Like most of my trips to New England, I had a wonderful time with my friends. I feel so fortunate to have the friends that I do. We were joking that lately all of our spare money has been spent on weddings: the traveling to and from, the gifts, the engagement parties, bachelorette parties, and all the stuff that goes a long with occasion. I don’t mind a bit though. The time spent with my friends is priceless and nothing I could buy would be better than that.
On Sunday, my best friend, Abby Nelson, married to Noah Cirincione. Both of them went to college on the East coast. Noah was a swimmer at Brown University and Abby was a springboard diver at Wheaton College with me. Ironically, Noah and Abby were probably at the same pool numerous times, but never met until after college when they both lived in Southern California.
They had a beautiful wedding at The Ocean Cliff Mansion in Newport Rhode Island. It was truly an honor for me to be one of the bridesmaids in their wedding. Both Noah and Abby was a very calm, cooperative, and organized throughout the planning so everything went very smoothly. I didn’t realize how many little details go into planning a wedding, but everything went absolutely perfect.
I got to Boston a couple of days before the wedding so I could help out with little things. I don’t know how much of a help I was, but I enjoyed staying at Abby’s family’s house near Boston. Abby, her Dad, Steve, his fiancé Rosemary, and her brother, Pete are like a second family to me. Their home is so warm and inviting. While Abby and Noah did some planning, Pete made dinner and Steve, built a fire every night like he always does for us in the winter. Rosemary and I did the dishes. Then couple of Abby’s friends from California came, too. We definitely had a house full.
On Saturday, we all drove down to Newport, R.I., where the wedding was held. It’s a quaint little tourist town, right on the ocean that’s a great place to stay, even in the middle of winter. Newport is known for their mansions and the wedding was at the Ocean Cliff Mansion. The wedding party got to spend the weekend there and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. We had the wedding rehearsal and then a rehearsal dinner at Lucci’s Italian Restaurant. All the bridesmaids and groomsmen had the chance to “roast and toast” the bride and groom. It was fun telling and hearing stories from Abby and Noah’s past.
The bride and all the bridesmaids started getting ready at 9 a.m. on Sunday and the ceremony didn’t even start until 4:30. I never knew it was such a process but there were a lot of us. I think the photos will turn out great. We even had to go outside in the freezing cold. My blog camera didn’t really take good photos but you kind of get the idea.
Abby and my friends from Wheaton came to the wedding and we all had a good time together. If it weren’t for weddings, we all would never see each other. We can’t wait for the next wedding. The one problem is that they never seem long enough.
We did miss the Patriots game and there were a lot of die-hard Patriots fans there. The bartenders were somehow able to give us updates. I think some of the groomsmen may have snuck upstairs during the reception to find TVs.
I will probably miss the game this weekend. Too. because I will finally get drive my dragster. It seems like it has been too long. We will start testing in Vegas this Saturday. Tomorrow, I’m giving my speech at the North American International Auto Show. They said that they are expecting 7,500 kids from surrounding schools. I can’t even imagine what that many people looks like, but I think I am ready. Trucker Mike, Mac, and Chris are taking our KB Racing dragster to Cobo Arena tonight so they can set it up to be on display tomorrow. I’m going to pick up my Dad and Grandpa from the airport right now. This is the first time they have been to Michigan since I moved here over a year ago. They want to see my speech, see the shop, and where I live. Needless to say, things are pretty busy this week so I will get back to you as soon as I can.