James and Tara are both back in the city, ready to hit the ground running with the last six weeks of singledom. They embark on a new workout program called "P90X." In case you are unfamiliar, P90X is designed to make you look, sound, and smell as unattractive as you have ever been in your life during any one of the sessions. Despite this one drawback, the program generates two positive results:
1. If you can stand to be in the same room as your fiancee while he/she is in this state, then it must be true love and the both of you should go forward with the marriage.
2. If you follow the regiment with dedication and commitment, you will feel like celebrity supermodels on your wedding day. Tara and James did. People took pictures of them all day long.
Good pals, Joe Jung and Jessi Blue, get hitched in the Wild State of West Virginia over Labor Day weekend. James, Tara, and two fine-looking, fun-loving and good-humored traveling companions fly down for the event. If they were to relay the adventures that ensued, they would be writing this until 2011. Let's just sum it up with West Virginia's state motto: Almost Heaven.
PS: If you ever need to rent a car in West Virginia and you plan on driving outside the city limits of Charleston, you are strongly urged to ignore your first impulse to go with the large red Cadillac.
As the weeks roll along more quickly than they'd like, Tara and James realize there are more than a few details to attend to. They spend a weekend in Connecticut applying for the marriage license at the very quaint Pomfret Town Hall...
They take a final tour of the farm where the event will take place. They shop for suits and ties and shoes. They spend an afternoon with their families for a "tasting" date at the catering company. The caterers tell James and Tara to fill up now, because there's no way there will be any time to sit down and eat at the actual reception.
Speaking of eating fine grub, for Tara's birthday, James "Kitchen Wizard" Barry whips up a fantastic dinner of...1. If you can stand to be in the same room as your fiancee while he/she is in this state, then it must be true love and the both of you should go forward with the marriage.
2. If you follow the regiment with dedication and commitment, you will feel like celebrity supermodels on your wedding day. Tara and James did. People took pictures of them all day long.
Good pals, Joe Jung and Jessi Blue, get hitched in the Wild State of West Virginia over Labor Day weekend. James, Tara, and two fine-looking, fun-loving and good-humored traveling companions fly down for the event. If they were to relay the adventures that ensued, they would be writing this until 2011. Let's just sum it up with West Virginia's state motto: Almost Heaven.
Andy McLeod, Jenny Schutzman, Tara & James at the Charleston Airport
Photo courtesy of Crystal from the Alamo Rent-a-Car kiosk.
Tara, WV style
James and the Hotel Bear
PS: If you ever need to rent a car in West Virginia and you plan on driving outside the city limits of Charleston, you are strongly urged to ignore your first impulse to go with the large red Cadillac.
****************IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH HERE******************
James quits smoking
before he and Tara return home from West Virginia.
********NOW BACK TO OUR
REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING*********
REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING*********
As the weeks roll along more quickly than they'd like, Tara and James realize there are more than a few details to attend to. They spend a weekend in Connecticut applying for the marriage license at the very quaint Pomfret Town Hall...
They take a final tour of the farm where the event will take place. They shop for suits and ties and shoes. They spend an afternoon with their families for a "tasting" date at the catering company. The caterers tell James and Tara to fill up now, because there's no way there will be any time to sit down and eat at the actual reception.
BEER!
Just kidding. He makes mussels in a beer BROTH. And they are a delight, just like his face in the picture to the right. He also ninja cooks some crab legs using a flat tire, tweezers and a hatstand. Just kidding again. He does, however, construct his own stovetop steaming device and the meal is a delicous buttery smorgasbord. Move over, P90X, these kids are about to chow.
During this month, Tara makes regular treks up to Astoria, where Olivera is painstakingly building the dream dress and James makes regular treks to pick Tara up late at night. Some progress shots...
And one more thing...James gets contact lenses. Huzzah.
Where is Dinah this month, you may ask? Well... Tara and James have no idea.
