The plus of getting to the wedding early was that we got a couple minutes to chat to some of our Rice friends. Jason* was a class above us ('99) at Rice, and so the majority of the people there were from that class. So we got to see Charity, Josh, Big Joe C, Marcus, Rayo, Will, Amy, Christy, Laura (Jason's sister) and Angie, all for the first time in quite some while. Carrie and Ryan joined us for the wedding ceremony itself; Carrie was very excited to finally see a Jewish wedding as apparently this is on her life's to-do list. Harrison managed to find a babysitter for the evening, so the Stallings were in full party effect.
* - Jason is a genuinely hilarious guy, a great friend, and the epitome of Jewish computer science major indie-rocker bleeding-heart-on-his-sleeve cool-geek. He's 5'6"-ish and probably weighs 140 lbs. if his Wilco t-shirt is wet, and displays crack-addled flying squirrel levels of energy. He pulled us on campus our sophomore year with his juniority, so we would be in his eternal debt even if he weren't one of the coolest dudes we know. One of my favorite Jason quotes requires a set-up: at Rice football games, there was a dumb cheer that went "Let's Go Rice Owls!" and had everyone put their hands up like, supposedly, Owl's wings (with thumbs interlocked and fingers waving). Jason noted that this hand signal looked a whole lot like 9 candles, and so changed the cheer to "Let's Go Rice Jews!" I am sure this is going to be lost in translation, but the svelte Jewish guy jumping up and down yelling "Let's Go Rice Jews!" at what, success aside, were still Texas football games, was impossibly hilarious. Good times.
Anyhoo, Jason is a super sincere, romantic guy who seems to have been searching for the one - and loudly - since we met him. And he could not have looked happier at his wedding; he really seems to have found her in Phoenix, and is generally living a very great techie kind of life in Austin. If you had lived through some of his comp project deadline shenanigans, you might have spent a lot of time worrying about this outcome back in the day, and seeing him successful and superhappy was a real treat. Props to Jason aka Duke Jansen, thanks a ton for having us at your wedding, and I remain impressed that you remembered our Fresh Prince rip-off secret handshake.
Really lovely ceremony in the (somewhat) traditional Jewish vein, complete with groom-circling, Chuppah, glass-breaking, etc. The pre-wedding music included a mix of the usual (Pachelbel) and pop (Beatles, Once Soundtrack), which was neat (and very Duke Jansen). Phoenix was lovely; we unfortunately barely got to talk to her over the course of the night as she was busy in typical bride-fashion, but she seems appropriately sweet for Jason. But why tell when you can show, right? This is the ADD-age; so here's there save-the-date video:
See? Supercute the pair is. We all yelled Mazoltov to a beaming couple as the ceremony concluded and headed upstairs for a luscious cocktail / appetizer hour. The food was excellent; I'll refer you to Beck for details, but a post-wedding Waffle House was entirely not in order. Stuffed mushrooms, cheese and fruit plates, pasta bar and prime rib, egads. Too good. The party was fun (a Jason-DJed iTunes affair), and we had a good time chatting and dancing. Solid wedding*, all in all.
* - I realized in writing this that I never did write about our New York trip to Andy's wedding or Julliette's wedding. Shame on me. I will recount one thing here - at a certain moment on the dancefloor in NY, the DJ put on Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," a quite ballsy choice for a wedding. And I look around, and Andy, Josh, and Elliot - all regular couch-residents during Tuftsmen parties of yore - were up and tearing it up. Josh and his SLF Nicole in particular decided to embody pure youthful energetic love; it was quite a sight/ memory. Good times. I'll try to recount more of this in full posts - as promised - time makes the memory grow blonder. Ugh.
Back at Aaron's, we briefly hung out with Kristen and bro before heading to bed. Kristen had noted the deflated mattress and had actually bought another one - only it, too, did not hold its air. Beck and I woke up several times over the course of the night, as there was just enough air such that whenever one of us moved, the other one rolled along the airwaves and onto the solid floor. No one's fault, but that did not exactly make for a great night's sleep. We got up early and had some time to hang out with K&A before going to Jason's place for brunch.
Another excellent meal provided by our hosts - Jason and fam had provided to-die-for breakfast burritos that entirely quenched my go-to-Taco-Cabana urges. Sooooo good. We said adios to Carrie, Ryan and Harrison as they left for Dallas and got a tour of Jason's sweet digs. Nice place, pleasant brunch, and all of our Rice friends had their wee ones scampering about. We got our fill of food, gave Jason and Phoenix our best wishes, and headed back to SA.
Oh, right - it was cold and rainy all weekend in Texas. I think my dad had planned to take us out to the driving range Sunday, but instead we hung out, knitted, read, watched football and baseball. Low key, but after our violent night's rest, it was a welcome chill day. We had turkey- and hamburgers for dinner, and headed to Grandpa's for pie afterwards. Another ten pound delta trip to Texas.
Got up very early the next morning to fly back to Phoenix. Beck had the day off and tried to use her wiles to get me to play hooky; alas, I had class at 12 and a slew of angry students to answer. So i said hey to the pups, grabbed a little lunch, and then fought through the day at ASU like a zombie. And survived! Fun trip home, really glad we got to see the fam and the Rice folks and Aaron's play/ce and everything. And thus ends the tale.
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