We hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve (and maybe even a great New Year’s Day and happy and healthy entire new year too, for that matter).

It wasn’t as eventful as last year’s New Year’s Eve when we got engaged, but it was a blast nevertheless. You can view our pictures in Flickr.

We were in Miami, highlights included

• watching alligators at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
• living Jim-style outside of Fort Lauderdale
• watching more alligators in the Everglades
• dining with Kelly, Jim, Cortney, and Jamie in South Beach (and catching a glimpse of the Pats game)
• spending an afternoon tasting wines with Rich and his friends
• ringing in the new year with a fantastic meal at Cacao, a contemporary Latin American restaurant in Coral Gables that Margaret used to frequent when she traveled to Miami almost weekly for work

As we’ve told many of you, in addition to our wedding, the National Museum of Women in the Arts is hosting an exhibition on feminist art on September 22. The special exhibit will be open for you to peruse during the cocktail hour.

(Margaret, of course, was quite active in the later stages of the feminist movement in post-war contemporary art. From 197I’m-not-allowed-to-say until 198a-few-years-later, her finger paintings and Play-Doh non-toxic sculptures were the rage of the 3- to 7-year-old feminist art scene in Morgantown, WV. And some circles still talk about her piece of performance art titled “Mom! John’s bothering me.”

Actually, if you would like to see Margaret performing, watch this video that Quimera, the yet-to-be profiled Paul’s company, shot. Jamie W. is in it as well.)

If you’d like to read more about the exhibit, check out the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ page on WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution.

Having been scouting DJs for our wedding reception, we’ve been thinking about what songs we want to hear. Having just gotten married hisself, Jamie reminded me that there’ll be some songs we won’t want to hear.

Here’s what we have so far for the do-not-play list we’re going to give to the wedding DJ:

• “Chicken Dance” (sorry Wanker)
• Anything Graham requests (sorry G, your reputation precedes you)
• “The Hokie Pokie” (the insinuation that “that’s what’s it’s all about” offends my post-9/11 sensibilities)
• “The Macarena” (sorry Yankee fans)
• “Celebration” (we want to level set your expectations: our reception will not “last throughout the years”; it will last for one night—so drink up)
• “We Are Family” (some of us are, but some of us aren’t; we don’t want to offend)
• “Electric Boogie” (aka “The Electric Slide”) (sure “it’s electric,” but it also stinks)
• “Love Shack” (sorry Tex)
• “Last Dance” (I don’t know this song, but if Cortney and Jamie were too good for it, so are we)
• “That’s What Friends Are For” (sorry Rock Hudson)
• “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” (sorry Margaret)
• Anything by Bruce Springsteen (as if—I figured it was easier to mention it here than let one of you jokers suggest it in the comments)

Got suggestions? Post ‘em in the comments.

In the next few months we’re profiling all of our wedding guests. Check back to see what we write about you.

As Cortney and Jamie were responsible for introducing Margaret and me, we’re featuring them first. (Melissa also takes credit; Margaret will profile her next. Cortney, Jamie, and Melissa can duke it out in the comments section. Or at the wedding.)

Jamie was the first person I met at Wake Forest and we’ve been good friends since that day in August 1994. Our first night at Wake he yelled at me for having the audacity to put a beer on his desk. He was no teetotaler: he planned to keep track of all the beers he drank his freshman year and was reserving his desk for his Busch Light empties so he could total them in the morning. About an hour later he realized that endeavor would be impossible.

I first met Cortney when Jamie had a Fourth of July gala at his condo and was impressed with how gracious a hostess she was. Hence I gave the relationship a week. Oops. He and Cortney have a beautiful marriage now entering its fourth week.

During our reception, should you have any questions about Saved by the Bell or The Real Cancun, see Jamie.

*scheduled to attend