Liz and Steph’s Wedding Reception

After a trip to Canada, Liz and Steph are officially married! Tonight, friends and family gathered to toast and celebrate the happy couple.

The location (a bar called Tini Martini’s) was excellent: dark, cozy, and very intimate. I got to break out the suit again, which was nice: dressing up for celebrations is always a lot of fun.

For once, I didn’t end up taking all that many pictures. I was pretty extroverted (talked to a lot of folks I hadn’t met before), and feel pretty good about that. Good conversations.

Chelsea, who was dressed to the nines and looking quite stylish.

On the far left and far right, it’s Carol and Jim (I forgot to ask permission if I could use their photos on the blog, but I’m hoping this is ok). I don’t remember the exact relation to the couple (I think Jim is a second cousin to Liz maybe), but I had a good time talking with the two of them.

We discussed our jobs, and I learned that Carol works with real estate (specifically, legal issues related to, ownership of, insurance of, property). There’s this huge amount of information and minutiae it seems, relating to property and land. I asked her about the most interesting “case” she’s worked on, and she cited a particular bit of land she had to research. Originally this was land that was located in New Mexico, prior to the U.S. taking over the west. According to her, what made this particular bit of land so interesting was that she had to research a lot of history (and cover a lot of time) to determine the normal things she’s responsible for finding out.

Jim was a coroner for a while (and immediately, on finding this out, I recommended Thomas Lynch’s excellent collection of essays, The Undertaking), and ended up going back to graduate school after his retirement for his doctorate. He’s now a professor of forensics (I might be butchering the actual scientific title), and teaches criminal pathology. We talked at length about his dissertation, his profession, and I was really interested in his field. Compared to the stuff that I do day to day, his work seems to make an actual difference, he’s answering questions and solving crimes, providing real closure.

I also found out that, according to him, all the CSI-type shows (and their armada of spinoffs) are all full of crap. :)

In the middle of the photo is Steph’s mom (I’ve forgotten her name, despite the fact that she visited here a while back). I found out that she, like Carol, has an idea for a novel brewing. All three of us, at separate occasions, talked about the writing process. I encouraged both of them to keep at it, despite the fact that Steph’s mom claims she just has the idea… but doesn’t want to write it. She’s tried to pass along the idea to Steph (for her to write), and asked if I wanted the idea. She seems to believe she has a strong story to tell, and really just wants to get it out there.

This, I think, is how most novels begin.

This was awesome – all along the bar, there were these bits of confetti strewn about. I didn’t think much of it at first but, after a few moments, I glanced down and noticed all the different photos of Liz and Steph. Awesome. :)

Ted (Steph’s boss and my landlord/upstairs neighbor), chatting with Angela. I think I got her name right. She’s Mike’s girlfriend I believe, but this is the first time we’ve met.

Ted and I talked at length earlier in the night about choirs and singing. I used to do a lot of singing (in choirs as a kid, and in show choir in high school).

Yeah, that’s right. Show choir. Let’s move on.

I really do miss singing. And particularly, around the holidays, I miss it even more. There’s something about adding your voice to something larger that just feels good.

Ted, I found out, does some a capella stuff. I wasn’t familiar with the terms he mentioned, but I insisted that he tell me when his next practice/performance was, so I could attend. It sounded like fascinating stuff. I’ve always been partial to rounds and repetitive song structures. Ted mentioned some books, and maybe I can get some inspiration from him on that end. I did this Flash thing a while back, where I sang four different parts and looped them all together. I should try to post that on here next week.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to attend one of Ted’s rehearsals/performances. I’ll try to borrow a minidisc recorder from Justin and get some audio to post.

Steph’s dad, reading a selection he chose from Gibran’s “The Prophet.”

This cake was pretty terrific. Created at Alliance (a local bakery on Division), and had this great lemon center. Mmmmmm.

This is Matt (I think), helping to separate out all the tiers. I only see the Hollises sporadically, but I still feel so terrible that I perpetually mess up their names and confuse one for the other.