This is going to be a very short entry because it's Corinne's birthday for which I made the most extravagant meal of Roman proportions and my insides feel like they're made of butter. We ate:

1. Mussels in a white wine, shallot, garlic, parsley sauce cooked in an iron skillet on the grill and served with crusty bread.

2. Filet mignon smothered in thyme and garlic herb butter, served with zucchini and sweet corn, and mashed potatoes with garlic (see a theme?), milk, and butter.

3. A kind of zabaglione (sort of) with whipped cream, mixed berries, and plenty of Cointreau.

Seriously, any one of those could have been a meal in itself. But no, we ate all three. I feel ill.

This entry is dedicated to Nissa, a friend from highschool who told me things I say here are funny. She's obviously drunk or maybe just being nice but my ego swelled nevertheless.

So. Who wants to talk about the wedding? Not me, that's for sure. I've been talking about it since February and it is so tired. Blah, blah, blah, napkins. Blah, blah, blah, flowers. Blah, blah, blah, music. Oh my god, we should have eloped.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's going to be a fun (and hopefully sweet) gathering of all sorts of people important to us. But, geez, what were we thinking!

In other news, I bought a bike. I know I said, oh, yeah, I should probably fix the one I have. But the guy at the bike shop (who had nothing but my best interest at heart...) told me my bike was going to realistically cost quite a chunk of change to be reliable and even then, may fall apart. So, screw that, I'm upgrading. Best decision I've made in a while. The new bike is fantastic and I'm keeping my exercise routine going strong. That's pretty incredible for me considering I haven't done regular exercise in years and years. Like highschool years.

(Aside: I believe that, when used as an adjective, "highschool" should be one word. My spell checker, and dictionaries at large, believe otherwise. I say we revolt.)

Also, Corinne and I went away for a weekend to celebrate our five-year first date anniversary. It was the best idea ever. She and I have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off for the month of September and I feel like I've barely seen her. (In fact, she's sleeping right now from a night shift.) Two and a half whole days with her was incredible and relaxing and just good.

We went up to Mendocino and stayed at the Brewery Gulch Inn, which is so awesome. We ate hors d'oeuvres for dinner and beer for lunch, and played Scrabble until Sean got tired of losing (I suck.) We geocached and visited lighthouses and, well, that's about it. I hope our honeymoon is even half as good.

Well, that's it. I have to go pick up a Polaroid camera and some socks. (Don't ask...)

Mom has told me she's tired of coming to this news page only to find the same old story about me and my bathroom experiences. So update I must!

Let's see ... wedding plans are going quite well, despite a couple bumps along the way. It's just a month and a few days away. (Hm, typing that made me a little nervous.) I'm heading out for my bachelor party in Vegas on Monday with two gay men and two women. As Kim said, it's the "gayest straight bachelor party ever." Actually, I added in the "straight" part.

I'm a little afraid of what they have in store for me. The fact that they've banned cameras alone makes me fear for my safety. At least I get to go to this.

I've started biking. It's a very recent thing but I feel like it's going to be really good. So far, I've kept up with a two days on, one day off routine. Well, minus one day after I discovered a spoke sticking straight out of my rear wheel. That threw a wrench in things.

I bought this bike used for like $200 and have gotten a decent amount of use out of it. But the mechanic at the repair shop said it needs some work done on it to make it reliable and, y'know, safe. After talking with him for a bit, I thought briefly about just buying a new bike. But for 1/3 the cost, I can put new components on my frame which apparently was, in its day, a pretty high-end Marin frame.

In any case, I'll do my ride today and then drop it off. Hopefully, they can finish it by the time I'm back from Vegas. I'd hate to lose momentum -- it's been a long time since I've kept up with any exercise schedule as well as this.

Other than that, it's been a pretty busy year all around. Moving, selling the old house (and all that went with that), wedding planning (and all that went with that!), work stuff, family stuff, life stuff. Next year, we've decided, will be the Year of Zen. We're going to camp a lot, spend time with friends and family, work, garden, ride bikes, and not do a whole lot else.

Won't that be nice... :)