The More, The Merrier

Kyle and I attended a wedding this weekend in Clearwater Beach. We only met Kelly and Dieter a few months ago, but we've really become good friends. They came to our wedding, and I recently flew to Chicago (for the first time!) for Kelly's bachelorette party.

They were married on the beach. Kelly looked beautiful (loved her dress!) and the weather was nice. Warm, but nothing Floridians, hardy midwesterners, and even-hardier Germans couldn't handle.

It would have been 100% wonderful, except for this large group of people that camped out near the ceremony spot. Of course, Sand Key Park is a public beach, and I'm sure Kelly and Dieter were made aware of what that could entail, but you would think that people would at least try to be quieter during a wedding ceremony. I couldn't help but think that this group was actually being loud on purpose. We really couldn't hear anything they were saying, but Kelly's smiles and Dieter's very serious face spoke volumes. I might have even caught a little tear on his cheek!

Kelly's friend Julie from Chicago (who is one cool chick), Kelly and me at the cocktail reception after the ceremony:

Yes, I have a little bit of sunburn (put your sunscreen on before you get to the pool, not when you get there!).

Our friend Jay, who officiated mine and Kyle's wedding, sang at Kelly and Dieter's, along with our friend Cassie, who just so happens to be recently engaged. They did a duet of "Leather and Lace," originally sung by Don Henley and Stevie Nicks. Kelly just loves Cassie's voice, and she and Jay sing together very easily. Of course, we practice every year at Ginnie Springs!

Kelly and Dieter were so pleased afterwards!

Sigh, don't you just love weddings? So romantic...

The Married Lady Rears Her Head

Hello, my tiny audience!

(I refer to the number of readers, not your particular size. Wait, not that I'm saying you're not tiny - you are! Unless you're male, then you're manly and huge! . . . you get the point.)

Since the wedding and honeymoon are over, I suppose it's time to get back on this particular horse.

The wedding was lovely. The Baughman Center was beautiful, the ceremony brief and personal, and the reception kick-ASS. The photographer took over 800 photos, and I haven't had time to look at them yet, so you'll have to make due with my few that are from before, and after, the actual wedding:

First errand of wedding day: getting my hair done.


Taking a lunch break at the makeup location with my fantastic A'vie wedding coordinator, Ann Marie (right) and her trusty assistant (left, and whose name is currently escaping me):

Pretty hair -- bad, bad, sandwich:

After-party at the Gainesville Hilton (where the cops showed up! but that's another post...). My BFF Janet (recently married herself) and I posing with a cardboard cutout of our friend Frank, who couldn't be here with us for the wedding:


A recently-met girlfriend, Kelly and me. She's getting married this weekend (yes, there's something in the water).

The end of the night (which didn't come until the wee hours of the morning, truth be told):


Next time: either some "real" wedding photos or the story of the afterparty (aka "The Hilton Sucks"). See you then, thanks for waiting on me!

Prickly stuff

I have never cared for the actress Keira Knightley; she always seems full of herself in interviews. She actually said something once about being "so British" -- as way of explanation for why some of us (presumably stupid Americans) don't "get" her or her bony frame.

She was good in "Love Actually" though, wasn't she?

And now she's gone and made the censors uncomfortable.

From Frogblog, an eco-blog out of New Zealand:

In early April, the UK charity Women’s Aid, which battles domestic violence, released this public service announcement, directed by Atonement director Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley. Without showing graphic violence you couldn’t see on any crime procedural any night of the week, Wright creates a genuinely disturbing two-minute film that unsettles precisely because it’s shot so straightforwardly.

But now, Clearcast, the body that’s responsible for approving ads for British television, has reportedly decided that the PSA is not suitable for television unless they cut the end. You know, the part with the domestic violence in it.

If that's not coming up for you, here's a link to the commercial on YouTube.

It is shocking, and for me, especially upsetting. But as the blogger writes, it's nothing that millions of people pay to see in movies or watch on TV.

One major finding from the study "Violence on Prime Time Broadcast Television 1998-2006"
by Caroline Schulenburg was:

"Violent scenes increasingly include a sexual element. Rapists, sexual predators and fetishists are cropping up with increasing frequency on prime time programs like Law and Order: S.V.U., C.S.I., C.S.I. Miami, C.S.I. New York, Medium, Crossing Jordan, Prison Break, E.R. and House. "

Why not air the PSA at the same time as these shows air? After all, the kiddies are all in bed by this time, right?

Domestic violence isn't pretty, but it does happen to pretty people - not just "trailer trash" and other ignorant folks low down on the socio-economic ladder.

I'm still not a fan of the actress, but I think she took a good part in this project.

A little home-keeping in the midst of wedding madness

I'm going crazy with wedding stuff right now; so busy that I don't even have time to write about myself! (That's pretty busy.)

I did take the time to notice two lovely flowers blooming right now in our front yard, some sort of iris and a sweet orange gerbera daisy:

Pretty, no?

I wish I could take a decent photo that shows the front yard in all its glory. Kyle really keeps it looking fabulous. I'm so lucky. :)

But before I could appreciate the outdoors this morning, I had the displeasure of facing my nemisis:

The hair-clogged tub drain.

One of the down sides of having long hair is that it eventually falls off your head and collects - everywhere. The bathroom is especially plagued with my hair. And the tub drain is no exception.

I've noticed the water taking longer and longer to drain, and this morning I couldn't take it any more. It's my fault, after all.

Thank goodness for my hero Cheryl Mendelson and her book "Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House." Most of my friends will tell you that I love this book, as I've raved about it in the past. But I can't help it - it's so useful, and written well to boot!

For clearing a slow drain (not a fully stopped-up one), she suggests the following:

1. Start boiling a gallon of water (yes, you'll need a big pot). Get out some baking soda and vinegar.

2.Get as much stuff out of the drain manually as possible. (This is the most disgusting thing ever; I will not go into what hair and soap scum comingle as in a drain.)

3. Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour 1/2 to 1 cup of household vinegar down after it. This will result in some fizzing, which mechanically breaks up some of the gunk.

4. Cover the drain if possible and let sit for five minutes.

5. Pour the gallon of boiling water down the drain.

Now, like I said, it only works for slow-moving drains - clearing a clogged drain is another post altogether.

I want one!

Yes, I've been slacking as of late. I apologize, and as a filler, I give you the geek-cooliest April Fool gift evah:

Tauntaun sleeping bag

(With thanks to my friend Peter for finding first.)

Spring in Yosemite

A three-minute video - it will be brighten your day.



Yosemite, There is a Season, Turning Spring from Sterling Johnson on Vimeo.

Wedding updates: invites and the shoe blues

1. I got the invites out! Phew! And I've actually received a few of my neat-o tear-off RSVP postcards already.

Word of caution, ladies and gents: My invitations are of a fold-up and seal style. When I took them to my local post office, the counter employee told me that, if I didn't Scotch-tape up one side of the invite, they would, at best, get mauled in the machine and worse, they might not make it to their destination at all. Take this into consideration when choosing your invites.

You may be wondering why I didn't just have them hand-cancelled. I did. But today's postal process involves more than one machine, so even after the very nice lady hand-cancelled my invites, they still had to go through a machine that can read the handwritten addresses and another that sorts the items.I'm still glad I chose the fold-n-seal invites, because it was less paper and thus less waste, and a postcard stamp (for the RSVPs) is still cheaper than a regular one. Although there weren't any love-themed postcard stamps, so I chose these lovely tropical fruit ones instead:

Very spring-y!

2. I have been overestimating the length of my dress - all this time, I've been shopping for heels, and I finally realized, while trying on some hooker-height Jessica Simpson carribbean blue heels, the dress is too short for any heel.That's right - I will have to wear flat shoes. Flat shoes with a dress! Something I've never done before.

I tell you, I wasn't happy. At all. I know, no one else can see, much less care, about my shoes. That's not the point. The point is that I wanted to wear heels. Me. Me me me me me me me.

I finally get selfish about something for "my" day, and I can't even do that. That's the point.

I'm getting over it. However, I need some inspiration on what kind of flat to wear. It has to be light, somewhat casual, but I'm afraid a flat sandal will be too casual. Arrggh!