The weeekend before Thanksgiving I went ´home´ to California to be in my friend´s wedding in Long Beach. I left Spain on the 19 and returned on the 23/24. Although it was a short trip it was totally worth it.
What was interesting for me is that even though Long Beach is in California and I live in California, I felt more at home when I returned to Madrid.
I met my parents at the aiport on Wednesday evening and we went to dinner at one of the many Crepe places within a block of the Westin Hotel. There were at least three very close by. The following day before wedding stuff started we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific with ´more than 500 species of aquatic life´. They did have a lot. We saw sharks and rays and tons of fishes and how sharks are born and feeding the sharks. (they get restaurant quality fish) We saw Jelly Fish and Sea stars and Gigantic Lobster and crabs and Puffins that can swim under water. It was really cool.
In the evening I went with the wedding party that was there to do a walk-through of the wedding venue, the Ebell Club. After the walk through all went to BJ´s restuarant for dinner where they have this gigantic cookie with icecream dessert which is super tasty and then we went bowling as a whole wedding party. It was really fun. I haven´t been bowling in YEARS. I can´t actually remember the last time I went bowling and I managed to bowl a couple strikes and get my score above 100..at least.
On Friday some of us grabbed lunch at another crepe place right down the street and then we went to the salon Kreme de la Kreme to get our nails done. The place is super cute and perfect for doing a wedding prep thing. It was pink and girly inside without being too frilly and they served mimosas and mini cupcakes and you got to choose your lotion scent. I got my first pedicure which was an interesting experience. For some reason having someone bending over my feet weirds me out. For some reason Lisal, the bride went last and was stressed out because we had to do the rehersal right after. As it turns out, everyone was late to the rehersal as well so it was fine. Lisal and Sean did a good job of timing things so that there was always a lot of bumper time so there was not a lot of rushed time. After the rehersal we had the rehersal dinner at an Italian restaurant that was pretty tasty. All the food was a great change from Spanish food. We were going to hang out after the dinner but spending time at the salon must have zapped us of our energy because all us girls were pooped and went to sleep almost directly.
Saturday was the big day!! We had to go to the other salon to get hair and makeup done and then the wedding was at 5.30. Before I went to the salon I went to the farmers market with my parents and was very tempted by all the Mexican food that was there. There were tamale stands and a stand with all types of Aqua Fresca and tacos and then there were pita chips and hummus and I had to remind myself that I had already eaten and that I would get lots more food as the day went by. The place we got our hair and makeup done was Flaunt Salon and it was really fun to see everyone getting ready and done up but still wearing casual clothes. All of us got fake eyelashes put on. It´s a really odd experience and it feels like your eyes are really heavy but you get used to them after a while. Everyone looked so pretty.
We spent like 2 hours taking photos because we eneded up with a lot of time between the salon and the ceremony. I was sad because my camera battery was dying but I was able to get a ton of photos of Lisal, partially because one of the other bridesmaids is more photo obessed than I am and took a lot of photos. The ceremony was beautiful and each of the fathers said something and there was good Lisal and Sean humor involved as well. Afterwards we took some more pictures and had appetizers and then sat down to dinner. Sean´s brother, the best man gave a really good speech. We were all sitting there while he was talking saying how good it was. After most people finished eating Sean and Lisal wnet around to the table and since I was sitting at a table with mostly CMS people, and because Lisals mom asked for it, Linh led us in a CMS cheer. Lisal (and I think Charlie, our swim coach) was thoroughly embarrassed by us. Then there was the traditional cake and dancing and it was all over at 11pm. I´m so happy for her and at the same time I can´t believe shes married.
Sunday morning we met up with some extended family for Dim Sum which was super tasty and then I went to the airport and waited for my delayed flight and then spent time in Heathrow airport which doenst post the gate until 30-40 min before the flight leaves. At least everything was in English so it was easy to understand. I arrived back in Madrid the following day in the evening and got ready for work the next day. It was a short, jam-packed trip that I would do all over again in a heartbeat. It was so good to see my parents and my friends and bring back some things from home and I´m glad I got to be a part of Lisal and Sean´s wedding.
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