Mr.S Degree

Exactly one month ago I woke up married. There was a crazy week that ended with a two days of pictures, dancing, cake, friends, family, mountains of food and Spanx. There were some high notes, which included amazing performances and a few tears, and some lower notes, which may include the DJ playing Vanilla Ice and me forgetting to do my hair the day of the wedding. Thirty-one days later it's not anymore real than it was on day one. But I will say that for me, so far, the idea of marriage was a lot more scary than the practice. I live with a guy that I love, that takes care of me like I am the only one in the world, makes me laugh, lifts things that are too heavy, reaches things that are too high, sings me songs and let's me force him to watch The Bachelorette when the girls aren't around. Life is good. Really good. Call me the Mrs......but not for another six months or so, I am still trying to slowly wade into the titles.
Hot A bridesmaids.

An array of emotions

If could choose two people to be exiled on an island with...

Pretty Party

Friends and lovers. Thanks you guys!

A Salt Flats photo shoot story....

On a perfect day in May we journeyed to the vast white

We dressed and undressed right out their in the open
We took some fun pictures
Relaxed..
And pondered the meaning of life..
Then I put on my finest slip and tank top and took the honeys to a buffet. When in Rome....
But then we ate too much....way too much. And it apparently put Amelia into a trance...
So we worked it off by pretending to gamble...
The End

Red Lobster

If you decide, during a girls/bachelorette weekend, to spend some time at a pool lounging in the sun less than a week before your nuptials, please consult a sunscreen expert, like a dermatologist or a fair-skinned redhead. If you don't your smugness for actually remember to bring sunblock will quickly be shattered when, even though you thought you applied the cream thoroughly, you find that you are a lobster five hours later, save it be a handful of random spots where you actually did apply enough sunscreen. You will be in mind-boggling pain, and though you apply aloe every hour on the hour it will do little to comfort you when you go to places where wearing a bra is absolutely mandatory. You will most likely be peeling on your wedding day and the thought of taking a sunny honeymoon cruise the week following your I do's may or may not give you night terrors. Moreover, you will learn the hard way that when your fairest-skinned friend, who is watching you apply sunscreen says under her breath "I don't trust your application," you should probably heed the comment.

Nerd alert

I love reading books and then seeing the movies. I don't know why but it really gets me going. Of late I have read/watched a couple that I have some opinions about....

Water for Elephants. It made me look at circuses differently....should I ever look at a circus....err. The book was better than the movie but I still liked both. It was a good story, fast paced and it made you think. Part of it is told from a 93 year-old man's perspective and it is so real as he talks about getting old and how people treat him and who he is now compared to how he used to be.
It has kind of changed how I interact with older folks and has given me pause about how I will be if I get old. (I say if because sometimes I text while I am on the road and if I don't stop it could do me in early - I'm working on it ok?) Would I recommend? Yes for sure. Unless you are my mom. Mom, that's a no for you. (She doesn't like when things get really intense in books and movies).

Winter's Bone. Eh. To be honest the only reason I read it was because I saw there was a movie about it. It was a rough read. It's kind of a slice of life from this girl that has had every hardship thrown at her and is just trying to track down proof that her dad is dead so she can save their land. It's set in present time but in the Ozarks, where people still marry their cousins, have family feuds (not the game show but rather death matches sometimes) and instead of moonshine they cook meth for their livelihood. It wasn't the worst thing I've read but at the end of it all I really couldn't say much about it. I didn't really walk away with anything other than maybe a better understanding of the present day Ozarks, something I could have probably done without, thanks. Sooo.... I am giving it an "eh."

Back to Mockingjay.

Woeful slumber

He says wedding planning stress is not getting to him. But this is what I walked into yesterday. Not exactly sleeping like a baby, are we? Notice his right hand in a permanent forehead slap position. I am pretty sure he was in deep REM and when he woke up his left knee had deep carpet marks.

How?

How do I cooly brag about getting a hole-in-one, when I don't even golf, without revealing that it was at a mini golf course at Hollywood Connection during a small child's birthday party?
I can't?
Whatever.
Fine. But it was still a hole in one and I didn't see any of those other smelly tweens pulling that off. Huzzah.

A San Francisco Story

I visited the city by the bay for the first time this month due to a work trip. I would be there a week and plane tickets were astronomical, since it was over Memorial Day weekend. So the night before I flew out, J hopped on a Greyhound with some interesting bus folk and met me out there, 15 hours later, for the week. Love. In the time we had I think you could say we gave SF the tourist treatment.
Double Decker tour bus with hilarious ESL bus driver? CHECK
Chilly winds and humidity resulting in mind-boggling hair, and wondering why everyone was marveling at what "such good weather" it was? CHECK
Famous Painted Ladies? CHECK
Lombard Street? (From a distance, we couldn't get our tour bus driver to drive down it, which was surprising because he had no problem driving that behemoth like a go-cart every where else) CHECK
Getting tangled in and inexplicable double helix? CHECK
Alcatraz from a distance because it was way too bloody cold to get on a boat? CHECK
My new favorite place, the staggeringly beautiful Palace of Fine Arts? CHECK
Failed car photo of SF from across the bay? CHECK
Riding a giant whale? CHECK
More crazy hair from atop Berkley? CHECK
Poor wiring in Chinatown that I am surprised didn't cause J's OCD electrical engineering head to explode? CHECK
Pier 39 and more bad hair? CHECK. I really can't with the climate there. I was pretty much cold and ugly that whole day.
Golden Gate? Of course. CHECK
Yes I realize that I've left out the trolley cars but they were down the whole time we were there, which was a bummer because we were right downtown off of Market Street. I did learn some lessons the hard way about SF that I will need to remember the next time I visit, when I feel like I want to give some bad hair and freeze to death again.
- Don't bring a car. BART. Driving sucks, parking is like $55 a night even if you are at a hotel. I turned our car in on day two.
- Bring a coat, and an umbrella, and rain boots and a wind breaker.
- Bring ample chedda, because this place isn't cheap.

All in all: It's a pretty vertical city. Lot's to see. I'm good for now.

Special thanks goes out to Kayla, our second tour guide, and for the thrills of accelerating the car down 45 percent grades on blind intersections. My butt cheeks are still clenched.