extravaganza

jordan & juancho’s texas wedding celebration

YEE-HAW, YA’LL!

henri and i just experienced the most texas-y weekend ever, thanks to a fabulous celebration of the recent marriage of our friends, jordan and juancho.

to give you a brief rundown, i was jordan’s advisor at will rice for her freshman year, although i knew from the moment i met her that i had nothing to teach this girl, and she had *everything* to teach me. she’s strong, passionate and just absolute DYNAMITE, and i’ve always admired her ability to take risks, such as spontaneously moving to ecuador (where she met juancho, of course!).

jordan’s mom, mrs. vexler, is totally my planner pants idol, which is why i have been SALIVATING in anicipation of this event since i received the (v. classy, super elegant) invitation.

friday night, henri and i drove over to bandera, a small hill country town you may recall from my family reunion. we were staying with most of the “young people” at the twin elm guest ranch, which hosts its v. own rodeo on friday nights!

you guys, I LOVE THE RODEO. maybe it’s cos i grew up going to small rodeos in louisiana and texas, but there’s just something so sweetly simple about sitting on dusty wooden bleachers and watching girls ride horses around barrels while the announcer drawls, “give this girl and her pony a hand, ya’ll!”

it became v. easy to distinguish between people who had grown up with rodeos and people who hadn’t, as some of jordan’s friends complained about “condoning animal cruelty.” to which, in response, i rolled my eyes like a true texan! YESSIR. i know that might seem weird, cos usually i’m one of those “liberal folk” but come on. it’s a rodeo! you can’t have a rodeo without, say, bull riding!

don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that i’m voting republican or anything crazy like that.

i felt like even *more* of a native when the trick roper came out and i recognized him!! kevin fitzpatrick has been a regular performer at the nelson family reunion for the past, like, umpteen years, which is always a treat cos he is totally a WORLD CHAMPION TRICK ROPER!

look at this insane lasso business!!

the grand finale involved him throwing (and maintaining, which is the trickiest part) a MASSIVE lasso around jordan, juancho and jordan’s little cousin.

instead of saying vows, i think all couples should just get lassoed.

many of the guests were decked out in cowboy hats (part of the gift baskets in our room! nice!) and boots, but jordan was clearly the sassiest cowgirl of them all.

i was wondering if juancho, who is a v. calm, easy going guy, would be overwhelmed by all jordan’s family and friends, but he seemed to be taking everything in stride…. not to mention style!

note the kerchief around his neck– all the guests got one of those, too, printed with “JJ” for jordan and juancho. like i said, mrs. vexler = planner pants GENIUS.

oh, and did i mention that we got shuttled around all weekend on ginormous luxury buses? cos we did.

after the rodeo, we invaded the tarpley tavern, a little bar seemingly in the middle of nowhere (aka, tarpley, tx).

amenities of the tavern include: a country band, “the tarpley twins” (apparently, the local “hot” celebrities), a few goats and a big roaring fire to chase the cold away.

as you can see, henri and i LOVED IT.

i want to note that i have never seen henri make that face before. yikes.

we sat under the stars, drank beer and talked the night away.

even though there were a lot of rice folks there, i didn’t know many of them v. well (jordan and i are two years apart), so i really enjoyed chatting up some of these semi-strangers, like chester, who was an archi at rice which makes him automatically the coolest kid on the block.

eventually, henri wandered over to the goat pen to visit with CREATURES OF SATAN OMGGG.

goats may be ok during the day, but at night? HEEBIE JEEBIES. henri barely escaped with his soul!

i preferred to watch the lasso stylings of one little man, will the cowboy.

after i took this picture, i asked him if i could take another one, and he said, “no… that’s enough.”

it was the best kind of night, esp. cos when it ended, i knew there was more to come!

(that’s juancho and jordan with her dad, the amazing mr. vexler)

back at the ranch (I LOVE SAYING THAT), henri discovered the downside to being a cowboy: getting yr boots off at the end of the night.

i’d like to point out the symmetry of henri taking off boots while lying on a boot comforter. YES!

the next morning, we were greeted by sunny skies and glorious weather! here’s fellow cabinmates saf (sp?) and annie, enjoying the porch life of 2E.

unfortunately, the noon shuttle to the monterrey ranch was full, so we were forced to spend an extra hour at the twin elm. fortunately, there were four kegs from the night before…

and a volleyball court!

so yeah, the waiting was not so bad.

when we finally arrived at the monterrey ranch, we were greeted by this:

yes folks, a catered lunch. on the river. in the texas sunshine. JUST LIKE A MOVIE!

and it gets better, cos there was even AN ICE CREAM CART!!!!!!!!

why yes, i *had* died and gone to heaven.

we even got these handy dandy water bottles to take home! nose picking henri not included.

the food, of course, was DIVINE. the lamb was hot off the grill, and there was mounds and MOUNDS of cheese that served as a tasty, edible centerpiece. dude, why have flowers when you can have cheese?!!

after lunch, we were free to explore the beauty of the ranch…

there was hiking, swimming, even shooting… but when henri and i spied these hammocks, we knew what we had to do.

this tree reminded me of that shel silverstein book, “the giving tree.” except instead of apples and firewood, this tree gave us NAPS. beautiful, shady, luxurious naps.

and now, to quote the bard of the 80s, belinda carlisle: “oooh, baby do you know what that’s worth? oooh, heaven is a place on earth.”

even in heaven, henri was still working. and updating his facebook status.

you guys. THIS IS THE LIFE. we basically spent the day napping and nibbling delicious almonds from a glass i took from one of the tables.

in case you aren’t jealous enough, here’s what i stared at for about two hours straight:

occasionally, i would take breaks and stare straight forward, at this:

eventually, we managed to untangle ourselves from the magical grip of the hammock (seriously, it was like quicksand), and henri got back into some volleyball.

i decided to go for a little hay ride!

so basically, i went from the shuttle to food to the hammock to being driven around in a cart through the countryside. dude, ranch life is HARD.

the vexlers have lots of different animals on their property, including devil goats, some deer (we saw a buck with MASSIVE antlers) and of course, longhorns!

my allergies totally hate me now, but it was worth it.

we hurried back to the twin elm to change clothes, then shuttled back to monterrey for a sunset cocktail reception. note the coffee-filled centerpieces, which i totally wanted to steal for future caffiene consumption.

in addition to jordan, i was able to hang out with another of my freshmen from ye olde days, phil!

it’s funny for me to reconcile little freshman phil with the current version– living in boston, married, going to law school, being all around awesome. obviously, as his advisor, i am totally responsible for his success. obviously.

after some drinks, we headed into the party tent for some hava nagila action!!!! jordan’s family is jewish, so she and juancho got lifted up in chairs by a v. enthusiastic crowd. this is totally one of my favorite wedding traditions, btw. everyone’s just so boisterous! and happy! and really strong! it’s like, moshing with dignity!

we eventually settled down enough to have dinner around a totally gorgeous centerpiece (which, sadly, was not edible).

don’t you love weddings where you actually *make friends* with the people at yr table instead of falling into an awkward silence after the “how do you know the bride/groom?” topic has been exhausted? henri and i totally fell in love with ben and tatiana, who actually live in austin! which means we’re gonna hang out! holla for new friends!!!

you may be asking yrself, “could this wedding weekend get any better?”

my friends, i think you know the answer. because the only thing that could POSSIBLY make the festivities any better is cupcakes.

and then… there were cupcakes.

and not just any cupcakes, but tiny ones!! and tiny ones are my favorite, cos you can have more than one! so you can try all of the flavors!!

the reception descended into dancing chaos, in spite of a cover band that was reeeally not my favorite. for example, immediately after a v. touching toast from mr. vexler, the lead girl singer jumped to the front of the stage and squawked, “I FEEL GOOD!” which almost gave the entire audience a heart attack.

still, like true warriors, we managed to overcome all obstacles in order to have a good time.

this picture is great, cos you look at it and think, “those guys are having the TIME OF THEIR LIVES!” and, yes, they were having a great time, but what you *don’t* know is that i took this picture about a second after henri and that guy (nick) unexpectedly TOUCHED TONGUES while posing for (a different) photo. i think henri was actually the one who made the move. yes, indeedy.

i can’t believe henri managed to drag me away from the weekend. i mean, we had it all: hammocks, cupcakes, campfires under starry skies, cheese centerpieces, old and new friends…

that’s what the heart of texas is all about, ya’ll, and i love being pants-deep in it!

congratulations, jordan and juancho!!! thanks for an amazing, texastastic weekend!

LINKS

did you guys see sarah palin on SNL? the moment where she and tina passed each other almost destroyed the space time continuum.

many MANY thanks to julia for discovering my NEW FAVORITE VIDEO! natalie portman! karen from the office! PUPPIES!!! seriously, it does not get better than this.

chuck bass + britney’s “womanizer” = rowwrrr!

WAIT A MINUTE. robert pattinson was in austin this weekend?!! and i missed it?!! CEDRIC!! COME BACK!

if you’re a fan of old disney songs, check out my friend rollins’ blog, where he’s posting all kinds of obscure, impossible-to-find goodies (and you can download ‘em!). also, did i mention that his son is the cutest, most rockin’ little spiderman ever?

speaking of disney, sarah haskins explores the world of disney princesses (and makes me laugh, as usual).

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