Happy Fourth of July!

Goosebumps, I tell you!

When they opened up the doors to the chapel and Jaime stood there with her parents, sunlight streaming in behind her, a lifetime of love and happiness ahead of her, I got goosebumps.

And they remained for most of the night.

Congrats, my love!  See you in eleven days!

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Dad,
Mom and I spent Father's Day weekend spending your money eating and shopping, leaving you to do whatever it is you do when we're not around.  And I think that's exactly how you would prefer it.  You will not be so lucky next month for your birthday. 

All my love,
Nikki

P.S. Thank you for putting up with us!  You're the best!

SB2K11OBX By the Numbers

3: Popped collars at our "Yacht Rock" party.
36: Number of hours spent on the road.  Only truly horrible during the last five or so.
1: Bushel of crabs eaten.  This was the cause of one super-deep cut on my finger, which we have dubbed a "white person injury."  "Oh, this?  I got it eating Jimmies in the surf."
50: SPF needed to protect our Midwestern winter skin.  I packed SPF 15, which may have been optimistic.  I never did get to step down.
24: Bottles of wine consumed.  This figure does not include champagne, which I would estimate at another ten bottles.
3: Pieces of sea-glass found.  To be fair, my mom wasn't there to help me.
20: Pounds of pork shoulder devoured.  In hindsight, this makes me a little sick.
2: Number of skinny dippers.  None of which were me.
3 Million: Number of stars we saw when the electricity on the island went out one night.  My favorite hour of the trip.

Until next time, OBX.

I know! I know!

Please watch this video from the 4:30 mark.  It's just so timely.

He's got to be pissed that Justin Timberlake is still making money.

Lots of goings on going on:

 

Carly is one of my oldest friends.  I know it sounds cliche, but she's one of those people you can not see for years and when you finally do, it feels like it's been days.  I can confidently say that she is the exact same person she was in third grade.  And that's a good thing.  So I was excited for her to become Carly Marie Carmel Boda Wallis (I'm pretty sure I remember helping her pick Carmel as her confirmation name.  Any regrets on that one, Carly?).

 (Yes, I am that pale.)

And as if her wedding wasn't awesome enough, something made it EVEN MORE AWESOME.

Because this guy was there:

Don't recognize him?  He's Chris Somethingorrather from 'N Sync.  And he was a plus one.  And he danced to "Bye, Bye, Bye."  And we made a video.  And I will share it with you in private if you ask nicely. 

 

Then I went to St. Louis for Jaime's bachelorette party.  It was both classy and rowdy at the same time.  There may or may not have been a trip to the hospital and we may or may not have ended the night on a bus with a sauna.  But what happens in St. Louis stays in St. Louis, so that's all I have to say about that. 

 (I think her veil is on upside down.  We'll sort it out before the big day.)

And now we have just one week until we leave for the Outer Banks.  I reeeeally hope we all still like each other after the 18 hour road trip.  I will pack Capri Suns and mix CDs to be sure.

 

And three months from today we leave for Europe.  EUROPE.  I've never been and we found dirt cheap flights.  Sure, we're flying with Iceland Express airways and I'm not totally convinced that it's a real airline, but at least if we go down, we'll go down on our way to Europe!  

 

And now I'm off to practice saying, "Notre avion va de crash!"

"Mother's Day, it's beautiful thought, but it's somebody's hurtin' conscience that thought of the idea. It was someone who had neglected their mother for years, and then they figured out: I got to do something about Momma. And knowing Momma was that easy, they figured, "we'll give her a day, and it will be all right with Momma." Give her a day, and then in return Momma gives you the other 364. See?" - Will Rogers

Happy Mother's Day, Momma!  I love you more than you know.