Puerto Vallarta - Erin & Ray's Wedding - April 2006

Wow, where do I begin....4 days with the girl that won the bachelor and Harry Ein (and, of course, my best friends in the world). I would have been perfectly content discussing PTI in the pool all weekend but, as it turns out, we got so much more - beer, taquila shots, margaritas, capirhinas, etc. There were also lovely walks through PV, cab rides to WalMart, football games that burned our feet, night clubs filled with exploding CO2, dancers on stilts, and shots (almost taken) of lighter fluid. Because I do not have pictures of any of these events, I have decided to include a wonderful shot of Harry Ein's place card at the wedding....enjoy:


The weekend had a Spring Break 1999 vibe and it was only appropriate to be surrounded by friends from college. We spent all day at the pool together, ate all of our lunches in the same resort restaurant, had dinner at the same downtown spots, and even blacked out together in the clubs. I feel lucky everyday that we still have so many great friends from UCSB (and Stern, our Gaucho mascot). We also invented a new and exciting game called "I'll bet you" in which we bet on everything possible:
-- When the ceremony would start? who would cry first? could I speak to Harry Ein without talking about PTI? how many candles Ruben could blow out in a 30 second period? how Kaitie would answer the question "do you want to leave now?" when the sun would set? what number Lauren would think Reggie Bush was at USC? What Sammy's favorite song would be if she could somehow communicate with us? Would John Peloian dress like Seattle 1993 or Puerto Vallarta 2006? Who would be the next person to make a bet? etc. etc.


Now, on to the wedding. I have to admit, I had my reservations when we hopped on to the boat and were told that it would be an hour long ride. The Mexican culture put me right at ease though when Rowley and I sat in plastic chairs at the back of the boat with no rail in between us and the sea (at 15 knots). Once we arrived it was if we were on Survivor Island with real island bongo players dressed in loin cloths. I grabbed a Margarita and the show began. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great night overall. My personal highlights included:

- Jumping over the fire pit and sticking it to Ruben
- Inventing a game where we threw glow sticks over a plastic cup in the sand
- the fire twirlers
- The perfect "90210" moment when the wedding party ran on the beach
- The boat ride home

In case we all forget what we spent most of our time doing while in Puerto Vallarta:

And lastly, the real reason why PV was such a good time - our friends -

Make sure to check out the new autobiography by John Peloian "Prepare to Forget" by John Peloian. A telling account of a life spent forgetting about things. John rose to fame by changing his life and living by the code "prepare to forget." His greatest accomplishment came when returning home at night and placing something in the oven (pizza, corn dog, etc.). Instead of setting a timer, John simply told himself "prepare to forget" and set the oven at the amazingly low 150 degrees. Once John would actually remember he cooked something hours would pass by but because of his "prepare to forget" methodology the food often came out "perfect." This practice was adapted throughout the world shortly thereafter:

Jon Mauceli, injured two years in a row while playing football on the beach. Notice the awesome forehead scar and salute to the Mexican culture with the Chevy's like sombrero:

I hope we can all do it again someday.....