Three Month Checkup

Thanks to everyone who supported the blog over the past three months and we look forward to continuing this fun project. As I’m sure you have noticed, we’ve strayed significantly from exclusively writing about wedding details over the past few weeks. This mainly occurred because it became difficult trying to come up with two or three topics a week describing our planning process and frankly it’s really not very fun writing about an idea you’re forcing yourself to create. I am sure there are those of you out there who really do want to know every single phone call and conversation we have, but I unfortunately doubt the majority of our seven person audience would find it all that appealing. Instead, we’ve adapted to writing about who we are and the topics that interest us as a couple because that’s what brought us together. After all, we will be living our lives together and most of the entries you have been reading stem from conversations we’ve had over dinner, in the car, or while hanging out around the house. We’re weird, dorky people so once the initial engagement enjoyment began to slow down, we turned to our minds filled with useless knowledge to attempt to entertain our friends.

I do feel we started out strong with our topical items with the engagement, setting a date, locating a site for the reception, and having our parents out for dinner. Then, we started getting wrapped up with moving, enjoying living under the same roof, and celebrating the end of the summer. The truth is we have been tossing around ideas and talking with vendors, but we weren’t comfortable sharing information which may completely change a week later. Frankly, it would make us look stupid and there could be a potential for an awkward conversation based on how things played out. In addition, we don’t want to make all of our ideas public and plan on saving a few of our tricks as a surprise for our wedding day. With that being said, we should be cementing some concrete details over the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled for some wedding updates.

And don’t forget to check in tomorrow for Song of the week

Hidden Gem

One of my favorite activities is to sidle up to an outdoor bar and enjoy a few cocktails in the sunshine or out under the stars. There are numerous restaurants offering this option where I’m from, but up in the Boston area the options are pretty limited. I know of three or four places offering the opportunity to have a vodka tonic in the fresh air, but I frankly haven’t been all that impressed with them. This past Friday, however, I have found the oasis I’ve been searching for lo these many years.


After an enjoyable dinner in Harvard Square at John Harvard’s Brew House, Bethany, Kirsten, and myself wandered over to check out the Legal Seafood outdoor patio at the Charles Hotel and I could not have been happier after settling down at the corner of the bar. This area has been open for two summers and you may not have been aware of its location because the bartender informed me the hotel prevents them from advertising. A midnight last call and not finding its existence until September would be the only drawbacks I can drum up. If you find yourself facing a nice day or evening I recommend checking out the Legal bar before it closes for the season on October 15th.

Vacancy

While growing up in R.I. you never knew who would be over for dinner or would be sleeping on the couch for the night. My parents instituted an open door policy and never turned their backs on having another mouth to feed or another bed to prepare. In high school, my brother would often end up with several friends over and they began to refer to the house as the Marco Motel. Based on the activity Bethany and I have had over the past three weeks, I think our apartment has evolved into the Marco Motel II. It’s always nice to have old friends in from out of town and when I visit places I know I appreciate the opportunity to save money on lodging. As a host, having your home occupied does take a mental tole on you because after working all day you have to entertain instead of rest. In the middle of last week, both Bethany and myself frankly ran out of gas, but fortunately our guests were understanding enough to realize we’d been pretty busy and didn’t take offense to our bailing on a couple of nights out on the town. Things should be quiet for the next few weeks, but the Motel will be available for short and long term stays and as always, we do not require a multiple night commitment. Here are some of the perks in store for you:

• Our honeymoon suite has a queen size bed complete with two office spaces, 135,624 pages in psychology textbooks, 45 handbags, and an 8x11 Adam Vinateri picture. I do regret to inform our guests the closet space is reserved for maintenance
• The spacious gold room comes with two non-pull out couches, 33’ television, and several pictures of people you don’t know. Please be warned, do to high noise levels and power issues, you will not be able to sleep until 11:30 at night
• The garden level economy class unit may have lighting and odor issues, but for those of you who need your quiet space it’s separated from the rest of the house, offers free laundry, and all the Christmas decorations one could possibly dream of. If some sort of black substance drips on you while sleeping we know nothing about it and you did sign a waiver
• All rooms come with complimentary wireless Internet service, free parking, access to our one of a kind BBQ garage, mismatched towels, and use of our two calendars
• Don’t forget to try our exclusive room service menu including granola bars, English muffins, bananas, and chips with salsa

Email or call Bethany or myself to reserve your space now

Arrested to Television

Monday night at 8:00 P.M. marks the third season premiere of Arrested Development on FOX. This is easily the best-written and most amusing show on television today, but it needs some audience support. The plot revolves around Michael Bluth(Jason Batemen) trying to keep his family company alive while working around the chaos including, but not limited to his escaped con father, alcoholic mother, and three equally psychotic siblings. Throw in a sexually confused brother in law, Michael’s hatred for his son’s girlfriend, and Liza Minelli sleeping with both his brothers and you have yourself one hilarious party. This program also manages to receive long-term recurring role commitments from several well-known actors such as Henry Winkler, Christine Taylor, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and Charlize Theron. Every character has his/her own unique quirks and while Michael plays the straight man during most of the action he is far from normal. Producer Ron Howard narrates each episode by adding to the storytelling because instead of simply referring to events of the past, the viewer is provided with a setup accompanied by a ten second clip. There has not been such successful random plot development since Seinfeld so I strongly recommend everyone watch, TiVo, tape, or rent previous seasons on DVD. Enjoy the show!

From High School to Hollywood

Over the weekend I discovered the four people from my high school graduating class who have been trying to get into the television/entertainment market all have successful work right now. I find this to be remarkable because I attended a small school and the number of students in my senior year barely broke 70. Here’s the rundown of the group:


Angelo Spizzirri is currently starring in the Nick Cannon vehicle Underclassman about a police officer going undercover at a prep school and while this has been poorly reviewed I plan on checking it out on DVD. Angelo can also held a prominent role in the Dennis Quaid baseball film The Rookie as the high school catcher.

Pete Lucas spent the past few months as a sports anchor on the CBS affiliate in Rhode Island, but my parents have informed me he has recently moved to the FOX station.

Roberto Raad can be seen as the guy on the right in the new Miller Light commercial where two men observe a woman and her new soft shell cooler on the beach.

Charlie Day stars as a main character on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia airing Monday nights at 10:30 on FX. It’s a comedy about four friends who own a bar and while I have not seen it yet, I plan on watching tomorrow’s episode. Out of these four classmates, I was closest to Charlie and this guy may have only been an inch or two taller than me, but he would stuff a pillow under his shirt and do a killer impression of Chris Farley’s motivational speaker character, Matt Foley. Charlie also played Boscoe’s brother on Third Watch before being dismembered in the second to last season. I always dreamed of running into him at a bar and sneaking up to give him a giant hug while screaming, “I can’t believe you’re alive,” as I pick him up off his feet.


This probably doesn’t mean much to most of you, but I found it to be pretty cool and I’m interested to hear what you think of their work.

And the winner is...

In honor of this being the inaurgural song of the week and Friday I have selected Working for the Weekend by Loverboy. A priceless SNL skit featuring Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley competing for an opening at a Chippendales club brings back fond memories of this tune. Legally download it to get your exciting weekend started.

Dance to the Music

Over Labor Day weekend, dinner had finished and I knew the time had arrived to fire up the dance floor. The talented band on stage still appeared to be sizing up the appropriate play list for the crowd and the arrival of the police made them cautious of their noise level. To the left of the dance floor, observers would find Bethany and I in a heated discussion over our next course of action because she didn’t feel up to breaking out her hottest moves. After going back and forth for a couple of minutes, all seemed hopeless when Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn piped through the speakers. Bethany’s eyes opened wide, her body perked up, and she grabbed my hand so we could rush out to dance to one of her favorite tunes. The dance floor remained populated for the next hour and we even managed to ease the band into opening up a bit without fear of a return from local law enforcement.

Things turned around last Sunday night because the band played a song with the “it” factor. It can be tough to describe what composes the “it” factor, but everyone knows the feeling as the energy rushes through your body when you hear a certain piece of music. The arms, legs, and head start flailing as you belt out your best attempt at remembering the words without a care in the world. Personally, I’ve been known to bust out my finest (or least finest) singing voice while at work singing Bye Bye Bye and Can You Feel the Love Tonight and I would place a good wager everyone reading this has been caught in the car. Why? Because it’s fun to do and makes you feel good about yourself. It can be a way to bond with friends, a good pick me up, or done for no particular reason at all.

Every person also has his or her own relationship with a song. While I could leap up and dance to the same beat ten times a day, Bethany could turn the exact same thing off the second it appears on the radio. After a certain period you may also find the need to break up with a song for one of numerous reasons. You could simply not be feeling the love anymore or you could hate the experience so much you may wonder how you ever allowed yourself to become so intimate with such a thing. There will always be, however, those songs that will always stand the test of time and every time you listen to it will be a wonderful 2:47 of your life.


During the 2005 American Idol season, Brian, Becky, and myself loyally bonded over the events of this year’s aspiring singers while offering our expert analysis, commentary and a little bit of trash talking in support of Scott “The Junkyard Dog” Savol. While our quest for perfection ended with the very respectable number five spot, this exciting season motivated me to create a song of the week for the house. I would search far and wide for songs standing the test of time and always make you want to bob you head. I would now like to share this program with everyone to rediscover a little piece of sunshine from their past and to purchase it from itunes or whatever your legal choice of music downloading may be. Here’s what you’ve missed so far and I look forward to posting a new song every Friday


5/7/05 Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
5/14/05 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown – Jim Croce
5/21/05 Alone – Heart
5/28/05 Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now – Jefferson Starship
6/04/05 Hold On – Wilson Phillips
I Can’t Live Without Your Love and Affection – Nelson Brothers
6/11/05 Footloose – Kenny Loggins
7/04/05 Sugar, Sugar – The Archies


Please let us know what songs have the “it” factor for you and just a reminder you do not need to register to post.

Wedding by the Bay

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. We had a relaxing close to the summer reading poolside during the day while enjoying good food and beverages in the evening. This weekend marked a significant change to the lake dynamic because none of the group of friends attending lived together anymore. Our 11 o’clock arrival led us into a high-energy conversation of people catching up with old faces they haven’t seen for a few months. We quickly joined in and after several rounds of cocktails (including some shot gunning), more arrivals, and introductions to a few new faces someone noticed the clock read 3:30 in the morning. At this point, I found myself pressed into recalling my theme wedding material (see 6/28 & 6/29 posts) and after mildly protesting to hold off until the morning I tried to remember as much A-Team fodder my droopy eyelids would allow me.

The next morning, Rob could not stop talking about the fun evening he had and we started recounting the highlights from what really amounted to a few hours ago. From this conversation and with the help of many others, I now present the Baywatch Wedding.

• All members of the wedding party will wear red bathing suits, sunglasses, sun tan lotion on their noses, and carry an orange flotation device
  
• The bride will come down the aisle running in slow motion to an organ rendition of the Baywatch theme. I would like to ask everyone to open to page 127 of their hymn book to sing along.
• Hobie will be the ring bearer
• There will be a music video halfway through the ceremony
• When it’s time to pronounce the happy couple man and wife, the bride will pass out so the groom can perform the sacred kiss via CPR
• A yellow SUV will take the place of the limousine
• The entire reception will only be music by David Hasselloff so we recommend not booking a room because you will be leaving within eighteen minutes
• The honeymoon will consist of visiting and releasing an album in Germany
• After four years, the couple will quit their jobs to start a catering company called Baywatch Nights