Jen Abramski - Maid of Honor/Big Sister
Jen is my big sis and she has always been there for me through thick and thin. If I needed someone to tell me that there were monsters in the house at night.... she was there. When I needed to talk about my high school woes, she was there, and when I needed a place to live when I came out to Seattle, she was there. Even though we're 5 years apart, she would willingly let me tag along with her posse. We would always go on so many great adventures together. There are too many memories to recount, but some of my favorite include: Riding our bikes 10 miles into town to get ice cream in the summer months, going white water tubing in glacial waters up in Denali National Park, sledding in LeRoy Oaks Forest Preserve, and spending a long day ice skating, then heading to the Manor for hot cocoa. Jen has such an adventurous spirit that I truly admire. She is one of those people who puts family and friends first in her life. If you haven't met her yet, I highly recommend that you do because she has the most infectious personality.
She speaks fluent Spanish and is as far from shy as a person can be. Her nickname is Ms. Action Adventure, any spare second she gets, you will find Jen hiking in the mountains with my doggie nephew and niece (Fozzie and Osa), snowboarding, camping, biking, anything athletic, you name it, she does it. I am so blessed to have Jen as a big sister, and so happy to have her as a part of our wedding.
Erica Thomson - Seattle Friend/Bridesmaid
Shortly after I moved to Seattle 6+ years ago, I met Erica. You can ask her the story of how we met but this is what she told me. She claims she saw me at a party dancing on a chair for 4 hours and decided that anyone who gogo's on a chair for 4 hours, she had to be friends with... so she introduced herself to me which I unfortunately didn't remember. It took three times of running into each other before I went up to her and introduced myself... her response was "Honey, I know who you are... I've already met you twice before." Immediately, I realized that she was someone I needed to know. How could you not love somebody who is that honest?
After that, Erica and I hung out with each other more often. If it weren't for her dragging me out to a party one evening, I may have never met Owen. (See the blurb for how we met to hear the story.) Erica is a multi-talented woman. Not only is she an expert in home repairs, fashion, gardening, sales, chihuahuas, pilates, etc. etc., she is also knowledgeable in role-playing games, Sci-Fi, and Lord of the Rings. I guarantee this woman is the hottest dork you'll ever meet.
Sara Lasky - College Friend/Bridesmaid
Sara is a very dear friend of mine from college. I met her in the dorms my first year at the University of Oregon, but we didn't really get to know each other until by some force of nature we ended up as roommates our second year. Fortunately, our personalities matched perfectly. I remember our first saturday as roomies, we blared some Guns and Roses and danced around the apartment. At that instant, I knew we were going to be alright. We both discovered that we had a plethera of similar interests including Cat Stevens, polka, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and playing dress up. Within a couple of days knowing each other, we bonded over our Polish roots and together formed a dream of opening a late night perogi stand in Eugene . The perogi stand has yet to materialzie, but our friendship is still as strong as ever.
Sara's many talents range from being a highly sought after floutist to being a roller-skating, polka dancing queen. This 6'2" sarcastic beauty is now a grade school teacher in Portland , Oregon and will be getting married on July 22nd. I'm so happy to have Miss Lasky as a part of the wedding party.
Audrey Grettie - Childhood Friend/Bridesmaid
Auds and I met in 1st grade out on the school playground during recess. I was a very shy kid and didn't know anybody, so the first day of school, I just sat and observed everyone else on the playground. Audrey approached me and said "Hi my name is Audrey, do you want to play Unicorns?". I had no idea what Unicorns was, but I played anyway. (it ended up being a game of pure imagination) We played together every day at recess and soon moved on from playing Unicorns to chasing boys. We may have gotten older, but our imaginations are still the same when we get together. Even today, whenever we get together, we become giddy little girls. People who see us together have even told us that we seem like kindered spirits.
Back in Junior High, Auds introduced me to many activities that are popular today such as yoga, tofu, and bellydance. She is one of those people who is constantly educating herself on any and every subject imaginable. She is such a wonderful and talented person. She is an amazing musician, and a fabulous chef. I am so honored to have her in my life, and at my side as Owen and I get married.
Christine Sames - Childhood Friend/Bridesmaid
Christine (Chrissy as my family calls her) and I have been bosom buddies since we were about 2 years old. As kids, we were so inseparable that many people thought we were twins. I don't remember exactly how we met, but we've been friends for as long as I can recall. Her parents and siblings were like a second family to me. We used to spend countless hours singing on her karaoke machine (aka "the singing machine"), making up goofy games to play (such as the socks game), and making up dances to various songs by Earth Wind and Fire and/or Apollonia 6. At the ripe age of 15, the two of us decided that it was time to go meet Chrissy's relatives in Germany, so we saved all of our babysitting money and eventually our parents (God bless 'em) bought our plane tickets over there. It was perfect timing as her brother Kurt happened to be studying in Germany and he agreed to help lug two 15 year olds around via train through Germany and France for 4 weeks. What an amazing adventure and oh so many stories to tell! Christine is a fantastic person with a heart of gold and a shoe collection that makes the ladies of Sex and the City look like minimalists! She is an actor, a singer, a humanitarian, and so many other things all rolled into one. She has been there for me through thick and thin on so many of life's adventures... I'm very honored to have her by my side as I take a step into this next big adventure.
Other Crew Aletta Mannix- Amy's College Friend/Singer