Wonderous news, partying like a rockstar, and a series of unfortunate events

so much to say and i think i have a minute to post. first of all, my little sister who is my best friend, and her longtime boyfriend, who is also my b*f*f*l (as i often jokingly refer to him) got engaged on the 4th of july, 8 years to the day of their first hook up. i am the *world's most excited* maid of honor. or, geez, i guess i'm the MATRON of honor. damn, now i feel old and bloated. i'm predicting they'll be married by next october. hurray.
onto echo station's last show w/joebags (until the fall). they played in this weirdass joint in elmsford, paulie's, where cactus jack's used to be (where i once had the unfortunate experience of having sangria spilled down my bra). the place was bursting with people. i was in the waaay back chilling w/my sister and her NOW fiance, my crazy friend blaire, and my in-laws, and we were PRESSED against the wall. it was madness. in a good way. jen, amy and i (also known as A.K.A. the echowives) wore matching t-shirts which proclaimed "Let's Go Steady, Debbie!" quite loudly across the front.
(if you want one, email me and i'll have it to you by beadlepalooza, i promise!) as i mentioned before, joebags is leaving us for the sandy beaches and exotic women of costa rica, so this was his adieu show (until the fall) and i must say that he went out with a BANG. the ever-anticipated 'since you've been gone!' got an amazing reaction from a bunch of crazy ass girls (it was awesome to hear them screaching out the lyrics so passionately).
andy's heartwrenching rendition of 'keep on rockin' in the free world' was delicous as always, but i have to express that the best part of the night was the original e/s songs. dude, we flipped when they played 'veitnam' which i'm pretty sure they retired after kevin went away to college 5 years ago. forget 'tear in my beer' which of course jen, keely, kristen (who we missed dearly) and el gato sang back up on on the echo station ep. 'claire' roused several screams, and 'debbie' caused a dance riot to break out. however, nothing compared to the reaction that 'princess leia' received. a joebags original, i seriously cannot recall the last time they played it. however. this room chock full of fans, both old and new and never before seen, ERUPTED. joebags even stopped singing for awhile cuz we were singing for him. meanwhile, i personally have not been able to get the damn song out of my head. it's just so great. and they lyrics are so cool. man. the show was just bursting with energy (haha, get it?) and passion and happiness and fun times. i don't think i've ever had more fun at one of their shows, and i still don't have a voice from screaming so loud. now, if only beadlepalooza can top that...
my last order of business is my trip to the often-dreamt-about-by-yours-truly land of california. one of my best friends from high school (one of the 3 i still speak to) got married in a magical fairy tale wedding on the rooftop of the Oviatt Penthouse. magical tho her wedding was, our trip was riddled with unbelievable bad luck! it all began when we got stuck in traffic going over the whitestone bridge. which they are doing construction on so that you can see right down the middle of the bridge which is quite terrifying. we felt relieved that we got there before they were even boarding the train; however that just resulted in us getting on the plane 25 minutes late. then andy, in a foolish attempt to lose his wedding ring for the 2oth time, leaves it in security in one of those buckets. the ladies there hassled him endlessly, urging him to leave the damn thing on at all times (the first time he lost it was on our honeymoon. disaster.) we were 20th in line for take off, so i pretty much finished "too much, too late" before we even took off (p.s. READ IT). the flight was long but uneventful. there was a very weird, orange juice drinking maniac next to me however. we got our rental car literally 5 minutes before the rental car place closed, and got to the standard hotel in west hollywood on SUNSET BLVD. (where, yes, strange models hang out in a windowed area behind the reception desk. just to look good. there was a girl, looked about 15, sitting on a pillow, listening to an i-pod, checking her e-mail. so fucking odd) around 5am NY time. didn't stop us from ordering room service from the world's most insane room service man. he came straight into our room, and onto our bed, where i was hiding under the covers in my jamskins. he loved what we were watching, and nearly stayed for awhile.
next morning, we were going to meet the bride, groom, and their families at graumann's chineese theater to see superman returns, when lo and behold the valet guy drives out our saucy little sebring convertible WITH A FLAT TIRE. after hasseling the morons at budget rental car (do NOT go there ever) andy ended up changing the tire himself (well, the valet guy really did it while andy stood by). we went to IHOP for breakfast, and saw dennis rodman. then off to the movie which was quite good, and a noneventful day hanging out on Hollywood Blvd. that night we had 2for1 margaritas at some mexican dive ax the street from the hotel, and were in bed by 8:15 (me sleeping, andy playing his bass). the next day would have been so lovely, cuz we went to santa monica to lay on the beach (i just had to swim in the pacific). however, i got the directions off mapquest, and they sent us into compton. where andy tried to get me to go into a gas station for directions). 2 hours later, we were indeed relaxing by the waves and having a grand old time. got back to the hotel in time to get a trendy yet $40 haircut in the hotel's barber shop and get ready for the wedding. despite being stuck in dead-stopped traffic, we got there in time...
ah, the magic of this wedding. as i might have mentioned earlier, it was held outdoors on the rooftop. the officiator was a jolly ol' fellow, and the groom cried. the bride looked like a model, and her sister and mother looked amazing as well. the cocktail hour was nice with unique and yumskin food, but the fun was really cranked up when the father of the bride talked us into doing tequila shots with him! the bride and groom had a ben fold's song as their wedding song, which added to the sheer perfection of the evening. i never wanted it to end. the downsides are that i did the electric slide (quite badly i must add) and don't even remember the drive home.
the next day was pretty much spent at guitar center and another mexican restraunt, followed by 12 fucking hours of traveling. we were in the airport at 2:30 (oh, sidenote! andy thought it would be a good idea to lock his guitar case regardless of my warnings. and he was called back to security over the loudspeaker which was just so embarassing. and then he almost got locked out of the airport cuz he forgot his boarding pass. it was so disasterous. always listen to me!) and didn't get home until 3:30.
i haven't really slept since. i think i might die soon. so much is going on, all of it wonderful and exciting...i start my internship tomorrow morning, have my final final (thank the lord) and hopefully will one day be able to see my daughter again...