It's a good thing this cold is going away soon, because I am not strong enough to have it much longer. Cough medicine, water, vitamin C, tea...I still have moments when the coughing takes over and I can't even get a cough drop in my mouth. One such time was during the first two songs of the solstice concert last night. Not ideal. But the rest was good. I even hit my high notes in the Magnificat.

Yesterday morning it took hours for everyone to get ready to leave. We had originally planned to drive up to Commerce to the Tanger outlet malls, but it was too late. We did some things downtown instead. So once everyone was ready, Molli was still working on her marriage license application, which she completed on her laptop and then e-mailed to me to print out. That cost another 20 minutes or so, so it was nearly 11:30, instead of 8:30, when we left. Meanwhile, I baked some chocolate-oat-nut squares and some ginger cookies that I had ready to bake in the freezer. I got some other things out of the freezer and packaged all of them up for the choir bake sale.

Molli and Adrian went to the court house and got their marriage license! It is good for 6 months. She wanted to do it now because she was afraid there might be some problem, since Adrian is not American, but it went smoothly. They met us at Helix, where Amelia bought something for Kasey. Then Molli and Adrian went to Aurum, where they ordered wedding rings from Trisha Ruppersburg, who knew Molli in pre-school. She had boys at Montessori when our girls were there, so that was kind of fun. Also, I trust her totally on jewelry questions. They will engrave them for free, if Molli and Adrian want them to. Next door, we looked at shoes, but there was nothing they wanted.

We drove out Pulaski to the Leathers Building, where Divine Event, a caterer, has an office. Their main branch is in Atlanta. It is gorgeously renovated and simply decorated and furnished. They sometimes hold events there. The tables was set for us, with a menu printed. Chris is the salesperson, but there was a chef there as well to cook samples for us. They were all beautiful and delicious and Chris will send us proposals next month. We tasted four appetizers: brie tartlets, beef on endive, catfish bites and some outstanding cauliflower soup. It was great fun.

We drove to Ray's office, so he could pick up some checks. Then we went to Earth Fare. We decided we needed to supplement our tastes, so we ate lunch at Add Drugs--burgers, fries, milkshakes. Adrian helped me at Earth Fare and we had checked out when Molli and Amelia came back from buying some things at the liquor store. Everywhere, we saw people we knew. I popped over to Homeplace, averting my eyes for the most part (they have lovely gifts) to buy the candles I need for the angel advent wreath--and the reindeer on the mantel. Amelia went through EarthFare, buying things for the shower tomorrow night. I took Molli and Adrian to Suska. One of the things she wants is a new winter coat (since the old one is way too big). Nothing there, though, and it was raining harder now. We got Amelia and her groceries in the car and drove home. We had other things on our list, but it was getting late.

My Dad was there, wrapping presents, doing pretty well. I felt exhausted and overwhelmed with things that needed doing. I had meant to make quiche for us to eat before the solstice service, but there wasn't time. I got a couple things to wrap, but couldn't seem to get the energy to do it. Instead I put a little more of the fringe on L's poncho...

We were late to the warmup for the choir concert, missing the one piece I really wanted to rehearse, but the service went really well and the place was packed. It was fun to sing and to see everyone. We bought a few baked goods. All my things sold, so I couldn't bring them home again.

At home, we scrounged around and ate bits of leftovers. Then "the kids" went to O'Rileys to play trivia. I went to bed--it was 10:30 and my stomach had started hurting. It's okay this morning, probably needs fruits and vegetables.