Some Huge Thanks

The open house last Saturday turned out very well, thanks to some really great help. So first off, thanks to Paul & Laura for letting us piggy back on their Costco membership and knowing exactly where to find everything we needed; secondly, many thanks to Patricia at Patch Tailoring who did fantastic work on a rush order; next, Aubrey for taking a 3am emergency text in stride and hunting down missing items of importance; and last but not least, Ashton and Zarah for showing up first and asking if there was anything they could do! Thank you all!

A little explanation about the tailoring is in order. A friend of a friend had been asked to sew a shrug for Christa's wedding dress, with a specific fabric and theme based around a yellow (One of Christa's favorite and therefore wedding colors) shirt and tie combo of mine. This was a few months ago and it seemed the easiest solution to getting the exact right shrug without spending eons hoping to find it shopping. Well, it turns out the friend of the friend is a procrastinator that will not be recommended by us and the shrug was not yet completed the day before the open house. Christa went down to the fof's house and spent several hours there while sewing was hastily done. In the end, Christa walked out with a shrug that had a passable body, but the sleeves have thus far been best described as 'balloon animal sleeves.' The material was cut completely straight, so the cap sleeve became a tube and cloth was folded back over itself with no seem at the end of the sleeve to keep the fold in the cloth from making the sleeve balloon. The world came very close to ending that evening. Not even a slight exaggeration. Fortunately, when I started calling tailors, Patricia was still at her workplace and answered my phone call, despite it being after her regular hours. We did pay extra for the rush order, but Patricia gave Christa exactly the right shrug the next morning at 10:30 and world got to live another day.

Open House Tomorrow

Hope to see you there! If I've failed you miserably as a friend and this is the first you're hearing about this, I apologize profusely, but still hope to see anyone who is Utah Valley local. Its at my apartment on 7/11 from 1 to 5 and if you need directions, sent me a note at gjcox13 at gmail.

Why I Have Been A Delinquent Blogger

So I hope the word travels faster than my ability to talk to everyone because I'm hoping that the news that I'm getting married isn't new. Major apologies to those who haven't heard it yet, but my attention to anything other than my bride-to-be has generally gotten a low priority. Picture me with a grin on my face and an expression that doesn't seem to know what reality is and that's about me for the last several weeks.

What reality I am in touch with is that the date is July 17th, the location is Conrad Ranch up Provo Canyon (I couldn't find any pictures anywhere except on this photographer's blog and figured they would appreciate me sending you to them rather than posting their pictures on my own), and the lady is the most amazing person in the world!

In that spirit, it is time to retire, "Since I don't even share my apartment with a goldfish, I have to tell somebody about the random crap that comes into my head. You're it." The random crap is still going to be shared, but soon, so is the apartment, and let's face it, by signing up with me my finance is sentencing herself to hear more random crap than ever gets up here. Anyway, the point is: I'm going to change the 'About Me' section and I'd like anyone who reads my blog to give me a one or two sentence descriptor that they like, so comment away!

Let The Good Times Roll

So I'd say this picture pretty much sums up my week. Obviously the med school acceptance was a huge deal; I get a pretty good emotional high from completing my short term goals, so having this three-year-way-to-many-thousand-dollar investment pay off was exponentially more satisfying. I'm still going to the other interviews because as cool as acceptance to LMU is, Harrogate, TN just isn't the most happening place on the planet. I think I liked the atmosphere in Harrogate better than Ft. Lauderdale, so were I to have a choice there, I think TN wins. I'm a bit torn over Harrogate vs. Kirksville. They both require a lot of time to get to (though they're not so remote as what my sister deals with since they both have Wal-Marts), but after having visited Kirksville and finding out how strongly the LDS church is represented in the student body, its a harder to say that TN is clearly higher on the list. So that's med school.

I also went on something of a last minute date last night, and she's not 17! So now that we've got that question out of the way... I'm seriously impressed by this girl. My cell battery will attest to the fact that I very much fancy this girl. I think I need new words between like (something that belongs on the note passed in elementary school) and love (cause we abuse this term to avoid 'like' when we, and in this case I, very much don't mean it). For the high points, she's a lady that allows me to be a gentlemen (you guys all know you dig that), extremely intelligent (which translates into very enjoyable conversation), doesn't let that intelligence interfere with her faith, and she 'fits' (sorry Emily, I'm wasting my height again). Lest I sound obsessed, mom, this still belongs in the 'getting to know you' category of dating; everything I've learned just happens to be positive.

Gene Autry, Take It Away

(That's 'Back In The Saddle Again' for those not in the know)

So I went on my first post-D date last night. Interesting.

I met this girl over at some friends' apartment a couple weeks ago. She lived in the same complex and had come over to get some sheet music from one of the guys. She wound up hanging out with the crowd for a while and showed a pretty quick wit, so when the opportunity arose, I asked her out.

OK, so I should really learn to think twice about some of the girls I ask out. I knew she was younger than me, but I really wouldn't have guessed a decade. For those who know the math, yes, that does make her 17. I found out this lovely bit of information during the intermission of the Nutcracker. I think I'll just call this a practice date and move on so I don't wind up like this guy:

Still Can't Believe I Saw This

So went to the Aquabats concert on Saturday. The opening band was about what you'd expect from an opening band, but them something absolutely horrible happened. This:

came on stage. Its a little difficult to see, but that's one of the characters from the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. Now I know that MC Bat Commander was the creator of the show, but give me a break. Putting a show that even a five year old knows to be less intelligent than himself on stage in front of a bunch of twenty-somethings who want to mosh and skank just shows how far off their grove the Aquabats have gotten. And I think I lost my faith in humanity when a large portion of the crowd actually sang along to the Yo Gabba Gabba songs that make even Barney seem erudite and a downright vocabularian.