down to the wire

well, it's may2, definitely coming down to the wire here. i'm trying to think of ideas on how to celebrate and enjoy my last days of being single. my bro and i went to a dodgers game last night, which was a lot of fun. there was some crazy guy behind us in the stands that kept yelling stuff at the players (from the top deck) like "come on! the funktopus needs you!" or "put some funk on that ball!" or "hit that funky ball with that funkstick!!" my bro and i thought it was hilarious. we were definitely sitting in the peanut gallery!


i was at a sports store a couple days ago and saw this new skateboard contraption called the wave. i tried it in the store and couldn't even stand up on the thing, plus it was $100, so i left it. but i kept thinking about it the rest of that day and the next. yesterday, i finally just decided to go buy the dumb thing. i had to prove to myself that i could master it! caution and frugality be cursed!

i'll tell you, it was scary at first. when i purchased it, some guy in line behind me asked if i was trying to break my neck. i told him, "well, i'm trying." he said, "well i think you're definitely buying the right equipment then." i'm sure i looked like a total nerd, with my helmet, wiggling up and down the sidewalk, but i finally got it. it's actually QUITE fun to ride.

this ensuing month of may is going to be a whirlwind for sidra and me, encompassing much of the western hemisphere, from the wedding in VA, to NC, to the caribbean for the honeymoon, back to NC, then VA, then driving across the country in two cars and a UHaul truck with her brother and her parents, then going almost straight to vegas for the world poker tour on the last day of may. crazy!

i'm no longer nervous about getting married. i'm just not. i'm too excited about it to be nervous. i might be singing (or ralphing) a different tune the morning of may12, but for now, i can't wait!

a new era

a new era in my life is about to begin. besides the obvious life change about to happen (my wedding), i'm going to try shorter, less detailed blog posts from now on.

here's a photo strip of sidra and me that we got at the yo momma wrap party in atlanta. my favorite is the third photo down from the top. yeah, my hair was pretty long. i hadn't had it cut for nearly three months in these photos. i was ready to get it chopped when i got back to LA.

atlanta was a good transition time for sidra and me. we were only a four and a half hour drive from each other so we were able to see each other about every one or two weeks. so we started on opposite coasts, then we had atlanta, and pretty soon we'll be living together once we're married. crazy!

so hopefully shorter posts means more frequent posts. that's the idea anyway...

She Said Yes!

No, I can't believe it either. Less than a year ago I could only dream of being in a relationship with my high school crush, Sidra Ledford, and now we're engaged to be married. We just had the engagement party tonight with both of our families.

Of course it was a total surprise and shock to Sidra; she wasn't expecting this for another couple months thanks to my helping her believe it made me nervous to even talk about getting engaged. We both knew we wanted to get married eventually, but she left the timing up to me. She had no idea it was coming so soon.

There were many plans and schemes devised for exactly how to "pop the question," to use a cliché I can't stand, all of which went out the window with holiday travel plans changing constantly in her family, plus the forecast for rain throughout this weekend.

We went up to Virginia with her parents on Friday, Dec22, so I decided that's where it had to happen, because the surprise engagement party was planned for Saturday, Dec23. Plus it would be good to propose in VA so the rest of her relatives could be there to see us and celebrate before we came back down to NC to celebrate with the rest of MY relatives.

Friday night we decided to exchange Christmas gifts with each other. She gave me some of the best gifts ever - a gift certificate for a hang gliding lesson, a new shark watch, and a very thoughtful card along with a framed photo. I gave her an orange leather bible (her favorite color is orange), a tshirt from threadless.com, an airbrushed tshirt with a sunset beach scene and "blair & sidra 4-ever" on it (she loved it), and a couple dvds.

Then I said, "well, actually, I have one more gift." I dug through my suitcase to pull out a small box-shaped present wrapped in gold paper. I did a phenomenal wrapping job if I do say so myself. She still had no clue, but I knew what was going to happen. As soon as she pulled the wrapping paper off and saw the logo for Hayes Jewelers on the outer box, she started shaking and getting hysterically happy, in a state of shock and disbelief. I have to admit, I was having a very similar experience. I'm glad we were both sitting down. I said, "here, let me open that for you." I took the ring box out and got down on one knee, before her there sitting on the couch, and I actually got the words out, "Sidra, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" A quick "yes!" was given in reply as I opened the ring box and showed her the ring. I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for her because she actually grabbed the ring out of the box and put it on her own finger! We were both shaking inside and out. Even I was dealing with the shock and amazement and I've had a few weeks to get used to this idea!

The ring fit perfectly, and I'll tell you, it looked much better on her hand than it did on mine the night before. She loved it of course, as I had hoped. We went in the other room where her parents were to tell them the good news. She showed her mom the ring and said, "Mom, look what Blair got me." I think her mom did a double take! After a good look at the ring, she said I had done a good job on it. I was glad to have met her approval! Of course her dad knew it was coming as I had asked him for his blessing the day before. He was very pleased and told me he thought it would be a great idea and that he would love to have me in the family.

We went around and showed the rest of her relatives in the area. They were all so thrilled to hear the news and welcome me into the family. What love!

Tonight we had our "Christmas party" planned, which was now known to everyone by its true purpose as a surprise engagement party. It was so great to be surrounded by so many people that love us and that are rooting for us. We had pretty much all of both of our families there together at my cousin Chad's house, plus our friends John & Nadia, and T.J. Nobody could have been happier for us. It was really great to feel so much support from everybody.

So the whole event of proposing and getting engaged went off without a hitch. The way it actually happened was a far cry from my original plan, but it truly could not have happened any better than the way it did.

GOD IS GREAT!

(For all of you who are wondering, we're thinking sometime in June, on her uncle's land in Virginia. But NOTHING about the wedding, other than its imminent existence, is confirmed at this date.)

Blair & Sidra 1 2 3 Kiss

driving the big rig

last night was the big night for me and the world poker tour. we had six more people on camera than normal, which means six more mics to record, which means almost double the amount of gear normally needed for the show. and here it was my first shoot day on the show as sound supervisor. but i was confident that i could pull it off. and for the most part, i did.

the show seemed to go off without a hitch. i got compliments from producers, and the director was happy that i was able to pull it off. now we'll just wait and see what post-production has to say about my work!

two yamaha 01v96 consoles linked together and synchronized with the yamaha software on my laptop. three tascam 8-track tape machines linked together and chasing, recording 23 tracks of isolated audio. audio direct outs from my tape machines to seven beta sp and four dvcam decks. 16 wireless mics. two wireless IFB sends, a director's mix, a stage mix, a house overflow room mix, and a player's mix. LOVE IT.

driving the big rig
world poker tour fathers and sons tournament special, foxwoods casino, november 2006

the largest casino in the world

this place is not for the young at heart or the adventurous. it is for the aarp member looking for a brief respite from their daily life of pension checks and smaller bingo halls.

the bingo hall is humongous. rows and rows of tables, lined on each side with old people, dot markers, bingo cards, and trash bags hanging off the tables. the casino is full of slot machines and video poker. modules before which these people sit for hours and hours, coins in hand, pushing buttons, with their wampum rewards card in the machine but still connected by keeper-coil to their belt loop. to be sure, it truly is a disturbing sight.

i'm currently at foxoods casino, near ledyard, ct. translate: middle-of-nowhere. i'm here working on the world poker tour. it's a good gig, but man, spending more than a day in a casino can be wearing on one's soul.

my only hope, the light at the end of my tunnel: friday evening, landing in greensboro, nc, where my beloved will pick me up from the airport and i will stay for 11 days through the thanksgiving holiday.

I CANNOT WAIT.

sidra comes to socal AGAIN!

this just keeps getting better and better. after my three and a half week international jaunt across europe, i came home to LA and the very next evening, november 1, sidra came to visit me in CA. the weekend was great. i had been overseas for so long, without reliable and inexpensive communications, i had had about enough. and i know sidra had it worse than i did seeing as how her life carried on as normal while i was vacationing in europe.

she arrived wednesday night late, just a couple hours after my brother flew in from world poker tour in buffalo. so it was the three of us in my car as we headed to scott and merlin's apartment to drop off scott and visit with merlin. it was good to see him again. but i must admit, i was much happier to see sidra.

the next day, thursday, we headed south to orange county. on our way, we killed some time in LA by driving through griffith park and taking a walk around the la brea tarpits. griffith park was alright, i showed her the tunnel they used in back to the future part two, but we were not allowed to go up to the observatory as it has just reopened and you needed a reservation to get anywhere near it. i had never been to the tarpits, but they were kinda cool. it was just nice spending time with sidra after being gone so long. the best part was this banjo player singer/songwriter guy standing out front peddling his album entitled, "songs from the tarpits." he played us a funny tune about the saber tooth cat. i preferred his rendition of the classic earl scruggs tune, "foggy mountain breakdown."

we left LA and headed south to lakewood, just outside long beach, to visit and have lunch with uncle kip. i hadn't seen him in quite some time and it's always a good idea to visit him if nearby. plus, sidra had never met him before and was looking forward to it. we got to his house and he was quite happy to see me and meet my new girlfriend, sidra. he gave her a big hug and said to me, "well she certainly is pretty!" he took us to lunch at norm's diner and then back to his house for a klondike. after lunch we had just gotten in the car and he said, "now, girl, you're not doing something right!" i was kind of nervous because i had no idea what he was about to say. he continued, "you didn't make him open the door for you!" ha! she laughed, but i think uncle kip thought it was a more serious matter. i told him i'd make sure to do it from now on. before we left, he let us pick a few avocados from his avocado tree in the backyard. and i made sure to get a photo of him with sidra. uncle kip and sidra

we continued on to orange county and made our way to newport beach. we landed at the balboa island fun zone, which, i'll be frank, isn't much fun mid-afternoon on a weekday. we rode the ferris wheel and couldn't stop laughing at the situation because we were pretty much the only people there. what makes a ferris wheel fun is when the wheel stops every now and then to let other people on and off, thereby giving you time to enjoy the view. well we just kept going round and round for a few minutes until our time was up, then we got off, said thanks to the operator guy, and that was that. a very strange ferris wheel experience. and of course i had to take her on the balboa island ferry. it was the least crowded i had ever seen it. but it was still fun. i made sure i got my money's worth from the guy that collected our fare and had him take a picture of the two of us.

we had plenty of time before meeting my friend, josh hamilton, for dinner in huntington beach, so we took a tour of the orange county beaches down the pch. we first stopped at corona del mar. sidra REALLY liked cdm. we kept heading south, down the newport coast, through crystal cove state park, and into laguna beach. we parked at laguna, got a couple drinks at the starbucks and walked over to the beach to watch the sunset. it was beautiful.

we headed up to huntington beach to meet josh, along with his girlfriend and a friend of his from nashville, for dinner at duke's canoe club. dinner was great. it was a lot of fun seeing josh again, and talking about nashville and places back east. we enjoyed a nice stroll out to the end of the pier afterwards.

friday was a day that i was looking forward to quite a bit. i took sidra to disneyland and disney's california adventure. she was excited to go and it was totally worth the price of admission. we must have hit it at just the right time of year because we seriously didn't wait in any line longer than 15 minutes. not to mention it was great weather. so we had a great time! we pretty much walked onto the newly remodeled space mountain first thing. we made our way around the park, through storybook land, over to frontierland and big thunder mountain, then back through new orleans square to splash mountain, tom sawyer island, lunch at the hungry bear restaurant, haunted mansion, and adventureland. then we hopped over to california adventure as it was getting dark to enjoy the hollywood tower of terror, soarin' over california (their hangglider flight simulator ride), california screamin' (one of the best rollercoasters i've ever ridden), and over to paradise pier to ride the swings and the giant ferris wheel there. as california adventure closed at 8pm, we headed back over to disneyland for dinner and to watch fantasmic and the fireworks show they put on. it was cool, but i learned that sidra doesn't really care much for the shows. good thing too, i can't say i like seeing all the shows. but fantasmic and fireworks isn't just any show. it was pretty awesome. or maybe i just thought that because it reminded me of being there when i was a kid.

it was great to just have a sort of lazy day on saturday. i showed her the grove shopping center in hollywood, then that night we met up with dave & amy, and alan & emily for dinner before we all went to see matt lowe perform in his play, "the grey zone." dinner was a lot of fun. i hadn't seen alan&emily or dave&amy in a while. it was good to catch up and for them to get to know sidra better. matt's play was good, but it was a holocaust play, so it was a bit depressing.

sunday came and we went to my church in the morning. we had lunch with some friends afterwards and then spent the rest of the day just relaxing. she flew out that night so she had to pack up. i wanted to take her out to dinner, just the two of us, before she left, so we headed down to marina del rey to the cpk there for dinner before her flight left out of LAX just down the street.

again it was tough to say goodbye. i sat there at dinner with her, just looking at her, and realized that i would sacrifice a lot for her if had to. we had our first few disagreements over the weekend, but of course we worked through them. and in that moment at dinner sunday night, looking at her smiling back at me, all that stuff just seemed so inconsequential. i felt like whatever would come our way, whatever trouble we ran into, we'd work through it. and it was a great feeling to know that deep down.

we did a lot of fun activities, but we realized that what's better and more important than that is to spend time with people and get to know them better. like they say, it's not about what you're doing, but who you're doing it with. and in light of that truth, i'd say our weekend was a success.

virginia is for lovers

i didn't believe it before, but i do now. virginia is for lovers. it's a beautiful place with loving people. this past weekend was so great, words cannot describe. (that's why there are pictures)

i flew in thursday afternoon, in time to have dinner that night with my family, along with john and nadia, tj, and sidra. it was great to see tj before he skipped town, he was flying to hawaii two days later to get married on oct3. crazy! and don't ask me why, it was nadia's idea for us to all hold some type of stuffed article of the living room in this picture. she's a bit peculiar sometimes. ha! the high school kids

after everyone left, of course my parents and uncle brent and aunt jo had to weigh in on the sidra situation. i came back in the kitchen and they said they were talking about me and her. they all think she's just great. my dad says, "blair, she's beautiful." aunt jo says, "i always said, 'i just wish he could marry a davie county girl,'" and, "she's a fun girl, reminds me of her sister amanda, but with a little more attitude." uncle brent says, "yeah man, i still agree with jennifer, you better hold onto that one." my mom says, "sidra's great. she seems so easygoing." brent says, "she seems very...unflappable. ooh, i better write that one down. like she doesn't get her feathers ruffled about too much of anything." i had to agree. it's so good to hear such support from my family. it's like everyone's giving us the thumbs up on this.

friday afternoon my parents and i met with sidra for lunch, since it turns out her office is only about 15-20 minutes from my parents' house. my dad loves a good fried bologna sandwich, so sidra took us to her favorite place for one, doss' cafe in kernersville. it was a great time. sidra surprised my dad with a gift, a sunoco hat worn by sidra's boss and nascar driver, kevin harvick, in victory lane when he won the race a couple weeks back. autographed and everything, my dad was blown away.

we had dinner that night at my parents' house and then we headed on up the road to central virginia. we got in around 10pm friday night, her mom greeted me with a hug, her dad a handshake. we visited a short while before heading to bed.

the next day, saturday, was the big day. her mom and aunt joyce fixed stuffed french toast for everybody for breakfast, delicious. later we all piled in the yukon and went for a drive. we headed to the town center of wingina, virginia, the nearest "town" to their house. although, i don't think you can really call it a town. it was really just a corner mart at an intersection near the james river. that was it. so not really a town. but we were going to see her uncle junior's land. we drove up this windy gravel/dirt road on which you wouldn't want to drive your nice sedan, to the top of this hill where there stood among a small patch of trees an old stone cabin that had no electricity or running water. sidra said she had recently camped in the cabin with her younger brother and his friends, but it was a pretty creepy experience because of just how dark it gets out there, even with a fire in the fireplace.

we visited another spot near the top of the hill where there were fewer trees and the view was much more impressive in every direction. mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, green all around. you could see for miles and miles. it was amazing. so beautiful.

on our drive out to this spot, sidra's mom was trying to encourage a little p.d.a. "blair, why aren't you holding her hand?!" "come on, now, put your arm around her!" then we get up to the top and she says, "here, give her a kiss and i'll take a picture!" i had no choice but to oblige. to be sure, i certainly didn't mind, but i think sidra's still getting used to it.

it was interesting to hear her family's surprised reaction upon hearing that sidra actually kissed a guy and let someone take a photo of it. apparently, this is new for sidra. her family has never seen her in such a state as this. normally, when she had brought other guy friends to virginia, it was never somebody she had been interested in. and now here i come, and her family has never seen her so into a guy. i feel quite honored to be so special!

we continued on our drive and stopped at a creek beside the road. sidra and i climbed out on a rock and her mom snapped another photo of us. she said, "oh, this can be your engagement photo! JUST KIDDING!! I'M JUST KIDDING!!" her mom likes to joke around a lot, but i'm not sure if she was joking that time.

after the creek we made it to our final destination for the afternoon, saunders brothers apple farm. they had a really cool old barn that they had turned into a store filled with apple butter, fresh apples and peaches, different types of salsa, all types of homemade preserves, homemade ice cream, and even had a guitar and fiddle playing on the porch. what a place it was! you just felt wholesome being there, as funny as that sounds. the apple pie flavored ice cream was the best.

we drove back to their house and prepared for the evening's event, the brunswick stew. sidra's dad and uncle got the fire going under the huge pot of stew and tended it all afternoon. meanwhile, sidra and i took a ride on the polaris ranger out through the woods. let me tell you, she drives that thing like a bat out of H-E-double-hockey-sticks. it was awesome! for those of you that have been following the saga that is my life since last summer in texas, you'll remember that i have had a bit of experience myself on one of these machines. but sidra knew the terrain better than i and therefore put me to shame. i was proud to call her my girl!

back at the house that evening, even more relatives of hers came over. i'd say all in all about 20-25 people, but she said a lot of people were gone that weekend for whatever reason, so it was normally a much larger crowd. the stew was finally ready and served. it was quite delicious. if you've never had it, it's tomato-based, with lots of different legumes and vegetables, chicken and beef, all mixed in together. throw a little hot sauce, salt, and pepper on there and maybe a cracker or two, and it's quite good.

everybody sat around the fire the rest of the afternoon/evening and into the night, just visiting, enjoying each other's company, spending time with their family. it was so great. you can tell there's a lot of love in her family, and they're all so close. reminded me a lot of my family, which i think is such a blessing for us to have such similar family backgrounds.

towards the end of the evening, of course her relatives began weighing in on "sidra's new fella." from what sidra told me, sounded like i passed the test. i mean, the dogs didn't try to run me off, the little kids didn't run away from me, and the adults all thought i was a swell guy.

this weekend showed me more and more of sidra, and the more i saw of her, the more i liked her. it's such a strange and new concept. for so many years we were "just friends" and now it has become something SO much more. neither of us can hardly believe it. i wouldn't believe it if it wasn't happening before my own eyes! it's truly amazing how God has worked in each of our lives separately, to prepare each of us to come together at this precise point in time for this to work out the way he had it planned from the beginning. being led down paths in our life that seemingly had nothing to do with each other, but in hindsight we realize how everything in our lives up until this point has been preparing us for each other. it's pretty amazing. God is good! i don't know why i ever doubt.

sunday morning came and we met her whole family at the small baptist church that her mom grew up in, Antioch Union Baptist Church. there were maybe 70 people in attendance, which pretty much filled the sanctuary, and her family comprised nearly half of the congregation! like i said, it was a small church. one of those churches that still does it the old way, which i had forgotten about from my childhood, but which was nostalgically familiar to me. i found myself knowing the words to the songs we sang, without even knowing i knew the words to that song! during announcements, the pastor called us out from the pulpit saying, "welcome to all our visitors, and welcome back to sidra, who has been away for quite some time, and she even brought a new friend, blair, all the way from california!" everybody smiled at us. we smiled back. i was happy to feel the awkwardness. even though it may have been a little embarassing for sidra, i'm sure we both saw it as a gesture of love and community, which was so great. we never did find out who tipped off the pastor to our being there.

lunch after church was at the dillwynn fire house, where they were having a bbq chicken lunch fundraiser i guess. it was good chicken, good food, and then back to the house it was. a little later we met up at the airfield where her uncle smitty and cousin c.d. fly their model airplanes. it was nice to hang out in the sunshine and watch them fly by.

once back at the homestead, sidra and i went on another polaris ride through the woods. she drove at first but ran us through a giant puddle a little too fast and got us wet head to toe. then she let me take over. it was fun exploring the hunting and logging trails near her house. at the end of one of the trails we came upon an old cemetery. it was pretty cool.

unfortunately, it was finally time to start packing up to head back to civilization, but i think i could have stayed there for another week. it was really great. once back in greensboro, we had dinner with my parents and told them all about the weekend's activities. since sidra's office is so close to my parents' house, she stayed the night, which was great because it gave us more time together before i had to leave to get back to LA the next day.

a quick breakfast at the house and then she was off. we met for lunch out at her boss' house that's nearing completion of construction. it looks like a miniature biltmore estate. pretty insane. i went over to winston with her while she ran an errand for work, and then we stopped by hanes mall for lunch and to visit her mom who happened to be working a shift at the pottery barn that day. she gave me a hug hello and a hug goodbye. i sure like her mom, she's very straightforward and you can tell she loves her children. then it was lunch at an old favorite, chick-fil-a, at the mall i hung out in during high school. it was quite a thing to be back in such a scene.

to say that it was rough saying goodbye to sidra after lunch would be the understatement of the year. it's true we haven't been able to see each other that much in the six weeks since this new thing started, but each time we do get together, it's like a HUGE growth spurt in our relationship, and this past weekend was evidence to that fact. i'm learning more and more about sidra, and realizing more and more that she is a VERY special girl. there's just nobody like her. she's entirely too unique for that to be. and i love it. she's cool, she's into good music, she's adventurous, she's loving, she's good with kids, she's good with a polaris, she doesn't mind getting filthy dirty, she hates wearing jewelry, she doesn't wear pointy shoes, she knows how to dress down and dress up, she's fun to be around, and she'll fight back if she needs to. she brings out the best in me, and i bring out the best in her. she loves her family, and her family loves her. she loves my family, and my family loves her.

but perhaps most importantly, she loves God, she loves me, and yes...

i love her.

...

sidra comes to socal

sidra booked her flight for labor day weekend five days after i left nc last. i've been trying to get her to visit in ca for the past three years, and she always gave me the run around. then, as soon as i mention my interest in her, she books a flight less than a week later. i guess that's all it took. little did she know, i would have expressed my interest in her when she was in ca, if she had ever come.

this was sidra's first time to california, or anywhere west of vegas, for that matter. and what a great weekend it was! there was so much that i wanted her to see and experience, to see what life in california is all about.

i went and parked at LAX to go in and meet her at baggage claim. i must have arrived a little early because i walked around for 20 minutes looking for her thinking her flight had already landed, but i guess they weren't at the gate yet. finally, i'm going through my old emails via cellphone trying to find her flight itinerary to confirm it, and she comes up right behind me and scares me. i was going to do that to her and she beat me to it!

the first stop we made was the in-n-out burger next to the airport. had to get that out of the way. that night i took her to dinner in old towne pasadena. we drove into old towne and she said, "oh, i like pasadena." she admitted that her view from the airplane window on approach to LAX left a bit to be desired. south LA, it's just kinda smoggy, flat, boring. but pasadena, she liked pasadena. i told her how people say, "people from out of town move to LA, people from LA move to pasadena." we had dinner at il fornaio, the same place dave and amy's rehearsal dinner took place. she emphasized again how much she liked pasadena. i told her we hadn't even seen the really nice part. after dinner we walked around old towne for a while, just enjoying the evening. it was great weather the whole time she was here. comfortably warm and breezy at night, hot enough during the day that you'd want to go swimming in the ocean.

we spent friday seeing the sights in hollywood, on our way to the beach in santa monica. i took her to all the best views of the city, the hollywood sign, and universal studios. sidra wanted to eat somewhere she wouldn't be able to find in nc, so we met up with my brother for lunch at his favorite peruvian restaurant, inti, in hollywood. saltado de camarones, excellent.

after lunch we made our way to santa monica. parked at the beach, rented a couple beach cruisers and rode down the beach to venice. back in santa monica i took her to the original hot dog on a stick and showed her for the first time what a cheese dog is. ooh, that gooey goodness on a stick.

we headed back to the dale to get ready for dinner at jax that night with the whole crew. i made reservations for 12 at 845pm. gashouse dave, the best blues guy they have on rotation at jax, was performing that night. sidra is a huge fan of blues music, so it worked out pretty well i'd say. in attendance were dave and amy, matt and lindy, merlin, scott, merlin's friend from MN, jon mark, stephanie, and melody. it was so great for all of them to meet sidra and for sidra to meet all of them. dinner at jax never disappoints! we even had our regular waiter, J.C., who goes to church with us all at C.A. such a fun night. and of course, when sidra went to the bathroom, everybody leaned in to give me their two cents. everybody thought she was awesome, not to mention smoking hot. and i concurred!

after dinner, sidra and i, along with jon mark and his then girlfriend, stephanie, drove up to the summit of mt. wilson. towering more than 4,000 feet above it all, this is by far the best view of the city. words cannot describe the view on a clear night. it's just that you're so high in elevation, you're almost looking down onto the city. it's really quite a viewing angle, definitely worth the 45 minute drive up the windy road into the dark night. just watch out for the motorheads that like to take their fast cars and bikes racing up and down the hill at deadly speeds around break-neck turns.

saturday was orange county day. we went with my bro, scott, and his friend, ben, who was visiting from nashville that weekend as well, and headed straight for huntington beach to meet up with my friend, josh, who lives down there. we parked at his house and walked down to the ocean for some awesome body surfing. the water was cold at first, but felt great once you got used to it. the sun was out and blazing. we walked back through main street to see all the action. somehow, the past few times i've been to HB, the surf shops are all having sidewalk sales. it's a good time to go.

we cleaned up at josh's house and headed south for saddleback. we met the larkins and tom for the 430pm service and got to hear rick warren speak for the first time since he's been back from his tour of the world and rwanda. but i can't lie, i was dozing during his message. tom said i pulled a kris larkin, nodding off during the sermon. sidra was good at keeping me awake, nudging me from time to time. after church we all went back to the larkin's house for a big home cooked dinner. pat was grilling ribs and kris took care of the rest. what a fun evening. kris and pat had some friends over from their small group as well, so we had a kid's table and an adult's table, even though all the kids were over 21. i kind of liked it that way, though!

sunday morning we got up for the 1115am service at my church. tommy and the band played, i can't remember who spoke. but it was a great sunday. after church, i asked sidra which she preferred, saddleback or c.a., thankfully she said c.a. we had lunch at my favorite burger joint, the habit, with jon mark, merlin, and nate. after lunch, i took her on a moped tour of my town, glendale. we even made a surprise visit to dave and amy's house, got to see amy again and the newly remodeled kitchen, as well as my old neighborhood. then back to the apartment for the regular sunday afternoon nap. a little later we went down to my friend shannon's place to go for a swim in his pool. that night, they weren't having the cafe after fusion at church, and since we had already been to the morning service, we just headed over to the church right as fusion was wrapping up. we stayed a little while, hanging out with folks after the service, introducing her to some more friends. then it was time to head to the airport for her 10pm flight that night.

it was an airport drop off of mixed emotions. so happy that she had come to visit, yet bummed because she had to leave. we killed time in the terminal before she cleared security, talking about the next time we'd see each other, recapping the weekend. as she went up the escalator to the security checkpoint, i watched from below with a smile on my face. there was another couple following her up the escalator to their flight. the girl saw me waving bye to sidra with such emotion and i guess she couldn't help but smile at the sight of us sharing such a sweet goodbye. i smiled back at her. it was like the girl was saying, "ah, you two are way cute together." and me smiling back said to her, "i like that girl up there a lot."

and my fondness of her has only grown since she left. we've kept in touch via email, im, phone, and texting since she left. now i'm going back in less than a week to spend some time with her and her family. they have a house in the mountains of virginia, so i'm going up there with her and her family next weekend. i hear her aunt is already planning on a brunswick stew. sounds like a big occasion! i can't tell you how much i'm looking forward to it. getting away from the city, spending time with sidra, getting to know her family. it's going to be pretty awesome.

until then...

dave and amy got hitched!

as my good and wise friend, dave, pointed out in a comment on the previous thorough post, there was a time gap between posts and i forgot to mention another very important event in the timeline. august 5, 2006, a day that will go down in history. the day that dave and amy were married.

what a celebration! thursday night was the bachelor party, put together by one of dave's family friends from chicago. transportation for 16 dudes in a stretch hummer, dinner at asia de cuba (posh restaurant on sunset strip, at the same hotel where the ET Emmy's After Party was held), and then a night at Club LAX (which actually isn't near LAX at all, it's in hollywood. my clubbing coworkers on yo momma knew the place to be pretty hip when i told them about it later). i gotta say, dinner was great. the club was fun, but just not my scene. it was a fun night, though.

friday afternoon was the rehearsal. i was one of the four groomsmen in the ceremony held on the back lawn of the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena. absolutely beautiful. and as a bonus, they let me walk two girls down the aisle during the recessional because there were five bridesmaids and only four groomsmen. the rehearsal dinner was at an italian joint, il fornaio, at one colorado in old towne pasadena. it was such a great night. wonderful dinner, followed up by live blues in the square, then all the groomsmen went for an opening night screening of Talladega Nights.

saturday came and it was a day to remember. the wedding happened at 6pm, which was perfect, just as the sun was getting low in the sky. the recessional came and as i took both girls on my arm, the crowd erupted in cheers and jeers. and as we were walking up the aisle i heard the pastor say on the mic, "well, everbody follow blair because we all know he knows where the party is!" it was pretty funny. (fyi - both of the girls on my arm were already married!)

the reception was a lot of fun. great band, great food, great evening. i still don't like wine, though. i've tried it multiple times and it just ain't happenin'. lots of dancing though, and the hotel grounds were ours. it was awesome.

it was such a fun weekend. i was living in nyc when this all went down. so i took that thursday off to fly back that morning, and then sunday morning after the wedding saturday night, i took the early flight back to nyc to get there in time to work that night. and it all worked according to plan.

by that point in the summer in nyc, i was ready to get out of nyc. so this trip to LA was a welcome breath of california air to my manhattan lungs. and to spend the weekend at the ritz in pasadena, no less! it was great to get back home to CA.

Myron's moped ride.

from the balboa island ferry, newport beach!