Had an interesting weekend. On Friday night, mom and I went for a tasting at the reception site. Always fun to eat party food. It’s getting so close! Hard to believe. Food’s gonna be yummy. Finger sandwiches…mmmm!

Then Regan came over, on her way to her house in New Orleans. She was going to retrieve whatever she could. Turns out not much, after flooding and the roof caving in. Sigh. Not fun. But lucky for her, the bridesmaid’s dress she’s supposed to wear for a wedding the week after ours was safe. Heh heh. Anyway, it was really good to see Regan again. It’s been way too long. When you’re used to seeing someone almost every day, it sucks when that ends abruptly. Obviously.

On Saturday, I drove to New Orleans. There was Oktoberfest in our neighborhood. It was so awesome – everyone was just hanging out in this park, drinking beer, eating yummy food, listening to a band play the Chicken Dance (oh yeah we are DEFINITELY having the Chicken Dance at the wedding. I’m really good at it.) The weather was gorgeous, it just couldn’t have been better. I saw people I hadn’t seen since the storm, and Polly and Colin were home from New York. Good stuff.

That night, the four of us (George, me, Polly and Colin) went to the French Quarter. Talk about surreal. No people around. Nowhere to park, though – the streets were full of cars. The parking lots taken over by tents and trailers, housing National Guard? Red Cross? FEMA? Someone. A few bars open here and there. A horrific stench. (Ahh, now that’s no different!) We went to see our wedding band play at the Irish pub they always play at. Once we were in the Kerry, it was like nothing had changed, really. But outside, it was just too weird.

And then, we drove around a bit. Saw parts of the city that were just black…no power yet. Weird to see. Very strange. Normally a very populous area of the city, just empty and dark.

After that, the four of us went back to our house and watched some Family Guy DVD. Very funny. I am so out of the loop on TV. Thank goodness our Tivo is still working. I should set it to record Family Guy.

On Sunday, George and I went to have lunch, then we drove around Uptown. We drove by my cousin’s house to take a picture of it for her, only to find her husband outside cleaning up some debris. They’re moving back next weekend, yay!

Anyway, that was about it. I saw a lot of the city this weekend, and it’s pretty bizarre. Especially driving by a shop we went in a few days before the storm. When we had no idea what was about to happen. No idea our lives – everyone’s lives – were about to change forever. So weird.

So now I must get ready for work. My mom is in the kitchen making a pot of soup. You have to admire someone who can wake up and immediately start chopping raw meat. I could barely make my turkey sandwich for lunch.

I hate random holidays, btw. No mail! Boo!

I’m home! It’s weird, but nice to be back, even if it’s only for the weekend.

Today we’re going to buy a fridge, even though we won’t get it for a few weeks. (Which is a benefit of not living here full time. No butter on my toast? Can’t do it.)

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….