Wedding! (Only... 11 months later)

All right! I'm FINALLY sitting down to write the wedding post. First I waiting for the photos to get to us, and by then school had started, and then it just felt overwhelming to write, it just seemed like so much! But, now the school year is all wrapped up and I am finally taking the time to write this up.

Get ready for a bajillion photos.

I spent the night at the hotel we would stay at for the wedding night so that me and my wedding party could get dressed and ready there. It was a fun place; very Portland. There was this weird picture of people dressed as frogs sitting on top of one another in with a background that made it look like the hallway extended beyond them. It was weird.

But the room was nice and it came with complimentary breakfast. Yay!

The day of, Maddie (my maid of honor) showed up early and we hung out, got our hair done, and started getting ready. The rest of the party showed up and we hung out, took pictures, and got ready.

Mandy and her party got ready at the venue. I had gotten a couple of little gifts for Mandy and had her mom and sister give them to her as she got ready.

Then it was time to head over to the venue to put on the dress and get bridal party pictures.

My mom was so cute. She came in while I was getting into my dress (an event in and of itself) and tried to give me this cute, heartfelt speech about how much she loved me and how proud she was, but she kept crying and couldn't finish.

It was precious.

Then we headed next door to this little garden place and we got our first look at one another.

Mandy looked so pretty. We were a total mess.

We took some pretty pictures in the garden together with just us.

Then we did pictures with our bridal party. Seriously. Our parties were great. I love my people. <3

Of course, we had to nerd out. Mandy got her bridal party all replica Star Wars weapons for their gift (neeeerrrrrddd).

I did take a Sailor Moon picture (because, why not?). And I'm feeling the Princess Serenity vibes with this white dress.

Then it was time for the photos with out families. Mandy's family:

My family was, maybe, a little less decorous than the DuPriest's....

We later got photos with Mandy's birth mother and uncle.

Then it was just a little wait until the actual wedding. Lilia (our flower girl) and my nephew, Luke, had a fun time playing and hanging out together. It was pretty dang cute.

Then it was time for the main event. Mandy had both her mom and dad walk her down the aisle.

I walked down the aisle with my dad.

Kelsey, Mandy's sister, read a poem and then the choir from First Unitarian, directed by our friend, Jason, sang a song of the poem.

Our flower girl, Jason and Jen's daughter, stole the show. A minute or two before walking down the aisle, she decided that she was DONE and had to be carried down the aisle. She then proceeded to walk around during the song and vows. It was precious and probably one of my favorite parts of the ceremony (aside from the actual getting married part).

We decided to do what is called a "handfasting" where you take a ribbon and wrap the hand of the couple for the vows. Elizabeth did an amazing job officiating.

And it was a good choice on our part to say nothing besides "I do" because we were both crying messes by the end.

We went back inside to rest, eat some tasty food (which Mandy immediately managed to drop tomatoes down the front of her shirt... but I brought a Tide pen so we were good). We signed our marriage certificate, and we were officially Mrs. and Mrs. DuPriest!

While we were hanging out, the catering people were switching out for dinner and our guests were talking and enjoying those same tasty appetizers.

Presenting to the world (or at least the people we invited): Mrs. and Mrs. DuPriest!

Tasty dinner, and then some cake!

People gave toasts and everyone cried.

We tried to talk to everyone but it went so fast!

Time to boogy! Took some time to dance (including the chicken dance in honor of Grandma and Grandpa Olson).

Time to leave. We had to do it twice for pics.

And, of course, because we have to make things fun, my car battery had died, so we had to come back and get a jump. Lol! Someone said something to the effect that it's not a lesbian wedding without someone fixing a car! (It wasn't a lesbian wedding... Mandy is bi... but we'll take it.)

Overall, it was an exhausting and fun day. I wish we had had more time to talk to everyone. They took great pictures, but the photographer definitely did not do a great job helping us plan the timing aspect, lol!

And, to wrap it up, my absolute FAVORITE picture from the entire thing: Lilia running away from us crying.

Distance Learning and Quarantine Commercials

So schools officially moved to what is being called "distance learning" for the rest of the school year and we are in week 3 of that right now. It's definitely an interesting dynamic.

Mandy has been running her music class from her office which has been fun to listen in on. No instruments, yet, but it's only a matter of time. Especially when she randomly found a saxaphone in the back of her car that she didn't know was there? Who does that...? My wife. My wife does that.

She's so cute.

For me, distance learning has meant making a lot of videos about social emotional learning and assigning them in SeeSaw (an online learning tool) and YouTube. I've been doing a series on self care for kids that's almost done before moving on to more generic self regulation skills. Here's one that is an add on for my mental well being video about keeping your brain active by trying new things and having a growth mind set (I made bread!).

And I'm dubbing them in Spanish as well for our Spanish speaking families because I can't make it easy for myself, can I?

It's been fun seeing students respond and being able to comment back to them, though I miss being in the classroom and it is sad seeing a lot of the kiddos I work with not responding, especially those I know struggle at home.

A big part of me knows that school just isn't possible for a lot of families right now. Attempting to work from home with stressed out kiddos (while being stressed out yourself) is an insanely difficult task. And that's if you haven't lost your job or are an essential worker. I've made so many phone calls and sent so many text messages/emails to families and I get sent to voicemail/left on read for the most part.

I know it's not about me. But I am often feeling rather ineffective at my job right now. I strongly dislike that. Doing things to take care of myself and trying to support (and not just be ONE MORE THING for them to have to worry about) is proving to be a hard balance to maintain.

Taking care of me has involved a little bit of artwork, both in traditional and digital mediums. I drew a fun floral quote picture and put together a picture project for my school. I definitely have time to cross stitch, but I have NOT done that. Need to finish it by Christmas, though.

I've also been watching COPIOUS amounts of TV. Smallville, Criminal Minds, Good Place, as well as some assorted musicals (I think I've watched Newsies on Broadway at least twice since schools closed...).

One thing that I've noticed is the growing amount of quarantine commercials. Have you noticed that? They range from the boring, to the stupid, to the ones that just piss me off.

The boring ones are the ones that are like "These times are difficult... family important... we care about people... blah blah. Buy our stuff." You are annoying, but whatever.

The stupid ones are mildly entertaining. They might make light of a serious situation, but it is more familiar and I am happy to tolerate them.

Then there's the ones that piss me off. It's mostly the ones thanking their workers for being amazing. "We are an awful, horrible, bordering on evil corporation who should definitely be paying you more than we are or otherwise compensating you for REQUIRING you to go above and beyond during a global pandemic. But we're going to make a commercial saying THANKS, instead of any of that."

I mean, come on.

Overall, we are doing good in our house aside from the random cat fights (literally... the cats fighting), me sternly reminding myself NOT to cut my hair off until I have access to a professional, or the occasional squabble over how to pronounce "crayon." I maintain I'm right that it can be pronounced with either one OR two syllables, but Mandy refuses to see reason on this.

For the record, I pronounce it "cran," with one syllable, Mandy pronounces it "cray-on," two syllables.

I hope everyone is doing well out there and not joining in on any protests about opening businesses early or trying to inject themselves with disinfectant. Take care friends.

And don't cut your own hair. Seriously. Stop it. It just makes me think it's a good idea for me, too. And it's not.

Right? Right... right.

Covid 19: Quarantine!

So it has been a really interesting past few weeks and I wanted to take some time to write out what's been going on just so I have a record of it.

And, yes, I know I never made a post about the wedding. I'll do it. It'll happen. I just totally forgot I had a blog that I write on. Then I was thinking about how much I miss writing and I was, like, "Oh yeah. I have a blog for that. I should use it." So. Here we are.

Back to now.

Coronavirus. Covid-19. The contagious virus going around that has overwhelmed hospitals and health care systems. Because of the huge potential this has to overwhelm all the hospitals, the government has put in place new requirements, closed schools and businesses, and is enforcing "social distancing." First it was guidelines to practice social distancing. Then gatherings of 250 or more were shut down. Sporting events, plays, concerts, and other large events were all cancelled. Broadway shut down (the Tony's are postponed!).

Earlier this week the governor laid out an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to be out of your house except for necessary things like food, providing care, or other essential services. You can go outside but you can't congregate and you must maintain social distancing (6 feet apart).

There's a lot of talk about "flattening the curve," or slowing the spread of the disease. This way, hospitals won't get overwhelmed with cases and be unable to treat people due to lack of space, supplies, or people.

Businesses that do not provide essential services are shut down or have gone online. Many people are struggling to pay rent or mortgages. State and federal government are trying to make emergency aid available to those that need it. However, I think it is bringing to light to many people how many of our social structures are not well supported. As well as showing how essential minimum wage jobs are to society as a whole. Grocery store workers, restaurant workers, custodians. These are the people keeping what's still open going. I really hope that we will remember this moving forward and adjust accordingly.

Ok. The other big thing - the STUPIDEST thing - is the shortage of toilet paper. When news hit that people were being quarantined and things were shutting down, people went NUTS. There were fights in grocery stores across the country over TOILET PAPER. The stores are still out nearly two weeks later. Luckily, we had just bought some and we are ok.

FOR NOW.

It's starting to dwindle and we've got a toilet top bidet coming in the mail. Just in case. We'll see how that works out.

For Amanda and me personally, this meant that Oregon schools closed a week early for Spring Break and we will be providing "supplementary education" via "distance learning" until the end of April, perhaps longer. Some states have preemptively closed for the remainder of the school year. I worry that we will also move in that direction. I know some states have stopped providing funding to their schools and teachers aren't going to be paid. Luckily, that is not happening in Oregon. Well, not yet. I don't think it will. At least, I am hopeful it won't.

Amanda and I have worked hard to not go out too much since schools have closed. Since Maddie and I hang out all the time, we've been going to one another's houses, working together and taking some online graduate courses and having some baking adventures. Amanda came with me one day and hung out playing with her Switch and doing work on her laptop while Maddie and moaned and groaned about the class we were taking. Then we had some baking adventures and made macarons and cupcakes.

I've also decided to make a series of videos about self care for my kiddos. My plan is to get them all set up this week and then post two a week through April. Hopefully by then we will be back in school. If not, hopefully we will know sooner rather than later and I can make some more videos to go through the rest of the school year. Right now, our district has instructed us that counselors will not be doing "virtual therapy" since the governor has said we are technically closed. That might change as we move forward. We will see.

And I'm not going to go into the politics about all of this because, well, as much as it might SEEM like I don't try, I actually do try to avoid political debates online (I SWEAR... I just also have a big mouth and strong opinions). So, instead, let's watch a cute video of Thurston the Cat.

An ENGAGING story (get it?!)

It's official! We're engaged! Rings and everything!

Mandy called dibs on proposing (things you have to think about in girlxgirl relationships; there's no set standard for who proposes!) and so while we started plans for a wedding we knew was going to happen - picking rings, finding a venue and photographer - I waited for Mandy to propose. I kind of knew it would happen on our anniversary. She wasn't subtle about our plans for our anniversary being a surprise and "wait until July." Plus she's a romantic cheeseball so our anniversary makes sense.

The day started off with flowers from both of us to the other. Aaaawwww!

We headed downtown and parked near the waterfront then waited by the fountain at Waterfront Park before boarding the Portland Spirit River Cruise.

Stepped up in front of the photographer to take the souvenier photo and Mandy got down on her knee.

Nobody cried. Definitely not. That would be silly.

Then we sat down at our table and she put the ring on me and said really, really sweet things. Then we cried. And then I got out my own box for her.

Mandy loves the movie "Up" and Michael Giacchino (its composer) is one of her favorites. So I painted a box to look like the adventure book from the movie.

 Then there was some more crying. Because we're matching wrecks who cry.

After crying, we ate a lovely dinner. The waiters sang a song before food service and there was a pianist that played. Very cool!

After tasty food, we headed to the upper deck. It had been a little warm when we were waiting to board, but with the sun setting and a nice breeze from the moving boat, it was perfect. The view was awesome and we loved looking at the houses on the shore, the people having picnics on the little islands in the middle of the river, and watching the other passengers.

Speaking of people watching, as we were sitting, there was a big group of people trying to take group pictures and kept having to leave someone out of it. After we watched them struggle for a bit, I got up and asked if they wanted me to take a picture of them all together. I took the guys phone and as he gestured to what button to press, I noticed some Hangul (Korean script) in the corner. So I asked him if he was Korean ("Hangugsaram?"). He was very excited and then the whole group was really excited when I counted to three in Korean and they demanded to know how I knew Korean (you know... the 5 or so words I remember). Then they had to take pictures with us because why not?

After that exciting interlude, we got to go back to being all cuddly and romantic, watching the scenery pass by.

It's such a pretty cruise. I've never seen the city from that view before. I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to live in such a great city and to be in love with such a wonderful woman (who loves me back!? and wants to spend the rest of her life with me!?). To be honest, I spent a long time thinking I wouldn't ever be in this position. But here I am! An amazing lady by my side, willing to put up with me, and loving and supporting me. My friend told me in mock disgust once how lucky I've been in my life and she is totally right. I'm so blessed to have met Mandy and to have been welcomed into her life.

I have to admit, I was a little worried. Like I said, Mandy is a bit of a romantic cheeseball. A romantic cheeseball with access to bands, choirs, and other musical peoples. I was a tad worried there would be serenading and I would love her for being her but feel awkward as heck. The song "What do you do with your arms?" comes to mind. But my amazing lady knows me and how much her stopping the Pride parade in front of me and proposing while backed up by the Gay Freedom Band (that she directs) would be not ideal for me.

The night ended with a beautiful full moon - that refused to photograph well - but we tried. Feeling pretty special right now and excited for this next life adventure. <3

End of year 3!

Today was the last day of school in my 3rd year of being a school counselor!! Wow, I both can't believe it's already been three years and then again it REALLY FEELS like three years. I've been in my career for as long as I was in graduate school now!

Per tradition, I colored my hair PINK! Love my summer hair-do!

You can't really tell in the photo, but my shirt says, "Dear parents, Tag... you're it!!! Love, teachers."

On my way to school, I saw my dad driving the crew truck back to the airport. Hey, Dad!

He was sweet enough to stop by the school and bring hot chocolate and chai tea (hot chocolate for the secretaries and my favorite chai tea for me!) and a cake to the school! So sweet! 

 I had to run away really quick to help hand out attendance awards at the talent show (the parts I got to see were fabulous!).

The day went by quickly. This was the first year I came close to crying when I said goodbye to some of my kiddos, especially one of my 5th graders. Hoo boy...

Ended the day with the traditional water fight (okay... the teachers spray the kids with water guns as they leave... it's not really a "fight" since it's pretty much one sided). I decided last night around 7pm that I did, in fact, need a new water gun so I headed to Target and got a pack of 3 to share. They were fabulous! My favorite part is when the parents drive their car around, roll the back windows down, and honk their horn to get us to spray the kids in the backseat. The kids laugh and scream while they try to get the windows to roll back up (of course the parents have it locked from the driver seat)!

Worked on cleaning out cabinets after kiddos left and then went out to hang with some coworkers. Got home around 6:30 and I immediately knew that my lovely padre had stopped by earlier in the day: my guard goose was on the wrong side of the door.

Oh no...

Came in and, yes, my padre had come over. He took all of the stuffed animals that I have hidden in my office (to prevent Missy from STEALING them) and laid them all out on my stairs.

Dad... no.

What a fabulous way to end my third year! I really feel like this year I have really come into my own as a school counselor. My first year was ROUGH, second year was tough, and while there were definitely hard days (I got bit by my first kid! Milestone!), I feel like I've started to really proactively DO my job rather than always just reacting. Go me! *high five*

Here's to many more!

Well, at least I have muddy buddies, now...

Today I had an unintentional cooking adventure. I did not set out to have an adventure, but adventure found me.

Muddy buddies. I assumed this was going to an easy thing to make. I finally mastered melting chocolate around Thanksgiving last year (it had eluded me for a long time) and that is the hardest part of making muddy buddies.

I think it went wrong when I tried to use a... "creative" double boiler.

I thought I had a double boiler, but it turned out a don't. What I DO have is a steamer and a microwaveable bowl. At first I was going to just balance the bowl in my smaller pot, but the bowl was too small (it fell in) so I had the bright idea to put the bowl IN THE STEAMER. Boom! Perfect!

And it worked great! Melted that butter, chocolate, and peanut butter into a melty deliciousness.

I realized I had a problem when it came time to pour the chocolate onto the chex.

How do I get the bowl out of the steamer?

I couldn't just grab it (it was just boiling for, like ten minutes). So I decided to wrap my hands in a towel and pull it out.

That is when things went horribly, horribly wrong.

As I was fanangling the bowl out of the steamer, I flipped the bowl sideways, spilling chocolate into the steamer which is a bit like a strainer.

As you know, strainers are well known for their ability to NOT contain liquid. This is also true for melted chocolate. I hurriedly carried the dripping strainer over to the chex and threw it in (some of the chex might be a little more crushed than one might hope) before grabbing the bowl and doing the same.

Here are some pictures of the resulting mess:

Not pictured are my sleeves, the pot holder that was in between me and the chex, my pants, my apron, and (somehow?) my hair. You also can't really tell, but there's a nice mess on the floor, as well.

But now I have muddy buddies for our road trip tomorrow!

That doesn't look to appetizing, let's look inside the bag.

That looks more tasty.