We (Patrick, Veronica and myself) left early Friday morning for our trip up north to the Napa Valley area for Michael’s wedding. The drive up went well until we hit the Oakland area around 2 pm and ran into a ton of traffic. We arrived at our motel with just enough time for Patrick and Veronica to shower and head off to the rehearsal dinner. I spent the evening napping in front of the TV, having had only 3 hours of sleep the night before!

After going out for breakfast/lunch the next morning, Veronica and I hung out at the motel while Patrick went for a quick run-through of the wedding. We headed off to the wedding mid-afternoon. It was held at the home of the bride, Chante, in her parents’ backyard. Everything was beautiful and all would have been great except for the 100+ temperatures…and not enough shade in the backyard! I was so overdressed, wearing a long, dark red sleeveless dress that proved to be exceptionally hot. I really felt sorry for Michael, Patrick and all the other guys in those dark tuxes. But there was nothing we could do to alleviate the heat until the sun went down.

No one expected this unbelievable heat. In fact, I heard that the bride’s family had actually arranged for patio heaters since they expected it to be very cool in the evening. Who would have thought we would have been roasting up in Napa Valley! Everything else seemed to go well with great food and wine and I’m glad Patrick was able to be there for Michael.

We left for home this morning and arrived home around 3 pm in the afternoon. The temps in So.Cal. were just as hot as they were up north the previous day, so we all wound up in the pool for a few hours. It felt great to be in the pool and to be home. We had a good time but it’s always good to be home. I’m grateful to be able to stay home until August when I head back up to Seattle.