Saturday, August 16, 2008

Moving day! (revised again)

We are busy preparing for our trip...trying to fill our ipods with a wide variety of listening material. Mark just picked up some audiobooks from the library (3 hours of beginning german lessons and 9 hours of F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise). some comedy cds? podcasts? any suggestions?

Friday September 12th: Moving day pre party (location TBA)

Saturday September 13th: Moving day (pick up truck, load up cate's stuff in ny, drive to new haven, pack up mark's stuff, one last pepe's pie)

Sunday September 14: leave new haven, overnight somewhere in ohio

Monday September 15: overnight in iowa city, ia (with brett/tim/jack)

Tuesday September 16: drive as far as possible

Wednesday September 17: celebrate jim's birthday with him in his hometown of Fallon, NV at "the greatest bar in the universe, which is this old combination saloon and Basque restaurant."

Thursday September 18: arrive in santa cruz

here is our tentative route
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i did some searching on chowhound for suggestions along I80. doubt we will stop at more than one or two of these places, but at least we will know where to find the best italian in cozad, ne (bella italia, run by an egyptian ex-new yorker who fell in love with a woman from nebraska).


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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Classy

While living rooms are nice, guess which of these pictures will be appearing on our wedding invitations (ha ha - maybe).



(this one was included because I, Mark, don't look like I weight 400 lbs in it)

Wedding Awesomeness

The festivities sure started off right: Canlis (widely regarded as not only the oldest restaurants in Seattle, but also one of the best), sunset, views of Gasworks Park and Lake Union, champagne, the most delicious wines we've ever had, and a guest list that oozed class.

For instance: the Jillian prowl,


and the wedding shoe game.


The following day, we feasted, danced, and drank at the Red Lion in Bellevue

Cate and Zach enjoy the appetizer bounty


Hot Dancing


Center of attention dancing!


Oh My God - I'm Married!!!

(not to take anything away from the groom, but how radiant is the bride?)

Our favorite twosome (perhaps you can tell which two?)


Dick (the groom's - Chase - father) and cohort regale the audience with an energetic rendition of "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"


More dancing


WHHHOOOOOOO!!!!! Marriage!!!!!!!!!

Family Fun

So, after our epic two week long West Coast jaunt, we're back in NYC (for a month) and ready to give the unlimited space of the internets a bit more color. In this post, we will be mainly concerned with the family dynamic -

First, Cate and I spent a few minutes singing through the top 200 most beloved songs in American History (while we were told we were enjoyable, the justifiably partisan source (Cate's mom) was much kinder in her assessment than I would have been)


The Randall compound on Lake Cushman is about a five minute walk from this beautiful little sight


Next up, the extremely pleasant meeting of the parents: over a lunch at Elliott's Oyster House, sitting on a pier that, in its turn, juts over Puget Sound, the parents got to meet while enjoying the bounty of the ocean. As an added bonus, we've got a game for you - can you spot the differences between these two pictures?



Lastly, Cate and I got to enjoy a few hours with Grandma Doorneweerd (Mark's grandmother). While we dined on Turkey Spam sandwiches, the real treat was the freshly baked blueberry pie. Delicious!

(and no, despite what it looks like, I am not standing on my toes)

Monday, August 4, 2008

Friday, August 1, 2008