It was my birthday on Thursday and Lori took me out after work.  It was awesome!  We went to Cafe Sunflower, a vegetarian restaurant in Buckhead.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere is better than you’d expect for a place in a strip mall kind of setting.  Lori had the veggie loaf [picture left] and I had the almond crusted tofu [picture right].

From there we went to Startime Entertainment for some video games and comedy at the Funny Farm.  The comedy was a bit more miss than hit, but it was fun just being out.  Oh yeah, and because it was my birthday I didn’t have to do an after hours phone switch for work, and got my boss to do it for me.

This is a picture of us chasing down an imaginary plane that’s trying to take off without us.

Let’s start by saying that this year was a lot better than last year.  I (Daniel) admit I didn’t do a great job at all last year, I flat out sucked at the whole day. I didn’t have a gift or a card, and I almost took her to a bar (because she loves the atmosphere). We went to Nakato and I was in a bad mood that night. I did get her flowers, but it was after we got home and I realized how i ruined the night for her. Yep, I was horrible. But that was all last year, in the past, not the point of this post.

This year was better.  Heck, I didn’t have to try hard to top last year.  We went to Ikea for free breakfast (I’m cheap so what, it was quality time we were spending together), then Lenox Mall where I was finally able to get Lori Silent Hill 4 which she really really really really wanted.  And for dinner we went back to Nakato, I had a happy face on the whole time.  Lori got a Japanese Margarita that was the prettiest blue she had ever seen in a drink and wanted to swim in it.  The food was great!  We don’t know why people get meat there because the vegetables are the best!  We both went to bed early that night, not in a good or bad way, Lori had to get up for work on Sunday.

This is a picture of the line going out the front door and into the parking lot at Ikea to get a wristband to get a set of 400 ct. sheets, regularly $40 for $10.

For most weddings, all the ones I’ve been to anyways, the bride gets to make a big entrance where everybody looks at her and she feels super special and it’s great.  But the groom is just there.  You turn to talk to the person next to you and when you look back up front there he is.  He’s just there.  No big puff of smoke or music or anything, he comes from behind a door or gets out of a chair next to the stage while everyone is talking.  Lame.

Maybe there are other guys who’ve had their entraces, but I haven’t seen them.  And I want one.  I refuse to just walk up there un-announced and be a side note.  You can’t have a wedding without a groom, so here’s Daniel.  No.  It’s going to be HERE’S DANIEL!  I’m entering with a jetpack!  Or maybe a parachute like when Uncle Jesse got married on Full House.  Anyone else have a great idea?

For those that don’t know, the Inman Park Festival is a giant block party that has happened for the past 36 years. Here is how it’s described on inmanparkfestival.org:

The city’s quirkiest and most colorful Parade, led by the Inman Park Butterfly followed by floats, bands, art cars, politicians, drill teams, Kelly’s Seed and Feed Marching Abominable Band, clowns, jugglers, and many more. The parade ends with the appearance of the Inman Park Trash Monarch, perched atop the throne-a street sweeper.

The artists were really cool, James Dean and some of the local artists we see work from around town were there. And it was Saturday so “Fried Food Day” was awesome. We were both able to have corndogs since there were a couple booths setup with regular and veggie ones.

Then there was the parade. How does one go about describing a parade like this? It’s a little bit of everything . . . politicians, draq-queens, cavemen, zombies, eccentric marching bands . . .

We have some pictures up, and there are tons on Flickr if you search for Inman Park 2008.

It’s literally a jungle out there…in our backyard. We spent the morning dodging giant spiders and hungry pandas in our bamboo filled back yard….with a camera. (I had to document in case Daniel got bit by something crazy!) I was terrified on stepping on a snake and being killed…but alas there were no snakes. We steadied the camera and took some pretty crazy pictures. It was fun…being lost in China.  

It’s my birthday! For about eleven minutes anyways. And it’s been fun, awesome even. Lori gave me a sand bucket and a tofu cookbook and Evil Dead. Quite a few people sang me happy birthday. I got to bowl. Breakfast for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, breakfast for dinner. How lucky am I. Here are some more pictures.

And our buddy from Waffle House, Cee Cee, gave me cake and played a song for me on the jukebox.

All this to be topped off on Saturday with roller skating. Does it get any better? Probably not.

As our wedding is coming up, and planning is under way, it’s made me think about the way we do a lot of the things we do at weddings. Like why does the bride carry a bouquet (besides the fact that it looks nice) and then throw it at the reception? Why does she have something borrowed/blue/old/new? Why doesn’t the groom usually see the bride before the ceremony?

Well, we found some of the answers, and some we’re making up as we go along. The whole thing about not seeing the bride or dress, I want to be awestruck when I see her for the first time that day. And the rest of the answers (what we found anyways) are here - Wedding Superstitions.

But I still don’t know what I think about calling them superstitions, or traditions even. If we do it because it’s what we want to do, and not because that’s what people before us have done, or what most would say we’re supposed to do, or because we’re scared of curses or bad luck, then that doesn’t really make it tradition or superstition. We’re doing because we want to. There’s got to be a word for that somewhere.

ps.

Traditions aren’t silly. Doing them only because it’s tradition even when you don’t want to, that’s silly. If you want to take part in tradition, that’s great, as long as it’s because you want to do it. It’s the whole jumping off a bridge thing because everyone else is doing it. If you want to jump off the bridge, go for it. If it makes you happy, go for it.