I know what you did last summer..

Man.. Do I love an excuse to reference FPJ.  ... be silent be still..  Okay enough of 1999, time for the present.  This summer has been one of my favorites... including the one were I got pierced ears and the one were I got a huffy sweet dreams bike.  By far, way better.

My high school BFF Amy got married, and I perfected my high jump.

I also perfected my bridesmaid skills, which include but are not limited to buying the right size dress so that your mom's seamstress friend doesn't have to rip it apart and put it back together to fit you in like a whale.  Not that whales wear bridesmaid dresses, but I think you get the point. 

 One of the reasons this was great (obviously in addition to the fact that Chris and Amy are crazy about each other blah blah blah) was because my family was on the dance floor about 90% of the time.  Below I believe is the 'do your favorite Bluth chicken dance'

 Dad gettin' jiggy

 I also ate a cake decorated to look like a cheeseburger.  Oh yes, it was good.

 Tapas girls night

A work trip to NOLA where my college buddy happened to be taveling there at the same time too for his work!!! How serendipitous!  Obviously we had hurricanes to celebrate the universe throwing us together like that in one of its greatest cities.

I sampled the local fare.  Beignets from Cafe Dumond...taste like doughnuts.  Yum.

Nickie hosted me in the Lou for a ridiculously garlicy feast.

Literally a pie from the Pi restaurant there.  Amazing!

Aunt Lori and Uncle Paul celebrated their 25 years of glorious marriage on the river in Muscatine Iowa.  She had healthy food, including a salad from her beloved Kosovo!

On the river.

We had some Denver friends come to play with us...

They are hilarious

Aunt Anne makes a mean chipotle pork / marinated mozz tomato and basil / herbed potatoes  YUM  (PS like the new parent's farm table? I do too)

John and I went to Florida for a wedding he was in...

There were crabs

Matrimony

and cake...

This summer also had trannies

New shoes...

And John and I ready with only 12 hours notice for a black tie fundraiser.  Formal attire is a must to have on hand at all times.

The world's most impressively big nachos.  Devoured by a team of hungry people, obviously, as it would most certainly spell death by clogged arteries to any cingular party that tried to eat it in one setting.

Some margs.

Doors with turtle handles.. I want one

Lots of happy hour and dinner dates with my momma while she visits the city

With wine...

A girl's night theme of 'build your own pizza'

great scenery, great company

An ISU/KState football game at the Chief's arrowhead stadium.  My uncle took me with him while he visited from Iowa, and I wore my mom's Iowa State t-shirt that she wore when she was in college there.  I felt so authentic.

Sunny day for football and beer!

Meanwhile my sister had me SO PROUD by crafting her first college sorority theme party costume with a hot glue gun.  Just when I think she's adopted I remember we are apparently just alike. 

She is going as Donna Reed

More dates with Mom :)

And as soon as I press publish I am off to the airport to see my brother for a weekend in DC.  Life. Is. Good!

Brothers in Metal!

I can't resist telling you about another bach party.  Less scandalous peni pictures than the last time though, I promise.  My BFF from high school is getting married and requested that her bachelorette party be at an 80s hair band cover band concert.  It was a BRILLIANT idea. 

The guys in the band 'Metal Studz' (who I have it on good authority are accountants by day) were FULL ON  costume.  Had I known this I would have made it an 80s costume party.  However, looking cute never hurt anyone, right? 

To top it all off, the band was actually really good.  They played anything that would qualify for a 'monsters of rock' infomercial, including but not limited to Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Quiet Riot and so much more.. and for just three easy payments of $9.99........... but wait, there's more.......

Just kidding.  But they did sound identical to whichever band they were covering.  Uncanny.  Or maybe Canny.  The Canniest.

Okay so there is one peni straw picture.  I had to show you the fabulous hand painted glass my amazing aunt Sheila made for the bachelorette.  If it wasn't filled with some murky boozy-type liquid you could more clearly see the pretty rings and other fun things custom painted on the glass.  Get that woman on etsy.  STAT.

The pic below is of the lead singer standing on the bar beginning his serenade to Amy.  It was a beautiful kodak moment.

In other news, John and I decided to skip work for a day (well more skipping for me, his coach schedule includes lots of free summer time) and visit a winery halfway in-between his house and mine. 

Brilliant in theory.  Blazingly HOT in reality.  Oh well.  Wine is good when you're overheated, right?

We went to a cute little restaurant in Weston, MO.  Fun fact about Weston, a lady that turned down a proposal from Abraham Lincoln died there.  Eh? Eh? I know you're impressed.  We saw the letter she sent him.

I got the greek pita salad sandwich (or some similar name).  For the record, I will eat anything with goat cheese and kalamato olives.  There were also mixed greens and other vegetables in there.  Not bacon, as the picture would like to show.  That picture is a liar.  The plate also had pickled okra, which was a first for me.  It kind of just tasted like a sweet pickle, but it got points for uniqueness.

I also got 210831209801298302183 bug bites while at one winery.  I scratched them without abandon.

John was not sympathetic.  (I can't imagine why someone on a work phone call would not drop everything to give me limitless empathy for my itchiness and subsequent self mutilation..... in the words of michelle tanner..... 'how wude')

I'm off to Florida for a wedding this weekend that John is in.  Man, life is rough with all of these vacations and fun outings.  Not to worry though, I literally have NOTHING on the calendar from September until 2011.  Not a single weekend taken up.  Without weekend plans, I might cease to exist.  Keep you posted.

Perfect Wine Country Wedding

So My college roomie got married this past weekend.  She did not get married to Justin Timberlake as was the plan circa 2003.  Good thing he's still out there for me.  Are you reading this Justin? Call me.

Anyway she lives in San Francisco where nature, wine, and good food are a-plenty.  Needless to say, it was the most ridiculously beautiful and fun wedding I've ever been to.  Seriously, there were three days worth of events and I felt like people laughed at my jokes all wekend long (a rare occurence, let me tell you).  I was actually out west for a week helping get ready... .as my friend is an uber creative, crafy, and detail person, there was much to do for her big day.  Obviously having much to do requires many breaks at wine bars.  Did you know you can milk the engaged/bride/just married thing for free drinks? You do now.  Thank you bottle of champagne.

The wedding was an hour or so north of SF in Guerneville (for you blog readers, that's about 10 miles from Jenna's Healdsburg) and required a little road trip.  That's me riding with a very pretty white dress.

The bride, below, and a sideways Golden Gate bridge (I tried to punch my computer screen to get it upright, and then I was out of ideas... why does blogging make me feel so not tech savvy.. what is the deal with this internet machine? why can't Al Gore invent something that works more gooder for me)

Road tripping is also hard, and required breaks at more wineries.  Also you're supposed to spit out your drinks so you don't get drunk.  Also you're supposed to use inside voices. 

In a particularly adorable move, my friend hosted a ladies tea party for the bridal party and families.  Some of the groom's family is British, but any chance you get to wear a tea dress and eat cucumber sandwiches should be taken.  (note to self: new idea for a bumper sticker)

Tree hanging decor courtesy of Martha Stewart.  Tablecloth was a roll of fabric she got on clearance, cake stands she made with plates and candlesticks found and flea markets.  Get that girl a show on HGTV, asap.  Hey Hey, she's crafty!

She found different English china teacups and saucers on EBAY for everyone to take as a party gift.There might have been vodka in the lemonade.She also gave everyone a tea bag with an inspiration 'women's quote and a note thanking us for being an important woman in her life.  Perhaps the best part? Her new Betsy Johnson tea party shoes.  ME-OW.

The rehearsal dinner was in a redwood forest (Armstrong National Forest) and had trees larger than I'd ever seen in my life.  They were amazing!  They made me think of Ewoks a little bit from Star Wars... but you have to be careful to mention such nerd speak when you are meeting new people.  Ditto for the 'forbidden forest' Harry Potter references. 

So the bride and groom met when she and I went to Jamaica our junior year of college for spring break.  Can you believe they've been together ever since? Crazy!  Obviously a Jamaican themed rehearsal was perfect.  It was even catered by a friend of theres who they met in Jamaica, lost touch with, and then he found them on FB and told them he was opening a restaurant.  How serendipitious can you get?

Tree Hugger.

Note to self: that Jamaican bread (made with cononut milk) is SO DENSE and amazing! It's like pound cake!  I normally am not a fan of spicy food but this was SO SO good.  Extra TLC for the pinapple that rocked my socks off.

The small resort (can you call it that? it makes it sound like there's a lido deck to me) had 50-some-odd cabins which were booked the entire weekend by guests of the wedding -- we had the whole place to ourselves! 

Everyone got a note on the door with their name and an AMAZING goodie bag filled with candy, snacks, personalized maps, flyers with local attractions, a 'pocket' schedule for the weekend and so much more.  

The bride was of course beautiful and glamorous while getting ready!  Mimosa time :)

The reception was in the meadow.  Seriously these pictures don't do it justice, it was ridiculously pretty and has ruined me from liking any other normal church/reception hall wedding.

There was an acoustic guitar playing here comes the sun and other lovely beatles tunes

Her uncles walked her half way, and then she walked the rest on her own.

She had ribbons, fans, and yay signs for people to use!

The cocktail reception was in the meadow and it was even prettier in real life.  The parasols helped provide shade and looked pretty great too.  There was bocce ball and croquet there too.

check the shoes, check the shoes..

She had their vows printed on canvas so guests could ink their fingerprints on them. 

The reception was in the orchard and was SO pretty!

Table assignments hanging from the trees. 

Different cakes for each table.. all of the food was AMAZING!

A shoe cake server, obviously

A pretty hilarious speech, if I do say so myself.

Busting a move.

People like myself were such dance floor hogs they had to clear everyone out half way through the reception so the bride and groom could do the official first dance that they practiced. 

The bride had stashed a basket of Pashminas (in wedding colors of course) at the end of the dance floor for people to use if/when it got chillier outside. 

The next day, some seared polenta fries with chunky red sauce were JUST what the doctor ordered.

A pork salad with fancy things in it.  Sidebar, is pork really trendy right now? It's never something I get at home and rarely order it out, but when in a trendy California restaurant, you order the special.  Am I right or am I right?

Back in SF before we left, we hit up a coffee shop downtown to get some veggie breakfast burritos with extra avocado.  Behold the delicousness:

Raaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr delicious

I'm still on a high from this beautiful perfect vacation wedding.  It was my everything, note to self, travel westward more often.  Justin, are you still reading? call me.