Back from New Orleans
Well, I did survive my trip to the Big Easy and I've just been very busy
at work so I haven't had a chance to post an entry about it.
Let's see. Getting to the airport on Friday was interesting. The road
was all backed up to get to Airport Blvd., so I wound up just going down
and around and made it there in plenty of time. It's nice living
somewhere where I have lots of different ways to get to where I need to
go. Took forever to get checked in and go through security. I kept
getting behind the same people who didn't know how to use the self
check-in kiosks and didn't know how to go through security. RDU now has
added lines for you to go through depending on how expert of a traveler
you were. I choose the Expert traveler. However, I don't know what the
point of those lines were since there was only 1 security officer
working. Of course, the people in front of me didn't know you were
supposed to take your shoes or belt off or that once you put your stuff
on the conveyor belt you can go through X-ray and so on. I finally made
it through security only to find that Terminal C at RDU has like no food
at all. I hadn't had breakfast and was looking forward to a nice
biscuit. Alas, that was not to be. There were a whopping 3 places to
choose breakfast items from. So I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich
which hit the spot. I love me some bacon.
The flight to DC was fine, nothing eventful there. Then I sat in the
terminal for awhile and got on the plane to New Orleans and no problems
with that one either. I managed to catch a good nap since planes always
put me to sleep. We actually managed to arrive about 10 minutes early.
My luggage made it to NOLA just fine so then all I had to do was wait
for Jenn and Anthony to arrive. So we all took a shuttle to the hotel
and checked in and decided to hit the French Quarter since we were only
about 4 blocks away.
So off we went to the French Quarter and found out along the way that
apparently "Piratecon" was in town and so we saw lots and lots of
Captain Jack Sparrow wannabes and wench wannabes on the streets. If I
had known, I could have brought my garb and fit right in. Well, that's
not really true because my garb actually fits me and also my cleavage
isn't on total display. You can see it, but it's hidden by the ruffle
of my chemise and you can only see it if you're tall or if I curtsey to
someone.
Back to wandering around the French Quarter...Well, there seem to be a
large number of bars and clubs catering to the extremely adult person.
Lots of Hustler clubs. Definitely not anything we were looking for. We
were on a mission to look around and to start buying souvenirs for
family and friends. We also realized that we were hungry but didn't
want to have a full meal since the rehearsal dinner was coming up later
that evening. So we went to Acme Oyster House and had a bunch of
appetizers. I had a bowl of red beans and rice and some sausage.
Definitely very tasty. And I also had some Abita Andy Gator. A very
tasty, high alcohol brew. Hopefully I can find some of that here.
Feeling much better, we wandered around some more. The wandering was
made better due to the fact that you can walk around with an adult
beverage as long as it is in a plastic "go cup". Wheeee!!! No more
having to pound a beer down quickly, you can just carry it around with
you.
Back to the hotel in time for happy hour. Which consisted of 3 free
drinks. Then the rehearsal dinner with open bar and more drinks. and
lots of stories about how perfect Thom and Carolyn are for each other.
Which is true, but were a little hard to hear considering that Thom was
after me before he started dating Carolyn. Truth be told, she is a
better match for him than I ever would have been. But that doesn't mean
I like hearing all those stories. I also apparently was a big hit with
someone's elderly relative who kept calling me a "tall drink of water".
Great, I go to New Orleans and the only guy hitting on me is ancient. A
fun time was had by all and back we went to the hotel to sleep.
Saturday, woke up way too early and hit the French Quarter with Jenn
and Anthony and walked around an awful lot. We did all sorts of
touristy things. Went to the Cathedral, visited lots of gift shops,
bought t-shirts, visited a gallery, bought a photograph of the French
Quarter in the mist, bought prailenes, walked some more. Finally had
some lunch, took lots of pictures and back to the hotel to shower and
change.
The wedding was very nice and a lot of fun. Gorgeous venue, good food,
good friends, open bar, good band, etc. Before they cut the cake, they
did this cake pull thing. Where apparently little charms are tied to
ribbon and placed between the layers of the wedding cake and all of the
single women pull on the ribbon to see what charm they get. Well, I
wound up with the wedding bells which means...I'm the next one to get
married. Somehow, I don't see that happening, or at least not to John.
Thom and Carolyn wound up leaving the reception in a rather unique way.
They both had parasols of the type you see in the New Orleans jazz
funeral and the band played "When the Saints go Marching In", and they
danced around the historic house and then out to the horse drawn
carriage that was waiting for them and off they went.
So all in all, it was a really nice time. I sort of wish that I had at
least another day that I could have spent down there to do my own thing.
but such is life. I admit that it would have been nice to have had
John along, but that was fine too. I admit that I like going to
weddings and seeing what details I could take and use in my own (if that
ever happens). I do like the cake pull tradition and might give that
one a try. I also like the idea of heavy appetizers and letting people
graze for the reception and the idea of having the reception in a
historic house. Not sure about the whole outdoor wedding thing though.
I won't be doing a father-daughter dance and need to come up with
something to do instead of that though...
Ok, enough dreaming about something that most likely won't
happen...Back to work
at work so I haven't had a chance to post an entry about it.
Let's see. Getting to the airport on Friday was interesting. The road
was all backed up to get to Airport Blvd., so I wound up just going down
and around and made it there in plenty of time. It's nice living
somewhere where I have lots of different ways to get to where I need to
go. Took forever to get checked in and go through security. I kept
getting behind the same people who didn't know how to use the self
check-in kiosks and didn't know how to go through security. RDU now has
added lines for you to go through depending on how expert of a traveler
you were. I choose the Expert traveler. However, I don't know what the
point of those lines were since there was only 1 security officer
working. Of course, the people in front of me didn't know you were
supposed to take your shoes or belt off or that once you put your stuff
on the conveyor belt you can go through X-ray and so on. I finally made
it through security only to find that Terminal C at RDU has like no food
at all. I hadn't had breakfast and was looking forward to a nice
biscuit. Alas, that was not to be. There were a whopping 3 places to
choose breakfast items from. So I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich
which hit the spot. I love me some bacon.
The flight to DC was fine, nothing eventful there. Then I sat in the
terminal for awhile and got on the plane to New Orleans and no problems
with that one either. I managed to catch a good nap since planes always
put me to sleep. We actually managed to arrive about 10 minutes early.
My luggage made it to NOLA just fine so then all I had to do was wait
for Jenn and Anthony to arrive. So we all took a shuttle to the hotel
and checked in and decided to hit the French Quarter since we were only
about 4 blocks away.
So off we went to the French Quarter and found out along the way that
apparently "Piratecon" was in town and so we saw lots and lots of
Captain Jack Sparrow wannabes and wench wannabes on the streets. If I
had known, I could have brought my garb and fit right in. Well, that's
not really true because my garb actually fits me and also my cleavage
isn't on total display. You can see it, but it's hidden by the ruffle
of my chemise and you can only see it if you're tall or if I curtsey to
someone.
Back to wandering around the French Quarter...Well, there seem to be a
large number of bars and clubs catering to the extremely adult person.
Lots of Hustler clubs. Definitely not anything we were looking for. We
were on a mission to look around and to start buying souvenirs for
family and friends. We also realized that we were hungry but didn't
want to have a full meal since the rehearsal dinner was coming up later
that evening. So we went to Acme Oyster House and had a bunch of
appetizers. I had a bowl of red beans and rice and some sausage.
Definitely very tasty. And I also had some Abita Andy Gator. A very
tasty, high alcohol brew. Hopefully I can find some of that here.
Feeling much better, we wandered around some more. The wandering was
made better due to the fact that you can walk around with an adult
beverage as long as it is in a plastic "go cup". Wheeee!!! No more
having to pound a beer down quickly, you can just carry it around with
you.
Back to the hotel in time for happy hour. Which consisted of 3 free
drinks. Then the rehearsal dinner with open bar and more drinks. and
lots of stories about how perfect Thom and Carolyn are for each other.
Which is true, but were a little hard to hear considering that Thom was
after me before he started dating Carolyn. Truth be told, she is a
better match for him than I ever would have been. But that doesn't mean
I like hearing all those stories. I also apparently was a big hit with
someone's elderly relative who kept calling me a "tall drink of water".
Great, I go to New Orleans and the only guy hitting on me is ancient. A
fun time was had by all and back we went to the hotel to sleep.
Saturday, woke up way too early and hit the French Quarter with Jenn
and Anthony and walked around an awful lot. We did all sorts of
touristy things. Went to the Cathedral, visited lots of gift shops,
bought t-shirts, visited a gallery, bought a photograph of the French
Quarter in the mist, bought prailenes, walked some more. Finally had
some lunch, took lots of pictures and back to the hotel to shower and
change.
The wedding was very nice and a lot of fun. Gorgeous venue, good food,
good friends, open bar, good band, etc. Before they cut the cake, they
did this cake pull thing. Where apparently little charms are tied to
ribbon and placed between the layers of the wedding cake and all of the
single women pull on the ribbon to see what charm they get. Well, I
wound up with the wedding bells which means...I'm the next one to get
married. Somehow, I don't see that happening, or at least not to John.
Thom and Carolyn wound up leaving the reception in a rather unique way.
They both had parasols of the type you see in the New Orleans jazz
funeral and the band played "When the Saints go Marching In", and they
danced around the historic house and then out to the horse drawn
carriage that was waiting for them and off they went.
So all in all, it was a really nice time. I sort of wish that I had at
least another day that I could have spent down there to do my own thing.
but such is life. I admit that it would have been nice to have had
John along, but that was fine too. I admit that I like going to
weddings and seeing what details I could take and use in my own (if that
ever happens). I do like the cake pull tradition and might give that
one a try. I also like the idea of heavy appetizers and letting people
graze for the reception and the idea of having the reception in a
historic house. Not sure about the whole outdoor wedding thing though.
I won't be doing a father-daughter dance and need to come up with
something to do instead of that though...
Ok, enough dreaming about something that most likely won't
happen...Back to work