Jackie and Rob's Wedding 2014

Our friends Jackie and Rob got married in Manhattan! It was super fancy! The bride was my sometimes-partner-in-crime at law school. Now she fights injustice by day and runs marathons on the weekends. Yes, that's the description of a modern-day super hero.

The event was black tie optional, so Kevin and I were feeling pretty cute when we walked into a welcome area hour with wine and champagne. So we were off to a great start already! Eventually we were ushered into the ceremony. Jackie converted to Judaism so the ceremony was Jewish. I've been to a few Jewish weddings and I never get tired of the little touches that make it awesome, such as both parents walking the bride and groom down the aisle and the glass smashing. I particularly enjoyed the excitement with which Jackie enunciated the word "husband" in "I take you to be my husband."

The new Mr. and Mrs.!

The first ceremony was pretty brief and then we moved into the most serious cocktail hour I've ever attended. I couldn't try all the appetizers because there were too many but each one I tried was a delicious culinary adventure. And also, I was the first one to find the sushi bar... I tried to save some sushi for the other guests. I did my best, you guys.

The reception was officially opened by Jackie's dad's speech. He is the cutest funniest person. He poked fun at Jackie during his speech and you could tell how much he loves her. Rob and Jackie changed into some beautiful traditional Korean clothing for the cocktail hour. This was also a good heads up that the cocktail hour would be followed by a traditional Korean ceremony.

This might be one of my favorite pictures at a wedding ever (Cocktail hour)

The Korean ceremony is called a Paebaek ceremony, and traditionally it involved the bride being presented to the groom's family but in modern-day celebrations the groom is also presented to the brides family. Obviously this involved another fabulous change of outfit. Everybody bowed to one another, Rob and Jackie shared some wine, some "elders" gave some astonishing words of wisdom. One particularly amusing part of the ceremony was that Rob's parents had to throw dates and chestnuts and Rob and Jackie were supposed to catch them on a long piece of fabric. They caught 24 in total, after which we were told this indicated the number of children they would have. I hope, for their sake, that 24 is actually the number of children and grandchildren they will have.

Rob and Jackie during the Paebaek ceremony

Catching a lot of kids!

Thanking Rob's parents for the 24 children (cute!)

I missed getting a picture of the Western ceremony kiss but this one is better!

The Paebaek ceremony ends with the groom carrying the bride out on piggy back!

Then they changed back to their black tie outfits from the Western wedding ceremony for their first dance. We dined, we danced like crazy, and then we jumped around in slow motion for Rob and Jackie's video pleasure.  The band was amazing, and at one point Kevin and I actually looked up to see if Nicki Minaj had taken a hold of the microphone. The woman singing was decidedly not Nicki Minaj but could have fooled a radio listener. Everybody was dancing! We had the possibly the biggest group dancing the Hora in all of New York. (Well, perhaps on that evening.)

First dance

Lifting Jackie and Rob up during the Hora. (This is the best view we got.)

Okay, so they had a video area set up, where anything you did in 24-second increments was made to look awesome when it was converted to slow motion. However, no one warned us that there would also be still photos of the insanity.

The law school group and spouses

Rob and Jackie kept the party going all night long and went to sing Karaoke after the reception was over, but Kevin and I had to head home because Miranda was not doing great on her first night away from me. But we had a wonderful magical night, Miranda forgives me, and I can't wait to see Jackie and Rob again and hear about how amazing it was for them. You can see how happy they are together when you're with them. And if marriage is a marathon and not a sprint, well, Jackie is supremely well-prepared! Congratulations!

Jaime's Super Fun Birthday 2013!

Partially at my insistence, Jaime had a four-day birthday extravaganza, wherein she attempted to do 35 Fun Things. (Thank you Sarah B. for teaching me this game!) The numbers below track her fun.

Muy caliente at Hill Country

Jaime's birthday extravaganza started in DC on the 3rd, when she attended "A Capital Fourth" rehearsal with her friend Erin and got to hear some of her favorites live: Barry Manilow (#1) and Neil Diamond (#2). Neil Diamond even sang Sweet Caroline, which is a song that is very near and dear to Massachusetts girls and Red Sox fans like Jaime. (#3)

 

A Capital Fourth on the Third

Jaime and I have spent some of our birthdays together in the past, so I invited her to come on up to New York and do some of her favorite things here. This officially made her birthday a multicity tour, and she had no traffic on her way up! (#4) As per the last post, we kicked off the weekend with fireworks in Long Island. (#5) Then on the actual day of her birthday, she started her day with the famous FloPa mani-pedi andcomplimentary shoulder massage. (#6) James used his bath crayons to draw this surprise for her in the shower. (#7)

After a brief fashion show of outfits, we picked our favorites and went to the city to meet Christina for dinner at Hill Country. (#8) They have pretty good Texas-style BBQ but I think my favorite part there is all the delicious sides. I am very picky about mac n' cheese, but their's is so good I think it deserves it's own number. (#9) And Jaime even ordered a spicy margarita. (#10)

Rice to Riches! Yum!

Our trip to Rice to Riches was more of a friendship pilgrimage than just a craving. Those of us who like rice pudding seem to be in the minority, but Jaime and I both really like it, and she introduced me to this Nolita treasure back in 2007 when I was working in New York for the summer. Since then, we talk about it regularly even though we haven't been back there together since then. (I think I did once drag Kevin but he doesn't like rice pudding so it wasn't too much fun.) Anyway, we finally made it back there, and we greedily ordered 3 flavors. (#1`) she also discovered her favorite flavor, "Fluent in French Toast." (#12) Despite the picture, Christina doesn't like rice pudding so... more for us!

Since we were already in Nolita, we decided to stay and go to some bars there. First we tried Milano, which might be my new favorite dive bar in the city. They were super nice and the place was plastered in photos. I approve! (#13) I got Jaime a birthday drink. (#14) Milano's bartender recommended the cider to her because it has "handpicked apples, so it should taste of sweat used to make the cider." (#15) Sounds kind of gross to me, but I guess the bartender and Jaime share the same sense of humor.

Jaime, Christina, and me at Milano

Then we went to Botanica, where we were carded! (#16) Botanica was a little nicer, but super weird with random people seemingly dancing by themselves on a non-existant dance floor. Jaime seemed to like it though, in part because they had Anthropologie-scented candles. (#17) The drinks were great though and Christina treated Jaime to something called a "Ginger Yum-yum." (#18) Yummy indeed. Some guy kept trying to chat up Jaime, though she generally denied it, so I can't count it as a "Fun Thing." Then she thought she saw Corbin Bernsen dancing. At the time I didn't know who he was, but after I looked him up on Google I thought he really did look like him... and maybe it was him? (#19) Now a few yum-yum drinks in myself. I psychoanalyzed Jaime and determined that she is generally untroubled. (#20)

Jaime at Botanica

We made a half-hearteda ttempt to go home after that, but instead we went on a longish walk through Nolita and SoHo. Jaime came to a sign with her name. (#21) When we finally got on the subway, we rode with the most fabulous dragqueen ever, (#22) and a significantly less fabulous group of guys that were talking nonsense using big words. The latter group inspired Jaime to try to talk like them, creating new amazing words like "Jacksonomically" and my personal favorite, "stimulicious." (#23)

Street sign named for Jaime!

Since we managed to completely miss our first train home, we went for a walk in Koreatown, which Jaime had never visited before. (#24) We ended up at an Irish pub, where we shared another drink, and took a cutesie selfie. (#25) The bartender probably thought we were an item, haha.

Selfie!

By the time we finally got on the train it was 2:30 a.m. Jaime is a big fan of How I Met Your Mother and declared that we were "officially on the drunk train!" (#26) We proceeded to eat more rice pudding on the train. (#27) The last time Jaime visited we had so much fun that we missed our train stop, and we had to call Kevin to pick us up which was decidedly not fun. So this time, when we successfully got off at our stop, Jaime decided that not missing our stop was a fun thing, and some locals knowingly smiled and agreed with her. (#289) We were pretty excited that despite our advancing age we had managed to party until 3:30 a.m. (#29)

The next morning, after more rice pudding for breakfast (#30) we went off to Jones Beach for the day (#31). We had a little time to ourselves before a bunch of other friends and a time-intensive James joined us. We even dipped into the icy ocean. In the evening we cooked out in the backyard with friends. (#32) James was a big fan of Jaime and gave her hugs and kisses and even washed Jaime's car for her. (#33) Finally, we ended the evening drinking and playing a hyper-dirty version of Apples to Apples. (#34)  Kevin was in such a good mood after the party that he even conceded to Jaime that she was right about something. His exact words were, "You're right." Jaime was beyond gleeful at this admission. (#35) I think all in all, a very fun 4-day birthday celebration even if, as Jaime says, I was "slutty with counting fun things." 

Jaime hearts Jones Beach 

Cookout spread

Friends at the cookout

James washing Jaime's car