Emily in California & Maile & Scott's Wedding

The reason I flew back to California instead of driving with Adam to DC was because my good friend Maile was getting married!! Her wedding was in San Diego and I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids! Adam's DC adventures will be posted shortly!

From the moment I landed, I was having a great time. Maybe it was the welcoming party that picked us up! Thanks Ray & Mitch!! And it could have also been stuffing myself full of samosas, naan and curry at India Cookhouse.

In case I forgot what Mitch and Ray looked like

Renee and Mitch at dinner

The next morning I was off to San Diego. Before I left, I had a chance to see Don Stigar (just for a few minutes) which was really nice. Don is the Maintenance Supervisor in Mesa Court and he is good people. I had an awesome drive down the 5 freeway and killed some time at the Carlsbad Outlets and Target before I met up with Maile and her family. We spent the afternoon putting together wedding favors and programs, and making sure that other details for the big day were in order.

Maile and her grandmother with the wedding favors

Maile is allergic to macadamia nuts, but her wedding favors had macadamia nut cookies and macadamia nut Kisses in them. Too funny! Her grandmother made me eat all the broken cookies too... she really had to twist my arm... ;)

The bubbles that were tied around the programs

Friday felt like one of the craziest days ever, probably moreso for the bride-to-be! From getting our nails done, finishing up wedding programs, picking up the dress and suit, getting wedding rentals, preparing for the rehearsal & dinner, meeting up with friends- we got a lot done!

The Takaharas and Sanders were meeting for the first time at the rehearsal!!

Maile's little brothers bonding

The cute ring bearer and flower girl getting their pix taken

The next morning started off bright and early for hair & makeup. I took hundreds of photos, but here are just a few. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Maile was a little concerned that it might rain, but it was a sunny day in La Jolla! I am soooo happy for Maile. Her and Scott have been together for a long time and it was so nice to see them tie the knot. And of course, I cried. Ha ha.

The bride getting all done up!

Traci getting her makeup done

Maile's turn!

Me in my dress with the beautiful bride!

It's official! It's Mr. and Mrs. Scott and Maile Sanders!



Filling Maile & Scott's getaway car with balloons

Always the multi-tasker

Sami tying the noisy cans to the car

Traci & I approve!

Details of the wedding- I love all the little things that make a wedding come together. Maile and Scott had different Japanese and Hawaiian elements to their weddings, including a lei ceremony where they gave each other's families leis, the flowers (tons of orchids), the music, and of course the 1001 cranes put together into an amazing mural. I was impressed and happy that I was able to contribute a few cranes to the final product.

At the end of the night, it was time to drive home. When I walked into Jennifer's house, she was shocked because...I was wearing a dress! And had my hair done! And my nails done! And had a little bit of make up done! I then proceed to keep her up all night talking about the wedding, etc. until she kicked me out because she was exhausted from work.

The next morning we had brunch/lunch with Renee and John. It was so good to see John. I hadn't seen him since just after he had been diagnosed with cancer. He had been accepted to do some experimental treatments at UCLA and was in the hospital for three weeks and had just gotten back home. He was looking and sounding great. It was really good to see him and to see both him and Renee in such positive spirits.

They let me into their new car! I took my shoes off first, though!

John, me and Renee

I have no idea what we did that afternoon. Maybe errands? I just remember Jennifer saying "Let's do whatever you want to do" and I would respond with "Whatever!" Eventually, though, we made it to Disneyland where we met up with Tim and watched the terrible new Disneyland parade. The Parade of Dreams ("Welcome to our family") is much better than this new block party thing they are doing. That entire evening, though, was full of ridiculousness and laughter. I am not sure I laughed that hard in some time.

Last ever butter pecan ice cream in California's Adventure?

This photo makes me laugh. We didn't mean to cross legs. We were just doing the Tim Trevan thing (imagine us yelling "Let's do it!")

After Smokies...KNOXVILLE!

Jennifer showed us a good time in Knoxville! First, we started off just outside of the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg (super kitchsy little town with shops galore) where we went to the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen (the place where she had bought us the chocolate bear on a stick that I slowly ate over the course of 2 months), then we did a lovely driving tour of Pigeon Forge (home to Dollywood, pancake restaurants galore, and dozens of go-kart tracks) before ending up at Jennifer's friends Charlie & Mary's house. We had a great time talking with them- they shared lots of stories and were wonderful hosts. They were kind enough to prepare a nice dinner for us too. After that, Jennifer pointed out where the Gamble farm was and some other things in the dark, before we got to her house and PASSED OUT from being so tired!

Jennifer with Charlie and Mary

The next day we went with Jennifer, John and Amy on a driving tour of the Oak Ridge area, but passed on the museum (it would have been interesting, but it wasn't the museum kind of day). We stopped at Big Ed's pizza where we chowed down on THREE pizzas. We had worked up an appetite! That afternoon, we stopped by the dog park and watched Riley (John's dog) play with all the other dogs. Adam also witnessed a dog eating another dog's business...yikes! Then it was yummy BBQ for dinner! Somehow I still had enough energy to go shopping with Jennifer and her mom. I didn't find anything, but Jennifer bought stuff to return later. ;-) Buyer's remorse!

Because we are ridiculous.

On Tuesday, Jennifer scheduled a busy day for us! We started off the morning by visiting some of her colleagues at UT. We got to see Mary again in the Orientation office, met a few students that she had worked with, and got an amazing tour of the campus. If there is one person who can share some great stories about the campus and point out interesting facts, it is an orientation leader. Trust me!



After checking out the campus, we had lunch at Long's Drugs. Talk about yummy burgers and malts. The only downside was that this placed used lots and lots of styrofoam and plastic. We weren't too happy about that, but we'll let Jennifer contact Long's when she moves back to Knoxville to encourage them to explore other ways to serve their food while being more environmentally friendly. From there, we went back to the campus and met up with one of her other former supervisors/colleagues, JJ.

Sad face with our styrofoam cups

Jennifer then took us around downtown and the site of the World's Fair. We got to ride up the elevator of the Sunsphere. They have some displays and videos at the top, so we spent a bit of time learning facts about the Fair and the Sunsphere. It was good stuff! We decided to do a little bit of shopping in Knoxville after that. Jennifer's mom was meeting her up at the mall, so we split up with Jennifer and went back to her house to research Chinese restaurants in the area. The winner for the evening was the Mandarin House Kitchen (or something). It was a typical Chinese buffet kind of place, and I didn't think it was too bad, though their ma pao tofu left something to be desired. Adam did bring some sriracha sauce too! We chatted it up with our waiter when we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. He actually lived in Orange County but headed out to TN for family and school. Small world!



Then it was suddenly Wednesday, April 29, and time for Jennifer and I to fly to California and Adam to drive to DC! Before we got to the airport, we stopped by Jennifer's Gran's house. She had just turned 95 over the weekend and is still one sharp cookie. She doesn't look or act like she is 95 (in a good way!).


A few random things- we met quite the characters around Knoxville! From the man who asked Adam and Jennifer how to switch his cell phone off of speakerphone, to the man downtown who tried to give us his parking spot but then couldn't because his battery was dead, to the guy in the Sunsphere who gave us his whole life story in five minutes. People sure are chatty- I suppose that is where Jennifer gets it from! (just kidding! I know you are reading this! Haha).

Wow...where to start? Smoky Mountains?

There are just so many things that have happened since I last posted. We are definitely tardy in updating the blog- for many reasons including not having reliable internet, slow at uploading photos, and laziness.

My "I've been driving...too busy to blog" face. =)

In any case, here is a recap. We arrived in the Great Smoky Mountains on April 23rd and camped at Elk Mont campground for three nights. Wow, we came at the perfect time! The dogwood trees were in bloom, there weren't too many mosquitos (and I think the bug repellent arm bracelet worked) and the weather was nice. We did catch a little bit of rain on our third night that got our tent wet, but overall it was very nice! We saw some wild turkey, drove through some very beautiful scenic roads through the park, and did a hike out to some waterfalls. We also drove out on Cades Cove and saw some of the historic buildings- houses, barns, grist mills, etc. And of course, we got to listen to some Appalachian music, banjoes and all!

We were in NC just for the drive though...must come back in the future!

Setting up camp! Elk Mont was a nice campground. They even had a little store where they sold ice and firewood for CHEAP! Shocking since usually places like those charge you an arm and a leg.

Trees in full bloom in the Smokies


Dinner our first night...Zataran's Jambalaya...sadly better than the stuff I got in New Orleans. Next time I will do better research beforehand!

I love reading by lantern in the tent!

Dogwoods in bloom...gorgeous!

Meadows in Cades Cove

Old home in the Smoky Mountains

Church in the Smoky Mountains

A still-working grist mill in the Smokies!

One of my favorite pictures of Adam...hanging out in the tent!

The view of the Smokies from Clingmans Dome

Waterfalls and creeks were everywhere in the Smokies!

At the end of our time in the Smokies, we met up with Jennifer and her family at one of the picnic areas in the park that was right off of the river/creek. It was fun chowing down with the Gambles and climbing along the rocks with Jennifer before we headed into Knoxville for some good ol' Tennessee fun!

Rock hopping in the freezing water!

Adam and Emily on opposite sides of the US!

Adam and I are doing great! Right now, I am in Irvine while Adam is in Washington D.C. We reunite tomorrow in Detroit so I'll hopefully have a chance to update our blog with photos and what we've been up to!

Just as a recap, for those who are excitedly anticipating our next blog post:
1. We went to the Smoky Mountains. It was beautiful, I only got 4 bug bites, it rained on our last evening, we met up with Jennifer's family for a yummy lunch at one of the picnic areas, and I saw water falls and dogwood trees.
2. We got to spend a few days with the Gamble family at their casa. It was a ton of FUN and Jennifer took us all around Knoxville. We also had dinner with two of Jennifer's friends who are the sweetest couple- Charlie and Mary. We got to meet her 95 year old Gran and play with Riley and Winston.
3. I flew back with Jennifer and had Indian food with my fun former co-workers/friends before doing it up wedding style with Maile. It was a GORGEOUS wedding with not a rain cloud in the sky! Now it is time for a little Disney while Adam is hitting up all the museums in DC.

I'll elaborate more, along with photos, when I get the chance!