Saturday we had our first wedding shower, thrown by Connie (my mom). It was great. A lot of people were there that I haven’t seen in a long time, and most Lori was meeting for the first time. Come to think of it, most of the ladies there had changed my diaper at some point in time, and therefore seen my bootie. How odd.

To everyone that came out we would like to say thank you. It’s a great feeling to have so many people, even those we don’t see as often as we should, supporting us.  We are truly blessed.

And I would like to add an apology to everyone that had to listen to me ramble like a little kid. I didn’t know I was supposed to make a speech. Good tidings was the first thing that popped in my head. Sorry.  I’ll have a speech planned out for the next one so I don’t look like such a goober.

Here’s a look at Lori as a little baby with big attitude, style, and flare. This picture also doubles as a look into the future. We’ll be cruisin’ the beach in style, her with her awesome array of wigs, and me with an ever expanding assortment of bow-ties and long black socks. Being old is going to be awesome!

Last Saturday we had engagement photos taken by our friend Catherine. They turned out amazing! It was hot as blazes, but we made it through and had a good time. Check out the pictures here. Lori is flippin hot!

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This is Lori actually writing a post!

What can I say about Panama City except that I’m totally obsessed with it and nothing could ever change that, even if they burned the city to the ground. Granted, there would be nothing to do, but hey they accomplished that when they tore Miracle Strip down and broke my heart into a million pieces….shattering my childhood memories of log rides and haunted houses forever!

Anyway we met my parents down there on a rainy Tuesday night. (But not before stopping at multiple walmarts looking for the Evil Dead movies) As soon as we arrived we sat on the balcony and listened to the ocean. We would have looked at the ocean too, but it was midnight. Daniel slept on the floor once, an air mattress once, and one night he gathered all of the couch cushions and make himself a giant bed on the floor. Neither of these ideas seemed to feel any better than the other. Poor Daniel!

In our short time there we accomplished lots of things, including beaching, swimming, eating, and surviving a grueling maze with blinding white walls and long pathways that lead to eventual dead ends. We came out alive, ate a snowcone, watched a small worm get stepped on by a girl who never noticed, changed our seating arrangements because it was grossing me out, and then we met up with the rest of the gang at Angelos. That evening we listening to the beachy vocals of Accoustix, the greastest and drunkest men to hit the Gulf since forever. People were drinking and dancing to Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, and the Doobie Brothers. I wore my polka dot dress and I should have danced the night away but I was not drunk. And I cant dance.

I am a sucker for the ocean. Sure, it was full of seaweed this time and it felt like swimming in snot, but thats totally OKAY because I can overlook things like giant seaweed pulling me underwater and drowning me. Daniel did not get in. He thought it was disgusting. I agree. But I am not a wus. Daniel and Chase built an awesome sandcastle town. They later destroyed it and its many inhabitants. The pool was awesome.

The day everyone else departed for home, me and Daniel stayed a little longer. We ate at my favorite diner EVER! (It wasnt amazing this time but it’s still my favorite.) We sat in the sand and watched the waves crash for a while. I couldnt help but feel sad that I cant spend all of my days HERE, by the ocean. It steals my heart every time and I cannot bear to leave it behind. I finally raised myself out of the sand and me and Daniel checked out the new shopping mall. It’s pretty nice…very colorful. I found a ton of clothes at JCPenney. Before long we were hungry again and of course I decided on Italian. We found the best Italian ever… Sweet Basil. Then we were off back to the ATL. Leaving home for my other home. Daniel had to keep telling me we were going on VACATION to ATLANTA now. That helped!
Well thats it for this vacation, but there will be more because I am a spoiled, vacation-loving girl who loves freedom from work and a good beach breeze through my hair.

Oh to be there now. With my KITTEN! I AM GETTING A KITTEN! But that will be the next blog!

From last Friday until yesterday, we were on vacation in Tybee Island with the whole family (Daniel’s side). There were 22 of us all sharing a house together. It got loud. It was fun though. There was plenty of room, plenty of sun, and there was a pool. We flew kites, cooked eggplant, walked on the beach, played cards with our cousins and ended up winning four dollars!

There were several days we got off the island, going to Jekyll on one and into Savannah on another. Connie convinced us to go on a ghost trolley tour, but we didn’t see anything. Maybe it was because it wasn’t very dark, or maybe the ghosts were tired from scaring all the tourists the night before, or maybe we smelled bad. When we got off the trolley they started shooting off fireworks across the river, they are always pretty over the boats in the river. And then we found a karaoke bar, we sang pretty loud at our table but couldn’t muster up the courage to sing on stage.

There are pictures up on the pictures page from the trip. Connie looks possessed, Adam looks Vogue, Daniel looks crazy, Lori looks stunning, the house looks big.

I’ve been wanting to make sushi for a while now, but Lori has always been apprehensive. Usually I’d mention it and she’d reluctantly say yes, then five minutes later forget and suggest something else. And I’m fine with that because I know she doesn’t like it. But last night I finally got to make it. Perseverance.

While Lori was at work I made a ginger garlic marinade for the tofu strips and let that sit in the fridge for a few hours. When Lori got home we cooked the tofu, allowing it to absorb the extra sauce, and threw in the carrots and cucumber strips to soften them up a bit.

It was a lot of fun. Even though we couldn’t find a bamboo rolling mat, the rolls came together nice and relatively easy. Getting Lori to like sushi on the other hand, is not so easy. She tried it, but couldn’t stomach it. She had Wendy’s instead.   There are more pictures here.

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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.