I wanted to share with you a few pictures of Chris and the guys from his Vegas trip.  This was his official Bachelor Party, even though we aren’t getting married till January.  I was under the impression that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but evidently pictures and video were taken, and at this point I think I have heard everything that happened in Vegas, most of it several times.  However, most of the pictures/video are of golf, which happened 3 or 4 days.

Will, Norbert, John Mac, Jon R, Chris, Jeff, and Dave.  Also pictured:  Dave’s Vegas Mustache.

Chris golfing!

Yes, it’s a slow blog day ;)  But I think those are some nice pictures of the guys (and Dave’s mustache.)  Dave is Chris’s best man, Norbert and John Mac.  Dave’s mustache, sadly, has already left us—but perhaps it will return again some day.

My fun is yet to come:  Next weekend both my sisters are coming to St Louis for the first time!  We are going to have so much fun.  In fact, we will not do ANY golfing, and perhaps won’t even WATCH any golf, or football, or television.  It’ll be CRAZY.  (We may watch Gilmore Girls and Alias…)  There will be lots of eating, baking, cooking, working out, gossiping, and shopping.  Probably lots of coffee as well. 

My father sets out for his bike trip soon.  I don’t know exactly when, but he has created a twitter account to keep us all up to date.  If it’s okay with him I’ll share it, if you are interested in following his progress from South Carolina to St Louis to Phoenix, and (I think) to the Pacific Ocean.  On a bike.  And he doesn’t even get a medal or a belt buckle out of it…I don’t know if he’ll make it to Vegas, but I doubt he’ll have his golf clubs with him either way.  I do like the idea of biking over the Hoover Dam though!

No room for clubs here.  I suppose my title is misleading.  Sorry!

Even though we’ve been engaged since February, we just had our engagement photos taken last night.  I don’t know if people ordinarily get them taken earlier (I think so) but we are not most people.  Since we are getting married in January, I wanted to do an outdoor photo session while the weather is nice.  And BOY was the weather nice last night!

We met our photographer, Sarah Crowder, at the Grand Basin in Forest Park.  Shortly after we moved to St Louis, I played a wedding at the Grand Basin.  I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, and even thought to myself that I would get married there.  Of course, I would never have an outdoor wedding, but I COULD have an outdoor engagement session there!

I had the afternoon off and my shoulders were too sore to practice so I was (naturally) messing around online.  Sarah and I are both twitter addicts so we were having a little fun.

I was especially amused to have ANOTHER photo shoot on a Sunday.  That’s two Sundays in a row for putting on ridiculous amounts of eye makeup…but the results are worth it.

Anyway, we met up around 6:00 and she took a ton of pictures in various places around the Grand Basin and then near the World’s Fair Pavilion.  Some were more posed, some were less so.  We ended up having a really good time and Chris really relaxed into the shoot.  We shot photos until the light ran out, close to 7:45.  It was GREAT.

I can’t wait to see the results!  Sarah put up one on facebook (even though Chris doesn’t like himself in it, it’s all we’ve got so far…and I think he looks good).

Today’s blog post is dedicated to some fun/interesting stuff I’ve read or seen on the internet recently. 

Cute Japanese Cat Doughnuts

Bacon Truck! 

Bacon Jam!

Fashion and Classical Music:  Should Classical Musicians be judged by their attire?

Digital Media and Classical Music

Preschool:  The Best Job-Training Program (funny, people keep getting surprised by how much young children learn!)

Make your own "Cliff Bars"

That’s it for Saturday Link Randomness.  Enjoy the beautiful weather (if you are having beautiful weather like we are).

Meaning, register for wedding gifts!  The doorbell rings, the FedEx or UPS man is there with a box.  He refuses to look you in the eye ever since that one time you answered the door wearing a terrycloth robe (fully covered!).  It’s also awkward because one time he was on the bluetooth and you thought he was talking to you. He never laughs at your jokes, and when you tried to tell him once you were getting married and would be getting lots of deliveries he was nonplussed because he assumed you already were (judging!).  Oh well.  PRESENTS!  WHEEEEEE!

Complete with creepy expression!!

I’m playing for an anime convention in Collinsville tonight.  Wish me luck.

More pictures from my little sister Carrie, who was in Japan for a month this summer.

She tagged me on this one.  Not sure why.

Carrie and the Colonel.

She claimed she didn’t eat the chicken. 

Soap, wash, and dry, all in one place! 

Self explanatory!

Mr. Rose with Carrie!  Hi, Mr. Rose!!  (He was Leslie’s teacher, and my rep class teacher for years.  Love him!)

Spaceport in Osaka.  Or something.

See, it’s not just Americans who are stupid!

My gym.  Somebody drove into it.  I wasn’t there but Mike was.  I’ll have to hear more next time I see him.

http://www.kmov.com/news/just-posted/Car-smashes-into-Club-Fitness-building-127476688.html

http://www.ksdk.com/rss/article/271249/3/Car-smashes-into-gym-storefront

I know we’ve all done stupid things.  But I’ve never driven my car into a storefront before, thank goodness!  Seriously people.  Focus. 

That reminds me…frightening moments…I was on the phone with a friend yesterday.  We were chatting during our commutes (attention IRS:  I mean travel for work, not commute as home is my main location) and suddenly she says, "I just got rear-ended."  I started freaking out!  Yes, she was fine.  But still, scary. 

Speaking of scary:  My friends Alicia and Andrew are making progress (it seems?  Andrew for sure, it sounds like) but still have a LONG way to go.  The website reminds us this is now a marathon, not a sprint.  Please continue keeping them in mind.  It’s been a little over two weeks.  Unimaginable.  Life changes in an instant.  (oh don’t worry, I’m not getting wound up again…just saying!)

Watching this man on the Colbert Report right now:  Nassir Ghaemi, author of "A First Rate Madness." (link to NYtimes article) He seems to suggesting that leaders are better when they are mentally ill.  I’ll have to read the book.  It seems (potentially) controversial, but yet not perhaps that far from Kay Redfield Jamison’s writings either.  I’ve always said somebody would have to be crazy to run for president… (hyuk, hyuk)