Evan's Wedding

All joking about reading addictions aside, Evan's wedding was a blast. Can you say Tiki bar? How about Shrimp and Grits? Not just seeing old friends, but getting to see them, without kids, for two days straight? My belly laughed like it hadn't laughed in years - I was sore afterwards. (Or maybe that was all the waterlogged Flying Burritos I got in the pool at 1 a.m.)

Best of all? Nightswimming in a calm ocean under a full moon. What hurricane?

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend, along with a link to the whole set on flickr.

Evan getting last minute lovin' from the ladies on Friday night.

Fran the Cougar with her prey, Dan.

Me and Jason, friends since 10th grade biology.

Me and the Creeker boys.

Dan and Wendy at the Reception, which was extremely hot. I think you can actually smell Dan from this picture.

Jason and Laura

My nemesis for the weekend, Kyle, a.k.a. Corey Haim.

Me and the ole ball and chain, all spiffied up.

Me and D, who is no longer a delinquent teen, but an upstanding husband and father, with some damn cute kids and a hot wife.

The happy groom and me.

And It Begins In Earnest

Since Mike felt comfortable enough with himself to post this photo on his blog, I feel confident that he will still be friends with me after I post another of him.


Mike, not sure how I ended up with this, as I don't remember knowing you in middle school, and I am pretty sure this was taken in Savannah. Anyway, love the jams.

This is where I am going to apologize to any and everyone who had the misfortune of being photographed during my middle and high school years. I am up to that album in my scanning project. I have performed a preliminary appraisal of the photos contained therein, and IT IS NOT PRETTY. For any of us. Things are going to be pretty bad for a while. I'm talking Esprit outfits, big hair, bad haircuts, gawkiness, zits, my famous sausage rolls hairstyle, and the worst homecoming and prom dresses in history. (No, Matt and I were never married, but it looked like it in our prom photos.)

Dear God, this will be fun and painful, all at once. Kinda like life in general.

Motivation

Thanks to Maigh for introducing me to this black hole of a time-wasting site. I've made like ten motivational posters for my kids already. Addictive. Might have to do some for myself, too.

Free Santa!

On Saturday, we took Rollie and Tiller to see Santa at St. Paul's Methodist in Grant Park. Although I am unsure about my thoughts on God, I am sure about one thing; I love old, beautiful churches. St. Paul's is really gorgeous, but in a lived-in, non-museum-like way. You actually feel welcome and warm when you are there.


Santa was upstairs in a back room and you had to wait in a not-too-long line to see him. The line wrapped out the door and down the stairs. Rollie and tiller were excellently-behaved, much to my surprise; I guess they were mesmerized by all of the other kids. Living in East Atlanta, I often feel cut off from other people with children, until we attend something like this Santa event. Then I realize just how many young children are living and being born here and I realize that in ten years, this will probably be a really family-friendly neighborhood, and a great place to raise kids. I sometimes wish that I had the confidence to make my children urban pioneer children, working to make the schools in this area better, but I just don't think that is going to happen, nor do I think I am the Mom to attempt it. I just don't want my precious little ones to be guinea pigs in an experiment that might fail. Selfish, I know, but also my decision and we are the ones responsible for their educational raisin', as they call it here in the South.

I digress. We finally entered the Santa room, and then rounded the corner, where we could actually see Santa. He was a great-looking Santa in a traditional Santa suit with the belt and all. He had his own Santa chair and a Christmas tree and we were allowed to take pictures with the digital camera for free, which is really more in the Christmas spirit than those mall Santas. Plus, less waiting in line.

When it was our turn, Rollie hopped up in his lap without hesitation (unlike last year - tears and more tears, making for hysterically funny Santa pics) and told him what he wanted for Christmas (choochoos and cars). We snapped some pictures of them together, then threw Tiller up with them. She was surprisingly good, too, and in fact just seemed enthralled with his beard and stared at him. We had a hard time getting both of them to look at the camera, and of course, our camera acted up throughout, so the shots aren't great. But hey! They are free!

Cheap Santas are great. Free Santas are the best.

Lighting the Tree