Harry Potter Mania, Sort Of

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Jen

Due to the fact that you cannot escape Harry Potter during the month of July, I decided I might as well join the party. First of all, I began re-reading the books in preparation for the last one coming out on July 21. As of today, I just finished the first one which means I have one week left to read the rest of them. Yeah, not going to happen. Secondly, Kim and Katie came over Wednesday and Thursday to watch the four movies before watching the fifth one. Of course, I had to go with British food in honor of Harry Potter so Wednesday night was Shepard’s Pie (my first experience making and eating), Trifle (courtesy of Katie) and Kim brought butterbeer (butterscotch schnapps and cream soda). Wow! Surprisingly, butterbeer tastes wonderful! Thursday night was fish and chips, magic cookie bars and an encore of butterbeer. All of this hoopla led up to the 10:00 AM show today of the Order of the Phoenix! After watching it, I’m glad that I didn’t have a chance to read the book again before viewing it or else I would have been more outraged at the amount that was cut out. It’s a good thing I don’t seem to remember every detail of the book, only the general points. Other than that, it was awesome! I won’t say anything about it except that it was great, it did not disappoint and I can see why JK Rowling is rolling in the dough. Now, even though I did not pre-order the final book like the rest of the world, I will still attend the midnight party with Katie and Kim because I must have closure to this Potter-mania.

The Drama That Is Called Life

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Jen

Sometimes life just whips you around like a leaf and you don’t know what’s up or down. All you can do is make decisions at that precise moment and hope for the best. It may work out at times and it may not work out at other times but you just have tumble along until the winds of change die down. These past three months have not been kind. I’ve felt homeless. We moved into my parents house in May, was only there for a week and then hurried off to Taiwan for a month. After returning, it was decided that a better situation would be for us to move back home. So, for the past two weeks, we’ve been preparing the house for the move back. It has been rough and exhausting but we will finally be spending the night in our own house for the first time in over two months. I have not felt at home in quite a long time so maybe now I can start living again.

Aaron Miles is a freaking bum.

Posted on July 7, 2007 by Bob

Tonight, the Cardinals coughed up 4 runs in the seventh inning of a tie game to lose 7-6, courtesy of Aaron Miles’s three (THREE!) errors. Seriously. He also went 0-5 and left the potential tying run on base in the 8th inning. I said to Jen: “If Miles can tie the game, he will avoid getting killed on the blog.” Well, you can guess what happened. Miles grounded out weakly to seal the deal.

And furthermore: Anyone who thinks that an Aaron Miles and Adam Kennedy double play combo is acceptable for the Cardinals is smoking rocks. This isn’t the Royals. This isn’t the Devil Rays. Miles is a liability in the field and at the dish and Adam Kennedy doesn’t even look like he wants to be there. Get these guys out of there, ASAP!

By the way, thanks to Jess for scoring the tickets for tonight’s game!

Congratulations, Cathy and Sam!

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Jen

Whew! It’s Over!, originally uploaded by Cracker and Cheese.

Another one bites the dust. Last weekend, Bob, Yao and I took a road trip to Denver to see Cathy marry Sam. Yes, you read correctly, we DROVE to Denver. Why? Because we thought it would be fun. Was it? It actually wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be (probably because I didn’t have to drive). And Kansas was not as flat as I had imagined. Plus, we were traveling in style, Yao’s mom’s mini-van.

When we got into Denver Friday afternoon, we rushed to the rehearsal and had dinner at Cathy and Sam’s favorite Brazilian restaurant. It did not disappoint. Afterwards, Nikki, the bridesmaids and I offered our services to the bride on some last minute details and soon found out that it was a little more than we had imagined. We had to put together the wedding favors, create a wedding program, make bridesmaid jewelry, create the seating chart and other things I can’t remember. Once we finished what we could, a bunch of us went over to Three Dogs Tavern to hang out with Sam and his friends so Cathy could get some sleep.

Saturday began pretty early for us. Instead of relaxing and checking out the city, Bob, Yao, Nikki and I (aka the Dream Team), instead, got tapped to take care of programs, seating chart and supervising the set-up of the reception site. Let me tell you, I felt as stressed that day as I did when I was planning my wedding five years ago. Bob, Yao and I spent a couple of hours at FedEx/Kinkos in the morning due to some mistakes in the program. Afterwards, we and Nikki went to Lola for lunch to come up with a game plan for the rest of the day. Wow! Absolutely impressed with this place, great vibe, awesome decor and tasty food. I ordered the Breakfast Cristo (stuffed French Toast with pineapple syrup and a side of applewood smoked bacon). YUMMMY! Once lunch was over, we went and picked up some stuff to take to the wedding and headed back to the hotel to get ready.

The wedding began at 6:00 PM yet we were at the reception site at 4:30 PM. Yep, we started early. Nikki and I spent the next hour and a half ordering the caterers around, tracking down the parents of the bride and groom, deciding where to put things, setting up the centerpieces, putting out the wedding favors. Yeah, we were running around like lunatics.

The actual wedding was short and sweet. Cathy and Sam had the wedding at the Pines at Genesee on the terrace. It was a beautiful location, outside among the trees. The entire wedding ceremony took 14 minutes (4 of those minutes were taken up by the bridesmaids and Cathy walking down the aisle). It was so perfect for them. There was no crying, lots of laughing, they just looked like they were having a good time. Of course, I teared up a bit and laughed the rest of the time.

The reception was loads of fun. Quite a few people from high school came in and it sort of felt like a mini reunion. It was great seeing them and catching up with what was going in their lives. I had not seen some of them since graduating. There was one moment when I had to find a computer with an Internet connection to print out the maid of honor toast for Allison because it got lost in the shuffle, but she did give me a shout out for that. Basically the entire day absolutely reflected who Cathy and Sam are: two laid-back individuals who complement each other perfectly and have a great time together.

We love you and wish you many, many years of happiness!

If you’re interested in the many photos we took of the wedding, please click here.