I left Friday afternoon. Well more like Friday night. I was supposed to leave at 4:10pm but received an email around noon that my flight was delayed until 5:15pm. I wasn't very happy but I dealt with it. However, by the time I arrived at the airport at 3:30, my flight had been pushed back even further to 6:50pm. (insert angry Kat face here) I got thru security and over to my gate where I asked the nice Southwest woman why my flight had been delayed. She told me weather but offered no further information. After a couple of awkward seconds of hard staring and waiting for her to elaborate, I finally asked the follow up question. I told her that weather here is gorgeous and my friend in Boston said it was sunny and clear skies. She said the plane was coming from Ft. Lauderdale, where thunderstorms were currently ripping up the airport. Awesome.
When I asked her if she could put me on a different plane, she responded with "I'm just customer service". It took all of my willpower to say "thank you" instead of yelling "well, I'm a customer, service me!". Instead, I walked away and grabbed some dinner and sat down to wait for the inevitable. The plane finally took off at about 7:15pm, which put me in Boston around 8:45pm, way too late to have a North End dinner, even by city standards. Which meant I also didn't get to have my cannolis from Mike's Pastry. But thankfully, my friend picked up some Pumpkinhead so I drowned my anger in a couple of those while watching Braveheart with him.
The next day, my friend dropped me at the bridal shop where I met my beautiful and engaged best friend to help her (and the horde of women along for the ride) to help her pick out a wedding dress. I don't want to give any details here but let's just say she didn't have to try on as many dresses as I expected she would. And in fact, the one we all loved ended up falling into second place when she tried on one that made her face light up with happiness. So that was the clear winner, and she placed her order, and under budget! I can't wait to see how it looks on her next September and the look on her fiance's face when he sees her for the first time :)After dress shopping, I met up with yet another friend who had been personally invited by my mother to come up for the Webber wine tasting party. She was kind enough to drive up to Maine from Mass with me. Well actually I drove but that's a long story. On the way, we stopped off to see my sister's new house! Yes, house! She and her boyfriend are renting the cutest, perfect house less than a mile from the coast of Maine in a small town. It is homey with a huge living room, two bedrooms, a deck, a shed, and a backyard! Plus, an entire cabinet of liquor. What else could a girl want?
Finally, my friend and I made it to my parents' house and collapsed into a heap on the couch with my other sister and chatted with my parents. It's always so nice to see my family. And just be in Maine. And luckily, the next day was going to be even more family-filled. My mom and older sister had both just finished their first batch of wines from the wine-making kits they received for Christmas. And naturally we invited the family over to try them! 
Sunday, we got up and ready by 10am and my friend and mom got a jumpstart on the food while my sister and I worked on the wine description and perfecting the menu. The party was set to start at 1pm, which naturally meant people start trickling in around 1:20 or so. Because my family is rarely on time. But by the time people arrived, all the food was set out and we had the wine list ready to go plus those cool, cheap wine glasses ready to be used. I think in all about 24 people showed up. And if you've ever seen the size of my parents house, you'd understand how full that was. But I was so happy I wouldn't have had it any other way. I got to see members of my family that I don't get to see much anymore including my former partner in crime (from the time we were in diapers). We sampled 10 different wines including the ones mom and my sister made and there were only two that I didn't really care for, but one was blueberry so I can't fault that one. After that, we passed around a couple of new beers to try and some other unmentionables that were absolutely delicious!And because we were having such a good time, we decided to continue the party later on at my aunt's house with jello shots. (Unfortunately, we never got to have those but hey, life happens.)
Monday rolled around and my friend left to go home and mom decided I should see my little sister's new place. So we trekked northward and checked it out. Plus did a little shopping because I have the magic touch and can help people find things they can't find for themselves, in this case, a belt for my sister. However, mom couldn't seem to find a pair of dress boots that she liked enough to buy for work. After that little adventure, mom and I returned home to have dinner with dad. I had been seriously craving burgers so of course, my mom was nice enough to make them for me. Which meant I showed up a little later to my engaged friend's house later than I expected but totally worth it.
Tuesday, I got to sleep in and have doggie snuggles and then my friends and I went out to lunch, stopping to picking up my friend's fiance. We had a delicious Italian lunch, followed by a trip to an Italian bakery that made my mouth water, even after the meal I had just eaten. I grabbed a couple of cannolis, a raspberry turnover, and some doughnuts. And I love every fat second of enjoying them!
Later that afternoon, it was time to drive me down to the airport, so we hopped into the car and away we went! And the final reason I will never fly Southwest again is this: Flight was schedule to leave at 5:55pm, and didn't board until after 6pm. And unfortunately, I was late getting home to watch Pretty Little Liars live which was a devastating blow to my social media life. But I landed safely and I am thankful for that. Plus I caught the west coast viewing, so it's not like I was totally out of touch. All in all, it was a successful weekend I think and definitely worth the travel hassle. <3
This week is orientation for the grad school and the ischool so look out for the post about that!
