Graduations, weddings, and lasagnas, oh my!

I went to my brother's graduation from the Rutgers School of Engineering this past Thursday. Luckily, his graduation was indoors (at the RAC), so it wasn't affected by the rain. Every time I've been to Rutgers since my pseudo-graduation (I didn't actually walk), I feel these twitches of nostalgia. Thankfully, they bring up mostly good memories. When I watched Patrick graduate, I was so proud, maybe proud enough for both of us, since I didn't participate in my graduation ceremony.

On Friday, Josh and I left for Cape May to attend Annette's wedding. We got there in great time, in just about two hours, and checked into the Montreal Inn. If you go to Cape May, stay somewhere else; this place was very mediocre (bed was awful, air conditioning sucked). Since we only had a few free hours before the wedding weekend began, Josh and I took a stroll through Cape May and visited their Washington Street Mall. On our way back to the inn, we passed this beautiful house (seen right). It turns out that you can rent the place by the week and I thought it'd be really cool to get a bunch of our friends together and rent it for a week during the summer. It only costs around $2000! Well, maybe we should go during the off season when it's only $1500. Sigh, the Swan House will always be my summer dream house.

Annette and Mark's wedding was so much fun, like no wedding I've ever attended. Since it was a small private ceremony on the beach, there was no need for a bridal party. Katie, Annette's law school friend, and I served as witnesses on the marriage license, but when the officiant was performing the ceremony, he would have none of the "we're not doing the bridal party thing." Katie stood as Annette's "maid of honor" and I stood as Mark's "best man."

The reception was a lot of fun, apart from the cheesy two-person band Mark's mom hired. Mark and Annette had the yummiest and prettiest wedding cake I'd ever seen. I tried the strawberry shortcake and the raspberry flavors. Josh made friends with Annette's sister's husband at the rehearsal dinner and they got along so well they teamed up to make fun of Joe. When Annette's sister asked me where her husband was, I had to tell her that he was with my boyfriend gabbing away like two teenaged girls.