Sarah has maybe never seemed happier than this moment, eating dessert in a comfortable hotel bed while watching a 'Real Housewives' reality show on her laptop.

Sarah: [looking at this picture] Ooo... the comforter looks like a wedding dress!

It's a rushed trip, but luckily we had some time to see my friend, Brett, who lives in L.A. We didn't have much time, though, and were stuck kind of in the middle of nowhere, so we ended up eating at a Sizzler.

Sarah: Sizzler is a real place?
Me: I only know it as a joke reference. I always assumed it was some place that shut down in the '80s.
Brett: No, it's very real. It's not even underground. It's all over out here. Wow, I haven't been in one of these in a long time. I grew up in a very large family, so we never really went out to restaurants, except as a special occasion on your 8th and 12th birthday. I went with my parents to a Sizzler for my 12th.
Me: Why 8 and 12?
Brett: They're big birthdays in the Mormon faith.
Me: Ah yeah, I forget that you were raised Mormon.
Brett: 8 is baptism and 12 is receiving the priesthood.
Me: Wait, you're a priest?
Brett: An Aaronic priest. Not to be confused with an ironic priest, although I suppose I'm that too. Aaronic, as in passed down from Aaron.
Me: And your birthday's coming up in a couple days, too, isn't it?
Brett: Well, yeah...
Me: Dinner's on me. One more birthday at the Sizzler. 8, 12 and...?
Brett: 33. Thank you. I guess 33 could be a big birthday for the Mormons.
Me: Why's that?
Brett: Jesus.
Me: Oh yeah.

An impromptu trip to L.A.

The in-flight movie was Roman Polanski's 'The Ghost Writer.'

I tried to get some work done instead of watching the movie. Sarah watched the first half hour before realizing it wasn't 'Ghost Rider.'

Sarah: I kept wondering why I wasn't seeing Nicolas Cage.
Me: Or a flaming skull head?

File this one under, "Wedding Tips That Are Super Obvious But I'd Never Heard Before."

Sarah wrote little numbers on the backs of the response cards before we sent them out. That way, if someone's writing is illegible, we still know who it is. Clever, right?

Of course, that doesn't help decipher hard-to-read funny "exclamations" at the top of the card, but oh well.

Some more guest exclamations that we could read:

"Zoinks!"
"It's your special day!"
"In brightest day, in blackest night!"

Two weeks until Megan and Alex's wedding.

Like most brides-to-be, Megan has been on a rigorous lose-weight-for the-wedding routine.

Megan: I just tried on my dress... and it's actually too big now.
Me: So you overshot it.
Megan: It's better than not losing enough, but it's still irritating that it may not be the right size.

Drinks with Hansen, Young and Meador.

Hansen: [to Young] So how is YOUR wedding planning going?
Young: Good. We have a church. St. Clements.
[doesn't register with any of us]
Young: You know... down by Frances' Deli?
Meador: Frances' Deli?
Me: Don't know it.
Hansen: [just shrugs and shakes his head "no."]
Young: Over by Graham Cracker Comics?
All Three of Us: Oh yeah. I know where that is.

I've mentioned this before, on another blog, but, besides a few pictures of Sarah and I, the only framed pictures I have are from friends' weddings. Trupe's on the left, Tom's on the right.

Sarah has several just-for-fun framed pictures of her and various friends. At a bar. Hanging out. Just goofin'. Hmm, this stacked double picture picture frame would be great for a 'hanging out,' 'just goofin'' combo.

For me though, if it's not at your wedding, it's not getting a frame. Frankly, it's probably not getting printed out at all. Sorry.

Sarah stopped by my workplace just in time for a tornado sighting that sent everyone in the office into the basement.

We basically just stood around while people tried to get weather information on their phones. People discussed which were the best weather apps for the iPhone.

Sarah and I have been watching episodes of 'South Park' in bed on her laptop each night before we go to sleep. All of the seasons are on Netflix Watch Instantly, so it's easy. From the beginning, episode by episode. It appeals to the pop culture completist in me (I've never seen EVERY episode, but now I will). Sarah doesn't share this attitude, so if she gets bored with an episode, like, say, the one that's just a series of funny Christmas Carols, she'll yell, "NEXT!" and push the "Next Episode" button.

Near the end of season four there's an episode where they retell the story of Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations.'

Sarah: This one is boring me. I think we should skip it.
Me: I'm fine with that. I just want to see what Miss Havisham looks like first.
Sarah: Miss Havisham?
Me: Yeah. She's a pretty big literary character. An old woman who was left at the alter on her wedding day... or maybe the guy died... I don't remember. Anyway, she goes crazy and spends the rest of her life in her wedding dress, and her room stays just the way it was that day even though the cake gets moldy and disgusting. A crazy old woman in a wedding dress.
Sarah: Wow. [pause] I never read 'Great Expectations.'
Me: I just read it in high school.

One of Sarah's prize possessions is a collection of the complete works of Charles Dickens which sits on a shelf in our apartment.

Sarah: When my grandparents moved into a smaller place and needed to get rid of some things, they were the only thing I wanted. I thought I was going to have to fight for them, but it turns out no one else wanted them. I have to admit, I've never read any of them.
Me: I find it more fun to talk about Dickens than to read him, honestly.
Sarah: I started one but never finished it.

We never finished the 'South Park' adaptation of 'Great Expectations' either.

Sarah: NEXT! [pushes button] Oh... the next one's called 'Fat Camp.' That sounds like more our speed.

Lunch with my friend Nick. I stood in his wedding... seven years ago. Wow, it doesn't seem that long ago.

We talked about some of my top secret wedding plans. Entertainment, etc.

Nick: When you talk about your wedding, it makes you sound like a king. Having people perform for your amusement.
Me: It does sort of sound like that, doesn't it.

And we talked about weddings we'd each been to over the years.

Nick: I was at a wedding recently where something strange happened during the speeches. The bridesmaid stood up and gave an Irish toast and really knocked it out of the park. Then, right after, the father of the bride got up, fumbled through some things, it wasn't going very well, and then just launched into the same Irish toast. The same one that we'd just heard two seconds ago. I don't know if he wasn't paying attention or if that was just what he'd rehearsed and thought, "I've gotta do it! It's all I got!" It was really weird. Toasts can be tricky.