California Three Play

While in California, our mini-van driving all over Southern California exposed us to a frightening experience.. the same 3 songs played over and over day and night on all the stations. These became known to us as the California Three Play. Now that I'm home, I miss them and started playing them again. Sad, I know.


Rihanna - Umbrella


Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake - Give It To Me


Kilo - Lean Like A Cholo

Loosen up a bit and rock out as we did, cruising down I95 or the 101, wind in your hair and smiles all around.

A day in the life of temptation

I've been back a few days. Between flying back from California, which was arduous and long (after several delays in Atlanta), spending the next few days disinfecting and scrubbing every last thing in my life in preparation for Aaron & Frances, to flying to Cincinnati (for 4 days of early-morning conference sessions, food I couldn't eat and hanging out with hilarious drunks) and coming back for a whirlwind 4 days of picnics, a reception and even a brunch! On Monday morning, I felt as if I was recovering from a gunshot wound. I was exhausted, drained and achy. After a few days now, I am feeling better.

But I was lucky enough to have Laura come up for the weekend to join me in my family's events. She drove 7 hours to pick me up from the airport. How great is she? And the funny part is, she dropped me off at the airport on Sunday. Not that I was flying out again, but my brother & his wife met me there since they were flying out and I had to get my car back. Laura graciously agreed to be the car-of-use for the weekend, something that was beyond kind. On Thursday, we headed to my aunt's place for a birthday party / picnic dinner of pasta, chocolate, lasagna, cookies and meatballs. Everyone was back together with each other for the first time in over a year.

On Friday, Laura and I met up with Jake & Rachael for some catch-up, Thai food at the King & I and then hat shopping at Kohl's. We hung out with them for a couple hours, playing a board game and relaxing before racing back to my mom's house (with Frances' uncle Steve in tow) with Jake & Laura (and even Pancake Sue) for the big reunion picnic shindig. There was so much food prepared for this dinner that I'm still eating leftovers. Mom sent me home with 3 large bags. Laura & Jake got to experience the full joy that is my family, and hung out with several people throughout the evening. Jake got to meet my brother and Laura saw the loveliness that is my father. Several of our Amish neighbors even stopped by, hanging out until we had to leave around 10.

Saturday, Laura and I had breakfast at Jay's Diner before heading up to the lake to enjoy the sun, beach and carnival. We hit a snag with a flat tire, delaying us enough to cancel our lake excursion. Using my limited knowledge of changing my tire from last year, I clunked my way through the motions, replacing the tire and forcing us to head off to get it fixed. We still made it to the reception in time and the evening continued without much of a hitch. As you saw from the pictures, everyone looked fantastic, especially Laura, and I think everyone had a great time. My mother is drained beyond belief, but we somehow still had enough energy in us to head off to the casino for several hours of gambling, late night snacking, and losing all our money.

That wasn't all. After Laura dropped me off at the airport, we said our goodbyes and Aaron & Frances arrived minutes later, I raced back to my aunt's house for brunch and goodbyes with the rest of my family. With 3 separate departures, the day was an extended sweet sorrow that ended with a big leftovers dinner with slide shows of over 700 pictures from the weekend and 500 from the wedding. We even watched the recorded video from the two events and laughed until it hurt from all the funny moments of the weekend. But then Aaron & Frances called to let us know that they're still in Rochester, getting bumped from their flight until the following day. So I headed to Rochester to spend a few hours with them in their hotel room.

It was an incredibly full and lovely four days. Spending time with Laura and the family made me very happy, even if seeing my father tended to dampen the mood. But now I'm spending my evenings trying to relax, spending my nights trying to catch up on sleep, and spending my days trying to work through the haze that is my sleepiness.

Reception Pictures

Pictures from the reception that my mom threw for Aaron & Frances. Phew! Too many pictures! I hope you enjoy!



Gracie, dancing with Jered. When he was flipping her around, she got scared. When asked, she replied "Jered wanted me to go between his legs..." and after more prodding "I thought he was going to pee on me." We about died laughing. Poor girl.



Aaron & Nola, during another dance. Even though the DJ sucked, we had fun.



Laura was gracious enough to spend the entire weekend at all my family events. And she even put up with my wandering socializing.. thanks Laura!



Aaron and Frances cutting their 2nd wedding cake. I actually tasted this one.



Jenifer and Laura snacking as we're packing things up. They found the hidden tray of cookies!

Family Reunion Weekend

After my trip to Cincinnati, my entire family had plans for a giant get-together to celebrate Aaron's new marriage to Frances. I arrived at 4:30 and Laura, driving from the D.C. area, picked me up and we headed to my aunt's house for the first of many events over the next few days.



Deb and baby Razi (of previous baby blogging fame)



This is a picture of Nola, Adam and Jered. They were asked to give their best "I like to kill puppies" look. It concerns us all that Nola and Adam are smiling.



My cousin's new dog.



The cousins... well, some of them.



Aunt Deb attacking cousin Emily! Watch out!



Even Pancake Sue made a showing at the Friday picnic! Jake and Laura were there too.



Family photo. That's a lot of people. And we all accidentally wore the same shirt! Sigh!

I wanna give you something

Kiwi

You’re such a flirt, I know you hurt
And so do I, I empathize
I see you out, you never cared
A conversation that we never shared

But it’s so strange, it’s something new
Amazing feelings that I have for you
I close my eyes when I’m alone
Wonder what it’d be like to make you moan

I wanna give you something better
Than anything you’ve ever had
A stronger and a faster lover
The world, it disappears so fast

Sweet kiwi
Your juices dripping down my chin
So please, let me
Don’t stop it before it begins

So give it up, and don’t pretend
And spread your arms and legs across the bed
And when you shake, you won’t regret
The things I whisper in your ear
(What?) I said:

I wanna give you something better
(You wanna give me something better)
Than anything you’ve ever had
(Than anything I’ve ever had)
A stronger and a faster lover
(A stronger and a faster lover)
The world, it disappears so fast
(It disappears so fast)

Gambling again

Gambling again
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Not winning a whole lot of money tonight. But that's okay, cause Deb won $1,250 with a royal flush! Nola and I are taking advantage of every opportunity.

Vacation in Pictures (part 2)

This is the follow up post to the "Vacation in Pictures (part 1)" that I posted before. To sum up again, I had a fantastic time in California. I loved pretty much every moment of it. I remind myself to just relax and take it all in, because eventually, it will all just be memories.



This was after about 4 hours of mall shopping. The girls I was with love to shop!



On the way out of the rehearsal dinner, the sky looked like it was on fire. And knowing California, it probably was!



Nola captioned this picture as "The man behind me ate my liver!"



Aaron & Nola comparing biceps during one of our mornings.



A late night run to Baskin Robins (2am EST)



Morning shopping.. on the last day we're in CA...



Giving you my best "not ready for 12 hours of traveling" face...!



One last evening with Pudgers!

Eating at King and I

Eating at King and I
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Hanging out with Laura Jake and Rach (at King and I as you can see from the background). Laura has come up to visit me for the weekend!

Walking out and about

Walking out and about
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White Castle is my new home. Update: Little did I know, it is the WORST possible food on the planet.

Blogging from the top

This is the hotel where the conference is. The top is the restaurant where I am currently eating.


They are doing a really nice job of making everything look really nice. However, the candles are never lit.


This is downtown Cincinatti from the top of the building. The bridges around here are amazing. I can see 7 right from here.

Still having a good time. Tonight is "on your own" night. I might tag along with some others.

Fine dining in Southern Ohio

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Eating lunch on the 18th floor of a rotating restaurant over beautiful Cincinnati. The conference is going really well. My hotel room is sweet... two beds to myself. I'm gonna sleep in one for 4 hours and then switch. ;)

At the airport again

At the airport again
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I'm off on another trip. This time to Ohio. See ya later.

Pete Nasty break dancing

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At tonight's dinner party, Pete Nasty did some break dancing for us in the basement. Nicole had about 20 of us at her place tonight for some music, food and laughs. She even made several atkins friendly dishes for me. I brought my now famous cheesecake for dessert (which everyone loved) and we ended the night by begging Pete Nasty to do some break dancing in the basement.

Formats available: Third Generation Platform Version Two (.3g2)

Vacation Wrap up & this weekend

So my vacation to California was fantastic. For those on my huge mailing list, you got my day by day review of what went on with dozens of pictures. I probably clogged most of your inboxes. Sorry for that. However, it was great and we took over 1,200 pictures between 4 cameras.

I drove this sweet minivan around LA and southern California in hectic traffic with 4 other people for a week straight. We did a lot of fun things, had a wonderful wedding and reception and got back to Rochester on Wednesday late night. Since then I have been watching dozens of tv shows I love, going to eat, movies, board games and cleaning in preparation for my brother and his wife staying at my place and borrowing my car for the week while I am in Ohio on a business trip.

Phew. Plus I have the worst stomach ache EVER right now. It hurts to sit up.

But back to me. Thursday night was game night, which I didn't want to miss and had a great time with the gang, losing but only at 2nd place a new game for me. Friday night was a huge board game party with 5 games of Werewolf as the video showed a couple days ago. Hilarious and very fun. Tonight was Nicole's dinner party where about a dozen people showed up that weren't invited, but we still had a lot of fun with her new pug and her 3 ferrets.

I need to go to bed. My stomach hurts bad.

Vacation in Pictures (part 1)

Mom, Aaron and I at the rehearsal dinner.



Aaron and his wife, my new sister-in-law Frances.



My beautiful sister, Molly, giving us her best Hollywood look.



My sister Nola and I showing off our smiles at Sharkie's bar.



Ryan, the ring bearer, and I right before the wedding.



The wedding party before letting the doves go.



Having fun at Venice Beach

More will come later.

At beautiful Huntington Beach

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Here is my family at beautiful Huntington Beach. We didn't go far out into the ocean. It was quite cold and none of us brought bathing suits.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Playing Werewolf @ Seth/Kelly's

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Tonight was a big game shindig at Seth and Kelly's house in honor of visitor Erin.  In this video, you see Kelly trying desperately to defend herself from the group planning to hang her as the night first werewolf.  It was a blast.

Formats available: Third Generation Platform Version Two (.3g2)

I never win

I never win
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Losing another game at game night

Verne Troyer crashed my brother's wedding

Here is the video of Verne (mini me) at my brother's wedding. He was a hoot. I went up and introduced myself later in the evening. He was very nice and offered to take us around the night clubs. Ha!

Pudge the dog

This is my brother's dog Pudge. Hyper little fella, huh?

West Coast Choppers

West Coast Choppers
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Looking at the bikes at West Coast Choppers

Seeing stars

Seeing stars
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In Hollywood

Look at Nola

Look at Nola
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Getting a Henna tattoo

At the ocean

At the ocean
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Hanging out at Venice Beach

And It's Done

And It's Done
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Aaron and Francis are married!

Nola Nicole and Molly

Nola Nicole and Molly
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Eating at Sharkies in Long Beach

Enjoying the sun

Enjoying the sun
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Out on Huntington Beach pier

Rehearsal dinner

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Aaron and Molly at the dinner where even Aaron cried.

So hillarious

So hillarious
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We just finished the rehearsal. Mary Joan and Frank enjoying the show.