Kristie and I have been friends for a loooong time. We met in middle school and have been through a lot together. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding (ten years ago this week!) and I was so excited to get to see her get married last weekend.
As usual, she looked gorgeous and the wedding was beautiful, if rainy. Very rainy. George and the boys were supposed to come (I even got the boys cute bow ties) but Miles got sick on Friday, so they stayed home. Probably just as well, considering the weather. I did the reading and I didn’t fall down or mess up too badly, I don’t think.
Apologies if you’ve already seen most of these pictures on Facebook. I have a problem with adult beverages and social media. I need a breathalyzer that locks me out of FB when I’ve had too many drinks. Oy.
My first college roommate, Ann, the beautiful bride, and meI made it my mission to win over Ann’s adorable daughter. I think it worked. She was very impressed I had a son named Linus.Me and Renny!The other person who wore a sparkly dress. We were fierce.Renny and me and KikiHey look! There’s Tim! I confess I may have imbibed a lot of French 75s at this point.Amanda and Kristie. Cute. Like prom.Me and Kristie. I got my dress from Rent the Runway. Loved it.These pics were taken ten years (minus five days) apart! Aww!
Got home from the Grand Meetup Monday night and MAN was it good to see the boys and George. I got so many good hugs. And the boys’ front teeth all seem to have now fully come in, so they looked older and different. Sigh.
The evening I got home I got to meet Gareth’s sister and cousin, who had come over from the UK. They were lovely, and I wish I could have spent more time getting to know them. Well, we’ll just have to make another trip over, that’s all!
One of the hardest things about being away last week was missing Gareth’s service, but I was able to help a bit by making the slideshow for the service and one that played continuously at the pub afterwards. I got lots of positive feedback on it, so that felt nice.
When I was in Park City, I wrote a post for the New Orleans Moms Blog about how much I love my neighborhood, and it was kind of a clumsy word vomit of emotion, but sometimes you just have to.
I hate a post without any photos, so here’s a #tbt for ya. Technically, it was 5 years ago yesterday, but it seems as if my photos from October 22 through the years have been less than scintillating.
Anyway, it’s adorbs. Linus and Emily at the pumpkin patch when I took him to Virginia.
At least you can’t see the poison oak he had which made much of our trip a living hell. Good times, good times.
We lost a friend this weekend, and I just wanted to share to everyone who didn’t know him what a great person Gareth was. This isn’t going to be eloquent, I just need to get the words out.
We’ve known Gareth for, gosh, I guess at least 11 years? I’m not really sure. I do remember the first conversation I ever had with him. It was about our wedding planning, and he was telling me something about the royal wedding. You know, the Charles and Diana one. I don’t remember what he told me about it, though. Just that we chatted about it.
When George and I were planning our honeymoon to London, he urged us to take a few days and visit the Welsh town he grew up in, Hay-on-Wye. So we did.
Our wedding was just a couple of months after Katrina, and he’d stayed behind for the storm. Anytime our wedding came up in conversation later, he’d always say, “Pammy…that was the best wedding ever. Great party.” So many people needed the celebration, not least of all him.
I searched my blog for a mention of Gareth, and the only one I found was that he came to visit me in the hospital before I had the boys. Because that’s the kind of guy he was, even though I’m sure he’d have rather been anywhere else on earth.
In June, grossing me out with his bloody eye.
At our friend’s wedding in August
In our backyard in 2007.
At the pub prom in 2006.
At prom in 2006
In a friend’s yard in 2007.
On the levee in 2007.
When the neighborhood was raising funds for a friends’ son’s surgery, Gareth showed us all up by donating a huge amount. He had been saving it up for something special, but gave it to the surgery fund instead. He was so generous in that way.
Wearing a suit in July.
In July, there was a Proms-themed birthday party for friends at the pub. July in New Orleans. The man wore a suit, vest, and tie in the sweltering heat, because that’s what a gentleman wears to the Proms, and to honor his dear friends.
Gareth had two dogs, Owen and Lizzie. They were always with him. They are the sweetest dogs, and the first dogs the boys were not scared of. (Don’t worry, Owen and Lizzie are being well taken care of now.)
Anyway. There are a million stories to be told. A million memories. A million laughs.
Cheers, you crazy Welshman. We’ll miss you so much.
A while back, I was asked to take photos of our friends’ wedding that took place last month. I was nervous – I had never photographed a wedding before, and quite frankly, I never wanted to. So nerve-wracking! What if I totally screwed it up and they ended up with zero pictures? Well, I got over myself and agreed to do it. And here are some of the results. I really just wanted to capture the spirit, not have a ton of posed stuff.
Honestly, the last thing I want to read right now is more about Katrina, but I can’t just let 10 years (such a nice round number) go by without any acknowledgement. But mostly it’s just going to be links.
I am really grateful I’ve been blogging for 14 years at times like this.
Saturday is my first fitting for my wedding dress. I’m so friggin’ excited. It can’t come fast enough! And then I’m going to DC for Labor Day weekend, courtesy of my dear dear dear friends and big sister. Fun two weekends coming up. Yay!
It’s impossible to comprehend what’s happening. People have always talked about the Big One hitting New Orleans directly. But we didn’t really think it’d happen in our lifetime. And it’s playing out exactly like they said it would. Of course, I wouldn’t have predicted the lawlessness that would take over the city. I can’t believe there are people taking shots at helicoptors.
I was at Target this evening and behind me in line was an elderly man with his son or grandson. The grand/son went to get him some razors and while we were waiting in line, the man asked me where I was from. I said Algiers and he said he was from Chalmette. Chalmette, in case you don’t know, is gone. I read that 96% of all of the homes are under water. Under a lot of water.
September 4, 2005 (another post): Moving our wedding. You can read more about that here.
I have come to realize that I just don’t care where it is. As long as it happens, who really cares where it is?
September 10, 2005: On the road. We headed to Virginia just to get away from it all.
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.
Last weekend was the New Orleans Moms Blog‘s annual Mom’s Night Out. The theme this year was 90s prom. It was super fun, and I had a great time reliving that decade.
Clothing-wise, I wore pretty much exactly what I spent my two years at LSMSA and my (cough) six years at LSU wearing: cutoff jean shorts, doc martens, baggy t-shirt. I added some leggings and went a tad overboard on hair and makeup. (For real in the 90s, my hair looked pretty much exactly as it does now, but hennaed, and makeup was limited to mascara and lipstick.)
Hee hee heeee hee heee! I made sure not to smile at all. That would have been out of character.
Okay, once I couldn’t help it. Prom pic with Megan!
The event was held at NOMA, which was pretty cool. I can’t believe they let a bunch of punks hang out with Picasso paintings and such.
I gotta give the makeup artist kudos on that eyeliner. It didn’t come off until maybe two days later.
The cakes made by a local bakery were soooooo perfect. (Tasty too!)
And people really got into the theme:
It’ll be fun to see what theme we have next year! How to top this?!?!
I went to a goodbye party last night for some friends who are leaving New Orleans. It was sad, of course, but also full of laughs.
Especially watching old people my age try to figure out selfie sticks.
Those are all triplet and quad mamas, giving Robin and Bryan a send off before they head out of town.
The Gates moved here about five years ago, as part of the Hornets/Pelicans coaching staff. Thanks to them, the boys got to attend a couple of NBA games, which was pretty awesome.
Their triplets were born quite prematurely, but they’re all healthy four year olds (what?) now, quite a bit bigger than when I photographed them.
Aw, squishes!
Anyway, they’re just great people and hopefully they’ll find themselves in New Orleans again one day.
To top off our weekend o’ fun, we drove across the lake to visit Ren, since it had been a while. Her girls were going to be with their dad, so it was just the four of us. We went to Abita and Ren took us on a little trail near a creek. The boys had fun splashing around. Next time, we’re bringing bathing suits!
Not great camouflage, Ollie.
Splashing! (as you can see, it was very shallow.)
After the splashing, we went to the brew pub for lunch, and then had snowballs for dessert.
This weekend was jam-packed full o’ fun. I will try to keep this relatively short, but it’s not gonna be easy.
Friday night: Prom
I went to a party at the pub for our friends Heather and Neil (their birthdays are close to each other so they share a party.) The theme was “A Night at the Proms,” which most people took to mean “high school prom” but the upshot was, everyone was dressed fancy.
I mean everyone.
I was able to tailor my thrift store dress with mostly safety pins, and between that and every piece of sparkly costume jewelry I owned, I think I acquitted myself nicely.
Tee and me and a metric ton of rhinestones.
And thanks to the slit, I was able to ride my bike to the pub and back home.
Saturday: The Fourth of July
The boys had been looking forward to the fourth for a while. I’m not entirely sure why. The fireworks, I guess.
We went to a friend’s house. Teresa and I made the watermelon jello shots, which were a huge hit. The kids were all sad they couldn’t have any, so we told them we’d make them a non-alcoholic version for the next party.
I bought sparklers for the kids (as you saw in the monthly pic) so they had fun with those. Mostly. Until Ethan touched the hot part of his after it had gone out and burned his finger. Later, I burned my thumb badly lighting them. So now I think sparklers are evil.
It was a long day, and there were tears at the end of it, but overall, it was a great fourth.
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