Tuesday April 14th was another win for the cats. Putting us at 6-0 on the year. I ate a pasta dinner with Rachel that evening and then fell asleep watching tv at 9:45pm. The season seems to be wearing on me!
On Wednesday April 15th, I failed to take advantage of the McDonald Tax Day deal, but I did coach 3 practices and catch a beauty sunset with a man with lovely locks. I also finished the book Play Dead by Harlan Coben. Even though it is his first novel, I thought it was awesome and had some great twists in it. Read it if you want a solid mystery novel!
Thursday April 16th involved a days work, some Wendy's for dinner, a little bit of coaching, and then packing for the big weekend ahead. After packing, we drove over to my Grandma's and met Brian there to catch some ZzZ's before our flight in the morning.
Awakened by the calls of my Grandma on Friday April 17th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of french toast, sausage, bacon, & more before our long day ahead. After breakfast, I looked out the window and saw my car had been broken in to. The side passenger window was gone, I couldn't believe it, although I felt like I was pretty calm about it. Brian and I headed out to the car, no glass anywhere, the doors were still locked, and everything was still inside. In fact, the car didn't look touched at all. Then I recalled the night before when I rolled down my window to help Brian park... apparently I had never rolled it back up. This proves that the south side of Chicago is a safe place to be. Leave your car windows unlocked even!
Once at the airport, Brian was bragging about his express security pass, then he didn't have one, but luckily we all got ushered into the express security line and enjoyed leaving our shoes and belts on as we strolled through the security lines. We then got to our gate and waited for our flight.
Flight went over smoothly, landing in DC with no issues. Brian, Rachel, & I then met up with Dan and Alyssa and we went to get our rental car. The rental car area smelled like straight urine. Must be a very depressing place to work, as it was underground, with low ceilings, and full of urine.
Once we had our whip, the 5 of us got situated with Brian at the helm and we took off for Ocean City, MD. The 3 hour drive went by pretty quickly, with 2 Birthday Mix CD's I had made, as well as playing the ISpy alphabet game. Somehow, Brian won even though he was supposed to be focusing on the road. We made a pit stop or two for some groceries and some booze. Fun Fact, there is no sales tax in Delaware! We were right on the border of Delaware and Maryland, so we were sure to buy all our goods in Delaware. Party on!
After picking up some goods, we finally arrived at our Ocean City Beach House, aka, The Mansion. 14 of us from Naperville had decided to rent a townhouse for the weekend, in order to save costs and all be able to party in one spot. Best idea ever! We were the first group inside the house, so we had dibs on the rooms, Rachel picked us out a fantastic setup on the second of four floors. This place was huge! The first floor was just the garage and then stairs up. The second floor had 2 rooms and 1 bathroom. The third floor, where most of the weekend took place, had a bathroom, kitchen, living space, and balcony. The fourth floor had a couple of more bedrooms and another bathroom. We were able to be settled for about 10 minutes, then Rachel, Brian, & I all had to shower and get all fancy for the rehearsal dinner that evening. We left The Mansion at about 4pm and ended up having to pick up John & Melissa from a bus station in Salisbury.
Once we had them in our car, they told us some crazy and entertaining stories about their travels so far. They had decided to come into DC a day earlier and stayed with a very strange, OCD clean freak, who had a strange set of house rules and was a very interesting person. His name was Tony, we won't go into any more details, but ask them about it some time. We also found out they had been in a subway Deli in DC and saw cocaine and marijuana being cut up and distributed. Their bus was supposed to go all the way to Ocean City, but Greyhound had stopped servicing that part of the trip, good to know once you are on the bus... From their bus station it was only about a 10 or 15 minute ride to the church.
The rehearsal went over well, I still never feel like I know what I am doing after these things, but luckily I am not the center of attention, so it don't matta! After rehearsal we headed out to the Georgia House for dinner. It was a tasty and enjoyable rehearsal dinner where the wedding party, and dates, sat around a large table. We had a buffet of mac 'n cheese, chicken, beef, salad, & more! It must have been because I had not eaten all day, then ate too fast, but my stomach got upset and I had to lay down in the car for a few minutes. No worries, I was back in for some dessert. Adam gave us each an awesome gift. Mine was a photo of him and I on a plank piece of wood, from a great day when the streets were flooded. It had a message on the back including a nod to the great game of Biggens Battle! Check a video from that day down below! Rehearsal dinner ended and we headed back to The Mansion for the evenings festivities.
Back at our place, most people were just hanging and chilling, but the party got going once our car arrived. It was good seeing all the friends from high school and getting to know more of Adam's college friends, as they also came over. (Add in courtesy of Brian: I made sure everyone know that there were no bridesmaids at The Mansion because Brian said our house was full, rejecting them. Oh and he doesn't enjoy the company of women, fact). We ended up playing some games and partying until about 3am that night. It was on this day that I became known as DT Maluta. Shortened for good reason, but also not afraid to show it off.
Saturday April 18th, the big wedding day for AG was here! Woke up in the morning and got ready with John & Brian. We had to head out to the church early to get ready with the Groomsmen and the Groom. We got to the church and were stationed in a nice little room, provided with ham and chicken sandwiches, as well as fruit snacks, waters, & cheeze-its. Fantastic. While we sat around enjoying the snacks, Adam was pondering his big decision (not really) and we had some good convo. Adam then wrote his secret love note to Brandy and the boys all got ready. Finally we were ready to usher the guests into the church as it was nearing 2pm. After doing a fine job of ushering the guests in, a task only given to the finest of groomsmen, we prepared to enter the church for the ceremony. We came in through a backdoor and then waited for the bridesmaids to enter. Finally after all came in, Brandy, looking stunning and beautiful entered in an elegant white strapless wedding dress. Adam looked ravishing himself. Check the pics for proof! The ceremony was splendid and lasted about 45 minutes, ending with the kissing of the bride and the announcement of Mr and Mrs Adam Grahn. (Add in courtesy of John: The groomsmen went left over right all day with their hands. It became a cornerstone for groomsmen everywhere).
Once exiting the church, and becoming "the best Groomsmen and Ushers of all time" according to the woman in charge, we assembled for some group photos. We were lucky enough to only be in one shot at the church and then hopped in a limo to ride to the reception. The limo was pretty sweet, but I still question the overall design of limos. It does not allow for much interaction, as most everyone is not facing each other. It is on my to-do list to make a better and more functional limo design for limo passengers of the future. John, Jared, & I rode behind Adam and Brandy in the limo, you will see in a photo later.
After the short ride, we took some more group photos of the wedding party where the reception was being held, The Ocean Pines Yacht Club. Fantastic views over the water and a lovely venue, we then took some photos out on the piers. It was actually very shaky and I felt as if I was going overboard a few times, but luckily held my balance.
After the first dance, it was time for the Maid of Honor and Best Man speeches. Brian's finest hour was here. I think I can speak for everyone when I say I was a little nervous for the first minute or two of his speech and nothing prominent was happening. Then Brian announced that he decided to put together a little song, just like John, Adam, Brian, & I did back in the day. He then gave a phenomenal parody to Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song all about Adam. He had the crowd roaring with laughter with some Halo & foot fetish lines. We are still waiting for the video to surface... After the speeches we got on to the dinner and enjoyed some mahi mahi, beef, asparagus, and some other delectable sweets. Check out some of the photos from the balcony that we took with Adam and all of the Naperville soccer boys, besides me. FC Shytown & Coach Santiago in their finest suits.