Wedding Round Up (not mine, no rumors please)

It has been a pretty fantastic 10 days. In the spirit of milking my recent adventures for blog content, today's post will focus on my baby brother's wedding weekend.

It all started with a pretty spectacular rehearsal dinner at Disotto Enoteca....

FAMILY.

 BRIDESMAIDS.

My date.

Followed by the best wedding ever...

At this point I was weeping.

 Her lovely ladies.

I can't take it.

Photobomber on the party bus.

LOOK. AT. HER.

Photobombing runs in the family.

Dancing to Bone Thugs. Obvi.

Props.

I've decided that any wedding that does NOT feature a photobooth is just not as good as a wedding that DOES feature a photobooth. Matt & Rhetta had everyone make an appearance (or 2 or 3) in the booth to document all of the stars who attended their wedding.      

BFFs + Props = Photogold

 Me & the groom.

Jeremy & I like the booth. A lot.

Come back tomorrow for a recap of our amazing "datingmoon" in Napa/Sonoma.

p.s. I have a sister now!

if you like this, you'll LOVE that! (by brooke, lauren's mind twin)

Hello, sevengrayfall friends, it's Brooke,  Lauren's mind twin. As she mentioned, we think creepily alike, so I thought it was only fitting to do a post that compares two other things that are similar. You know those Amazon sales tactics, or DVR programs (I wouldn't know, as I am sticking strong with On Demand) that kindly recommend "If you like Toddlers and Tiaras, you'll love Wife Swap!? I'd like to think if you like Lauren, maybe you would find me tolerable. And on that note, if you like either one of us, you might love the shows we love. It's a big, happy, like-minded circle!

Since Friends is now in full comeback mode on Nick at Nite (10 pm CT EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK!), I've regressed pretty much all the way back into my junior year of college obsessive state. But what's this? Not only can I watch my previous love every night of the week, but I've found a new love (a zero-calorie true love....does anyone else despise that commercial?) on Wednesday nights that is eerily reminiscent of those six pals living in a ridiculously charming and way-out-of-their-price range set of apartments. It's called Happy Endings, and it's pretty much an updated (and awesome) version of Friends, except Joey is gay, Chandler is African American (and a Wayans brother) and Monica and Rachel are now sisters. Also, it's set in Chicago, not New York (yay!).   Keeping up? Let's break it down:

1. The series kicks off with a bride who got cold feet and leaves her groom at the altar:

Rachel (after leaving Barry) sits next to Ross..her FUTURE LOVER (Whoops!  I'm sorry for the one person reading this who hasn't seen Friends. Spoiler alert.)

Alex right before she leaves Dave at the altar (Don't worry, this happens in the first five minutes of the pilot episode so I gave nothing away.)

The update? This time, the bride and groom are actually a part of the same circle of friends--and they've been in this circle forever, so now they all have to figure out how to get back to normal. Also, the altar scene is amazing. Just watch it, and you'll see. 

2.  The friends have all known each other since high school (providing us awesome flashbacks in Friends and hopefully awesome ones to come in Happy Endings)

3. They've nailed the group chemistry thing:

character cliffs' notes
a. Alex (Rachel): flaky and like-able (and hot)
b. Her sister Jane (Monica):  anal, controlling and the mom of the group (I love her even better than when she was on Scrubs!).
c. Dave (Ross): Alex's ex is cute, nerdy, and plays a vulnerable scene to a T (check out the one below).
d. Brad (Chandler): Jane's husband and the most seen in a suit (like Chandler when he was a trans- a trans- a transponder!),
e. Penny (Phoebes): not only shares the first letter of her name with Ursula's twin, but has a crazy mom and the quirkiest personality on the show.
f. Max (Joey): an amazing wingman to Penny and also gay, which the show impressively treats as naturally as they do Penny being single. Bravo. (Bonus: Max is funnier than Joey).

4. Holidays actually happen

A small matter, but I like my TV characters to be experiencing the same things I am. When it's Halloween, I want to see them dressed in costume. When it's Thanksgiving, they should be stuffing themselves just to the point where they're about to puke, but pass out in front of the TV instead. 

5. They have their own language

It's amahzing how many Happy Endings already has. Don't worry, I won't leave you out of the jokes. Go watch and come back and we'll discuss (or Lauren will discuss, as it were. Same diff).

Not convinced? I'll let YouTube take it from here. 

Thanks for having me, Lauren! And I'll see you all at the Happy Endings viewing party I am throwing next week. And by that, I mean on Facebook when I update my status every five minutes with lines I thought were funny.  

---Brooke from A Lightly Charmed Life

Don't Cry Out Loud: A Retrospective

GUEST POSTER, PETE TALABA

I've been toying with the idea of firing up a blog for a few months now, so when Lauren asked me to do a guest post while she goes on holiday (that's British for "vacation"), I said "sure." 

Then I realized what I signed up for. What the hell was I going to guest blog about? So many possibilities, so much I could say (and swear about). 

So, while out grocery shopping - one of the many things I excel at besides going to the gym, buying stuff, critical thinking (it's my job after all), and being extremely patient - it came to me. 

I have ONE WEEK LEFT to buy Brach's Autumn Mix before it's ripped from the store shelves never to be seen again until next August. 

And by that I mean the Behind the Music of how Lauren and I came to be friends, confidants, gym/spin/yoga enthusiasts, brunch & dining buddies, serial material spenders, movie mates, practice dates, and neighbors. Simply put, we've never been roommates or married (allegedly). 

I'll keep it brief. It did not start, nor do I envision it ending like this (but I love this song). 

Lauren and I were introduced at work (I make this sound like a setup). We talked on the phone when she was entertaining being rotated to the account I worked on. There was no candy coating it. She was straightforward, no bullshit. I liked her already. 

Months later, when we realized we could be friends - Lauren divulged to Jennifer (our married but still very hip & fun friend that makes up our trio: LLF) and I that she was intimidated by us. It's like we were mean girls or something. 

So that was the beginning of our friendship. Which continues to evolve everyday, and you know what? It's pretty great. 

Because we find theme songs to define moments in our life. 

Like a rough week at the office. 

Or the end of a dry spell. 

Lauren reminds me that it's ok to go to bed at 9 p.m., watch bad tv, that buying "investment" pieces is a justifiable way to spend money, sarcasm can never be underrated, and most importantly - take control and live life without making (too many) compromises. F yeah. 

(Ok, I'm sold on the blog thing, launching in January 2012).

Kid Fears

GUEST POSTER, NICOLE WRIGHT

I’m a parent. And having children is truly one of the most fun and fascinating things I’ve ever done with my own DNA, because my kids are both hilarious and quirky. They keep me constantly laughing and wondering where the hell they come up with the things they do and say.

An example: my 7 year-old son is irrationally afraid of skunks. Not that it’s a bad to fear skunks (tomato juice baths do not sound pleasant), but it’s to the degree that he doesn’t even really like watching old episodes of Pepe Le Pew. Which is a shame because sexual assault never looked so adorable. 

But I digress… The point I’m getting to is: kids are afraid of weird stuff. And what influences those nightmare-causing fears and phobias are not necessarily the horrific events that are really happening in the world around them. In fact, the things that I remember being most traumatized by as a kid were not the Jamestown Massacre or Adam Walsh’s murder. Instead it was the super fantastical and very unlikely happenings featured in the Friday night made-for-TV movies we all watched with the babysitter while our parents were out every weekend discoing the late 70s and early 80s away. Gems like these:

Ants! (1977)

If the section from 2:50 through 5:40 doesn’t make your skin crawl, you have no soul. And if it can happen to Chrissie Snow, it can happen to anyone.

A very special episode of Columbo where a bad man staged his wife’s death by dropping a hair dryer in her bathtub forever changed the way I look at this label:

It seriously took a dozen years for me to comfortably dry my hair anywhere near a water source.

The moral of this story is, while I often worry about my son seeing a story about Caylee Anthony or footage from 9/11 on the evening news, I should probably be most concerned about him stumbling across a repeat of Towering Inferno on cable. Or I guess in his particular case, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom reruns.

Meet Audrey

i'm so happy to be filling in for lauren while she takes a must deserved vaca with her lover. and if i'm being honest, i'm also so very jealous that it is her on vaca and not me. so indulge me for a second while i relive mine. 

 {first view of the pacific during our drive from portland to san fran}

 {a quick stop over in mendocino. highly recommend visiting this sleepy and beautiful town.}

{sundaes at ghiradelli square. even more highly recommended.}

 {touristy stop at the windiest street in the world}

 {walking around in san fran was my first workout in years. true story.}

 {bison burgers at roam}

{first stop in napa - cakebread winery}

{picnic in-between wineries}

 {the prettiest winery we visited - rutherford estate}

{and my favorite winery of them all - frogs leap. they gave us wine AND food.}

alovelyescape.blogspot.com

A Week Without Lauren

While I'm exploring California wine country, I'm going to have some of my best buds guest post for your reading enjoyment...

I'm literally going to be staying here. Horses & wine!

Here's who's coming your way...

Tuesday: My fellow fashion-lover, baby-sister, and often cross-linker, alovelyescape.blogspot.com

Wednesday: My humor twin (I've asked her to keep it PG-13). We both love Lifetime movies, equal opportunity mocking, and chocolate cake from Portillo's. Meet, Nicole BWs.

Thursday: My best friend, life partner, and the first dude to ever post on SGF, Pete.

Friday: My mind twin. Truly, sometimes I think we were split from the same amoeba. Or something like that, alightlycharmedlife.blogspot.com

Enjoy! Please like them, but don't like them so much that you dislike me. xxoo

Matt & Rhetta

Once upon a time there was a sweet baby girl living a life of only-child bliss. All of the attention. All of the toys. And the only reason Santa, the Easter Bunny or any other character bearing gifts showed up.

Early one July morning, just before her 5th birthday, her mother dropped a suspicious new Care Bear by her bedside and told her she'd be back with a new baby for her to play with.

The little girl thought to herself, "Wait a minute, I'm not stupid. You're not going to distract me with this blue bear. I didn't ask for a baby. Or this bear."

This little girl was very advanced.

Anyway, despite her lack of interest in the alleged "bundle of joy", she persevered. She begrudgingly accepted that real babies are way more fun to play with than Cabbage Patch Kids. It didn't take long for her to realize that when you're the older sister, you're in charge.

The little girl & her new sidekick enjoyed the kind of relationship that only siblings with multiple years between them can. You see, this baby boy was lucky as he had TWO moms.

She helped him learn how to walk...

And swim...

And despite her lack of interest in most sports, she rarely missed a game (and there were LOTS of games)...

Note: This is not a picture of a game being played, but it's just too good not to find a home for.

Adolescence went relatively well. There was the one time she locked him in the screened in porch as a way of "babysitting"...Or the time he dropped a truck over the balcony of the steps and almost knocked her out, but on the whole, there was minimal drama.

Then she became a teenager.

The tween version of the little girl was not pleasant. There were a lot of closed doors, eye rolls, and faces that look like this one.

Though she would never have admitted it at the time, she still worried about her baby brother. Would he make the team? Would that stupid girl say yes when he asked her to Homecoming? Would he end up doing something stupid with his band of (lovely) idiots?

(The answers to all above are yes, yes, and yes).

It was the college years that started to change things for this brother & sister pair.

They stopped just being siblings and started being friends.

All of the sudden, he started taking care of her. Inspiring her. And putting her back together when she needed it.

And then he met a girl. A perfect girl who makes everything better.

The once skeptical little girl realized that her parents really did have her mind when they disrupted her blissful only-child existence. Not only did they give her, the very best friend, protector, and mentor she could ask for, but also, led all her to this new girl. The best thing to ever happen to her brother & the exact sister she didn't even know she needed.

Cheers little Matt & (almost) Rhetta Gibbs