My Best Friend's (brother's) Wedding

(The bride and groom -- no rice throwing, just wave your ribbons around. It sounded strange at first, but it made for some sweet photos)

Otherwise known as "the fanciest wedding I've ever been to". This took place 2 weeks ago in Illinois. Friday night was the rehursal dinner. The church part was Saturday at noon. The reception was Saturday at 6pm (big gap huh?). Sunday we had a post-wedding slip 'n slide party. Monday I went IKEA and thrift store shopping, then flew home. It was a busy weekend!

Boy, does it make you feel old when your friend's brother (who was about 5 year old when you first met him) gets married.
(my brother and I at the rehursal (sp?) dinner)

The church part was nice (in a church full of stain glass windows), but the reception rocked! The room was a 1/2 circle, with the curve of the circle being all glass. When they were announcing the bridal party all the shades went down. And when it was time for the bride and groom to arrive, all the shades slowly started going up, and you could see them walking around outside the building. Pretty cool.

For some reason I didn't take many pictures of the wedding ... but enjoy!
(I'll embarrass my friend, and host for the weekend, Julie. "Snap into a Slim Jim! Oh yeah!")

Thank you everybody!

Thank you so much for all the kind words in my last 2 entries. I didn't want to turn into one of those mushy girly brides-to-be ... but the dark side is so appealing!

I'll make a vow to not bore you about my engagement for the next 3 blog entries!

For now, here are some photos of the cutest couple ever (that would be me and Jonathan if you were wondering ...)

The ring

Why is it so impossible to take a picture of a ring? I got one good close up. As you might be able to tell, it's a small square, a big square and another small square.

It's white gold (does that mean inexpensive silver?). Regardless, I love silver!!!

I forgot how many karots (sp?) it is. I think entire set is 1. We actually bought both rings as a set a while ago. I got to pick out my engagement ring! I suppose part of the joy of getting engaged is a surprise ring, but I'm a glad it wasn't a total surprise. I mean, what if I didn't like it?

Did I mention that I love it?!?

I hope the pictures are clear enough. Enjoy.

Save the date!

Jonathan and I got engaged on Saturday!

I had just gottten off a 8:15-6:45pm OT Shift at MGM Studios. He suggested going to the Magic Kingtom to ride pirates (oh the joys of living close to WDW - we can pop in at 8:30pm at night when we're bored).

After pirates, we watched the fireworks. Later he said he wanted to do it around the fireworks, but it wasn't a good spot/time.

As we ran thru all the Main Street shops on the way out of the park we stoped in the Camera Store (what's that place called?). We walked to the far back of the store where they show old Mickey cartoons, and have really cool cardboard cut outs used for photo ops. He taped me on the shoulder, and when I turned around he was down on one knee.

He said, "let's get married" and pulled a ring out of his pocket. I guess it was more of a demand than a question. Ha ha ha.

I put the ring on, and we walked hand in hand out of the Magic Kingdom. I've never worn any jewelry before, so it's strange that I don't feel strange/itchy wearing this ring. I guess it was meant to be.

Good thing too, b/c I'm getting old!

Oh, and reference to the title, there really isn't a date to be saved ... I just was struggling to think of a good title name.

Slip 'n Slide

Warning: If you're about to use a Slip 'n Slide, make sure you stretch first! We had a party on Sunday night, and Monday morning my upper arms were soooooooooooooo incredibly sore. What a wimp I am!

These photos are myself, my friend Julie and her boyfriend.

Central time zone here I come!

I'm leaving in 20 minutes for the airport - heading off to Illinois! My friend's brother is getting married, and I'm crashing the party (well, I did get an invitation, but 'crashing' sounds cool).

I'll post photos when I get back. The wedding should be a blast - this is a total party family!!! Plus I haven't seen my brother in over a year. He just got back from Vegas, so that should make for some interesting stories . . .

Summer Movies: 4 down, 1 to do

I finally saw Pirates 2 on Sunday (I had to wait 2 whole days!). We got tho the theater 1 hour early, so we got a great middle seat for the sold out show.

Like all middle movies of great trillogies (Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future 2), this movie was all about plot, plot, and more plot. It just kept bringing up stuff, trying to tie the first movie into the 3rd installment.

I was sad at myself for being annoyed w/ Jack Sparrow's craziness at the very beginning. And it was way too long, but I still enjoyed it.

I was confused (but when aren't I confused?) about certain plot points. I'm sure after seeing the movie 100x on DVD those will all clear up. And what an AWESOME ending!!!

Great movie quote:
Jack: "Elizabeth (dressed as a man pirate), you should be wearing a beautiful dress or nothing at all. I happen to have no dress in my quarters."

***SPOILER***do you want to know what happens after the credits?
The cannibals are all seen dancing and bowing down to their new god. Who is it you may ask? The jail key dog! He's sitting in the chair, all dressed up as a cannibal god!

I'm embarrased to admit (more stuff). . .

I think it will make an amusing post about all the embarrasing/stupid stuff I do. Come on everybody, admit stuff with me!

1. Did I even spell "embarrased" correctly?
2. I can't get enough of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. Did you see the way Benji looked at Donyelle on Wednesday night? I wish a guy would look at me like that!
3. Black jelly beans ... enough said.
4. Boxer briefs are darn comfortable.
5. So are granny panties!
6. How much I make per hour ... it's too embarrasing to admit!
7. I love hand me down clothes, from friends or ebay.
8. I've lived in Florida for 4 years, and have never been to the beach.
9. I'm on the White Sox bandwagon.
10. I had cereal for dinner every night this week.
11. I have more internet friends than real friends - not that that's a bad thing!
12. I love MTV's Real World vs. Road Rules challenges

I think I'll publish this post now ... but I'm sure I can think of more stupid stuff later!

Yo ho, yo ho ...

... I rode the "new" Pirates of the Caribbean ride at WDW on Saturday!

Let me preface this with my intense worry when I heard that they were making changes. I didn't like the fact that Disney was getting "hip" and adding elements from the Pirates movies into their ride. The charm of Disney is that it's timeless.

Thankfully they didn't change much!

The coolest change is a 'waterfall' with a reflection of Davy Jones at the beginning. Your boat goes straight thru his face on your way into Pirate land.

One bummer is that they took out that talking skull head that says, "dead men tell no tales". Or, maybe because I went during 'soft opening' they were putting him back in.

Thruout the ride, the only changes were Capt. Barbosa on that giant pirate ship (very realistic looking), and 2 or 3 Capt. Jack Sparrow's. The Jack Sparrows were really realistic looking! You know how his body language is really fluid yet jerky? They captured that in the animatonics.

My only complaint (besides skull head being missing) is the ending scene. It's Jack in the 'booty' (ha ha - treasure) room. But they took out lots of the treasure; the room doesn't look as elaborate as before.

Best part of the ride - only 10 minute wait time!!!

Bob Iger

Jonathan (being Mr. Big Shot I won Partners in Excellence) was invited to a big meeting last Thursday at Disney.

He wanted me to post this picture of him and Bob Iger (the new head of Disney - he just took over to Michael Eisner).

What a surprise - Jonathan has red eye!