On Saturday morning I headed to Madison Square Garden... ˆ madison square garden ˆ

...to attend Meredith's NYU Grad School commencement! Amy Heckerling (who directed two of my favorite movies when I was growing up, National Lampoon's European Vacation and Johnny Dangerously!!!) gave the commencement speech. ˆ amy heckerling ˆ graduation ˆ

Who's my blurry number one girl? ˆ meredith ˆ graduation ˆ number one ˆ

At the beginning and the end of commencement, they had bagpipe players that came through the aisles. ˆ bagpipes ˆ

No more grad school! ˆ graduation ˆ

Meredith and her parents! Take one is for comedy faces! ˆ meredith ˆ mr silverman ˆ ms silverman ˆ graduation ˆ

Take two is for looking normal. ˆ meredith ˆ mr silverman ˆ ms silverman ˆ graduation ˆ

After the commencement let out, we knew that every single restaurant near MSG would be mobbed, so we decided to head up to Times Square and go to the motherfucking OLIVE GARDEN to AVOID THE CROWD. Oh, the irony. ˆ meredith ˆ olive garden ˆ times square ˆ

After lunch, Meredith celebrated her graduation with a pirate duck. ˆ meredith ˆ duck ˆ times square ˆ

On the subway trip home we laughed at all the defaced subways ads. ˆ graffiti ˆ

Including some "cut out" work done by some new graffiti guy who strategically cuts out specific pieces of advertisements and reuses them elsewhere. Like for example, here he cut out some lady's eyes... ˆ eyes ˆ graffiti ˆ

...uh, and here he cut out some lady's shiny, gold cameltoe. ˆ cameltoe ˆ graffiti ˆ

Late night I hung out with Leigh and Sean. ˆ leigh ˆ sean dack ˆ

On Sunday morning I told Meredith I was having brunch with some former co-workers that were in town visiting, but I was really secretly meeting up with Amanda, Scott and Leigh to go shopping FOR AN ENGAGEMENT RING! Oh, snap!

That's right! After four years of dating, I decided that I was going to surprise Meredith and ask her to marry me at Sarah Lewitinn's Memorial Day BBQ; it was the fourth anniversary of the very same party that Meredith asked me out on our first date in 2004! ˆ amanda ˆ scott m ˆ best ˆ subway ˆ umbrella ˆ

We got our brunch on. ˆ amanda ˆ leigh ˆ brunch ˆ

And enjoyed some bluegrass while we ate. ˆ band ˆ

Then it was time for ring shopping! I didn't take many photos of the actual shopping. Except for this one of Leigh throwing up some blue steel with some of the models that were plastered on the wall in one of the stores that we went into. ˆ leigh ˆ blue steel ˆ

And this, uhhhhh, this is the other photo I took. (I was worried that Meredith would look at the pics on my camera and see pics of us ring shopping!) The best part of the day was that Amanda and Leigh kept showing me the rings that they would want to receive as engagement rings. Hahaha. They kept going "You know, so if I'm ever dating a guy and you hear that he's thinking about asking me to marry him, you'll be able to show him what kind of rings I like.!" Awwww. Isn't that sweet? The two of them are like adorable little pirates. ˆ wtf ˆ

I got home in the evening and this one had no idea that I was out secretly shopping for rings all day! Tee hee hee! Here's Meredith with her friend's dog that we were dog sitting for! Her name is Tina! ˆ meredith ˆ tina ˆ dogs ˆ

Awwww, Tina! ˆ me ˆ tina ˆ dogs ˆ

TINA LOVES TO EAT HAND! NOM NOM NOM. ˆ tina ˆ best ˆ bite ˆ dogs ˆ hand ˆ

Here is a picture of our rat, Roxy. (I'm writing this in May of 2010 and our very last rat just died this past week. It's the end of a rat era). ˆ rats ˆ

On Wednesday night I went to the Delancey to meet up with Fatty. He'd come directly from work and was CORPORATE GUY AT THE ROCK SHOW! Hahah. ˆ fatty ˆ dressed up ˆ

We were there to see Andy Fateman (aka - Little Fatty) play bass in his old band that had recently reunited to play a couple of shows. ˆ andy f ˆ band ˆ

I was over to the side taking some photos of them being a band... ˆ band ˆ

...but Fatty kept leaning into the frame and "doin' the pigeon" with his head complete with his "rock n' roll feeeeeels goooooood" face. Hahaha. ˆ andy f ˆ fatty ˆ band ˆ

After Lil Fatty's band was finished, the three of us were about to leave, until we saw that the next act coming to the stage was a guy in pin-striped pants that looked just like Sarah's brother Lawrence and played a solo ELECTRIC VIOLIN. ˆ brother lawrence ˆ doppleganger ˆ electric violin ˆ

I mean, it was like the electric violin scene from Revenge of the Nerds (speaking of awesome 80s movies!) come to life. So of course we had to stay and see what he was all about. ˆ brother lawrence ˆ doppleganger ˆ electric violin ˆ

In between songs he'd go over to his laptop to cue up the next backing-track. It was CRAZY how much he looked like Lawrence. ˆ brother lawrence ˆ doppleganger ˆ electric violin ˆ

Here's Sarah (showing off the comedy-tan she got while visiting a certain somewhere south of Florida) placing a panicked call to the actual Lawrence just to make sure he wasn't living a secret double-life as a solo electric violinist. ˆ sarah ˆ sunburn ˆ

Corporate Banking David. ˆ fatty ˆ

Rock n' Roll Fatty. ˆ fatty ˆ me ˆ

After the show, I went back to Sarah's place and right after we got there, Gurj, who'd been away for weeks and weeks, got back. Look how excited these two are to be reunited! ˆ jeet ˆ sarah ˆ apt 3a ˆ hug ˆ

Awwww, FWIENDS! ˆ jeet ˆ sarah ˆ apt 3a ˆ excited ˆ

Leigh was getting ready to go out of town on one of her fancy trips so on Thursday night I stopped by to say farewell and caught her in the midst of packing. I also totally busted her for packing a Hannah Montana Singing Pen. ˆ suitcase ˆ

Which resulted in this awesome embarrassed face. Hahaha. She was like "It's a gift! Don't judge me!" ˆ leigh ˆ embarrassed ˆ

On Friday night, I met up with Pauly and Lisa and we went to... ˆ lisa ˆ pauly ˆ

...Hanger Bar for Sarah's party. ˆ sarah ˆ hanger bar ˆ

Lisa modeling one her many "outfits." ˆ lisa ˆ

Scott and Amanda. ˆ amanda ˆ scott ward ˆ

Me and Lisa. ˆ lisa ˆ me ˆ

Around 2am, in the midst of our dance party, we found a certain someone hiding out in one of the booths taking a lil' party nap! ˆ jeet ˆ asleep ˆ

Late night a whole bunch of people came over to our apartment to prepare for the fifth season of Peep Show (pretty much my favorite tv show of all time) by watching the entire fourth season. Then we played Rock Band. ˆ cry ˆ peep show ˆ

Saturday morning Meredith (who'd stayed in the previous night) woke up to a trashed living room. ˆ rockband ˆ stuytown apt ˆ

Not one but TWO cans of Sparks on the windowsill? Jeez. ˆ sparks ˆ

After cleaning up the place, we headed to Penn Station to catch a train down to the Jersey Shore to visit my parents and my brother for Memorial Day! Here's me taking a picture of Meredith and documenting a new game we invented called "This is how thin I can make my lips." (Meredith is the undefeated winner of this game, btw. This photo is merely the start. You should see just how thin she can make her lips now. They look like paper and it's creepy! Hahah). ˆ meredith ˆ lips ˆ

Here's us having a early afternoon Jersey Shore dinner. My brother, Amy, their friend Evie and our cousin Kristie had all come up from DC together. ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ kristi ˆ meredith ˆ mom ˆ family ˆ

After dinner we all went to see the new Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie. ˆ tickets ˆ

Back at the house! My parents had just gotten their boat out of the dry dock and it was temporarily parked in the driveway. ˆ boat ˆ shore house ˆ

My dad posing with his "special lady." ˆ dad ˆ boat ˆ shore house ˆ

With all of the people up from DC, there wasn't any room left in the house, so Meredith and I got to sleep in the boat! ˆ boat ˆ

Cozy. ˆ meredith ˆ boat ˆ

On Sunday morning we drove over the bridge to Long Beach Island to enjoy some carnival rides at... ˆ jersey shore ˆ

Fantasy Island Amusement Park! Wooooo! ˆ amy b ˆ kristi ˆ meredith ˆ jersey shore ˆ kiss ˆ

Gothic Gang-Tattoo Font face? Outline of New Jersey starring as the letter J? MOTHERFUCKING RHINESTONES? Yes, please. ˆ jersey shore ˆ

Before hitting the rides, my little brother and me decided to warm up first by playing a little Dance Dance Revolution (which was a bold choice on our part considering it was daylight and the machine was outside). Check out my little dancin' dino arm! ˆ brett ˆ me ˆ DDR ˆ videogames ˆ

Brett and Meredith dancing it out in sync. ˆ brett ˆ meredith ˆ DDR ˆ videogames ˆ

Then it was time for rides! Check out how beautiful the rides there are! These rides make me so nostalgic. They are the same rides that were on all the Jersey Shore pier amusement parks we used to go to when we were little. ˆ best ˆ jersey shore ˆ rides ˆ

Yes, please. ˆ jersey shore ˆ rides ˆ

Meredith holding up her FANTASY ISLAND tokens that are valid for both arcade games and rides! Hahaha. ˆ meredith ˆ sunglasses ˆ

The view from the top! Only Meredith and I were brave enough to go on the Sea Dragon on a full stomach. Hahah. You can see my whole family sitting on the benches down there watching us. ˆ jersey shore ˆ rides ˆ

And the view of us on the way down. Hahaha. ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ best ˆ rides ˆ sunglasses ˆ yell ˆ

I could pretty much ride this ride for 5 hours straight. ˆ rides ˆ

Every time I get off it, my face hurts from smiling. ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ best ˆ rides ˆ sunglasses ˆ yell ˆ

We used our remaining tokens to go on the Ferris Wheel! ˆ rides ˆ

It has an amazing view out over all the houses and when you get to the top, you can see the water on both sides! ˆ jersey shore ˆ rides ˆ

Here's Meredith, totally unaware that I'm going to ask her to marry me in 24 hours. Eeeep! ˆ meredith ˆ jersey shore ˆ rides ˆ

After the amusement park, we hung out with my family, ate some pizza pies and then my parents drove us back to the train station later that afternoon. ˆ driving ˆ jersey shore ˆ

Homeward bound (with sunburned noses). ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ train ˆ us ˆ