Weekend Wrap-Up: Massachusetts Edition

Saturday morning, bright and early, Jacob and I packed up and headed north to New England in our rented SUV. (Since I don't own a car, I can justify my once a year use of an SUV when it comes to the environment.)

We arrived that afternoon, grabbed my dad and brother, and headed to the Haverhill Public Library. There, I kicked off TEEN READ WEEK, which this year is themed "Books With Bite." I talked about my Blood Coven series, read from my upcoming GAMER GIRL book, and answered questions from the audience.









And, of course, signed some books.




That night Jacob, my brother Mike, and I headed to China Blossom for a buffet dinner with our extended family in celebration of my cousin's wedding the next day. After dinner, we headed into Boston to see my friend Mary and her boyfriend Greg. We watched the Red Sox lose game two of the playoffs at a Beacon Hill bar called Sevens.

The next day Jacob and I headed to the mall to go Halloween shopping. We bought a cool game called Heroscape and played it all afternoon. It's kind of a dungeons and dragons type of thing.





That night we got all dressed up and headed to Lawrence for my cousin's wedding. She had it in a restored textile mill now called Salvadore's. It was a nice place and I like that they're restoring all these brick factories that have sat shut down and boarded up my entire life. It's right on the river and really beautiful.





Here is Maria and her now wife Abbey (yes, it was a lesbian wedding - we can do that in Massachusetts) posing with her grandparents. The grandparents have been married 63 years!





Abbey's family is Jewish so they did all the traditional Jewish wedding traditions like signing the contract. (Which has a name, but I forget what it is.)





My dad wasn't sure how to wear the yamika for the ceremony, but he was a good sport about it.





Here's my cousin Maria, being escorted by my Aunt Judy.





And here they are, dancing the Horrah. (Otherwise known as the chairs in the air dance!)





I loved my cousin Jen's daughter Ava's dress. I couldn't snap quick enough to get a front shot - she was twirling too fast!






My brother was playing DJ with an iPod and was the only one with an official wedding schedule. That's him and his wife Karen. I haven't seen them in like 4 years so it was great to catch up!





All in all, it was a great wedding. Filled with loving family ready and willing to support the newly married couple on the road of life together! Couldn't ask for more than that!