This recent weekend was rather busy thanks to a concert (which I will post very late thanks to me forgetting my camera at home) and a wedding up north in Waco. The post is obviously about the latter.
Co-worker and all around good guy, Josh got engaged to his girlfriend Katie (I could be spelling it incorrectly) well over a year ago. I think I learned about it at the Cowboy Mouth concert at Antone’s. More importantly, Somara’s cake skills impressed Josh enough that he and Katie wanted her to do their wedding cake. This was a bit of an ongoing process for a few months. Definitely made me grateful for us doing the Las Vegas thing which was way easier than what they had to coordinate.
Somara’s stress levels are lower now with this completed and the newlyweds being pleased with the outcome, especially in light of the confidence shaker she experienced last year. To guarantee the cakes’ safe arrival, I rented a vehicle from the Enterprise franchise near our house because my aging VW Golf has a psychic ability to break down at the worst possible times and Somara’s pickup truck lacks air conditioning where it matters, in the payload area. Besides, if you’ve seen my wheels, I think you’d want a hepatitis shot before eating something I transported unless the food were vacuum sealed.
Originally, Enterprise claimed the car we’d receive on Saturday morning would be either a Yaris (what we hope to buy next year), a Versa (a friend has the hatchback, quite nice) or an Aveo (rented one in 2006, hunk of crap). As expected, the location had nothing of the sort despite all the assurances of the Website. The gentleman offered us a free upgrade to something lacking the cargo space for the unassembled wedding cake, groom’s cake and emergency tools (frosting, knives, etc.). We compromised on GM’s HHR, aka, their knock-off of the Chrysler PT Cruiser.
Hard to believe this is considered a "small" station wagon.
The part I love about renting cars is they give me a preview on what I don’t want to buy in the near future. This HHR had some bells and whistles yet I was shocked to find it lacking satellite radio as the one we had in Orlando. It’s paid for until Monday morning so my car received a well-deserved vacation.
Wheels secured, we loaded up for Waco.
The drive was shorter than we anticipated. Our house is exit 247 on I-35 and we made it to exit 322 in record time. I think the good-sized towns along the way make the trip go by quickly (Belton and Temple). There were some side roads from I-35 which added a half hour to the final destination. I knew we were well outside the safe confines of Austin when I spotted a stretch of highway dedicated to the worst president ever.
The recently married couple doing the honors.
Josh and Katie had a nice ceremony at a Lutheran church: Catholic lite and lacking all the stereotypical jokes I’ve heard from Garrison Keillor. The reception was next door at the church’s banquet hall. Contrary to popular belief, I was not struck by lightning nor did my skin start to burn when I entered the premises. Good thing too for once I was inside, I knew the Kurgan had to leave me alone.
Somara’s cakes were a big hit and I got to wear another one of the suits I bought last year with the Bush-Cheney-McCain Economic Hail Mary of 2008. The festivities wrapped up by sunset and we headed home with my friend Jeremy sending us updates on the Bulldogs v. Stars game via Grackl; Stars lost in a shootout. I’ll take it, it’s still a point.
A successful "tiered" wedding cake.
A chocolate stout cake with a recognizable icon.
The Maggis of Austin circa October 2009. I never thought I would ever buy nor wear a suit voluntarily when I was in college.