Showering Renee with Love

Around the 20SB part of the blogosphere today, we're gathering to celebrate the idea of matrimony in honor of our lovely blogging friend Renee.

(Isn't she gorgeous?)

But dude, she was totally MY friend FIRST.

I met Renee back in 2004, when she started at my college. At the time, she was a theatre major just like me, although I was a couple of years ahead of her.

At one point, we had a joke that if another gal in my class and I somehow had a love child, it would be Renee. Hence this picture.

(Renee with her two "moms". Circa April 2005)

I believe it was coined more for personality blends than physical traits, but I believe there's a bit of faux-family resemblance there.

I feel that it is now an important time to share a couple of awkward pictures of her with you... You know, just because I can (both were taken by me).

(Renee photobombing behind our friends Liesl and Anna. Circa April 2005)

(Renee and Anna at Steak n Shake. This picture was taken for the early days of Facebook when they were finally letting you put up pictures for free without one of those wirehog accounts, and I thought a great subject for a photo album would be "Drinking Straws". Not kidding. Circa May 2005)

We did a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella together. I played one of the ugly stepsisters (type-casting?), and Renee was a mouse. Yes, you read that right. A mouse. She was also a ball guest and a townsperson if I remember correctly, and I'm sure I could find you a picture of her dressed cute. But aren't mouse pictures better? That's what I thought.


(Renee is on the right in both pictures. Circa April 2005)

In this dancing role, Renee got to use her famous legs. Our Acting Improvisation professor once made the comment that she thought Renee was "all legs", and frequently compared her movement to that of a gazelle. And in my head, I will now always associate "Renee" with "gazelle". Always.


(Not great pics, I know, but at least you can see her light-up ears and our low-tech pumpkin carriage.)

And to prove that I was in the same musical, here's a picture of me trying to win over the Prince with Cinderella standing in the background.



For some promotional event for Cinderella, the actors played the Prince and Cinderella were scheduled to go to a local mall for a day in costume so that kids could get their pictures taken with them. So Renee and I decided that we should crash this event. We also decided that we should make costumes. So we dressed as the Prince's fan club... aka a bunch of girls who were trying to beat Cinderella out for the role of Princess. I believe Renee and I went to Wal-mart or Target or something to get supplies. We recruited a few other cast members and...


(In my dorm lobby, before heading out)

(Yeah, Renee definitely added fringe to the bottom of her shirt, because she was crafty long before she had an Etsy shop. And she also made the yellow shirt for that girl, if I remember correctly.)

(Fighting the Princess)

(Just like the Mounties, we always get our man.)

Hey Renee, I don't know about you, but I still totally have my shirt. It says "The Future Mrs. Charming". I'd send it to you for use pre-wedding if it didn't say "Mister Fister Fan Club" on the sleeve (Fister being the surname of the actor who played the Prince).

The following fall, Renee indulged me by going to a Toxic Audio concert with me when most of my friends thought that "professional a cappella" sounded lame. But see, she watched some YouTube videos with me in my dorm room (which took FOR.EV.ER. to load back then), and was convinced that it was anything BUT lame.





So we went to the concert. And then we stayed after and met the members of the group. Renee seemed to be particularly fascinated with the Bass, named Rene (ooh! Matching names!) after he did a Phantom of the Opera number. (Beau-Named-Joe, if you read this, watch out for him... he could be a threat. Or just start singing Phantom around the house a lot).

(Renee, me, and another friend of ours with Paul and Rene of Toxic Audio. Circa September 2005)

Later that semester, Renee and I did another play together: The Tragedy of Macbeth. And it was an all-female cast (which you can pretty much only get away with if you're at a women's college... which we were). Unfortunately, I don't have any sensational pictures of the two of us together, but I'll put on a few that I have.

(Renee is obviously the stunning Thane on the right, and I am Lady Macbeth in the center. Circa November 2005)



(Renee getting into mischief in the dressing room with our friend Anna... who seems to be in tons of my pictures of Renee, as you may have noticed).

Here's a random picture of some cast members in the dining hall after a rehearsal. Note that Renee and I are sitting next to each other and awkwardly peeking up like prairie dogs at the back of the table...

(The cross is just there to remind you that it was a Catholic school.)

So there. Now there's proof that I was her friend BEFORE she was a blogger.

And Renee has said that I inspired her to blog. In fact, I'd like to think of myself as her muse. After all, she has copied my fashion sense a couple of times... Like here:




I know what you're thinking. "Angela, that shirt was mass-produced. Those pictures prove nothing." Okay, fine, non-believer. I have a couple more exhibits for you. Behold...

Me dressed up for my Senior Formal, April 8th, 2006:

(Note me on the far right, in that gorgeous blue number. Also note how skinny I was back then, because DAMN I was skinny. Hello 20-pound-thinner version of me!)


Renee dressed up for her Senior Formal, April 2008:



Notice anything familiar? Yeah. I rest my case. I'm her muse, I tell you. Her MUSE!!!

Alright, fine. I don't really believe that... Renee has plenty of good ideas on her own that have nothing to do with me and my incredible taste in dresses. In fact, sometimes she inspires ME. For example, she turned me on to 20SB, which is the whole reason I have blog friends and have CONTINUED blogging. Without her, I never would've experienced awesome times like this:



(Renee and me with Joy of Big Time Fancy and Pete of The Situation Has Deteriorated. Circa June 2008.)

Anyway. Renee, I love you so much. And I'm so excited for you and Joe. So right now, I'd like to remind you of the current happiest day of your life (at least, as far as all your blog readers can tell...)



Remember that?

I want your wedding day to be at least 7 levels better than the day you drove around Chelsea Clinton.

Best wishes, my lovely Renee.

And congratulations, Joe. You've found one hell of a Belle (and a gazelle!).


May you live happily ever after!

~A~