Celebrating Matthew and Sharon NY

Our trip to Ohio was for a special purpose, to celebrate with our friends and family the October marriage of Matthew and Sharon. But since Sharon's family and hers and Matthew's friends are all from New York or New Jersey, we needed a party in New York too. Matthew and Sharon (and her parents) planned the one in NY and we planned the one in Cincinnati. So upon our arrival in Ohio, Max and I left the next day to drive to New York. Just give some perspective of the craziness of this trip here's the itinerary- Tuesday fly to San Diego, Wednesday take train, bus and plane with Marianne and children to Cincinnati (Don declined this leg of the trip and just flew straight to Cinti from San Fran) then Thursday we drove midway through Pennsylvania- Harrisburg- they still smoke- a lot- in Harrisburg. Reminded Don of a restaurant he went to earlier and asked for nonsmoking- when he called the waitress over to complain that he was not in non smoking- she said "oh sorry" and removed the ash tray from the table and walked off! Well think that might have been in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania still today. Anyway- then we drove into Jersey City on Friday to board a PATH train for Manhattan to meet Sharon and Matthew and Sharon's parents. Saturday we took the train again to and from Jersey City and Manhattan. for the BIG PARTY! (Are you getting tired yet-- I am- just from retelling it!) Then Sunday we drove back to Cincinnati. Tuesday I hopped in the car again and drove to Chicago to see Amber's new apartment and neighborhood and then she returned with on Wednesday in time for dinner with Great Grandma Lucas and Uncle Sam et al. We all stayed in Cincinnati then for 4 days before we then returned to San Fran on Tuesday (and of course then Don flew off to San Diego). I think it is safe to say that for a while we'll still feel a bit confused about where we really are! We started the weekend with a dinner on Friday night with Sharon's parents so that we could all get acquainted. Then on Saturday the party was started in earnest. The Party was held at held at a friend of Matthew and Sharon's (Molly) preschool that is located in the Village in lower Manhattan. Molly is a great friend (Max and I always love to see her when we visit NYC) and her school made just the perfect place for a party. It helped of course that school was out of sessions so the party didn't disrupt the primary business.

Note that the school did have some activities for the younger guests.

And Matthew and Sharon had decided to decorate the rather small commodes with arrays of flowers so as to discourage the larger adults from mistakenly using them, even though they were pretty much right in the open. I don't think I've ever seen toilets quite this small. They seats were about 12 inches off the floor.

The table decorations were very nice origami flowers and vases done by the bride (mostly) and her friends- don't think the groom helped much- though he did get the credit for the decorated toilets.

And of course Matthew and Sharon were enjoying the party.

Since it didn't seem a wedding cake was necessarily appropriate since the wedding was 9 months earlier, they provided a great selection of very tasty cupcakes including appropriate bride and groom rubber ducks at the top.



The food was catered from a Moroccan restaurant a few doors away from Matthew and Sharon's apartment. It was wonderful with Tagine chicken and lamb plus a variety of other dishes.
And there were a few of our friends there. Claire and Oliver were already in New Jersey because of other reasons and they came along with Joe, Claire's brother who seems to know all the good restaurants in NY. Fouad and Mary were also in NJ, but Fouad had a bad cold and decided not to come.

As the party continued, champagne was poured and toasts were drank to the newly weds. Sharon's sister did the first toast and just before she started, Matthew asked me if I wanted to also do a toast. Well, I hadn't really thought about it, but figured what harm could it do. I can always come up with something to say. And I guess I did. I tend to ramble during these occasions and as I was rambling I mentioned that the couple told us about their elopement plans when they visited us on their way to Hawaii. Oops!! It seems that We were the only ones that knew (at least before this toast) as Sharon and Matthew hadn't told any of Sharon's family. Well, I spilled the beans on that one and now Sharon's mother knows that we knew but she didn't. That was a big oops. But hey, what do they expect when they only give me a few minutes to think about these things. I saw it coming... One of those "oh no Don don't go there moments". But I couldn't think of anyway to stop him short of tackling him in the middle of the toast- or fainting- or breaking into song. It was like everything was in slow motion and I try to communicate with mental telepathy- but I just knew it wouldn't work and that Don was going there and that Sharon would have one of those "moments" that all of us who know and love Don have from time to time. And he did go there- and she did have one of the moments as I watched the color drain from her face and a soft gasp escape the lips of her mother and father. Now Matthew and Sharon were very clear that we were not to ever, ever, ever spill the beans with her folks- but you know- information such as that is just wasted on Don- he just doesn't get it. But I want to be very, very clear. The reason Sharon and Matthew could "confide" in us- is because somehow they knew that we would be delighted- But also that we were especially delighted that our Sharon wouldn't have any opportunity to change her mind during any long time in coming wedding planning. She is one special girl we didn't want to get away. The picture below was taken before my major faux pas. Note how Matthew and Sharon are still somewhat relaxed.

After the toasts Sharon did a traditional dance with her father and most of her family hopefully forgot about my toast.

As the party progressed some of the other pre-school items were put to use. Here is Sharon riding one of the of numerous tricycles that were supposedly "put away" for the event. But when there are opportunities for recreation, who's to say that we shouldn't recreate especially at a party to celebrate such a happy occasion.

This was a great party! And it was so much fun watching everyone- but especially Sharon and Matthew have such a good time! All you need for a great party is good food, good friends, good wine (Trader Joe's 2 buck chuck I think was the wine of choice at this particular party) and lots of laughter.