East Coast Escapades Part II: Washington, DC

As a preface, this is the second post concerning my Labor Day weekend, so if you'd like to read about Reed and Rachel's wedding, see my earlier post.

Post-wedding, I headed to DC as I was going to stay with Alden for the night before I headed home the next day, Labor Day. The plan for the trip back had been for me to pick up Ashley the next morning and have her company up to New York so that I didn't have to drive the whole way back alone. Unfortunately, the streets and drivers of DC confused me so much that I did something very silly. While trying to find parking near Alden's apartment, I followed another car to a parking garage. It had a metal gate in addition to the normal wooden barrier, but it had opened for him, so I grabbed a ticket and followed him in. Turns out that the parking garage had actually been closed to the public at the time and the man I'd followed had a monthly pass. Not only was the parking garage not technically open when I parked, it wasn't supposed to reopen until after the holiday (Tuesday morning). I will admit that I very much panicked at this point, not least because I was afraid I was going to have to use an emergency exit just to get out of the garage and onto the street. Luckily, another monthly parker entered while I waffled at the entry, so I was able to get me and my stuff out, though the car was still in the garage. I then successfully found Alden's apartment and gained entry with the key she had left me at the front desk. In my already quite frazzled state, I was had no idea how to deal with the fact that she and her Mike were asleep on the couch. So I proceed to call my Mike in an utter panic and cry about it all. Eventually Alden did wake up, and eventually I did calm down after her and both Mikes reassured me that we could figure out a way to get me out of the garage by Tuesday. [As a side note, not being able to leave would not have been a disaster. Alden would not have been greatly inconvenienced by it, and I didn't have work until Tuesday night anyways. So my panic was truly unfounded.]

After I'd calmed down, we chatted for a bit and watched the tail end of Bourne Ultimatum. I did have enough presence of mind to let Ashley know she should get a ride back with someone else (she had to be in NYC by 7pm) as I wasn't really sure when I'd be able to get my car out. We then went to bed determined to get my car out the next day if possible, though we'd decided that we may as well sleep in and get brunch first as I wasn't really in a rush to leave anymore. We got brunch at a cool place called "BusBoys and Poets," which is a small chain in DC. I got french toast, of course. After an animated conversation about interior design with Alden, during which I managed to bruise my ankle, we decided to go and see what we could do about my car.

Turns out that the lot I parked in is attached to an apartment building. We were able to go into their main lobby area and then take the elevator down to the garage. After a lengthy look at the ticket reader, we decided that though there is a little booth where a person sits during business hours so you can pay, the ticket reader looked like it may accept credit cards too. So we decided to give it a go. Plan b was to wait for someone with a monthly pass to come in or out and beg them to use their card to let me out. The machine did take my card in the end, though it charged me an exorbitant amount considering I'd been there less than 24 hours. I suspect it was because I was there when I wasn't supposed to be. Anyways, Alden and Mike promised that next time I come visit, they will make sure I park in a much cheaper, easier to access location.

Despite all the confusion, it was very nice to see Alden again and to meet her Mike.

East Coast Escapades Part I: Reed and Rachel's Wedding

In the wake of the disaster (not) of Irene, I got to spend my Labor Day weekend doing something fun and frivolous- attending a wedding! Reed Abrahamson and Rachel Hansen's wedding to be precise. They had the wedding at The Lodge at Little Seneca Creek, a nice little place in a "wooded parkland" in Maryland about an hour out of downtown DC. This meant that Saturday night and Sunday morning I had quite a bit of driving to do, accompanied by Jim Dale reading the 6th Harry Potter. But the drive was definitely worth it, and not just because of the nice pit stop at Henry and Joanne's where I was treated to sticky rolls and zucchini bread- yum!

The wedding was very pretty. Their colors were yellow (mainly all the gerber daisies), blue (thistles and girl's dresses), and red (ties and more daisies). It was rustic but chic. Rachel's dress was mermaid style, with pretty beading along the bodice. Both her and Reed wore cowboy boots. Their rings had been made by a craftsman from Oregon (if I remember correctly), and Reed's was white gold while Rachel's was platinum, just like me and Mike.

The actual ceremony was outside on the grass. The chuppah was simple and pretty, with vines curling up the side. The ketubah, the marriage contract, was also very beautiful. Though, I have to say, the rabbi was one of the best parts about the whole thing. He was so lighthearted, though still maintaining the appropriate sense of gravitas due a wedding. For all of the songs during the ceremony, he played his guitar as the accompaniment and was infectiously genial and happy the entire time. It was cute to see Reed and Rachel whispering to each other throughout the ceremony while they looked distinctly happy and just a bit awkward to be under such scrutiny.

The reception was fun too. I sat at what we referred to as "the kids table," though it was really a dramat table of people without dates (Mike had to work so I was alone). While I don't know who they invited, I ended up being the only '10er and youngest of all the Yale and Dramat peeps as far as I could tell, except Zach (Reed's brother). It was odd in that I didn't have quite the same history that everyone else did with Reed, but also nice to know that despite only having been at Yale with him for 2 years, we'd shed enough blood, sweat, and tears to care about the next stage in each others lives.

It was also nice to find that while we all seem happy with out current lot, what we Yalies have been doing since we graduated is quite a mixed bag and not all what you'd expect. Some of the highlights from the people I talked to were as follows: Susie is writing two novels and a play, Liam is in a band called "Dinowalrus," Eve climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Katie is bar tending, Anya is the harvest manager at a farm near Boston, and Reed, of course, is at law school. Definitely made me feel better about the fact that I'm doing something totally random, but most of the time enjoyable, at least for now.

All-in-all, it was a very fun wedding and it was good to catch up with so many people I hadn't seen in a very long time.

Edit to add: I forgot to mention that their song was "Home" by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros which I though was very cute and fitting.

Earthquake?

So apparently there was an earthquake down in Virginia today that was felt all over the eastern seaboard. Mike had felt some "vertigo" this morning, and forty minutes later he read that there had been an earthquake and realized that must have been what he felt. I didn't feel it at all. :(

Oh, and also, Secretariat (the horse) is AMAZING. I watched the movie about him last night and was just floored. I can't believe how powerful of a horse he was! Apparently daddy used to have a poster of Secretariat in his room when he was little. Makes me remember how much I used to love to read horse books. Watching the movie also made me a little sad that I never talked to Grandpa Tom about horse races before he died, because I know he used to like them.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

So Karisa's been going through a rough time lately and really wanted a night out. I'm not exactly the "let's go to a bar" type, so we decided to go to a movie. It then took us an agonizingly long time to figure out what to go see. It seemed as though nothing was worth watching. We ended up settling on "Crazy, Stupid, Love." on my part because I'd seen previews, knew it had a stellar cast, and wanted to watch it eventually anyways. As for her, it was the only one she sounded remotely interested in. Boy did we pick well! It is definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a long time (the other being "Wild Target"). It was funny, sweet, sexy, almost made me cry, made us laugh SO hard- all the things you want from a girls night out movie. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should. And if you need them, two more reasons to go see it:

1. Emma Stone is her brilliant, witty self in this movie.
2. Ryan Gosling wears gorgeous clothes for most of the movie...and then he takes off his shirt.

'Nuff said.

Once again...

I have slagged off and left this blog sitting here for over a year. I thought about creating a new one, but I don't think that's entirely necessary. Yes, now I'm married. We finally got our own place, a nice little apartment in Cranston, RI. I work at PetSmart "part time" (which means I'll work anywhere from 16-40 hours a week depending on how much they need me). I'm either a bather or a cashier, sometimes doing both in one day. I've only done a couple gigs remotely close to what I eventually want to be doing (one was at MoCA, the other overhire for a dance company). But, I'm hoping to make inroads there soon.

The reason why I wanted to take up this blog again is that I really need to start making a push towards design if that's what I really want to do. Gary mentioned the possibility of something long-distance in the future which would be nice. The big thing standing in my way at this point is MONEY. I can't really quit my "day job" and start pursuing random gigs until Mike can get something more steady. But I can try and see what I can do in the meantime.

So, I'm not sure if this is going to become an online journal to document whatever happens to be going on or if I'm going to try and channel it in a more productive/creative direction. I guess we shall see.

I AM MARRIED!!

This comes from my fabulous hotel where I am at with my husband of almost 24 hours. :)

Flowers!

So, we finally got the flowers all tied up. I got the main order from a lady in Kihei, and we also found a guy we can get orchids from for the centerpieces. He's even gonna wrap them in white paper with a ribbon. The main order divided up weird, so Henry and Daddy ended up paying half each, which Daddy was happy about. I'm just glad that it's all taken care of.

I also finally tried on my dress (first time since I bought it). It still fits, which is the most important part. I put on the shoes we bought at Ross which were strappy, silver, and gorgeous, but they're too high. So I'm gonna wear these silver flats with pearls on them instead. It'll be nice cause it'll be much more comfortable, and I for sure won't be too tall. Mum then decided that she wanted my old shoes instead of hers.

I think those are most of the big developments of late. We planned my bridal shower and sent out invites for that. We also planned out stuff to do while everyone is here (meals included!). I've also finally been getting some sun, but I still probably won't actually be "tan" for the wedding. Too white. I'm just really excited for everyone to get here (especially Mike) and to finally have the wedding. :)