OK, so I realize it has been a while, but with all the crazy traveling I’ve been doing (Friday Morning to Sunday Evening in Florida, Monday afternoon to Thursday night in Las Vegas), it’s been difficult to sit long enough to compose anything worthwhile.

No worries, though. I’m back. I have several updates upcoming…I hope that you like them.

Let’s start with Florida.

OK, so I should preface by saying IT WAS SO FREAKING EARLY IN THE MORNING WHEN WE LEFT. 6:45 a.m. flight…had to be at my mom and dad’s by 4:30. I made it around 4:40. I had only gotten another 2 hours of sleep, bringing my 3 day total to about 10 hours. To say I was tired would be like saying to Hulk Hogan that he looks like he’s been lifting a little.

Friday was filled with travel. Flight to Tampa, then Fort Lauderdale, then a 3 hour drive to Islamorada. The weather was pretty crappy…lots and lots of rain coming in ahead of Tropical Storm Alberto. I ended up falling asleep in the back while trying to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail (that book has put a serious cramp on my reading list). I woke up and we were in the Keys, driving along the 2-lane Highway 1.

The Keys weren’t really what I expected at all. They were kind of dingy and significantly older than I expected. With all of the development happening all around the country, they seem to be the Land that Time Forgot. The people were surprising too. I expected wealthy, beautiful people, but I walked into a Jimmy Buffett concert. And our hotel (if you can call it that)? It looked like something out of a horror flick…similar to the one in the movie Identity. It was surreal.

Once we got settled and took a nap, we were off to enjoy the first wedding event, dessert at the Marker 88 Restaurant and Bar. It was pretty cool and I got a really good shot of the sunset going down over the dock there. It was also the first we got to see of our good friends, the Steeles. It’s been about 3 years since I’ve seen Gabe and Kristi and it was the first time I met their adorable little boy, Zane.

I was so excited to see them and obviously, the bride, Shannan, Gabe’s older sister who has always been something of a sister to me as well. We got to reminisce and talk and I also got to reconnect with one of Gabe’s old friends, Pete, who I last saw about 7 years ago at a different wedding. Pete is an actor who has been in and worked on a lot of really cool stuff. He had tons of stories to tell us about how he got into the movie Seabiscuit and who does what in L.A. and stuff like that. Me, being the total entertainment junkie that I am, totally soaked it up. (Alli would have loved it too…I’m sorry you missed it, honey!) Anyway, we turned in somewhat early because the wedding was the following morning at 6 a.m.

The wedding was really neat. Shannan and her husband Joseph really planned a great service, set to occur at sunrise on the property of Shannan’s mom and step-dad, Rodney. It was an amazing property that they manage for someone who lives there 2 months out of the year, a pretty sweet setup for them and a great setting for the wedding. It was a great, short service and you could tell it was totally personal to them. Gabe sang the Beatles song, Blackbird and played it on bass and it was awesome. To further add to the awesomeness, 3 blackbirds flew over as he was singing it…totally sweet.

Once the wedding finished, we had a great brunch. After that, we were all so tired and full that most everyone dispersed to their respective hotels and beds for some more nice naptime. We returned later (after some rain) to basically hang out, play some volleyball, and walk around on the sand, much further out than before because the tide had gone out. It was really weird though…it was so humid that my camera got fogged over…check it out:

We stayed as late was we could, talking and hanging out with our good friends. Jake and I hung out with Gabe and his friend, Pete a lot. Pete’s an actor and he’s worked on a lot of really cool stuff. He’s got some great stories about actors that he’s hung out with, shoots he has been on, advice he’s received…all great stuff.

Here’s Pete (foggy camera again):

Look for him in American Wedding…he’s the football guy who is the mock minister when Stifler stages the wedding prior to the real wedding (“Dearly beloved, blah blah blah”). It was fun hanging out with him…I’m looking for him in all the movies and TV shows he told me to now…it’s pretty cool.

We got out of Florida just before the Tropical Depression hit. I was glad to go home. In my opinion, Florida is really overrated and not all that pretty. Plus, I really missed Alli a lot. It sucks going to events like that without her. I was ready to go home and see her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t home for all that long…