Wedding Weekend in Chicago

I just came home from one of the best mini-vacations ever! My mom is from Chicago and her family stayed out there when she moved to Connecticut over 25 years ago, so we don't get to see them very often (as in, once every couple of years). Fortunately, my cousin Jess was getting married this weekend so my parents, Camilo and I went out for three nights for the wedding and to visit with everyone.

Jess got engaged to her boyfriend of now 9 years about 18 months ago, so I have been looking forward to her wedding for over a year. The wedding was Friday afternoon, so Camilo and I flew from Boston to Chicago late on Thursday evening. On Friday morning, my mom and I went to the bridal suite where all of the bridesmaids and Jess were getting their hair and make-up done. The bridal party hadn't gotten to bed until 2am the night before, and hair dresser and make-up artist arrived at 6:30am to start working: if that's what it takes to have a 3pm church ceremony, I really probably won't have my wedding until midnight so that I can sleep in the day of. The suite was beautiful. If it included a kitchen it could be used as a permanent apartment: there's a foyer area when you enter through the double doors, a full-size dining room to the right, and then both a living room and bedroom in the back with a jacuzzi bathroom! Jess and the bridesmaids stayed there the night before the wedding, then Jess and her new husband Danny stayed there on their wedding night.

Camilo and I went in search of coffee and tissues for the ceremony late in the morning. Coincidentally, the hotel we were staying in and the reception hall were in the town next to where he lived for part of high school! Though he had not been back in five years, he remembered the area perfectly, so we found a Starbucks and a Walmart without a problem, and drove to the reception hall within minutes later that night, even though the official directions were a few miles off and many people got lost.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Jess was gorgeous and Danny was stunned as she walked down the aisle toward him, led by her brother. Because her brother, my cousin, Bryan led his mom, my aunt, in first, was a groomsman, and had to give Jess away, he kept walking people down the aisle and circling back, which was amusing. Also, it was a Catholic mass because Danny's family and part of Jess' family are Catholic, so at some points when the priest would give directions, he would say things like "you may now either sit back down or kneel," at which point you knew who was Catholic because those people kneeled. Well, at one of the wedding-specific parts (not part of normal Catholic mass), he invited people to stand. He meant just the wedding party, but the first 2 or 3 rows of "audience" also tentatively stood because we weren't quite sure what was going on... It wasn't all that weird because the non-Catholics probably thought it was another Catholic thing, but after about 20 seconds we realized how dumb we looked, and that we should be sitting, and all sat back down slowly.

Outside after the ceremony with the wedding Party Bus (instead of limo) in the background

Everyone had a blast at the reception! Camilo and I sat with my other cousins and their dates/families, while my parents sat with my mom's sisters and their dates. Our family really knows how to have fun. Right before dinner the wedding party was announced for their entrance with the song "Levels" playing. First the mothers of the bride and groom came running and dancing in, waving their hands in the air. Then the bridesmaids and groomsmen came in pairs dancing in or doing silly things like the "fishing" for each other dance move. Finally, the attention turned toward the grand stairway right next to our table and Jess and Danny made their grand entrance!

Mr. and Mrs. Pollock!

Dinner was an amazing 5 course meal with both stuffed chicken breast and filet mignon, and most important, the wedding cake! Finally, the bride and groom shared their first days to Lady Antebellum's "Just a Kiss," then Jess danced with her mom to Luther Vandross' "Dance with my Father Again" (her dad died when she was only 5 or 6 years old), and Danny shared a dance with his mom. At that point, everyone was invited to join Jess and Danny on the dance floor for a slow dance, so Camilo grabbed my hand and we went out with everyone else. At that point we spent most of the rest of the night on the dance floor. My parents were much better than us at the Twist, but Camilo and I might have been a bit better with the modern music, although my parents did try to keep up. Early in the night we joined my cousins and aunts for dancing and singing, but as the night went on, Camilo and I stayed out there ourselves with a bunch of people we didn't know and had so much fun! We totally made fun of the songs we just couldn't dance to, trying to be all pretend-serious and ghetto (which lasted for about 5 seconds before one of us would start laughing) or just jumping around and being silly. The night lasted until 12:30, at which point we went home totally exhausted. The younger wedding attendees continued the party in a room at the hotel but we just couldn't stay awake.

My parents, Camilo, and I went downtown Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours. My dad had not yet seen Millennium Park with Cloudgate, so we made that our first stop and got to see part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra practice and the giant silver bean. He was so amused by the reflection and was taking tons of pictures, like us all looking up at the reflection or at the concave part underneath.

At the Cloudgate aka Giant Bean

Finally Camilo and I went off to watch the second half of the France-Spain Euro 2012 game in a pub before meeting my parents again at Navy Pier. It's a nice area to walk around, but in general there's not much to do there except walk around when you don't have more than a half hour.

With the Navy Pier ferris wheel

Afterwards, my dad was dead-set on finding a rooftop bar to have a drink before leaving the city. Unfortunately, rooftop bars haven't really caught on in downtown Chicago yet, so we ended up at the new Trump Tower Hotel. It was absolutely gorgeous and expensive, and the 4 of us kept joking that we got past security to get in and somehow hadn't been kicked-out yet as we made our way to the 16th floor restaurant and bar. Unfortunately the wait was long to sit outside, so we sat by a window for a while admiring the view before leaving for dinner with my family.

In Front of Trump Tower (the restaurant was on the first level sticking out)

Camilo certainly got enough "meeting the family" this past weekend: not only did we see them all at the wedding and reception, but then went out for dinner with the newlyweds, Jess' mom, my cousin Lauren, and two more of my aunts for Chicago deep-dish pizza on Saturday night. I was really glad to spend a calm night with my family since I really don't get to see them that often. We can be crazy and overwhelming sometimes, but still incredibly friendly, and as one of my aunts told Camilo, there is never a dull moment when all of the sisters and cousins get together. That night when we got back to our hotel room, Camilo and I stayed up for hours talking and laughing at pretty much nothing, just like best friends do when they are young children and have sleepovers. I am so lucky to have such an amazing guy who I can dance and laugh and have a good time with, and who is willing to meet my entire half a family in one weekend, and he still sat next to me on the plane home so I assume I didn't totally scare him off with this trip :)

Even though I was gone from Boston for less than 3 days, there was so much activity that it felt like a much-needed vacation.

Working at the MCAD

Two weeks ago, I began my summer internship as an Enforcement Intern at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. I am so lucky this summer because not only do I have a great internship where I feel my work will actually matter and make a difference, but I am working with 3 of my closest friends from law school. In addition, it's one of those jobs where every day is different and you don't know what to expect. My responsibilities are mainly reviewing claim files (most are a year or two old) and making determinations on whether it is more likely than not that discrimination occurred. Unfortunately for confidentiality reasons I can't actually share details of any of my files on here, but in general, some of the cases leave me appalled at the employer's actions, while others have me laughing at the complainant.

Although I only work from 9-5 with an hour break for lunch, I am usually exhausted by the time I get home, and struggle to do anything with my night besides watch TV and go to bed. Twice per week, I take Spanish lessons at the Boston Language Institute after work. One of the best parts of learning a language through the Institute instead of in mandatory school language classes is that everyone wants to be there and is really trying, so we get through much more material. There are two reasons I am learning Spanish. I have spoken with many lawyers at big law firms recently about practicing international law and am continually told that South America is the new frontier for legal expansion, so I need to speak Spanish to be successful. Another reason is that my boyfriend Camilo is from Bogota, Colombia, and he has family and friends who don't speak much or any English, so I need to speak Spanish to eventually communicate with them. On the first day of class, the instructor asked each of us students why we wanted to speak Spanish, and of course the second reason was easier for me to say, so I replied "mi novio es de Bogota, Colombia." Well, of the 8 students there, half of us have boyfriends in Spanish-speaking countries! It has become someone of a running joke in the class, and the instructor uses our boyfriends in many examples. It personalizes the class for the 4 of us, but the other day when we were discussing our emotions, a middle-aged woman in class from Haiti said she was sad because she is all alone; I hope our constant discussion of our relationships isn’t making her even sadder.

In addition to the classes, I managed to make it out of my apartment last Monday night to have dinner with a couple of BC friends. I met Jenn and Erin at Tasca, and we ran into four other fellow band members from BC, so the 7 of us had dinner together and a great time finally catching up! After dinner, Erin and I went to see another friend perform in concert with his band. The BC Marching Band, which she and I were members of all 4 years at BC, is composed of about 80% BC students and 20% other Boston students (high school and other colleges). This allows us to meet students from other schools, including our friend Nick Butt who went to Berklee School of Music. When Nick graduated from Berklee, he joined a band playing the upright bass and they had their first gig at the Middle East music hall in Cambridge Monday evening. In the 5 years I’ve known Nick, the impression I had was that he would probably join some sort of metal rock band, so although it’s not my favorite type of music, at least I had mentally prepared myself for something of that nature. Well, to the surprise of Erin and me, he was actually a member of a bluegrass band. Again, it’s not my favorite type of music, but the band was really impressive and they wrote some great music. We had a great time and will hopefully get to see them perform again.

The Western Powers, Nick on the right with the upright bass (photo credit Erin)

I have been trying to use my weekends to really enjoy summer since clearly I can’t do much during the week. Last weekend Camilo and I went to the beach at Watch Hill, RI, on Saturday. It was a bit chilly and cloudy, but there were still a few other people there with us, and it was a perfect day to nap on the sand, throw a football a bit, and walk along the water. On Sunday it was much nicer out, but my parents were in town to celebrate my mom’s birthday with us so we stayed in Boston.

Relaxing on the beach

Gorgeous day for her birthday

This weekend we also took advantage of the sun by going down to East Hampton today to celebrate Father’s Day with my dad out on the water! Spending 4 hours driving was not terrific, especially when it was pretty warm in Connecticut but cool in Boston, but my dad was thrilled to have me home for the day and we all had a great day on the lake.

Beautiful day on the lake

A Week in East Hampton

Although I did make it to Long Island one day last week, my hometown is not in "the Hamptons" but instead East Hampton, Connecticut.

My hometown is a typical New England colonial town. We had a population of 12,000 when I was growing up (I think it's grown to 14,000 now), and there were about 116 who graduated with me from high school. East Hampton is about 90% white and mostly Christian, where even those who don't practice a religion or consider themselves religious generally still celebrate Christmas and Easter. It is also a typical small Connecticut town in the way that it seems like everyone knows everyone else and everything about everyone else. For example, I have been going to the same nail salon for the past 4 years with my mom. When I walked in Friday morning, the owner ran over, gave me a big hug, asked how my mom is and how my first year of law school went before filling me in on her daughter's first year of college. It's nice to have this familiarity when I go home, but it's also starkly contrasted with experiences I have in Boston.

Another hometown feel that I only experience in East Hampton is a strong sense of identity and community. We are known for very few things, so it was a little exciting when the valedictorian in my graduating class mentioned that Sports Illustrated once featured our high school for having a completely unique mascot- we are the Bellringers. I know it sounds ridiculous. Half of our cheerleading cheers were for the "Easties" because it was easier to rhyme and easier to say. If you can imagine this (because I couldn't even find a picture online), our mascot costume was this guy dressed in colonial attire (aka George Washington) with this giant mascot head, wearing a colonial 3 point hat and huge red boxing gloves. In one glove he holds a large brass bell. At most important sporting events, a student, usually a guy who was good at gymnastics, would run around with the mascot suit on, and then take the gloves off and do handsprings and back flips all around the basketball court or track or soccer field.

Again, I know this sounds crazy so I have to explain further. Our mascot is a bellringer because East Hampton is known as "Belltown." We used to be the bell-making capital of the world, and up until a week and a half ago, we were home to the only factory in America left to make just bells. Bevin Bell Factory has been making bells in East Hampton since 1808. Recently, the company made the bell in "It's a Wonderful Life" that rings when the angel gets its wings, all of the jingle bells for President Clinton's inauguration, and most of the jingle bells used in the states every Christmas season. In addition, it manufactures all of the Salvation Army bells every year that the workers ring outside on the streets as they collect donations.

Unfortunately, all of that went up in smoke last Saturday evening. As my parents and I were driving home from Boston, a huge thunderstorm hit East Hampton with about 200 lightning strikes in a 5 sq mile area. It had passed by the time we got back, but since we had spent the day in Boston it was late and my parents went to bed somewhat early. I stayed up reading and surfing the Internet, and around 1:30am I began to see strange Facebook statuses from other East Hampton friends regarding the bell factory. More precisely, the statuses said it was on fire and all the houses near it had been evacuated. My parents' house is on a hill about a mile from the center of town where the factory was, so I looked out my bedroom window and not only saw smoke but actual flames rising above the trees. When such a historic building goes up in smoke, it is a historic event, so I woke up my parents up so that we could all look at the flames over the trees (not much happens in East Hampton, so we grasp onto whatever excitement we can get). However, this was not enough for my dad, who convinced me to take a car ride with him toward the fire to check it out. We should have known we wouldn't be able to get anywhere near it, and it turned out the best view was from our upstairs windows at home.

This was pretty much all anyone could talk about the next day, and the whole week I was home, in conversations where people would usually comment on the weather or ask how school or a job was going, everyone instead was theorizing about the fire: what started it (lightning or arson?), whether Mr. Bevin would rebuild, what would happen to all the employees in the mean time, and who would provide bells for the USA this year.

I love living in Boston and I'm so glad I moved here and am committed to establishing my life here, but while the small-town feel that boarders on nosiness can sometimes get overwhelming in East Hampton, I will always love the strong sense of community and will always be impressed how my hometown comes together when we need to in times like these. I can't imagine finding that same togetherness anywhere else.