Monica, three years ago, made the major error of not having the hostesses ask me to her bridal shower. Roni learned from my resultant temper tantrum of epic proportions, and so today was her shower, a tea, given by two of her friends at her house. R.J. and Rich headed for the hills, or at least the Headlands, where they toured the Nike missile site and beachcombed and thanked their lucky stars it wasn't a co-ed shower.

There were 8 people there. Monica was at a spa with an out-of-town friend so she couldn't make it, and R.J.'s mother is getting back from her Alaskan cruise tomorrow. I knew the hostesses and a couple of other people, the girl who walked with us for the '97 Bay to Breakers and a friend of Roni's from UCSantaCruz, later a housemate for a time.

Rich and I started 45 minutes early so we could get gas and a present at the outlet stores on the way down. (I actually PLANNED this, not a last-minute thing!) Then the store I thought was Noritake (her pattern) was Mikasa, so I got a pretty crystal serving platter. THEN they no longer gift-wrap, so we drove around looking for the Hallmark store, which does, and it's closed for remodeling. Grumble. So, once more, it was one of Mom's stick-it-in-the-bag wrapping. (When I got there, one hostess had ribbon, so I put a really tight (see later) pink bow on on the bag, anyway.) We were still in the time frame, even to grab a quick bite to eat (I wasn't sure how much food was at a "tea" in the 1990s and Rich was hungry.) But then, but then, we had to go IN because Rich wanted to visit the bathroom. (The kidneys of a three-year-old!) Therefore, we arrived right on the dot, not a few minutes early so I could bring in the books and stuff I'd taken her. So my first words to Roni when I got in were "flee while there's still time!" I got to use the line a number of other times during the afternoon, whenever Rich's foibles came up.

The food was plentiful and delicious. They had lox and bagels, which I pigged out on, and scones with clotted cream and lemon curd... yummmmm. They used the silver tea set I'd given Roni as well as one that belonged to one of the hostesses. The theme was "under the sea" and there were fishes everywhere. One gift was oyster candles, which float. Our favors were little ship candles. The tables were covered with fishnet. The chocolate cake (Oh, YUMMMM!) had little plastic fish of all sorts on it.

Once we'd eaten, it was time to play a game. We were to come up with as many words from "VERONICA" and "ROMUALD" as we could. Who does the NYTimes puzzle every week? I had 36 words, though they didn't believe me on "coon." I hadn't had time to write down "arrive", but Roni took exception to "denial." Hey, she had "moron", and someone else had "vermin." I was playing around with this later and "mercurial" would have really been a wowser. Anyway, I won the prize, a peach vanilla lotion that smells good enough to drink. I also won the booby prize, which was to be for the first person who cried, thus laid out for me for sure. This was tissue and toilet paper, for a good cry. (No, I didn't cry yesterday. But they figure I will.)

Roni got lots of lovely presents, varying from a Lou Seal baseball to a set of kitchen tools on her list, to candy and serving dishes, and cookbooks. Nice party! Everyone admired the wedding dress. They made the rehearsal "bouquet" out of the bows, but they warned Roni ahead of time about breaking them (those you break are kids you will have.) She was real careful, but had to cut mine: there's a granddaughter! One woman was supposed to note down Roni's comments, what she would say on the wedding night (this is a game more in tune with my generation than theirs, though. "It's so big!" "What can this be?" "Oh, I really like this!") However, the scribe didn't understand, so that didn't happen.

I noted one of the hostesses, a waitress, really has terrible bunions. Makes mine, which bugs me occasionally, look really minor. The other foot, which had the surgery, has been wonderful the seven years since.

Annoyingly, when we got home, the dog was waiting for us in front. (HE's not a "hard dog to keep on the porch!" More a "hard dog to keep OFF the porch!") Every time he effects a new escape, this one way in the back corner, he learns something else. It's good that at 6.5, he's not slowing down, but it's sure frustrating trying to keep him in.

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No pounds either way, so it's still 9 pounds in 2 weeks. Somehow, I doubt I'll make it, though I'd sure like to lose 4 more. That would be where I was for Monica's wedding. A bit of a pot-belly, but not too bad. I tried on my dress today. Gonna have to let out the lacings in the back, unless I do lose that 4 more.
I walked at least a mile at Candlestick last Sunday, and two miles Monday, and two miles later in the week, and another two, so let's call it 9 miles. No magazines, though I started them well enough to get rid of three today! I sent out a note to Sam's teacher, but nothing else.