will be setting an alarm so I have time for a shower in the morning.