Lots of viewing ahead
One particularly awesome wedding present we received (Thanks, CC!) is a contraption that allows viewing of Netflix movies directly to your tv. Last night we hooked it up and watched movies and shows for hours. Seriously, this is an excellent machine as there's a fair selection of stuff available, there's no limit to what you can watch, and the picture is good.

One of the movies we watched was the documentary "Please Vote for Me." It's an hour long documentary about an election for class monitor in a Chinese school room and is is one of the best movies I have seen all year. It's funny, chock full of cute kids, and is relevant to our election year this year as there's tons of mud slinging and maneuvering to obtain votes.

We also watched "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," which was good and sad. I also think it would be an excellent movie to show American teenagers to help them get one snapshot of their peers in Iraq.

In other news, yesterday was very productive besides all of the movie watching. We painted the guest room and it's pretty much finished besides a couple of touch ups. It's a spring green color and I like it very much.

Late summer
It's the last week of summer, and I cannot describe to you how fantastic the weather in Chicago is this week. Today we had a fire drill, and I was ready to drop everything and flee work so I could frolic in the streets. Or just lie on the lake front. It's sunny and mid-70s and breezy and it makes one want to weep at the beauty.

Anyway, last night we went to go see one of Todd's friends perform stand up in Berwyn. Where is Berwyn, you might ask? I don't really know myself, but it's just on the edge of Chicago. The standup was in this makeshift stage in the corner of a crowded, somewhat gritty, and wholly charming bar which hosts a weekly open mic. Adam, who is well practiced in stand up, was one of the regulars and it was clear, as he had the right rhythm for the jokes and the deliveries were right on. There were a few other good ones, but for the most part it was a glaringly painful experience. You watch these guys *struggle* up there, telling mind-blowingly terrible jokes, and literally sweating. I mean, I felt for those guys because God knows I wouldn't have the balls to do this, but I also have zero urge to stand there and do bits in front of strangers. One guy, who was up there for the first time, was so nervous that he was having breathing problems. He also told a joke about black people hating to swim. The last guy, who was in his 50s, wore a muscle shirt and a greased pompadour and spat out a string of totally gross, nasty, and mostly bad jokes that made me shudder. Oy.

Beyond that, life's just been busy with work and putting away wedding gifts, and vacuuming cat hair from the floor and carpet.

I'm picture crazy now that I am downloading pictures from my camera.
Last night I went to Octoberfest in Lincoln Square and Laura, Lauren, Megan, Katie and Chris.

One of our last shots taken in Barcelona: enjoying
over priced drinks on the roof top bar of
the Majestic Hotel. This is when the camera battery died fully.

More Sagrada Familia shots.

I finally downloaded all of the stored pictures on my camera. I'll add them the blog bit by bit. Here's more Barcelona shots!

One of Matt's photos!

Our awesome wedding photographer, Matt Veldhuis, posted some initial pictures from the wedding on his blog. Check them out!