Anna and the Rubber Tree....

Well.....not really. But the other bridesmaid, Nicole, made Anna a children's book for her wedding gift entitled Anna and the Rubber Tree. It was soooooooo amazing!!!!!!

I am back from my very long weekend in my other home....NOLA....
Anna and Sean's wedding was just wonderful!!!! It was a very relaxed affair and they both made it seem like a mere formality, which it was to them. It was so wonderful to get to share in their day and weekend!!!!

The bachelorette party was in the quarter on Halloween...Fun!!! I rented a condo for the four nights and Nicole, Anna and me...Michael came too......and was part of the fun!!! Michael went as a bag of leaves. I went as a bayou babe...Nicole went as a Slumphie....(Smurfette) Anna went as...hell I don't remember....we drank a lot of bourbon.....yes....I thought it was 4....it was more like at least 8....we wound our way down Bourbon Street to Frenchman and back with many stops in between.......Living Legends Brass Band...they ROCKED!!!

Thursday was huungover day and off to Anna's house to get fit and attempt to help with flowers...the dress was at least two sizes too big to start...drank some champagne...off to get my hair cut...more champagne...then off to dinner at Tomatilo's with Chris and his family...then bed. I crashed.

Friday I saw a couple customers in the morning...yeah! Lunch with Chris - yummy Vietnamese- thanks!!! and saw his house addition progressing....very nice....and back to the condo, changed really fast and helped unload the flowers, etc. at the hotel.......off to the rehearsal...with some mishaps with Nicole and Martin's hotel room reservation getting lost.......who didn't think the rehearsal would start a half hour late? eh. It turned out fine. The dinner was at Brigtsen's. I don't think I've ever had better Beef Tournedos. I love Sean's family! They are so much fun! I got to hang out with Anna's dad and Billy...they are fun, too!!
It was just SOOOOOO lovely that night...so much warmth and love in the room.....more champagne and bourbon.....good food.....I was going to go to Cooters, but I got advice to go to bed.....

Saturday....lazy morning followed by at noon when we were supposed to leave for the spa....frantically making boutinerres the last minute and six more table decorations because Anna got the extra room...

Anywho. The Spa Aria at the Hotel Monteleone...I would recommend. It was wonderful!!!!!! More champagne. Then off to decorate the courtyard at the St Louis Hotel....... THANK YOU MICHAEL!!!!

Wedding at the Tulane Chapel....thanks be to Michael Phillips!!!! Thanks be to Michael Batt for giving him the keys!!!! No one from Tulane EVER showed up.....Mr Washington...you are on my shit list. For something like a wedding, their ought to be SOMEONE from staff there to at least unlock the doors, if not do something like maybe ask if we needed anything. Thanks for nothing.

The wedding was great....although the somber look on many of the guys faces in the crowd was probably due to the LSU-Alabama game in the 3rd quarter, I believe.....he he he.
I sang Ave Maria.....evidently I didn't suck. I was so nervous, it meant a lot and I haven't sang with an organ in a long time...especially not without really rehearsing.

Then we got to party!!! Yeah! The hotel looked beautiful....and my favorite was asking Nicole, who is from outside Hanover, Germany....what was different about American weddings...and she said you know...in Germany we hire people to do the flowers. It's not even the most expensive part of the wedding. You can tell people what you want......I laughed and said that this was not a typical American wedding in that regard.......they're called florists...and yes, we have them....it was really funny...

The band was really good....Jerry Lyons and the Deltabilly Boys. Check 'em out.

Nicole, Martin, Michael, Chris and I hung out most of the reception and then went to Cats Meow...where I was going to try and get Nicole to sing 99 Red Balloons in German...my FAVORITE kareoke memory of all times.....I was going to sing a Tiffany song..but they had no 80s music.....damn them...but Nicole had the best expressions of the club......Martin was pooped. everyone else left, so Chris and I walked around and had a great time.

I spent Sunday recovering by napping and eating all day....La Madeleine's....Champagne Brunch at the Royal Sonesta.....and then hung out with Michael and watched the end of the Saints Game.....I tried to fly home Sunday night...my flight was delayed for over 3 hours. I have no idea if it ever went off, because about half of us got scheduled to leave Monday....so....Michael and I got po-boys from Danny and Clyde's...Roast beef...mmmmm.....and I got a bonus day with Michael to recooperate from my big night out......

We slept most of the day and then went to Little Tokyo..mmmmmm....and then went shopping on Magazine and I got a couple tshirts that make me laugh really hard...the sales lady said I have an infectious laugh..it was fun...then off to Borders to see if I could get Dana Abbott's cd, but they were sold out in the local section...way to go Dana!!!! Then back to the airport where as soon as I got to the gate they announced it was delayed a half hour..roars of laughter from my sister and Chris...my mom said I had to come home tonight....she didn't want to work all week....New Orleans can't keep me...

Anywho....it was a really fabulous weekend...I feel like a part of Anna and Sean's family. It was soooo nice to get to meet them after all these years. I was very happy all weekend. I'll post pics...

yes....my plan for a weekend of drinking and eating managed to work out...yeah!!!