Birthdays, Weddings, Wedding Planning and a New Gig

There has been a world wind of events since the last time I posted. I just realized that the last time I posted, I was not actually the one posting. So I am going to just try to give a run down of all the events that have happened since Paige Said Yes over two weeks ago.


So Paige said yes. I could not believe I was able to pull it all off and keep it a surprise. As some of you may know, I had been planning to do a picnic on 3/17 for some time as the end of my proposing plan.

Back in January, well the end of January, I sent an email to Paige’s family and friends asking them to send me stories and memories with pictures so that I could put together a book for Paige’s birthday. The plan was to give Paige a page or two from the book each day for the first 30 days of her 30th birthday. The goal would be that the last day, day 30 would be my Page and I would ask her to marry me. While we were in Mobile for Hallet and Joe’s wedding, I had some alone time with the Porters and was able to officially have permission to “pop” the question. Well as you can see from the previous post it worked. The major problem that I came into was that San Francisco ended up having the rainiest March since 1904 and their was not a dry spot of grass anywhere in the bay area. With the help of Jonathan and Mary Jo (two of Paige’s Friends) I was able to pull together an incredible indoor picnic experience.

One thing that Paige did not know at the time of her entry was that in addition to her friends help, I had the help of my Parents. Knowing that her parents would be in town, I flew my parents in for a surprise. While I was putting on a marathon five-hour picnic our parents were meeting and greeting for the first time ever in the privacy of Paige’s apartment. What I did not know was that they all had been sitting anxiously waiting for the news, and scared to ruin the surprise since 1PM. I think all parties were relieved at how well the folks got along.

We spent the rest of the weekend as a six-person unit, eating meals and touring San Francisco. On Sunday, after church, we had some friends over for a cook-out in my backyard.

After the party died down, Dr. Porter took Luke, Kevin and I down to Ocean Beach to do some kite flying in the 28 MPH winds. We had a blast but the poor Barron could not handle the wind power.

The Porters left Monday morning and my parents Stayed for an additional week. We had a good time hanging with my parents, Paige went to high tea with my mom and I was lucky to have a couple real Baltimore home cooked meals including steamed shrimp twice….Thanks Dad!!

My parents hooked me up with an early birthday gift, a 2000 MBS Blade mountain board. We found it on Craigslist and Luke and I plan on using it to practice our kite skills on the beach. The mountain board is basically a skateboard that is designed to ride off road down mountains, so it has giant wheels and a spring suspension. It is perfect for riding on hard packed sand.


The coolest gift I got for my birthday was from all of my friend’s masterminded and produced by Paige. You know they say great minds think alike. Well just before I sent an email to Paige’s friends, Paige actually sent an email out to a lot of my friends asking them to answer the following 7 Questions or to tell a story about me for my birthday book.

1. How did you first meet Greg & When?
2. What three words would you use to describe Greg?
3. What is your favorite memory of Greg?
4. Who would play Greg in a movie?
5. Where would you like to run into Greg in 15 years?
6. If Greg were a car, what kind of car would he be?
7. What would Greg’s dream job be if it isn’t advertising?

This was really cool and I got entries form a lot of my friends. If for some reason you are reading this and you did not get an email from Paige or just never got back to her, I would still be very flattered to get a response from you. I really love this book.

In addition to that, she must have sent out a follow up email asking If I had a theme song, what it would be. Not as many people answered that one back, but from the ones who answered it, she made me a CD with your responses. The only song she could not find on Itunes was “You’re the Best Around” off the Karate Kid Soundtrack (submitted by my buddy buzz of course).


On my actual birthday, Paige and I were very lucky to be invited to our Friends, Dave and Debbie’s wedding. They had a very intimate wedding at the Presidio Chapel. This place was amazing, a really old small church hidden in the middle of the Eucalyptus forest of the Presidio. David is an artist and he created a beautiful painting of roses that sat at the alter. Every aspect of the wedding and reception showcased the couple’s incredible sense of style and individualism.

Saturday night My parents took Paige and me to dinner and then ended the evening by bringing me to a surprise bond fire on ocean beach where most of my friends in SF were hanging out enjoying a beautiful clear night and a huge fire. We made smores and drank wine under the star filled sky, telling stories and listening to the break of the ocean behind us.

On Sunday the festivities continued and Malibu Grand Prix. Although we never made it over to the go cart track, The party was a huge success. We had pizza and unlimited pizza and friend brought me all kinds of gifts ranging from Champaign to hot wheels and a toy bb gun. The group hung out and played video games and almost everyone stayed for a round of miniature golf. I felt really lucky to have such a great mix of friends, old and new, friends from NYC and friends I have made in SF.


My parents left Tuesday Morning and on Wednesday I started a new freelance project working for the Advertising Agency Swirl. I am really excited about the project I have been working on, it is a new product that will be launched next week in Las Vegas at the CTIA Wireless convention. It looks like I may have the chance to head to Vegas on Thursday with the Client and Martin the President. Starting tomorrow Heather will be coming in to help me complete this project. I am really happy to have the opportunity to work with her again.

This Past weekend, Paige and I had a much needed break as we retreated to Carmel for the weekend. Our Friend Grant was nice enough to invite us down and give us a room in the house he rented for the weekend. Grant had a wedding down there where they held the reception at Pebble Beach Golf Course. (Crazy). Paige and I Drove down the Pacific Coast highway on Saturday since there was finally a break in the rain. It was warm enough to drive with the windows down on what Paige considers the best stretch of the entire PCH. The views were breathtaking and the warm air was very relaxing. We stopped from time to time to enjoy the views and even spotted a whale making his way back up the coast before summer. We arrived in Big Sir and ate lunch at the Post Ranch Inn. Apparently, according to Paige, this is one of Oprah’s favorite resorts and it was easy to see why. The Post ranch Inn Sits on top of a huge cliff overlooking the water. The restaurant’s walls are windows from floor to ceiling and we scored a corner seat that made it appear that we were floating at the edge of the ocean.

Besides relaxing we tried to start making wedding plans. We haven’t picked a date yet, but we are hoping to get married sometime in mid-September in Natchez Mississippi.

I have started yet another blog that will eventually turn into a page all about the wedding. Keep your eyes out for a link on this page in the near future.