The Friday Five, 9/20/24: 5 things I've been up to this week

Apologies for no Friday Five last week, but I was just a little bit busy getting married! We left Friday for Holland and came back on Tuesday.

my wedding day, bride
Right before the ceremony

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Wedding weekend. We arrived in Holland last Friday, and stopped at Fazoli's in Lansing on the way west, which has become something of a tradition—they don't have any in metro Detroit, not including the Monroe location. Most of my husband's (!) extended family arrived Friday or Saturday too; his parents and sister came in from Indiana, where they live, and he had relatives fly in from Idaho and Florida, and drive in from Minnesota.
  2. Rehearsal lunch. On Saturday, we had rehearsal at the venue (Boatwerks restaurant, in Holland) and then lunch at Seventy-Six, a restaurant in downtown Holland. The food was very good, although unfortunately the lunch had a few hiccups (i.e. we had one waiter for our group of 30 people, so it took a long time for people to get food). 
  3. Wedding day. We got married on Sunday, September 15th at Boatwerks in Holland. It was a bit hot compared to normal September temps there—about 86—but I had been worried it was going to rain, and it did not, which was great; I foolishly started checking the weather about a week out, and it was saying 40% chance of rain, but later changed to like 5% or something smaller. The day actually went really well, mostly thanks to my husband's extended family, who did a fabulous job setting up our decorations while we were off getting photos done. My only regrets are that there was one friend I saw but didn't get to talk to at all, and also I brought TWO pairs of shoes—my main pair, which I had broken in at home and which had a 1-inch pump heel, and a pair of flats—and both really hurt my feet, so much so that I swapped them for my sandals at the reception, and today (five days later) my toes still hurt. Other than that, it was a pretty fantastic day. 
  4. Mini vacation in Holland. On Monday, we had a late lunch at The Southerner, in Saugatuck (one of my favorite fried chicken restaurants!), with the best man, his wife, and one of my college roommates—I last saw her 7 years ago, since she lives in D.C., so that was an unexpected treat. We dropped her back at her Holland hotel for Uber pickup to the airport—there were no Ubers to be found in Saugatuck—and then headed to Grand Haven, and had some drinks at Odd Side Ales and some appetizer-type things for dinner at Grand Armory Brewing. I forgot how empty Grand Haven can be during the non-peak months, it was kinda crazy (esp. on a Monday night).
  5. Changing my last name. I'm going from Elizabeth Ann Parker to Elizabeth Parker Kuhn (dropping my old middle name, and gaining my old surname). So far this week we filed our marriage license, on Wednesday; I went to the Social Security Administration in Clawson yesterday, to officially change it with the government; and today I have a Secretary of State appointment in WB to change my license, assuming they don't need my "real" Social Security card yet (I have a receipt from SSA but it takes two weeks for the card). I've also changed a lot of my rewards memberships over (mostly hotels). It seems like the hardest part of this will actually be credit cards—a lot of them want my new license, marriage license, AND new SSA card, which means I'll need to wait two weeks. 
wedding ceremony, Boatwerks, Holland
The ceremony. Credit: NeriPhoto

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