Thursday, August 30, 2007

I'm a proud US American

Good thing she's pretty damn hot...

Monday, August 27, 2007

... And he marries people too!

I had quite the fun and unique weekend in San Diego... My good friends Andrew and Zemina asked me last January at their engagement party to marry them... I of course said yes! I know you are probably thinking WTF? Fortunately I married my friends Josh & Cheryl in Miami last year so I was all certified and rarin' to go! :) It was an awesome time and I had an amazing weekend! My great friends Jeff & Jennie hosted me all weekend and we had a great time too! Onward with the pics....

Rehearsals on Friday morning went well so the groomsmen and Andrew and I decided to hit up K1 Racing for a little high speed go karting...
ZOOM!
Before slamming each other into the walls, we made sure the safety equipment was in check - remember kids, friends don't let friends get hit by their cart at 40MPH without a helmet!
"THEY... WILL... ALL... PAY!" Really, I have no idea where all this anger comes from. It's like fast cars + beer + testosterone = vehicular combat.
Unfortch since I was driving I didn't get good shots of us racing. Just pretend.
The last race was pretty crazy - I was doing well and then my damn car died! BOO! I was so pissed. They guys lapped me and didn't seem to mind - it took the 'pit crew' like 2 laps to replace my damn car! So they shut everyone down and as soon as I was in a new car I sped off - which unbeknownst to me, the other guys were waiting for the straggler behind us. I was then known as "The Cheating Preacher". Yeah, unfair, untrue... and funny. ;)
BOO! I should be standing up there!

Had a great rehearsal dinner at Piatti's in La Jolla, which was delicious - despite being randomly beaned by falling tree berries (it was outside under a big tree, that apparently felt like shedding it's dingleberries all over us).
This may very well be their last picture taken together before being referred to as Mr & Mrs. Z!
Saturday was the actual wedding... it was a beautiful setup at Powerhouse in Del Mar, CA. It sits right along the beach, next to a grassy park, overlooking the ocean and surrounded by beachy trees. It's a gorgeous location and honestly one of the best places to get married in SD. They really lucked out getting it!
Even the table settings were gorgeous! You could look out the window to the ocean...
Flowers FTW!

Hmmmm wedding cake... they won't notice... if I take just a little bite....
Zemina looked amazing in her dress, Z was rocking the tan suit with the sandals (who all the groomsmen wore, I was thanking God by the end of the night I didn't have to wear dress shoes!).
This was my view of the ceremony - without 130 people dressed in their Sunday best staring at me, of course. No pressure. No pressure.
Just behind me people frolicked on the beach. I'm so hoping that there's a volleyball randomly bouncing around my head in the background of the wedding video. ;)
It's a beautiful spot!
Josh and Cheryl were there to root me on - and of course give me sh** for anything I did wrong. ;) It was really cool to have the first people I ever married there at the ceremony - pretty amazing. If you asked me 2 years ago if I'd be marrying my friends, I'd be like ... yeah, right. Crackpipe. Then I'd probably make fun of you, and tell you your mom's fat.
Josh helped relax my nerves before the ceremony by getting Preacher Shots (Jack Daniels in a plastic cup - it's not like I could bless them or anything). I told the bartender "The minister needs a shot." She loved it, and offered another... I was like "Trust me, baby, I'll be back.". LOL

So I made the mistake of asking J&C to take my camera and take pics for me during the ceremony (I thought it'd be a tish rude to stop the ceremony to take pics):
Cheryl decided to grace us with her snazzy dress and legs....
Josh of course went for the obligatory crotch shot. Classy.


Married couple #1! Fun factoid: I wore the same shirt when marrying them!
... OK that wasn't fun at all, more boring, and makes me sound cheap.
So I started the procession by walking down the aisle. You'll notice my eyes are closed - you'd be AMAZED how much better the audience treats you when you pretend to be blind. I mean, they are like, WOW he's so nice and blind! Here's money and pity love!
Of course, I'm kidding. Cheryl managed to catch me blinking or something, it's just as well, I can't pull off dignified.
Zemina was escorted by her two brothers - who her beautiful Mother Magdalena informed me I'm now on tap to perform their wedding ceremonies as well. It's a family deal ya'll!
So the backlighting was a little harsh, henceforth the actual ceremony is a little shadowish.

Random baby shot! Thanks Cheryl! You get my camera every time! I have no idea who's child this is...
Random people I don't know! They were nice... so... hi Mr. and Mrs. Nice!
This is RIGHT after I said "Without further ado, by the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife! You may kiss the bride!". It's pretty fun saying that and feeling some kind of magic power come over you. ;) And boy, did they kiss! Sheesh. Wait for the wedding night you crazy kids!
The newly anointed Mr. and Mrs. Z!

Cheryl caught this awesome shot of me telling people to go upstairs for cocktails and called it my "Jesus Pose". ROCK! lol
Anything dipped in chocolate = good.
I was going to make a joke here but it felt insanely inappropriate.
I also just realized this post contains no celebs - well, it was San Diego after all.
Cheryl did do her best Corona ad, complete with the beachy sun in the background. Homegirl knows how to work it!

I miss my SD crew!
There was major dancing... they started it off with Lifehouse's "You and Me". Awww.
Weddings are so fun, everyone is like super happy the whole time!

What was I saying about inappropriate comments? Josh likes Chocolate.
I think at this point the DJ put on a song that no one liked, so they all stopped dancing. Smooth move ex-lax!
So we had a major dinner, it was really good, and we got tired... real tired after. Nothing like a belly full of booze and meat to tire you out! I just realized that the camera lens to the left in this pic is really inappropriate... wow. LOL
TOO MUCH FOOD!
In an attempt to prove to Cheryl I'm still working out, I flexed my guns...

To which she laughed in my face.... and then somehow found sand on the floor and kicked it in my face.
"THIS is a gun, lil boy! Sheesh!" Oh and I love that she's totally flashing a gang sign here. She's a crip, I think.
Feeding each other cake = always funny.
All the groomsmen and our sandals. Aaaaah. The girls were jealous.
All the guys gathered to do shots - woo! It was fun. I cut my face off. I admit it, after a few drinks my crazy powers of self-picture-taking aren't exactly as good as they could be.
Hoo boy, it just gets worse from here. At least we are in frame. Kelly was a very good dancer and asked me to marry her.
....

and her husband next month in Vermont! Unfortunately I couldn't make it that weekend but I'm sure it would have been so fun!
Magdalena, Zemina's mom, was a great dancer!
Andrew had a little too much fun taking Zemina's garter off.
It was hilarious. :)

I tried to catch Zemina's garter, but failed... miserably. Heh, let some other sucker get married. ;)

CATFIGHT OVER THE BOQUET! GO GO GO!
Me, Kelly, and Jan - I hope your wedding rocks you guys!
Zemina and I made a Kelly sandwhich - rowwrrrr.
There were so many girls there, it was like the complete opposite of a game industry function. LOL
Good times.

GREAT TIMES! WAAAAAAH
We even did a conga line!
Not sure what's going on here, but at least it's PG.
All in all it was an amazing day, and I had such a fun time. I didn't screw up my lines, and everyone loved the ceremony. I had about 50 people come up to me to thank me for doing such a nice ceremony, and I had several others ask me for business cards. It was really a wonderful time. Congratulations Andrew and Zemina, I know you guys have many, many years of happiness ahead of you!

After I caught up with a few old friends and went to a few bars....
My buddy John has lost an ENTIRE Nicole Ritchie himself since the last time I saw him! 80 pounds! You go John! LOL I was such a jackass, when I first got to our table I didn't say anything to him - I didn't freaking recognize him! LOL
DRUNK BUS!
DRUNK BAR! I was actually the sober one so I drove everyone home.... go figure.


LOL! John's eye makes a guest appearance with me and Leilani - who just got married to Ghyan! I swear, all my friends are getting married. I'm feeling old.
Me and Lisa hanging out with her friend Eve in the background - maybe we can have that Mac and Cheese another day. ;)It was fun to see old friends and be back in the old hometown - Ghyan showed his SD spirit!
Saw this on Sunday morning as I was driving to meet friends for breakfast... purdy... it actually rained!



I met up with my great friends Ben, Raphael, Ferdinand, Jeff and Jennie at Tip Top Meats, where I had a delicious 3,000 calorie breakfast. Yum! Also I'm pretty sure we insulted nearby families with our discussions. FUN.

Ben wears insanely stylish shoes - seriously, the guy knows more about cool shoes then Lindsay knows about being a cokewhore. That's a LOT.
Me and Ferd - he was wearing a great shirt which just said "Anti". Heheh

Jill, Teddy, and Joy are the overly cute children of Jeff and Jennie... they are a hilarious trio!
J&J at their gorgeous new home - it's really amazing. I have such great friends in San Diego, I miss them all a lot! :( Thankfully they are a close drive away.
J&J 's home is so nice, I was kind of expecting a butler to answer the door, and to get lost in one of the wings of the house...
As I drove back, tired but content, I realized what a great weekend it was. Quite fun - and very memorable. I wonder where my next wedding will be... ;)
-"Minister D-Lo"