My Mega Exciting Life: Office Fun, Continuing Wedding Fun, and FINALLY My Santas Get Some Press

Well this week literally started off with a bang. On Tuesday I got a phone call from Dipsey Doodle meekly asking me if I had plans for lunch. I didn't so he asked me to come pick him up and take him to work. I asked what was wrong with his truck. Nothing, he replied; the problem occurred when he:

backed the truck into the not-quite-up garage door

I had to give him a few days to cool down before we could start making fun of him for it. He wrote about it in today's column (extra! extra! read all about it! venob backs his car into the door!) so I'm guessing enough time has passed to where we can rub his nose in it (just a smidge!)

That afternoon, friend and co-worker Betsy got hooded in the Executive MBA Program hooding ceremony! The whole office showed up to cheer her on:

this picture of phillippa cracks me up

so proud of you, betsy!

Then, we leave town and head to the Chester for the Smith/McGill nuptials! I seriously thought hell would freeze over before we got Marty Mason and Brant McGill married off, and here the both of them successfully hitched within months of each other. Couldn't be happier with their mates, either!

We ride to Middle Tennessee with the Masons and a good time was had by all. If you were unaware, allow me to educate you:

sun drop is the house wine of winchester, tenn.

After a lovely, lovely rehearsal dinner (which I forgot to RSVP to SORRY!!! MAMA! Quit staring!) we head out to:

brown's pool hall, sponsored by sun drop. i heard there was a cuttin' here some time while back.

The decor was... well... let's go with.... utilitarian.

nothing says "klassy" like pressboard paneling

But even if the decor was somewhat lacking, you got to hand it to the friendly staff of brown's pool hall.

the bouncer made janey's day by carding her

and miss karaoke was all about customer service with a smile

the winchester boys all visiting

the warmbrods share a snuggle

me and mr. smith. i don't know what that face is i'm making but i'm going with it.

The next day, we make the obligatory trip to Hammer's to see what they had in store, and boy oh boy, am I ever glad we did! There was a Christmas festival going on with all sorts of fun activities! There was a train running around the square, and Santa Claus, and you could get a ride on a fire engine, and cupcake decorating just to name a few things. It was very exciting!

toot toot! christmas train, pulling in the station!

giant boom box hurts shawn and tommy's ears

Shawn's must-do that day? Have the two of us sit on Santa's lap for a photo op. We headed to Hammer's to make that happen!

And found the line wound around the store like for a roller coaster at Disney World. We were, to say the least,

sad about missing out on mr. kringle

My must-do for the day was riding on the fire engine! I was very excited about this opportunity until we found that only one engine was taking trips and only taking one family at a time. The line was hours long. We are, once again, sad.

lucky duck jerk kids on the fire truck

Tommy tried to cheer us up by visiting an antique shop to look for a new Santa for my collection, but we all got weirded out by this creepy doll room:

so we vacated the square post haste. seriously, it was like in toy story three where all the creepy dolls come to life and try to interact with the regular toys... it was a *freak* show!

Next up, WEDDING! Brant and Emily say "I do!"

the newly minted mcgills join the reception already in progress

I had the opportunity to meet two of Marty and Brant's friends from their time living in Colorado, Jenn and Julie! Had a great time visiting with the two of them!

julie, shawn, stacy, mr. smith and jenn. so fun to meet new friends!

And of course, weddings are not complete unless you visit with old friends too!

shawn, moi and dr. clark (of the drs. clark)

Yea! Great wedding and great weekend catching up with family and friends!

On Sunday, the very most exciting thing happened to me and my Santa Claus collection. THEY FINALLY GOT THE PRESS THEY DESERVE. Cutie pie writer Beth Drinnen came to the house and wrote a piece about my grandmother's Santa Claus collection. I was the LEAD!!! Check it out here.

I leave you with this: cooking adventures galore! Sunday we were to continue with Tommy's sister, Teddy's family and ride the Three Rivers Rambler holiday train with all the Harpers. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and they were not able to join us this year. BOO! But as a result, we got an unexpected free afternoon to do what we liked! YEA! I took advantage of the opportunity and cooked meals for the week!