I will be going out of town this weekend. Did you notice that it is singular? That’s right, I will be traveling to Washington, DC to attend Kristy’s bachelorette party WITHOUT BOB. I believe that this will be the first time that I will be traveling by myself since we we got married. It’s a little weird, I’m a little anxious but I think I’ll get over it. :-) Hopefully, Bob won’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone. Do not feel sorry for him, he’s gone on numerous trips without me (Hawaii June ’03, let’s just say my three year anniversary was memorable, as in I remember Bob not being there). Now it’s my turn.

Muggles, originally uploaded by Cracker and Cheese.

No, no, no, I don’t mean that he’s killed off or anything. I actually don’t know yet, since I am currently reading the Order of the Phoenix, but I am saying that attending the midnight release party for the Deathly Hallows last Friday is my end to Harry Potter month.

Since I had never been to one of these, I thought I might as well go to the last one because I was sure the weirdos would be coming out of the woodwork for it. Once Kim, Katie and I got there (at 9:30 pm), Borders was already packed with kids and adults all dressed up. I saw this little girl dressed up as Professor Trelawny so I had to tell her she had the best costume! Her mom was so happy that I complimented her daughter. There was a guy there who had a tattoo of the dark mark on the back of his calf, would have been way cooler if it was on his forearm. But the funniest thing that I saw there was this blond girl wearing this skimpy, tight red dress. I had to ask Kim who she was dressed up as and her answer was “A skank.” I wonder which book she was in.

Now, Kim and Katie dressed up as well (I passed on the offer for a tee-shirt, I just wanted to be an observer) and I thought they looked pretty cute, subtle, a little obscure reference but fun, nonetheless.

To have some semblance of order, everyone had a group number, in the order that they walked in. Each group number had about 30 people in it. Kim picked up her group number Friday morning around 11 and was in group 9. That means, at least 240 came by Borders before her. By the time we left, around 1:00 AM, they had given out up to group 26. That’s got to suck to be in that group. And just to be sure, nobody would accidentally open the boxes early:

And because I know that Kim and Katie would run straight home and not come out until they had finished the book, I suggested some reading on Saturday out by the pool. We had snacks, alcoholic drinks, the sun and the water. It was a perfect day! They read the last book while I finished the third book while Bob worked on his laptop. Everyone was hunky-dory, peachy-keen.

Pete Yorn, originally uploaded by Cracker and Cheese.

Saturday night, Jen, Brandon, Matt, Amanda, and Amanda’s sister went down to the Riverfront. Under the Arch, we sat on the steps and watched Pete Yorn play a free concert as part of the Live on the Levee series. Afterwards was fireworks. You can see the whole set here.

Pete Yorn was great live. I hadn’t seen him in person before and the show was awesome. There was also some oldish dude who was drunk as hell sitting next to us. He claimed Jen had the best seat in the house for the fireworks show, and that he had been sitting there before, but got up to use the restroom. He wasn’t belligerent or anything, but it was quite funny how he kept insisting that Jen’s seat gave a better view of the fireworks show than the one he was in, not even 6 feet away. Eventually he stumbled off in search, presumably, of more beer.

Afterwards, we went to Syberg’s on Dorsett, where I ran into my old friend Pat Conner. Small world!

Cheetah Babies, originally uploaded by Cracker and Cheese.

Aren’t they just adorable?

Alexander Prescott Doyle, originally uploaded by Cracker and Cheese.

I know it’s months late, but I thought I would announce the birth of Alexander Prescott Doyle, who was born sometime in April. Isn’t he adorable? He is actually half Asian but I don’t think you can really tell in the picture. Laura tells me that he has reddish-blond hair. I think she really means that he has orange hair. For those who have heard me say what will happen when an Asian and a blond have a child, here is proof right here: ORANGE HAIR! Told you so!