howdy! i'm back from the great midwest, where i drank like i was still in college and celebrated the last few moments of a friend's single life and the first few moments of his married one. it was really great to be at chad and amanda's wedding-- i'm so happy for both of them, and they're both such wonderful people... i'm really glad i got to celebrate their wedding with them. i spent most of the weekend with jason and jim from high school, which was... interesting, to say the least.

we did our share of drinking on thursday night and friday for most of the afternoon and evening (cheap booze did us in), in among the wedding, exploring ohio state campus, downtown columbus, chad and amanda's cute new house, and other parts unknown. friday's binge fest was at a place right near campus and greek row, and it was populated with-- you guessed it-- greek types. can't beat the prices, though-- pitchers of beer for $2.50 each and mixed drinks for $1.50 to $2.00. we were there for over eight hours and didn't spend more than $50 among the three of us.

the wedding on saturday was lovely... the ceremony was in a picnic shelter in highland metro park, which has lots of cool-looking hiking trails and picnic areas. chad's two adorable nieces were among the flower girls, and his sister wendy played a lovely "ave maria" on the flute. erin and her husband mike were also at the wedding, and it was great to see them-- erin's five months pregnant too, and she was positively glowing.

the reception (after a brief stop in the hotel to watch a little soccer and drink a little more) was at a country club clubhouse, and it was very tastefully done. the party was about 120 people (mostly family), and we kept the music and the drinks flowing until 11pm. i was so busy socializing that i didn't even have any cake! erin and i kept tabs on our captain-and-coke crew (that would be jason, jim, and mike) and enjoyed chatting, dancing, etc. into the night... including a post-reception stop at a pub, a pizza joint, and finally back at the hotel.

amanda, chad's new wife, is very cool... i'm not sure what i thought she was going to be like, but i really like her. she's a lot like me, which is partly why, but i can definitely see why she and chad are good for each other. it's very cute. i hope to get to spend some time with both of them the next time they're out in california.

the added bonus to the weekend? i seemed to have the same flight schedule as my favorite boys in blue-- they were headed to new york the same time i was headed to columbus on thursday, so i got to wish the wadester good luck in person. on sunday, i had the same connecting flight from dallas as the team, so i got to congratulate a couple of them on the win. man. i never knew i was such a fan geek.