Congratulations Angela & Jimmy!!!

I'm blogging via the iPhone so please forgive any gramatical errors. Carrie and I are in Arcadia for Angela and Jimmy's wedding. Angela attended nursing school with Carrie at Samuel Merritt University, Jimmy also attended Samuel Merritt University where he studied for the discipline of Physician's Assistant. Naturally Angela met Jimmy while they were both at Samuel Merritt, today we are privileged to watch them wed and we can't believe that it's going to be us in exactly one week. Can't wait to see you all soon. Congratulations Angela & Jimmy!!!

Pre wedding festivities

If you're going to be in Tahoe on Wednesday the 17th, we're tentatively planning on golfing nine holes in the morning (if there's enough interest) and rafting the Truckee river that afternoon. These activities are open to all and we encourage anyone who wants to participate. An email regarding golfing is forthcoming, forgive me if I dont have your address. If you're interested in golfing and/or rafting on Wednesday the 17th feel free to reply to this post or send me an email (joshshelton139@gmail.com). We can't wait to see everyone soon!

July 19th, that means August 19th is 1 month away

The past week in summary; bridal shower, making limoncello, bottling limoncello, tasting limoncello, first dance lesson, delivery of an overwhelming amount of wine and champagne and finalization of the rehearsal lunch menu.
The coming week in summary; marriage license, haircut, tux fitting, meeting with Alison, bachelorette party and the clock continues ticking.
Did I mention the limoncello? Hope you like it, we do. Okay, seriously, that's it, I'm going to bed now.

Bridal Showers - Not Just For Brides

Back in February Carrie said, “Honey, I put my bridal shower on the calendar, it’s on July 16^th at the Toser’s house”, my reply, “Great, is there anything I need to do?” “Nope”, “So this doesn’t affect me in any way shape or form?” “Nope”, “Noted, have fun”. Then I hear a few weeks later, “I know you’re supposed to work that night, but do you think you might be able to show up for a while to play some games?” Well, we know where this goes; of course I took the night off. I’ve heard from some people that recently it’s become trendy for the groom to make an appearance at the bridal shower… I don’t know who sets these trends or how they become trends, I haven’t seen #groomsatbridalshowers trending on twitter, but hey… Carrie figured I was keeping some sort of secret when she asked if any of her sisters had called me for an interview prior to the bridal shower and my answer was a truthful, “No”.

Early on, I figured I was going to need male moral support, you see a bridal shower is, traditionally a large gathering of women. I’m not quite accustomed to said gatherings, but Dave is an expert, every day of his life for the past 24 years has been a large gathering of women, so it was nice to have the support of a seasoned professional and some good advice; grab a platter of hors d'oeuvres or a bottle of wine and make the rounds serving or pouring, it’s an excellent way to say hi to everyone.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, I envisioned a lot of women sitting in a circle watching Carrie open gifts, jeering unsolicited advice at unnecessary decibel levels while spilling copious amounts of chardonnay and riesling.  I was way off.

We played a fun game with totally off the cuff results, although I’m told Carrie may have snuck a peak a few times. We sat back to back; I had one of her shoes in one of my hands, one of my shoes in my other hand and vice versa for Carrie. Natalie and Alex asked us a series of questions, i.e. Who is the most grumpy in the morning? Who is the first to apologize after and argument? Who takes the longest to get ready? Who has better taste in decorating? We had to raise the shoe of the person who we most thought fit the description in question. With roughly fifty questions the general consensus said Carrie and I were pretty close to par with a few comical discrepancies. To make a long story short it was incredibly heartwarming to see such a great group of women all of whom are very important in Carrie’s life, come together to support her decision and surround her with the immense love that she so clearly exudes everyday.

Linda, thank you for the sincere toast.

Kim and Nancy, special thanks for hosting.

Every single one of you awesome ladies that was in attendance, thanks for including the groom, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Stag Party

First off… I haven’t intentionally been a bad blogger, I’ve had plenty of material, and I’ve wanted to sit down to hammer at the keyboard with our plans and activities several times now. Unfortunately for this little blog we are keeping a lot of details on the hush, so you’ll just have to show up and see for yourself.

Bachelor Party, last weekend, Las Vegas (Enough said, right? Nope, keep reading). All six of the wedding ninjas made the trip plus another four cohorts made for a total of eleven guys. I had an incredible time and everyone in attendance had a great time, not once did I look around and see a fellow stag party participant not rallying in sixth gear wide open.

There was a lot of sun and enough cheap beer to put the Kalahari’s dunes three feet under. When all was said and done, someone’s cell phone had the black screen of certain electronic paralysis (FYI, cell phones are not made to pace laps while swimming in a resort pool), no one married a stripper, no one extracted any teeth and no one was stranded on a roof, at the end of the day no movie clichés were fulfilled, but I did lose my voice. I found it a few days ago, it arrived on my door step via first class mail, post marked from the 12^th floor elevator lobby of Caesar’s Palace, where Charlie Sheen may or may not have made an appearance and destroyed some hotel property. Short of a baseball game (Go Rivercats!) one excursion with 11 guys wearing matching shirts, glue-on costume mustaches, aviator sunglasses and a scramble golf tourney, it was impossible to keep eleven grown men together. I don’t care if you’re giving away free beer and NFL tickets, you could tell 11 guys that if they show up at the same place at the same time, they’ll all get two hundred dollars in cash, I guarantee you at least two of them wouldn’t make it, so apparently we’re going to have to hire a sheep dog for the rehearsal and the wedding.

Bottom line, good times were had by all and it was just a prequel to the impending celebration that will be our wedding. 

 Editor's Note* On the 18th hole we had a bet; whoever had the shortest drive had to buy drinks, naturally, I was up first and I was foolish enough to let one of the fellas tee up the ball for me. You can probably see where this is going, but I didn't, I smashed that ball so hard it should have carried all the way to Reno, but it was a gag ball, I pushed it no further than the ladies tee box (those of you who golf, know what that means) and it erupted into a streaming ball of pink ribbon. That is what is wrapped around my head in this picture, pink ribbon from the gag golf ball. Thanks Guys.

Wedding Website - it's not the Wedding Blog

I've talked to a lot of people recently who haven't visited the wedding website or weren't aware it existed. The wedding website is separate from the blog, Carrie created it through theknot.com. Think of this blog as the editor's section and the wedding website as your go to factually reported, informational site. I posted the link in a previous blog post (see, Race Ready), but here it is again. Be sure to bookmark it and check back often. See you all in 85 days.


click on the link below
Carrie and Josh's Wedding Website
or just simply cut and paste the text below into your browser's address bar.
http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleId=4546311839825137

Happy Birthday Mom!

  Last time we talked I was just getting over a cold, we just finished a duathlon, we were prepping for engagement pictures, Carrie was just getting started with the aforementioned cold, Animal Kingdom had just won the derby and everyone was seemingly obsessed with the royal wedding.

  Our engagement session with Penny Sylvia was phenomenal. She is an amazing photographer, I am far from the naturally photogenic type. I don't have a "go to pose" that always works for me in every picture. I often look intoxicated when I'm not, I have an uncanny tendency to cross my eyes and give a faint tooth smile like I'm breaking wind when photographed so I was a little apprehensive about the engagement photo session. Penny shot Carrie and I primarily in two different locations, both locations each had a half dozen different environments, we had six different wardrobe changes and pretty much felt like a celebrity couple as people gawked, pointed and snapped away with their cell phones like we were Brad and Angelina strolling along the cobble alleyways of Venice. The first location is super secret squirrel, for Penny's sake, I just can't release it online, otherwise every weekend the place will be overrun by weekend warriors with their brand new digital rebel EOS DSLR who claim to be the next Ansel Adams.

  My profile picture on this blog is a photo of me in front of the Ballycarbery Castle in County Kerry, Ireland. Change the spelling and it's pretty ironic, really. When Carrie and I were trying to think of locations for our engagement pictures, I envisioned bright sunshine with rays and beams of light dancing through the lens into a photograph (clearly, Penny saw my vision and made that happen) with light winds blowing nature's otherwise invisible wind pattern onto tall blades of grass on lush green rolling hills... I was thinking of Ireland. The next best thing is over 3000 acres of hilly land that sits north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
   Marin Headlands played an active role in defending our country from foreign invaders from the 1890's well into the 1970's. I personally find irony in the fact that some of the most destructive missiles mankind ever created sat idle for so many years, only a stone's throw away from the most liberal city in the country, but I digress. Today, the military sites have all been decomissioned, while some of have been preserved for historical purposes, most have been thrown to the elements, fallen into disrepair and stand as a reminder of days gone by, surpassed by politics and technology. The masonry and stone at Battery Mendell was built before the first world war, it still stands, it has passed the test of time and it provided the gritty, palpable texture that was just right for some of our pictures.
   After a full day, exhausted by kissing, strolling and smiling together, Carrie, Penny and I enjoyed a glass of champagne in the bitter cold wind, but bright sun on Rodeo Beach. When all was said and done, Penny had roughly 2500 photographs. These four are just the teaser, I know Carrie and I both can't wait to see the rest in the near future.
 P.S. ...Yes, today is my Mom's birthday, so she get's a shameless happy birthday plug on the blog.