Walking In Memphis

Apparenly our blog doesn't have good timing. I've been told recently (and it has been referenced in another blog's comments) that we tend to have little eruptions of posts and then we go dormant for a while. We can't help it that the interesting things in our separate lives all seem to happen at the same time. So, while I hate to push Kelly's fantabulous new prom post out of the top spot, I do want to share some highlights of our trip to Memphis this weekend for Jon's cousin's wedding.

Highlights:

- an earthquake. This was actually Friday morning before we left - I slept through it but it woke Jon up. I did feel the aftershock though.

- apparently the gas pumps in Arkansas have not been upgraded with the automatic shut-off feature so we lost a little gas and polluted the environment. It coudn't be just a broken gas pump - we're totally blaming it on Arkansas.

- Jon (accidentally?) setting the bread basket on fire at the rehearsal dinner. Too bad we didn't get a picture but we were busy putting it out. The food at the rehearsal dinner was fan-tas-tic, though.

- the d.j. at the reception introducing a song by Michael Bubble. Who?

- eating yummy Ethiopian food at Abyssnia.

- eating Jon's favorite empanadas at On The Border.

- a hotel with complementary chocolate chip cookies, the most comfortable king-sized beds, and real cable.

- my first visit to Lambert's, home of the "throwed rolls."

- driving past Graceland - it wasn't what I expected. I always pictured it in a more rural setting. I also couldn't believe that people would pay $30-70 to walk through the house.

- the Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma Outlets. Good thing we were on a schedule - I didn't have time to do any damage. This trip at least.

- meeting the Memphis half of Jon's family. It was good to finally meet everyone and put faces to names and images to places. Everyone was super nice.

It's interesting that so many of these highlights focus on food...

The I sisters-in-law: Rachel, Johanna, Amie, and Shannon

Luau Debrief

As discussed at the Cracker Barrel (oh how I've missed you!!), many of us appreciate a good debrief after an event such as the luau. I am pretty tired right now, but I do have a few quick thoughts.

1) Jo made a beautiful "bride" (I know, I know, it was a party)

2) I love how much fun we have together, even when it's been awhile since we've seen one another.

3) I really like my friends' spouses. You've all chosen well.

4) You guys have really cute, nice kids.

5) My mosquito mojo is back. I thought they didn't like me anymore.... but I just counted 36 bites on my left leg. I am too scared to look at the rest of me.

6) We're kind of dorks.

Together Again

There's an interesting convergence happening in St. Louis this weekend. All 6, that's right, all 6 of the contributors on this blog will be together for the first time, as best as we can remember, in 5 1/2 years (see picture at right). I am so honored that the other 5 have all made the effort to be here to celebrate with me at our luau. Ladies, I can't wait to see you all. Safe travels!

A Picture Timeline And A New Place

So many things to catch up, so little time. Where do I start? Here's a quick timeline of the last few weeks.

June 7-13 - Hawaii. We got married.

June 17 - Father's Day. My sister-in-law's father died.

June 18 - Dinner with Matt & Vicki. A night in the emergency room. And these two events are actually totally unrelated to each other.

June 21-23 - In Chicago for Chrissy's wedding. Driving through the night is not fun.

June 29 - Jon got bit by a brown recluse spider. Another couple of hours at urgent care. We found the culprit dead in our bed. The circle on Jon's leg indicates how big the bite was when he first noticed it, probably a couple of hours after being bitten. This picture was taken Friday night. The bite continued to get bigger through the first part of the week until it covered most of the inside of Jon's thigh and knee.

June 30 - The Big Move. The pictures below are, sadly, before and after shots of the same room.

July 2 - We bought furniture. This means that in a few days we will have somewhere to sit other than our bed or the floor.
A New Town

Jon and I moved into our first apartment on Saturday. We're living in a very strange place, a kind of city within a city. It's a planned community based on the concept of Seaside, FL, which you'll recognize as the filming location for the movie The Truman Show. I feel like I live on a college campus. I'm sitting outside the supermarket picking up on the wi-fi signal from the cafe across the street and a group of people just rode by on Segways. (By the way, the market closes at 8. As my preferred time to grocery shop is after 10 p.m., I expect to have an empty refrigerator from now on.) Everyone says hi and waves. You have to walk to a post office (much like CPO) to get your mail. I think the intent was to encourage residents to walk there but almost everyone stops by in their cars on their way to or from somewhere else. It's a neat little area even if it is a bit Stepfordish, and to someone accustomed to urban living, I appreciate being able to walk down the street to get a sandwich or a cup of coffee or to wander through a neighborhood festival. I just have to remember to do it before 8.

By the way, we've decided on a place for the luau. It will be right here in New Town, just a block from our apartment and across the street from where we had our first date just 50 short weeks ago.

Congratulations, Chrissy & Koudjo!

Chrissy and Koudjo were married yesterday in Chicago at Uptown Baptist Church. Chrissy is a dear friend of the blog, and her own blog is linked on the right. She hasn't updated in a while (although once she gets back from her honeymoon, she doesn't have any excuse) but if you get a minute, go over and read about their relationship - it's an interesting story. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Chrissy & Kelly at the ladies' brunch the day before the wedding. Thank you to Julia and Mrs. Kennedy for hosting us! It was lovely.

Katharine and Eleanor Chrischona.

Jessica and Amber.

Front row: Jessica, Laura, Julia, Evelyn, and Johanna. Second row: Su, Harmony, Kelly, Chrissy, and Katharine.

Mark, Jessica, Bailey, Sam, and Amber.

Donovan entertaining Jon in the "box-cah."

I now pronounce you...

Me and Sam, the largest almost-six-month old I've ever seen. He is already as tall as his mom.

Jo, Amber, Chrissy, and Laura - 4 out of 5 members from the Sunnyside-Argyle-Magnolia Small Group. Jessica is the only one not pictured.

Chrissy & Nikki. Nikki got engaged herself while in Chicago for Chrissy's wedding. Best wishes!

Kelly, Chrissy, and Jo

African dancing at the reception. That's Julia, Katharine, Cliff, and Amber.

The happy couple - Koudjo and Chrissy

Kelly had a long weekend. The bottle said sparkling grape juice but I'm wondering if it was something a little stronger than that. And in a Baptist church.

Todd the Bod and Lilliana.

Me and my friends at The Greeks, otherwise known as Uptown Pizza & BBQ. If you're ever in Uptown, make sure to stop by and say hi to these guys and get a coffee shake, rib tips, and a slice of pizza.

Big Fun Wedding In Hawaii Days 5 & 6

Sadly, this is our last update from Hawaii. We are sitting in the gate area at the Honolulu airport waiting to board our flight.

^ In the walkway outside our hotel, leading to Kalakaua Avenue and the beach.

^ Lunch today at Ono Hawaiian Foods. Front row: rice, kalua pork, pipikaula (Hawaiian beef jerky, oh so yummy). Second row: onions and lomi salmon (sort of like salsa with salmon). Third row: the only new item is the one on the far right. It's a coconut dessert called haupia. We also tried poi.

^ At Ono.

^ With another random dog friend, this one was on the pool deck at our hotel. I don't think his owners liked the fact that he seemed to like us so much.

^ Me in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue.

^ Yummy snack right before we left for the airport. POG (passion fruit/orange/guava juice) and spam musubi (don't knock it until you try it - it's really pretty tasty).

^ At the Honolulu airport waiting to board our flight.

Big Fun Wedding In Hawaii Days 4 & 5

I'm supposed to be getting in the shower, not blogging, so I'll keep this short and just tell you about the pictures.

^ Hula dancers in the Pan-Pacific Matsuri Parade, the second parade to march past our hotel in as many days.

^ After dinner #2 at Roy's. Both times they hooked us up with complimentary congratulatory desserts. And once again, the food did not disappoint. This is the original location but there are several others including one in Chicago. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

^ Jon getting ready to snorkel at Shark's Cove. Thanks for the recommendash, Matt.

^ Me at Shark's Cove.

^ Shark's Cove. By the way, after we went to Shark's Cove we went back to Ehukai and our random dog friend was there again.

^ The name of this business means "Wet Butt." At first I thought it might be a bar or something, but it's much more clever than that. They sell waterproof seat covers.

^ Harry Potter (and Borders) is everywhere, apparently.

Big Fun Wedding In Hawaii Days 2, 3, & 4

Let's see, where did I leave off in my last post? Oh yeah. So...we got married. And it was wonderful - just what we wanted. I'm needing food and the hunger is keeping me from being particularly clever so I'll just throw up a bunch of pictures for now.

^ Pastor Matt Dirks from Harbor Church Hawaii Kai officiated. He is a friend of a friend of friend. The beach is Waialae Beach Park in Kahala.

^ The rings.

^ The Kiss. It's official. As Jon just said, the good part.

^ At Halona Blowhole and Cove.

^ Dinner at Roy's afterwards with Jon's friend Jake who was nice enough to come and be our photographer and videographer. Literally, he had a camera in each hand. Thank you, Jake! Roy's was so good that we are going back there for dinner tonight.

^ Beautiful flowers sent by Neal and Angie. Thank you! What a wonderful surprise!

^ Me in my "Just Married" tank, courtesy of one of my brand new sisters-in-law Rachel. I did wear it out briefly.

^ This is our random dog friend on Ehukai Beach on the North Shore. He just trotted up to us, friendly as could be, and presented his rear end for me to scratch. When he was done with us, he trotted off to the next family.

^ At Ehukai Beach, location of the famous Banzai Pipeline.

^ Our somewhat trusty Tracker. Notice there are no back windows. Jon conveniently forgot his glasses so I have been the primary driver.

^ After church this morning at Kawaiaha'o Church. Today's service honored King Kamehameha the Great. Tomorrow is actually a state holiday honoring Kamehameha - no school, no banks, etc.

^ That's Jon paddling out on his surfboard in the light blue boardshorts in the middle of the picture. He said, "It was really crowded but I caught a couple of waves and it was really fun."

^ Kuhio Beach in Waikiki, directly in front of our hotel.