T is for tapas.

Yesterday I woke up seriously grumpy. This past week there has been a lot of activity: lots of work and my trial hair and makeup appointment for the wedding (hated the hair, loved the makeup) and a couple of movies (so-so on Crash, enjoyed Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and more wedding stuff. I knew that last night we had plans for Vilde's graduation party and dinner at Katherine's so I was figuring that other than going running I'd spend yesterday loafing around on the sofa and reading. Chris went off to a Japanese book sale with Carlton in the morning and I got a slow start, figuring I'd head off for a longish run at some point but in no real hurry to get the day going.

By the time Chris got back, I still hadn't left yet, but I'd made arrangements to meet Mike for a run around 1:30 in hopes of staving off my anti-social grumpiness. We ran through the pouring rain (seriously, is summer ever going to arrive this year?) and Mike made some excuse about needing to be home by 3:30 for a barbecue (a barbecue? nice cover story... ) and I came home. By the time I got out of the shower Chris was haranguing me to go shopping with him, and I complained like hell about it but eventually agreed to go (talk about your role reversal... ).

So we took off, me bitching all the way, until we pulled up outside Tango and Chris stopped driving.

Chris: Let's get out of the car.
Kieran: Uh, no.

So Chris gets out of the car and opens my door and attempts to cajole me out of the car. I'm glad he eventually succeeded, because when I got out of the car I saw my sister through the window of Tango...

Yep, I was totally hoodwinked by a surprise bridal shower. It took me fully five or ten minutes after getting there to realize what was going on -- I (yes, I!) was speechless. In addition to lots of Seattle friends, Meri had flown in and Kara had driven up from Portland and I couldn't figure out how everyone had come to be there. Somehow everyone managed to keep a social secret from me for two months. I guess I have been at work a lot lately.

It was really fun. We had tapas with paired wines for each course (more on the menu in another post, perhaps, but it was really good), no ridiculous shower games, and we had the place all to ourselves. Meri did a great job putting it all together, Chris did a great job not losing patience with my inability to stick to the schedule (by the time I got out of the shower and agreed to get going, we ended up getting there a little late), and everyone really made it fun. Thanks, guys, for your collusion, even including those of you whose collusion was limited to making up cock and bull stories about barbecues.

We did end up making it to Vilde's graduation party and Katherine's dinner with her parents, which were also a lot of fun. All in all much wine was consumed, as Anna and Sushmita can attest, not having driven home until after 11...

Thank you, everyone. It was a really great day!