Texas and Holly's Wedding!

Even though none of this technically took place while "abroad", I'm still going to update the blog with the events of the past week or so.

Last Thursday, I flew back to Texas to attend the wedding of Holly, my childhood best friend. I got in late afternoon on Thursday, met Dad at the airport and then we headed over to Hobby Airport to pick up Mom from her visit with Aunt Linda in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It was really good to see them both and then of course great to see the girls (and both dogs!) when we got back home that evening. We went for a quick BBQ dinner that night (something I've been missing!), and then it was back home to pack to head to New Orleans the next morning for Holly's wedding.

After I arrived in New Orleans that afternoon, Holly and her husband-to-be, Danny and I ran a bunch of wedding errands. Holly and I indulged in pedicures (ALSO something I've missed since being away!) and then headed over to the wedding hotel to get ready for the rehearsal. Mind you though, that I've been in the US for only about 24 hours at this point and suffering from a SEVERE case of jet-lag!

All went well at the rehearsal and then we headed over to a restaurant in the French Quarter for the rehearsal dinner - it was DELISH! That night all of the wedding party went out to party down on Bourbon Street, but I had to call it a night around 11:30pm b/c of the jet-lag and wanting to be more alert and coherent the next day for the wedding.

On Saturday morning, all of the bridesmaids went down to a cafe down in the French Quarter for breakfast and then came back to the hotel to get our hair and makeup done by one of Holly's friends. We pretty much just hung out for the rest of the afternoon until the photographer arrived and it was time to head over to the church in our SUPER COOL stretch Lincoln Navigator Limos! Woo hoo! :-)

The wedding was really gorgeous though and Holly and her family did an excellent job planning the entire affair. It was great to see all of her family as well, since they've been a part of our family for many years. It was really eerie being in New Orleans and seeing all of the "post-Katrina devastation" though. Of course there are always people trying to make a buck or two off of natural disasters, but I thought it was in VERY poor taste for Greyline Bus Tours to be offering "Katrina Devastation Tours" around the city - Ugh!

On Sunday morning, I flew back to Houston where Tasha and her Mom picked me up at the airport! We headed over to Carter's Country, a shooting range, to shoot a few rounds with Tasha's Dad and I'm actually a better shot than I thought I would be! It was good fun, and kinda a good stress-reliever! (Side note: When I mentioned this to my friend, Jo, back in London she said, "You know, when the English get stressed we go for a walk or have a nice cup of tea. When you Texans get stressed, you go down to the shooting range for a few rounds!" She TOTALLY has a point, but we were really safe and had a great time!) Then we headed back to the house to hang out for a bit with Curt before it was time for me to head back to Katy. It was a shame to not get more time with Tasha, but she's coming to visit me in London along with Curt and her Mom at the end of Sept! :-)

Not much else happened at home, and it was good to just sleep late and relax with the fam for a few days. Oh! We did take Kelly for her first pair of contacts though in honor of her birthday so that was fun. Then Mom and the girls and I did a bit of shopping around town for school supplies for the girls since they go back to school week after next.

Sally came into town on Thursday afternoon and we celebrated Kelly's official birthday with a birthday dinner (Kelly's request: Hot dogs and maccaroni) followed by ice cream cake and presents. Then today, Sally and I went to lunch, and then went to the mall to look around. We're now chilling out before dinner and trying to stay cool since Mom and Dad's downstairs A/C unit went out yesterday. It's HOT downstairs so we've been hanging out upstairs!

We're leaving for Kerrville in the morning to go and visit Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw for a bit. It's going to be a really quick trip (back on Sunday), but I'll update the blog with crazy Kerrville, Texas stories when we return! :-)