Derek and Nicole Take a First Pass at a Wedding

Last weekend was Derek's first wedding. The 16th of August is his second attempt, although in Germany, which we'll be leaving for this upcoming weekend.

Friday was the rehearsal, at the International Peace Garden near Riverside Park. Afterward, we headed to Tequila's in Onalaska (the former Hardees) for some tasty margaritas. Derek and Nicole found some beautiful hats!Chad didn't want to be left out of the fun.
Saturday morning brought a beautiful day, if not for the oppressive heat. Standing in the beating sun, with no shade, and no breeze, was nearly unbearable. However the ceremony was nice and short!
This wasn't the first dance, however it was a nice pic of the happy couple.
When going in for the garter, Derek played some music from Germany's national musician, David Hasselhoff.And then shot the garter the wrong way!No wedding is complete without some airg uitar!What a great picture!
Now it's time to get ready for wedding #2! Paris, Waldenburg, and Prague, here we come!

When Harry Met Muffin

Wednesday morning I wake up to the sound of Kelsey yelling, "Aaron, come look!!" Seems that while she was outside this morning, a little dog came up to her and sat down. No collar, no id, and no microchip. Harry the Schnauzer is staying with us for a little while!A pretty cute dog, and very well behaved! Kelsey took her to the vet, and called a bunch more, unfortunately no one had reported a missing dog.
Even Muffin, who's terrible with other animals, is being friendly with the guest.
Look how well they play!

Update:

Pockets, as Harry is really called, has made it home safely! Kelsey saw a missing dog sign in the park when walking Muffin, and Pockets' dog sitter (the real owners were on vacation) came and picked him up. And Kelsey already misses him...

Jon is Full of Welts

Last weekend Mike and I headed down to Onalaska for Jon's bachelor party. The plan was to grab breakfast, head out to Ettrick, and play a little paintball! Here's the shirt and ears that Jesse got Jon before breakfast at (the former Marge's) Lakeview Restaurant. The ears would be Jon's downfall.Here is Jon after paintball. When playing, the ears would always give his position away, so he was frequently fired at. It certainly didn't help it was his day.
For the last use of our paintballs, Jon had to run from one barrier to another, while we opened fire. The aftermath? Some mighty nice welts.
Mike took some good shots too.
Afterwards, we headed to Jon's place to cook some bugers and brats and play some beer pong.

Tunes

Is it weird that I have an iTunes playlist of just depressing songs? On the bright side, said playlist is only 178 songs (yet growing), representing under 2% of my entire music collection. I also have a playlist for Odd Time Signatures, if that gives you some reference. Anyways, I was listening to the downer playlist tonight, because, well, I have no good reason. But I figured I'd list out some songs that you should all listen to when in a down mood.

Oh, these aren't "I'm down, what makes me feel better?" songs. But they're not "I'm down, I need another bourbon, a whiskey, and a beer" songs, either. There more just songs that make me introspective.


Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Soul To Squeeze"
An absolute favorite song. How this ended up on the Coneheads soundtrack, the world will never know. Yes, it doesn't fit with the rest of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Anyways, a classic song of not knowing where one belongs in this world. "Where I go, I just don't know. I might end up somewhere in Mexico."

Morphine - "Gone for Good"
Mark Sandman left too soon. Could be the anti-stalking song.

Phil Collins - "I Wish It Would Rain Down"
Maybe not that depressing, but the feeling that Clapton's guitar work adds is just awesome.

Simon & Garfunkel - "The Only Living Boy In New York"
I'm cheating. The first time I heard this song was during Garden State. An aside; has a soundtrack ever matched an movie so perfectly? I know that Zach Braff handpicked each song, but damn, what a good job. Although nearly the entire soundtrack could potentially make the list.

Chappaquidick Skyline - "Leave Me Alone"
A cover of a New Order song, the cover's actually better. The title's probably self-descriptive.

U2 - "With or Without You"
This song belongs up here no matter what. But I specifically think of a live version that Bono ends with the lyrics from Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
We'll shine like stars in the summer lights
We'll shine like stars in the silver light
One heart, one hope, one love and
Love, love will tear us apart, again
Love, love will tear us apart, again

Bon Iver - "Skinny Love"
A new addition to my collection. I only was introduced to this group a couple of weeks ago at a show. I told my friend that this was a depressing song when they played it in concert. It still is.

Sugar - "Explode and Make Up"
Introspective, but rocking. A definite head-nodder. Or even a sing-a-long.

Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"
Who doesn't think of John Cusack holding a boombox over his head for this one?

Weezer - "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here"
Again, not a slow, sad song. More of a thinker song. But it defaults to the depressing playlist, cause I can't have a thinking playlist too.

Magnet - "Where Happiness Lives"
The whole album is sleepy music. But this song really hits me for some reason.

Well, that's it. It's sleepy time now. And that last song is a good one to call it a night on.

Cabin Time

Last weekend we headed up to Kelsey's family cabin north of Siren, WI. The cabin has been in her mom's family since World War I, when it was purchased for a farming deferment. Not much of the farm remains, but it was a nice relaxing day.

Here's the lake. Not a big lake (no powerboats), but a good relaxing lake.Muffin absolutely loved it up there. I've never seen the dog so happy! She immediately ran for the water and jumped in!
The little amount of pasture left. The rest of the fields have been overrun by the forest. Lenny had a lot of stories about each trail and tree, which was quite interesting.
Muffin relaxing after another dip in the lake.
Siren had been hit by a pretty big tornado a few years ago, so all of downtown was new. This boat was a reminder of the tornado. It's wrapped around the tree.

Happy B-Day USA!

Kelsey and I hosted a Fourth of July party on Friday, which a bunch of out-of-towners were able to make it to. Unfortunately, the party was almost derailed before it even started. A cracked regulator valve was leaking LP out, so the grill wasn't working.Fortunately, a $15 part from Home Depot fixed it pretty quick.

We also put up the flagpole, left over from when we replaced the fence. And we got to run the flag up too! Aren't we patriotic?
Cindi and Steve were two of those able to make it from far away places. Becky and Matt and Jon and Danielle also made appearances.
No party is complete without Polish Horseshoes (or ladder golf).
No near misses this year, as the only fireworks were sparklers.
We did go down to the park to try and watch the Boom Island fireworks (somewhat succesfully). Interestingly, a cat was in the park, trying to stalk Muffin. The dog was pretty well behaved, although somewhat creeped out by a cat following her, instead of her following the cat.
Thanks to everyone for making it out and having a good time!

Twinkies

Mike, Zimm, Anton and I went to the Twins/Diamondbacks game on Sunday afternoon. And I took some cool action shots.Twins won, 5-3.

Hello 30!

That's it. The 20's are done. Over. Kaput.

Eyes up and looking forward. Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes.

I Will Be Investing In Emergency Pants

Friday brought another wedding to the schedule, Christina and Steve. The wedding was held at the Gale Mansion, and it was an absolutely spectacular day for such an event.I had arrived a bit early (traffic was light due to Memorial Day). Here's Steve, one hour to go.
The program was exquisitely designed by Christina.
Even a four piece string arrangement! Mike and I settled on it being two violins, a viola, and a cello.

The happy couple!
Groomsmen: Adam, Anton, and Dave. Adam and Dave are Steve's brothers.
4/5ths of the Larson family. Kristen was the Maid of Honor.
Here we are at table 7. The odd thing about the Gale Mansion, is that no one room is very large, so the dinner was spread out over many rooms and two floors.
Heidi, Megan, Mike and Erin.
Once the music got going, the party really started.
Ginny, with her mysterious eyes.
Yes, the guy in front of Christina is wearing a kilt. It was very entertaining watching them dance.
After all that, the end of the night brought out the inevitable Journey, Don't Stop Believing. As one of the best songs to dance to, I had to to bust a move. Some serious air guitar made an appearance. The below picture only hints at the outcome...
... a serious pants malfunction. I mean, it was hot in there and all, but I could have done without the extra air conditioning.
In spite of the wardrobe failure, we headed out to Brit's Pub to end the night.
I had a great time all night! Ginny must've not agreed.
Steve and Christina are off to Australia and New Zealand for the next couple of weeks for the honeymoon. I'm sure they'll have a great time!