pa-jammy
Quick note to out of town wedding guests – you might want to try to book a hotel now. I was able to book one for the wedding night, and it looks like there are some hotels in Baton Rouge accepting bookings – the Sheraton, the Marriott, etc. Unfortunately, the only hotel downtown (where the ceremony and reception are) is the Sheraton. But whatever you can get – take it! Try Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc.
Well, I went back to work yesterday. As in, to an office. Which is good, of course, but then again, not going in was pretty nice too. However, getting paid trumps all, so I’ll go in. I guess. Ha ha. Actually, it is nice to have somewhere to go for a few hours a day, and once things get up and running at the temporary office, the days should really fly by.
Strangely enough, the cubicles we’re renting are in the offices of the company Kristie used to work for. I wonder if I have her old cubicle. Tee hee! Nah, I’m sure she had a corner office.
Found out our New Orleans offices might not reopen until the new year. Which means I might spend the first month of married life living in another city as George. Which would obviously really suck. A lot. Fingers crossed the building gets done faster. At least we’ll be on our honeymoon for two weeks. Maybe we’ll be sick of each other after that anyway. Ha, joke!
Mailed out the first batch of invites yesterday. Very exciting. Now the fun part – waiting for RSVPs in the mail. (Hint, hint, people! We didn’t stamp those little envelopes for our health!)
Going home on Friday. I can’t wait. But first, in order to mitigate my excitement, I must have my crown completed at the dentist. Ah well, it’ll be worth it. Take my money, numb my face, I get to go to my house! For the first time in over a month!
Power went out again last night for a few hours. What to do when the lights are out? Long story short…
I beat my mom at Scrabble.
(And yes, she tried to cheat. JUST KIDDING, MOM!)
As if it’s not bad enough that a hurricane came along and messed up my city, making me unable to go home, causing us to throw out our fridge, and causing me to wear the same ill-fitting clothes for the past three and a half weeks. Now JD won Rock Star INXS.
I hate JD. I will not go see INXS in concert now. Especially if Marty opens up for them. Just blegh. Why couldn’t Suzie win? I’ll go see Suzie play. Hmmph.
In happier news…I got my wedding dress today. Altered badly, but at least it’s at my mom’s house now, not an hour away. I can put it on anytime! Of course, that’s an endeavor that takes much time and manpower, so I think I’ll save the next donning of the gown until…well, tomorrow, when I find another seamstress to fix what the last seamstress did not. Ah well.
Invitations (part deux) are almost assembled. Ready for mom to address. Woo!
Sadly, evil hurricane number two, Rita, has destroyed my plans for the weekend. I was going to Houston to see Coldplay and some friends that I haven’t seen in too long. (Regan, Alex, Mike and Debbie and their cute lil family.) Stupid Rita. But seriously, I hope it’s not too bad. Me saying “that would suck” just belittles everything, so I won’t say it (again.)
Okay, I’m off to bed now. I have to go join a gym tomorrow. Must get rid of Katrina-induced flab. (By “Katrina-induced”, I of course mean “Oreo-induced”, but I wouldn’t have eaten the Oreos had it not been for Katrina, you see.)
Edited to add: I’m in the Times-Picayune again! Woo! (Of course, it only echos what I said above about being a flabby slob.)
Back in Baton Rouge. Which is sort of bittersweet. Of course, we’d rather it was Algiers, but alas. About an hour after we got back to Baton Rouge, we heard that they were rescinding the repopulation of New Orleans. George was very upset, as he was planning on going back in the morning. I gave him a big stick to beat the ground with. It seemed to help.
Washington was great. It was so good to get away for a while, and everyone was so generous. Kristina and Mike especially. And can I say how cute Kristina’s new cat is? Argh, I would’ve taken him, but I think Stinky would have had Nuke for lunch. And since Stinky was in the car, we would have had to witness it firsthand.
I had a fun fun fun tiny shower on Saturday – the one I was supposed to have over Labor Day weekend. Jenny, Kristina, Chris, and Ren (and Allison!) were there and we ate tea-food and drank champagne and I got to open presents. Fun! This getting married thing rules! I highly recommend it. The presents thing is especially cool. I’m not ashamed to admit it. But then there’s the whole thank-you card thing to balance out the fun of opening presents.
Our neighborhood was on CNN today. That’s cool.
Can I tell you this getting-away-to-relax thing is tiring? We’ve been nonstop doing stuff since we got here. Not that I’m complaining. It’s fun, at least. Baltimore on Tuesday, shopping with Kristina yesterday, and today George and I did Old Town Alexandria and Fredericksburg. (We had dinner with George’s aunt and uncle in Fredericksburg tonight.) I think I have gotten lost one million times since we got here. Oh well, that’s how you learn how to get around.
So they’re saying Algiers residents can go home on Monday, which is very exciting (even though we’re not getting back to Louisiana until Monday night.) George will go in for a recon (and hopefully fridge-cleaning) mission first, and then I’ll come in. Who knows if I’ll get to stay, though, with work and all. It’s all pretty tricky. But at least I’ll get to come home and *be at home* and check everything out.
Wednesday I get to go pick up my wedding dress, which has been altered and pressed. It will be safe at my mom’s house until the wedding. Well, maybe not safe from me trying it on every five minutes. Something tells me we’ll have to get it pressed again.
Oh yeah, and George and I could possibly be on CNN! Someone at work told me they’re looking for some to-be-married-in-New-Orleans couples to interview. Hello, fame! Finally….
Ahhh, Woodbridge. It’s good to be in a normal place.
So Saturday night we got here. Kristina and Mike were very hospitable and fed us steak, baked potatoes and green beans. And wine. Oh yeah, lots of wine. I think Kristina and I had a bottle each. Ooops. (Okay, I know we did.)
Sunday was football day. We went to a sports bar near Kristina’s house and cheered for the Saints and the Redskins. Yay, both won! We drank lots of beer and ate bar food. This time, we each had a pitcher of beer – Kristina, Anne, and I. But hey, football games are loooong and the beer was light. Then we had ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery and then we went home and crashed.
Yesterday, George and I went to my sister’s house and waited for a mattress for her. Then we drove to a Metro station and took it into town. Walked around Georgetown. I went to Paper Source and Sephora. Oh, love!
After that, Kristina picked us up and we went to a bar called the Galaxy Hut where we got free beer (refugees!) and they played Morrissey. Oh happy times for me, though everyone else was suffering. Then it was on to an Irish pub where we played trivia for a few rounds and ate fish and chips.
My dress is never going to fit again. Ha ha. Only kidding. On Sunday, I found where I can run around Mike and Kristina’s house. A park. Very nice. But very hilly. Hard for this flat-land girl.
I got my afterparty dress. It fits perfectly, but isn’t very flattering. But it may be too late to return it. So we’ll just see. I am sad that it makes me look like a lace-covered block with normal arms and legs. And anyway, we’re not having a real afterparty now that the wedding is at night, so when would I wear it? Sigh. I guess it’ll go on eBay.
(PS: An afterparty is just an excuse to hang out more after the wedding. That’s all.)
This is my first ever blog entry written on the road. Right now we’re somewhere in Alabama, between Birmingham and Chattanooga, Tennessee. We’re going to stop for the night in Chattanooga, mainly so we can go to Steak ‘n’ Shake at some point. For me, Steak ‘n’ Shake is a drive-to-northern-Virginia tradition, one that must be upheld. I hope it’s still there.
So yay, we’re on the road! Should be getting to Kristina’s sometime tomorrow evening. I can’t wait to get there.
First bit of very very good news: Polly just called; their animals are safe! They were very worried about them, because Colin had brought them with him to work, but he unfortunately had to leave them at his office while he was working, and then we he evacuated he had no chance to go back and get them. But his sister was able to get them out and to a shelter, where they’ll be safe until Colin comes back to Louisiana. Yay!
Second bit of good news (not nearly as good as the animal rescue; seems petty in comparison, but it’s still good news to me…) My afterparty dress came in today! It’s actually bittersweet news…the day we leave to go out of town for a week and a half or so, and my dress comes. Hmm. But now that I think about it, I may have to ask my mom to send it to Kristina’s house. I only have a week to decide if I want to keep it or not; after that, it’s unreturnable. Mom – if you’re reading this…can you send it?
Brought the payment for the wedding to the Cathedral today – I’m so excited about the wedding being there. George isn’t thrilled (and of course I’d be happier if it was in New Orleans) but it’s going to be so beautiful. I just hope a lot of people can make it.
Okay, now I’m getting motion sickness from typing in the car. I did literally mean “on the road”, see?
If you’re a New Orleans evacuee, please email me with your current address so we can keep in touch. Thanks!
Holy frijole!
So earlier I was a little bummed that we were going to have to have our wedding during the day. I don’t know why – I was fine with having a day wedding in New Orleans, but for some reason, I suddenly want a night wedding now. But then I heard that the Diocese of Baton Rouge doesn’t allow them – something about no weddings after the Saturday vigil mass.
Well, it seems that St. Joseph’s Cathedral – the big one downtown in Baton Rouge – doesn’t have a vigil on Saturday afternoon. Because we’re having our wedding there in the evening! Yay! It’s going to be so beautiful – I’m so excited! I know it’s no big deal, and it still feels wrong to be excited about this with everything going on…but what the heck.
Anyway, it’s amazing how smoothly everything came together – reception hall and cathedral, and only blocks from each other, so people can walk to the reception! Woo!
You kids are too funny.
We signed a contract with a reception hall today. Anyone who went to Nicole Ross’s or Ann Tatum’s weddings have been there. Nice. Now we just have to find a church. I wish we could have an evening reception but unfortunately, the diocese of Baton Rouge doesn’t allow evening weddings on Saturdays. Hmmph.
Anyway, at least we have that taken care of. We’re very excited about it. I just wish it could be at night. Ah well.
Still waiting to hear from my boss regarding working remotely so our trip to Virginia is still up in the air. Cross your fingers.
Fingers crossed that we’ll get to leave Baton Rouge for Virginia on Thursday. I have got to get out of here! I’m about to go insane. I know it’s selfish, but I need to be alone.
