Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Sisterhood Adventure || A Roadtrip + Ontario Wedding

Once upon a time...two sisters planned a trip to work a wedding in eastern Ontario. 

Ah. Weddings. If the sisters had their choice they would very possibly do nothing but weddings. They are dearly in love with weddings and everything that happens at these wonderful events. With the sisters' current job schedule (aka touring with the family band half of the year) there don't end up being very many weekends available for them to do weddings. So when wedding requests AND their schedules line up together, it is a happy time. =)

When their sweet Ontario friend asked them to come and do the music + bridal hair/makeup at her wedding, the sisters knew they wanted to go if it was at all possible. With the crazy fall schedule they were running it took a little arranging and planning, but the details finally worked out!

As usual, the sisters divided and conquered with the planning of the trip. Sister A was responsible for vehicle details, arranging directions + stops, and communicating with the bride about the music details. Sister B was responsible for food packing, coordinating the hair/makeup details, and making the schedule.

Everything finally came together and early on Friday morning (think 4am!) the sisters headed east in their little red car.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was a stop made at the incredible Sweetwater Sound. The sisterhood had been commissioned by the fam with several instruments that were in need of repair.

The stop was quite informative-if they would've had more time they definitely would have had fun browsing the place.

As it was, they were laser-focused because they had a rehearsal they needed to attend and not much extra time to spare.

It was slightly awkward because brother had said his guitar had a crack in the center, so sisters took the guitar in and then the guitar repair guy couldn't find the crack and he said "are you sure?" and sister A said "of course I'm sure-I SAW it with my own eyes!! I don't know what happened to it but it was there!" So then of course guitar repair guy thought sister A was being a little odd but she was adamant that there WAS a crack so repair guy took the guitar to the window for better light and praise the Lord he found the crack. Apparently depending on weather and such, cracks can become bigger or smaller. In this case, it had become smaller. Who knew?

Getting all of that figured out took a while, and the sisters were getting anxious to get back on the road because time was running tight. They walked with pep in their steps towards the door and deliberately ignored the rather unique looking group of lounging guys that said "hi" and seemed to be hankering for a conversation. (Not happening, gentlemen) The sisters definitely had more important things on the agenda, such as a wedding. No time to stop and chat with random sketchy men today. (well, or ever)

Chipotle is where it happens. The sisterhood's restaurant of choice. Amazing sister B even had the foresight to purchase drinks ahead of time (because we all know that they are cheaper at the store than they are at the restaurant!) and bring them along. (because fizz with Mexican food is just perfection)

Unfortunately, the sisters hit Chipotle at a very busy time of day. They had to wait in line for 20ish minutes. Sister A decided to quickly run to the bathroom because the line was just going nowhere. Of course, right when she left everything sped up and sister B was up to order within seconds. Sister B tried to order for Sister A and ordered the wrong thing so when Sister A got back she had to hold up the line by changing her order. (because WHO EVEN gets a bowl when they can get a BURRITO for the same price? Okay, the healthier version of the sisterhood, which would be Sister B. NOT Sister A) Naturally then both the guy behind the counter AND the guy behind her in line were both upset for the holdup. But such is life.

Other than that the experience was fabulous. =) So was the 86% dark chocolate that they had in the car to top things off as they drove away later.

Beautiful skies and scenery from the window during the drive.
And then the sisterhood had the story of the border crossing.

Mercy, what a saga...

To start things off, they were running just a tad behind. (as mentioned previously) 

They had been keeping stops to a minimum and speeding right along, but the drop off at the music store had taken longer than planned, and that infamous line at Chipotle didn't help either. Things were pretty tight to make it to the rehearsal on time. So there was no extra time for border issues. (fingers crossed...)

They drove up to the checkpoint and handed in their passports. Right from the beginning there was trouble. The border guard was, um, less than ideal, to put it mildly. Sister A took one look at him (or rather, it was when he took one look at THEM) and she knew she would not want to meet this guy in a back alley. He started off asking all sorts of unnecessary and personal questions and honestly sister A was just wanting to get AWAY from the man. At some point in his list of interrogation, he asked if the sisters had guns or mace along. 

Well, they did not have guns, but they did have mace. Sister A had no intention of giving up her mace, so she said no, but sister B (who would never dream of lying) sweetly said, "Well I have mace." 

Whereupon the border guard got upset and demanded that she hand it over (like really? Why is that weird for a girl to carry mace? Especially when going to Canada? Not that Canada is bad place exactly, but seriously...if their other border guards are as disturbing as this one was, one would want mace in their purse just for the possibility of having to use it on the guards!)

Anyways. The border patrol guy told Sister B to put her mace up on the dash. Then he leaned out of his window and almost down to the sisters' car and looked Sister A straight in the eye and said, "Now young lady, you are going to drive straight over to there (pointing to the search area) and you are going to get out of your car and give them this mace and this paper and then they are going to search your car. And if they find ANYTHING ELSE of this nature in your car, they will arrest you before you even know what's happening." 

Now. Sister A is not a gullible person. She is not easily intimidated, and she is quite confidant in her ability to get out of difficult situations, particularly those involving men.

However. This guy was CREEPY. 
He was also dead serious. 
And Canada has strange rules. 
For all she knew they very well might arrest them.
And the sisters were already running late for the rehearsal and had no extra time to spare for jail escaping, which was what would follow in case of an arrest. (naturally) Normally, of course, this all would have been no problem, as sister A would love nothing better than to add "escaped convict" to her repertoire of adventures.

But. There was a wedding at stake here. A deadline to meet. Things to do, places to go. 
What if, just what if, they did find her mace during the search...?

She just couldn't risk it. 

So sister A did what was her only option. She looked up at the guard and she opened her mouth and said, "Well actually...I have some mace as well." 

Sister A's note to self for future: Say the truth in the beginning. 

To make a long story short, you can imagine that this revelation did nothing to increase the jovial less-than-cordial spirits of the guard. Quite the contrary. He was furious and had no qualms about letting the sisters know it.

The sisters were commanded to exit their car. Then their car was searched top to bottom. Next they were told to "sit and wait" while several different people went through their list of offenses and matched things up with their IDs.
Both sisters were quite frustrated by this point, because they were getting the distinct and very accurate vibe that they were being treated like twelve year olds, which was exactly what was happening. 

FINALLY after multiple explanations and signing a form saying they would not sue to get their mace back (don't think it wasn't considered!) they were allowed to continue on their way.

Relief!! Self inflicted speed limits (in other words, a lack thereof) ensued as the little red car sped away, on towards the destination.

Next the sisters lost phone reception, which meant that in addition to being unable to call anyone, they also lost service with their GPS. Now they were in the middle of a strange land with no GPS and no ability to call anyone. Quite a situation. Thank heavens that sister B is much more directionally skilled than sister A and was able to somehow navigate the situation and get them to the correct destination, in spite of the aforementioned non working technical devices. (now that is skills, people!)

They finally arrived at the church, just half an hour late. Thankfully the dinner portion of the rehearsal was first, so no one had to wait on them for the actual ceremony run-through. The rehearsal went well and the sisters slept quite well that night after the very full and interesting day!
Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful. The sisters spent the morning curling, styling, and applying.
Above, a details shot of a few of the essentials of the trade!
The sisters have their craft honed to best fit their loves and skills in various areas.
Sister A does all the curling. Sister B does all the makeup. Sister B also does all the updos, and occasionally sister A helps with braids/down styles.
Time to get the bride ready!
Done!
So beautiful!
The wedding was at 1pm, which made for a pretty full morning! The sisters literally arrived at the church at 12:20pm and closeted themselves in the bathroom for fifteen minutes to try to make themselves presentable before starting the prelude music at 12:40pm. 
(the best marketing for a hair/makeup team would be to have decent hair/makeup themselves, right? Right. Sisters' to self: ALLOW MORE TIME NEXT TIME TO IMPROVE ADVERTISMENT PACKAGE =))
Here are a few shots to give a better view of the finished hairstyles...
The wedding was beautiful-so Christ honoring, and it was such a blessing for the sisters to be a part of this special day. The bride and her family were so kind + gracious to them and the sisters truly felt right at home. 
The sisters provided all of the music for the ceremony. The bride had asked for only sacred selections, so between her requests and the sisters' ideas, they had put together a list of various hymns for each part of the ceremony. 
Included was Come Thou Fount (groomsmen/groom), Great is Thy Faithfulness (bridesmaids' processional), How Great Thou Art (brides' processional) and To God Be The Glory (recessional)

One of the beautiful bridesmaids-here you can see more of a close up shot of her hair and makeup.

The sweet and lovely Mr + Mrs

The sistas grabbing a quick selfie with their dear friend, the beautiful bride.
The cupcakes at the wedding were really the last word in cupcakes.
All of the food was, for that matter. The sisters weren't able to stay for the main meal but they grabbed some of the snacks and cupcakes for the road and found them to be delish!

Beautiful skies on the way home.
Coffee time! A sweet friend had given the sisterhood a Canadian Starbucks gift card last summer. Due to an intense schedule and no available time the sisters had been unable to use the gift card on that tour. It came in handy this trip when they stopped for supper and coffee on the way home, right at the Canadian/USA border.

Speaking of the Canadian/USA border. You would think border crossing No.1 was enough for one trip, but apparently not. The sisters were destined for yet another adventure.
(what is with them and the border?)

While waiting in a long line at the border, about sunset time, the sisters chatted while sipping their coffee and eating their dinner. Things were going along quite well when suddenly sister B said, "Um, don't look now buuuut....I regret to inform you that the two dudes in the car next to us are checking you out."
Whereupon sister A laughed and said "yeah right-whatever".
And sister B said "I am not exaggerating in the slightest."
And sister A said "oh help. Well, okay, I won't look then. Tell me when they leave."

Well, you guessed it...the people up at the front of both lines were taking eternity to get through, which meant that the sisters were stuck right next door to these two, ahem, "gentlemen", for a significant amount of time, which seemed to stretch infinitely longer due to the rather "boring-holes-through-you" stares. At one point sister A did venture to look and then she wished she hadn't. (Gracious!)
People should keep their eyes on the road.

Near Fort Wayne, around 10pm, it was time to stop for the night. With Sister B being employed at
a hotel and all, she wasn't about to just go to the first one available.

No, it seemed to be necessary to drive around and try to snag the best deal possible by pitting the hotel's rates against each other and trying to get each to lower their prices. Sister A patiently drove Sister B back and forth until a rather uncommonly good rate at a very nice establishment was finally achieved.
There had been several different driving routes available for the trip, but the sisters choose the one that went through Fort Wayne because they really wanted to stop at one of their favorite churches on Sunday morning. 

(Note: this church, The Ekklesia, is amazing, not because the church or the people in and of themselves are amazing (which they ARE) but because JESUS IS THERE. This shouldn't be a rare thing, but unfortunately it is. There are a whole lot of churches out there that have lights and glam and glitz but you have to search to try to find Jesus in the middle of all of it. This church isn't like that. Jesus is just all over everything they do-on their faces, in their worship, EVERYWHERE. It is a beautiful thing. The worship service was incredible, as was time spent in the "war room", pictured above. )
The pastor + his wife took the sisters out to lunch after the service. Such a rich time of talking about Jesus and what He was doing in their lives. Both sisters are eternally grateful for people like this who take time to INVEST and pour into others' lives, all for the cause of Christ.
Sister selfie at a rest stop.
A fuzzy but beautiful phone shot sister B took of one of the bridges they crossed.

And there you have it-another adventure taken, another wedding accomplished, and another sisterhood roadtrip saga for the books. 

The end.

(special thanks to the wedding photographer, Liz Heikoop, for use of her pictures. You can see more pictures of the wedding on here blog, here)

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Hope y'all enjoyed following along on our adventure! =)
  -Chels

31 comments:

  1. Wow! I read parts of this story to Eric and we both laughed! (Sorry!) Such an entertaining time... now. :)

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    1. Well I'm glad if it could afford y'all some laughter. =) Especially as you know us well...I'm sure that made it funnier. We have gotten some good laughs out of the whole thing as well. =)

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    2. PS It really was an amazing adventure + such a grand trip!

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  2. In my earlier comment with all the questions I completely neglected to tell you what a beautiful job you and your sister did with the bride and wedding party. They all looked wonderful. Do you only use mineral makeup?
    Thanks,
    Amanda

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    1. Hello Amanda,
      I am so sorry; I saw your earlier comment in my moderation box and then after I published it I came over to my site to answer it...and now I can't find it anywhere! I went back and looked and it seems to have vanished! I wonder if I accidentally hit delete instead of publish? I have no idea. I'm so sorry-I read it very quickly and so I can't even remember off the top of my head what all your questions were. Could you kindly submit it again? I will do my best to get it published + answered this time. =) So sorry!!
      We do use some mineral makeup but not all.

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    2. Hi Chelsy,
      It's so frustrating when things get lost in cyberspace. I really appreciate how open you are in your blog. You have a wonderfully engaging writing style, and I have very much enjoyed reading here.
      I've been trying to learn more about Christianity lately, though I really don't know why I have this recent interest. My heritage is Jewish, and I was surprised to see the Israeli flag, Hebrew text, and the menorah in your photos from the church you visited. I wanted to know why they were there, because I've always thought of these as symbols of Judaism that were not a part of the symbology of Christianity. Though I know the Old Testament is shared between these 2 faiths, I've never seen these items associated with a Christian church before.
      And my other question is what is a war room? I know there was a recent movie of that name, so I assume it's not an obscure term, but I have no idea what it means.
      Thanks,
      Amanda

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    3. Thank-you so much for understanding! =)
      Also thanks for your encouragement about my blog. All I really want is just to be able to be REAL and point people to Jesus. I'm grateful if it blesses you.
      Regarding your questions...so the picture I posted is actually not a picture of the church, but a picture of a room in the church. I should've clarified why I called it a "war room". I think they call it their prayer room but I called it war room because it reminds me of the movie "War Room". (if you haven't seen it I would HIGHLY recommend it-it is a fabulous movie and has totally changed the way I look at the power of prayer!)
      There are many Christians who practice and really appreciate various forms of the Jewish culture, because many of those symbols and events came from the time of Christ and were practiced in the Bible. (the feasts, etc.) I believe strongly that Israel is God's chosen people and that it is vital that we stand with Israel if we want to be blessed as a nation. I think this church decorated the room and uses these symbols as a reminder of how things were in the time of Christ. I love the sound of the blowing of the shofar, and the jewish songs, because I believe they honor and glorify the Lord! My family doesn't personally observe the feasts, but we do greatly appreciate and love some of the symbolism of different Jewish traditions. (for example, we have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah for each one of us children when reaching adulthood, etc) We have many friends who are Messianic Jews-they celebrate Jewish traditions and holidays but unlike Jews, they believe + know that Christ has already come, and they have trusted in Him for salvation!
      Hopefully this will clarify for you! If you have any further questions or wish to discuss more feel free to comment back, or to email me! daughterofvision@gmail.com
      -Chels

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    4. And you are right-not many churches would decorate their rooms this way. =) This church is a very unique church and thats one of the reasons I love it so much. They just want everything to remind them of Christ + the Word, and God's love for Israel.

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    5. Chelsy
      Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, and to do so with such thoroughness.
      I am familiar with Messianic Jews, one of my cousins was one for a time, but she now identifies as a Christian. I did not realize that there are Christians who still practice and/or observe elements of Judaism, and I find everything you said to be really interesting. Especially that you all had Bar/Bat Mitzvot. Did your ceremonies follow a traditional Jewish format? It really is a lovely tradition, though for many in the U.S. the event has become highly commercialized, and far too much focus is put on gifts and parties. This is not always the case, but it happens a lot.
      I love the sound of the shofar and the traditional songs, too.
      Again, thank you for answering my questions. It is very generous of you to take the time to respond to a complete stranger, and it says a lot about the kind of person you are. I will probably think of more questions later, so you may hear from me again,
      Amanda

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    6. Chels, I was just recently at the Christian book store in Ottumwa Iowa. After reading this I specifically looked for the movie "War Room". They have it there & also a book version. I would suggest anyone that has a little time in the area to stop there as I was very impressed with what all that store has in books, CDs, general merchandise.

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  3. Sounds you had a fun and memorable trip! Thanks for sharing - it definitely put a smile on my face. :)

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  4. Hi Chelsy! Love your post, especially the part about Sweetwater sound and Fort Wayne, IN! We live in the area and frequent Sweetwater for piano music. Would have been nice to "run" into you sistas!! Love to hear of all your adventures! Have a great spring and summer. Love and prayers to your family!

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  5. Ha! Fantastic! A delicious story I must say. Thanks for sharing!
    God is good!
    ~Tommie Doe

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  6. Wow, it sounds like you and Allison have some pretty fun adventures. :) Both of you are so beautiful. I love the way you guys do your makeup. I still think that Allison should start her own blog. I really enjoy reading yours.
    -Haley
    http://www.photography4jesus.blogspot.com/

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  7. LOVED this post! (And all your posts ;) ).
    HOw about a makeup tutorial sometime? :)

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  8. You girls are so...fun!=) And Chels, you are an awesome writer!! You 2 seem to have the wildest adventures while road-tripping=) Such fun, I'm sure=) Love the pictures, the hairstyles and the lovely makeup as well=) Can't wait to see y'all again in just a month!

    p.s. I agree... a makeup tutorial from both you lovelies would be...well, perfection=)

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    1. Thanks girl...can't wait to see you TOO!

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    2. I know, right!!! so EXCITING!!!
      {if you girls ever decide you want another girl to come along for the ride+help out or whatever...you know who to call:)) You lovelies are #theBOMB:}

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  9. Sweetwater is awesome. Especially the pianos—and the slide. :) We cannot drive through Indiana without someone requesting a "rest stop" in Fort Wayne.

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  10. Oh mercy, you two just have the most interesting times, don't you?! I loved reading this continuing saga! And wow, girl I was CRINGING for you with both border stories, but especially the first one! I mean, good grief, women should be allowed to carry mace no matter the circumstances. Don't they watch the news?! We gotta protect ourselves! Yeesh. Anyway, the hair and makeup looked STUNNING. Wow, way to go, girls!! And keep the stories coming. ;)
    Hugs!!
    Ali Turner

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    1. I know right?! =) Some people just don't think through these things...at least we still had our fists; they can't take those away! =)

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    2. This comment just made my day...I can sort of imagine you punching some bad dude. When you go to Canada next time, when they ask if you are carrying any weapons, flex and ask the border agent if your "guns" count. If one of your brothers or sisters gets it on video, it may break YouTube records.

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    3. ^^^ That comment made my day! And Chelsy, these road trips with you and your sister are SO funny, some of my favorite types of posts.

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  11. Keep in mind that not all Canadian border guards are mean! lol! (Yeah, of course I'm Canadian... gotta defend my country.) :D
    Anyhow... sounds like quite an adventure :)

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    1. Oh I know-I've been over the border more times that I can count and we've met many nice ones. =)

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  12. What an ADVENTURE! I so love the way you lay it all out as it is. You make it very easy for us all to ride along and be a part such "specialness" LOL. :-)

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  13. Wow! You went to Toronto. That is where my grandma lives!

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  14. I was just dying laughing...you have such a grand talent for blogging! I love your stories and everything else you post! =) You and Allison should PLEASE do a makeup/hair tutorial!!! That would be so awesome! You are SO good at it!! Thanks so much and keep up the great blogging, girl! It inspires and blesses me in more ways than one!!

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