Last weekend I went to a wedding. It was the first of my college friends to get married (actually, I think it may be the first of my friends that are my age to get married). I arrive in St. Louis, the first time setting foot in Missouri since leaving KC two years ago, and get my car and head to the Cheshire Lodge to meet up with friends.

This place was a throwback to another era. Don’t get me wrong, it was very clean, fairly nice, just odd. My friends were staying in a room that had a “Tally Ho!” plaque on the front door. The tv set was a nice 13 inch from the 70s, and the room had fake stained glass windows. In the bathroom, there was a bottle opener attached to the vanity — one of the kind that screw into the marble and is there permanently.

Downstairs was Mr. Bear that you see pictured above. The place was rather surreal. I almost wish I had stayed just a little longer in St. Louis to warrant a night in one of the fantasy suites.

I’m generally not a big fan of weddings. They’re always so formal with everyone acting wedding-ish. But this wedding was short, sweet, to-the-point, with only the parts that meant something to the couple thrown into the ceremony. Then, the rest of the time, spent enjoying friends and family.

And, the place was decorated with the couple in mind. My friend Sean is a toy freak – loves Japanese toys, robots, etc. He also loves skulls, and so, this was one of the two centerpieces:

Then, my favorite part, the bride’s love of Hello Kitty was representing:

She also had Sanrio champagne flutes for the toast. I like this girl already 🙂 And, it was a great wedding — very them, and very beautiful.

After the wedding, I was ready to get out of Missouri though. Something bad must have happened to me in a past life there. Even when I was on the plane headed for Dallas, I kept waking up thinking, “I can’t oversleep. What if I get stuck here? I can’t be stuck here!” Then I would wake up, after a few short seconds of panic I would realize I was on a plane, out of Missouri, and I was headed back home. My heart rate would slow back down as I snuggled back into my seat and pulled my eyemask back down.

This happened 3 times on the plane. Even though it was great seeing friends and catching up, I am so glad to be back home.

The happy groom:

Filed under:
Day in the Life, Observances by Courtney

That’s the only time he’ll jump into the bed with me. When he’s needy and upset. This time it was because the man of the house was gone. It took 2 1/2 weeks of him being gone before he would jump into bed.

Milo’s on the lookout though, now that he knows he can see out the window.

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Day in the Life by Courtney

We’re enjoying summer again here in San Jose. 80 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny. This is the first time I’ve been to King’s Head and not been cold, and the first time I’ve been and played pool (I didn’t win not one game).

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Day in the Life by Courtney

This past Saturday was my Mom’s birthday, so in traditional fashion, we celebrated all weekend long, starting Friday night in Campbell.

Saturday we blissed out in SF and wandered up to Union Square and the new Westfield Shopping Centre. I didn’t realize it was new at the time, I just remembered I had heard a lot about it on the news (obviously not letting any of it sink in) and thought we should check it out.

Sunday was spent in Sausalito, enjoying the fall weather, wrapped in a scarf and jacket. I’m not sure how we can spend so long in such a small area, but we always manage to kill a lot of time here. As we rested waterfront, we watched a guy stack stones, large ones on small ones, unbelievable…

And Monday — well Monday was more shopping. At home this time, in San Jose. Then the celebration was over, as the fam climbed back aboard the plane to head back to Tennessee. A pretty uneventful but enjoyable weekend. It’s nice to slow down and take a break from life.

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Day in the Life by Courtney

We tried in vain Saturday to add “Go Vols!” to Pancho’s vocabulary. Unfortunately all I got was a mock of my cackle from the bird.

Pancho did get into the game, though, squawking at Ainge every time he’d spiral a ball into the other team’s hands (he must be colorblind).

Go Vols, indeed.

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Day in the Life, just a picture by Courtney