Greg Baugues and Rachel Lazelle Got Married

My parents threw Rachel and I a wedding shower this weekend. The party was super low key, which was good because Rachel and I could barely walk after running the half.

The guests were mostly made up of four groups of people:

People from my dad’s current church, Good Shepherd UMC.

I was in college when my dad started pastoring Good Shepherd and I have never attended regularly. I was appreciative of everyone coming out as they don’t know me that well, and I don’t know them, but they still came to celebrate with us anyway. I have always been impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Good Shepherd congregation, as they have always gone out of there way to make me feel welcome, even though I can never remember anyone’s name.

People from my dad’s old church, Union Chapel UMC

We moved to Union Chapel the summer before I started fourth grade and stayed there for eleven years.  The people of this church were “the village” that helped raise me – the ones who were always supporting me and rooting me on.  It was a great pleasure to see so many again and to show off Rachel to people who knew me before I had all of my permanent teeth.

My Dad’s Family

From my Dad’s side of the family we had:

• Grandpa
• Dad’s brother Howard (who took most of the pictures below) and his wife Ginny
• Howard’s daughter Amy, her husband Aaron, and their daughter Aubrey
• Dad’s brother Keith and his wife Debbie
• Dad’s Aunt Nila, her husband Ken and their daughter Tonya

As a fun side note, Aunt Nila had gastric bypass surgery a year ago and has since lost 140 pounds.  Nila is 69 years old and prior to the surgery was confined to a wheel chair. On Saturday she walked the Mini’s 5k event and was the last person to cross the finish line, earning her an interview and some air time on the local news.  To me, her participation in that race was far more impressive than ours… I am very, very proud of her.

Old Friends from Highschool

I don’t keep in touch with many high school friends back in Indy, but the ones I do showed up.  Many thanks to Andy, Casey, Kelly, Ryan and Kevin for making the trek to the East side.

Pete Gall

Pete earns special mention in his own category.  I keep apologizing because I didn’t get a chance to talk to Pete, though pretty much everyone else there did. Pete has been an incredible mentor over the last 6 years. I can say without question that I would not have moved to Chicago five years ago, nor would I have the relationship with Rachel that I have today had it not been for his friendship and guidance over the last seven years. Pete’s a ridiculously talented author and you should buy one of his books.

Greg and Rachel: Love in Action

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Pro-tip: If you need a notary, check your local bank (thanks to my Uncle Howard for the tip).

This morning Rachel and I killed two birds with one stone at Bank of America: notarize our wedding certificate and to add me to her checking and savings account.

It’s getting real now.  28 days to go.

Weeks ago Rachel decided that since she had only run five times in the last six months, it wouldn’t be wise to run the half we signed up for back in September.

But when we went to pick up my race packet on Saturday she got caught up in the pre-race hoopla and said “Well… maybe I could just start the race and then drop out after five miles or so….”

And so on Saturday, exactly one month before our wedding, Rachel and I started the Indianapolis Mini Marathon together.  2.5 hours and 13.1 miles later we crossed the finish line. Together.

What kind of woman just shows up and runs a half-marathon without training for it?  She is such a rockstar.  I couldn’t be more proud of her.

I am so ridiculously in love with this girl.

After the race, before the endorphins wore off.

I lived in Indy for 13 years. This was my first time to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Jasmine is my cat.

Rachel has two cats.

“If you have one cat, you’re just a guy who has a cat. If you have two cats, well, they’re friends so they can keep each other company. When you have three cats, you start to be that guy that has all those cats….” (sourced from the entertaining and educational Engineer’s Guide to Cats)

Our landlord capped our lease at two cats. Also, we have concerns about the “territory marking” that may occur if we mix the three cats together. Just takes one stray stream of cat urine to put a damper on the matrimonial enjoyment of a brand new mattress.

And so… Jasmine needs a new home. She’s not one of those emotionally needy cats. She’ll look for some lovin’ when you get home from work — just enough to make you fell missed — but she won’t incessantly wave her tail in your face while you are watching Lost. She’ll curl up at the end of your bed at night, but she won’t wake you up at 4am crawling under your covers. Her favorite foods are BBQ chips and butter (preferably Plugra, but Land o’ Lakes will suffice in a pinch).

Basically, she’s the perfect cat. If you or anyone you know might be interested in giving this princess a new palace in which to roam, please let me know.