Jake Gets Hitched!

On May 17, 2008, Jake (aka Rachel) married her TN House Majority Leader (aka Gary Odom) in Belle Meade, Nashville.

Proof that I can't afford to live in Belle Meade:

Umm, no, that's ok, I'll just have my limo driver make a loop around the block.


Wedding details:
The dress - Oscar de la Renta
The rock - huge! I tried to take a picture, but the ring was so huge and sparkly that my camera had a hard time focusing...
How they met - Rachel was Gary's summer intern in 2005(?). Don't quote me on that, coulda been 2006.
The band - awesome! They had choreographed dance moves and everything!
For dinner they served filet mignon. Good try, but I think that's a difficult meal to serve to so many people at the same time and do it well. I still ate it though. You know me, never turn down a good hunk a meat.
At the end of the night, there were fireworks over the golf course which I'm sure the grounds crew was super excited about in the morning.

Some pics from the wedding

First, sober

Lake Ave. together again!

The happy couple


Well, that's the end of the sober pictures. The reception was insane! Bartender Kim boasted that she could make margaritas five different ways, and I saw this as a personal challenge to try them all. Alas, I only tried two, but they were damn good.

The bride and me


The bride and Katie - rumor has it (and from a good source I might add!) that there are several paintings of Rachel in the house.


I have no idea


Get 'em, Katie!


Patrick was a lucky man, he took three girls back to his hotel room.


Who's next!??

coloRADo

After spending a good, solid week at the new house and not accomplishing much of anything, work whisked me away to spend a few days in the wild, wild west. On the agenda for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was the biannual ASTM (american society of testing and materials) conference where all of the "cool" sporting goods engineers put on their best short sleeve dress shirts and try to impress with their knowledge of physics, biomechanics, epidemiology studies, and laboratory testing procedures. I actually counted this time, and I saw a total of four...yes, four women during the entire conference. To say I was out of place is a gross understatement, but I'm sure they love having someone around who can always say, "wow, you've been coming to these meetings before I was even born". I'm sure they love that. This time, the convention was held in Denver, so I was super pumped to have a cool place to go explore when I didn't have a meeting to attend.

8 Things I learned about Denver:

1. It's really hard to get comfortable outside. If you are walking in the shade, it's too cold, so you put on a jacket and it's too warm, so you go walk in a sunny spot sans jacket and you're sweating. Pick one.
2. Denver is flat. Like really flat, I don't think I encountered a single incline of any degree while walking around downtown.
3. No fat people
4. All of the homeless people live in the grassy area that lies between the capitol building and the US Mint.
   
   
5. No black people either
6. Punk is still alive and well in Denver. I saw many a mohawk in many a color.
7. There is a Starbucks or a Chipotle on every corner. Mmm, burritos and coffee. Actually though, my first experience at Chipotle was not a good as I had hoped, but the second, third, fourth, and fifth experiences were top notch.
8. Always be prepared for rain. Don't know if this is always the case, but in the week I was there, it rained a little almost every day.


So that was downtown Denver. Since the conference ended Wednesday, I decided to spend the rest of the week in CO to visit a couple of friends I hadn't seen in awhile. I spent Thursday and a good part of Friday with Brian, aka BK and the rest of Friday and Saturday was spent with an old friend from high school, Mike.

Brian was a gracious host even if his car did not want to cooperate with the weather. Like I said above, it rained a good bit while I was there and BK drives a Jeep Wrangler that isn't covered in the back. It was probably the most entertaining part of the trip, to see if you could avoid the water that was coming at you from everywhere. As long as you were moving it wasn't bad.

BK drove me to see just about everything you could see in Denver, we even stopped by to say hello to Buffalo Bill.




Red Rocks



Unfortunately, I forgot all about taking pictures when I went to chill with Mike in Boulder. I liked Boulder, but I'm pretty sure I could never afford to live there. Mike lives in a little run down house that costs more in rent than my mortgage. Mike showed me all the cool spots including his favorite bike route, Pearl Street, and his various workplaces, my favorites being the bakery and the bike shop.

The one picture I took in Boulder





And who was waiting for my arrival back to K-town Saturday night? Brooke? Cleo? Feedy? Coach!? T-Mad? Awwwww, you guys.




Yes, I do have cornrows in that picture. That's how I roll.