I am not in San Francisco. I am also not in New Orleans. Instead, I'm in yet another hotel in yet another city - Houston, to be precise, where I was stranded due to some issues on United's part (our first officer was missing because his wife had gone into labor, so they delayed us for three hours while they waited for a new crew member, which meant I missed my SF connection). However, because it was their fault, United comped my room and my taxi and some food vouchers for tomorrow. And because I'm so tired, I purposefully asked for a 1pm flight rather than a 5am flight as usually happens in these situations - I'd rather get a full night of sleep and be productive on the plane, although I may regret this if my flight has issues tomorrow.
But despite it all, the weekend was worth it. I'm sorry for the paucity of posts - I haven't had my laptop open since Thursday, which is v. unusual for me, and it's hard to write blog posts on my phone. I think it's safe to say that Ritu is properly prepared for her wedding (or, if she isn't, it wasn't for lack of trying).
I'm going to do some rapid fire memories/logging for posterity, and then I'm gonna go to bed:
Thursday
- I had a couple of two-sweet hurricanes to get the party going with Ritu and Kristen (a nurse whom I hadn't met before). When everyone who was going to arrive had arrived, we had dinner at GW Fins - I went there a couple of years ago with Grace and Tina, who are a v. v. different crowd from Ritu and her ilk. The seafood was tasty and the wine was delish, and this was definitely the most low-key meal of the weekend in terms of volume of noise, at least (although Ritu's baby niece, who was there with Shelly and Keith (the couple who got married at the German wedding five years ago), enjoyed making noise when she ran out of banana and remembered that she was jetlagged). Then I think we grabbed another couple of drinks after some other people arrived, but really, it's all a blur now (blog indicates we went to Bourbon Street...which reminds me that we went to a dive-y kind of place, where I had an ill-advised pinot grigio in an effort to stay relatively sober).
Friday
- Friday started with a late brunch in the Garden District at Atchafalaya, which was a lovely creole-type place in the converted house. Ritu's niece was again the star of the show, although the group had expanded by then to include Steph (whose wedding I went to in February) and Shen (who is quite possibly the tallest/most imposing woman I've ever met in my life, and watching her stand next to Ritu is sometimes laughable - she got in the night before but hadn't joined us until after dinner) and some other people.
- Did I mention there were seventeen women at this bachelorette, not including Keith and the baby (who mostly skipped the rest of Friday and Saturday)? And there are two Stephs, and two women who are both named Roshni Patel, so it got a little confusing.
- sssanyway. After brunch we wandered down Magazine Street with the plan of cutting over to St. Charles and looking at the mansions, but a sudden downpour split our group asunder. Half of us spent twenty minutes browsing at West Elm (the nearest store) and then called an uber back to the hotel; the other half were trapped under an awning, but we were eventually reunited.
- the rest of that afternoon turned into pool time. Chandlord, Steph and I were quite clever and bought booze and chips from the liquor store across the street, so we sat in the broiling sun and drank mimosas, and it was all quite lowkey. But the pool scene changed dramatically - at first it was only us, but then some bros from a bachelor party showed up, and then some families entered the mix, and a bunch of our friends came down, so it became a party. Also, it was only really bearable if you were in the pool (preferably with a mimosa), since it was too hot to handle sitting in the sun without being surrounded by water.
- then, at five we did a ghost tour. This turned into a debacle since we didn't adhere to the 'arrive twenty minutes early' rule, and also it poured on us again, but it was super fun and interesting - I learned a lot! And now I want to write a book about ghosts and demons (real and imagined) in New Orleans, but that's gonna have to wait.....
- that night, we were told to dress 'slutty' - and then dinner was at Willa Jean, a v. well-lit bistro-type place where sluttiness was certainly not the order of the day. But I think the food was great, and I enjoyed my cocktail (the loup-garou, ordered solely because that's werewolf in French).
- then we kept going out - first to Carousel, which was a lovely, v. southern bar with live music and tasty cocktails (and where we magically got a bunch of couches and chairs together, which shouldn't have been possible), and then to Bourbon O Bar, which was on last call when we strolled in...but the magic of New Orleans means that they made cocktails for us in plastic cups so we could take them with us when they kicked us out. That cocktail was the fanciest cocktail I've ever been served in a plastic cup (rosemary is usually not the accountrement of choice for the solo cup crowd).
- after that, many people kept going, but several of us split off and got an uber back. I wasn't feeling well all weekend - my stomach has been hurting really badly, which I blame Ritu's sister for since it feels about as bad as it did at her wedding. So I went back, but we waited for the uber in front of a church where a British kid was playing guitar and panhandling, and I think one of the Roshnis would have given him more than just a tip if she wasn't married. I, of course, thought it was a trap and that one of his Rasputin-looking accomplices was going to rob us, but nothing bad happened, so c'est la vie.
Saturday
- Saturday I was feeling hungry and surly and stomachachey, so I skipped the outing to Cafe du Monde (where I couldn't have eaten the beignets and just would have gotten more angry) and had a crab omelette by myself at the Palace Cafe, which is just what I needed.
- Then, we had a late brunch at Country Club. The uber ride over was totally awesome, especially when the driver drove five blocks the wrong way down a one-way street to save us time (I adored her and gave her five stars because she was badass). Country Club has a brunch show with drag queens, so we ate our food (pretty tasty, especially for a place with live entertainment - I went basic, but a lot of the meals looked amazing), and we drank our bottomless mimosas, and we threw dollars bills at drag queens, as one does.
- Then, it was all more of the same...drinks, pool time, prep time, dinner time, drink time. Dinner was at a private room at Cafe Amelie, which was utterly delightful - it's another restaurant in an old house, and the set menu was delightful, and we all gave Ritu lingerie and she had to guess who it was from, which was entertaining. And I heard an awesome story from Connie about what her name could have been, and I bonded some more with Roopa (who I had already bonded with in the pool in a move that someone caught on video and made look way more scandalous than it was), and I continue to pay rent to Chandlord, and it was all fantastic.
- Dinner ended really late, so we ended up going back to the hotel and drinking in the lobby bar (after they were closed - we drank our own wine) and playing cards against humanity and asking Ritu inappropriate questions, and eventually ordering pizza.
Sunday
- I was *not* in it to win it today - my stomach still hurt, and I was vaguely hungover (although not as bad as Friday morning, when I almost vomited in the cab because the guy went way out of the way and some bitch decided to wear incense as perfume and my stomach couldn't handle it - okay, she's not a bitch, but I was not feeling particularly charitably at that moment). But Steph and I got a late-ish checkout, so I laid in bed until ten and ignored the messages saying to meet for breakfast, and then I showered and packed and met them anyway, since a second group of us ate after the first group was mostly done. We went to Lüke (ridic name), and I had a burger and fries that saved my life.
- Then, we walked toward Jackson Square, and as we reached it we thought we were about to get hit by a deluge, so we ducked into Muriel's (on my suggestion) for cocktails and dessert. This took way longer than anticipated because southern service can be slooooow, but my drink was awesome (spiked coffee), and Muriel's is haunted, so people enjoyed that. And then, after a quick walk to a voodoo shop to check things out (I didn't buy anything, since my list of enemies is too long for voodoo to be effective), the two Stephs and I parted ways from everyone else and took a cab to the airport, where my travel adventures really began.
And now those are all the bare details - it was a really fun weekend, and I had a great time with (most of) the other bridesmaids and friends, and made some new friends and reconnected with some old ones (especially Roopa, whom I never see; and Steph 2, who was Ritu's friend when they were out here the summer I lived with Adit; and Priyanka (not Adit's wife), whom I met in Germany and who actually graduated from Centerville the same year that I graduated from high school, which is bizarre). And, of course, I always adore hanging out with Ritu, and I had a great time with her even if I had to share her with a whole bunch of other bitches.
And now I really, really need to sleep - I want to get enough sleep that I'm able to be productive on the plane and also get things done when I get home, so sleep is the best possible thing I could do right now. Goodnight!
But despite it all, the weekend was worth it. I'm sorry for the paucity of posts - I haven't had my laptop open since Thursday, which is v. unusual for me, and it's hard to write blog posts on my phone. I think it's safe to say that Ritu is properly prepared for her wedding (or, if she isn't, it wasn't for lack of trying).
I'm going to do some rapid fire memories/logging for posterity, and then I'm gonna go to bed:
Thursday
- I had a couple of two-sweet hurricanes to get the party going with Ritu and Kristen (a nurse whom I hadn't met before). When everyone who was going to arrive had arrived, we had dinner at GW Fins - I went there a couple of years ago with Grace and Tina, who are a v. v. different crowd from Ritu and her ilk. The seafood was tasty and the wine was delish, and this was definitely the most low-key meal of the weekend in terms of volume of noise, at least (although Ritu's baby niece, who was there with Shelly and Keith (the couple who got married at the German wedding five years ago), enjoyed making noise when she ran out of banana and remembered that she was jetlagged). Then I think we grabbed another couple of drinks after some other people arrived, but really, it's all a blur now (blog indicates we went to Bourbon Street...which reminds me that we went to a dive-y kind of place, where I had an ill-advised pinot grigio in an effort to stay relatively sober).
Friday
- Friday started with a late brunch in the Garden District at Atchafalaya, which was a lovely creole-type place in the converted house. Ritu's niece was again the star of the show, although the group had expanded by then to include Steph (whose wedding I went to in February) and Shen (who is quite possibly the tallest/most imposing woman I've ever met in my life, and watching her stand next to Ritu is sometimes laughable - she got in the night before but hadn't joined us until after dinner) and some other people.
- Did I mention there were seventeen women at this bachelorette, not including Keith and the baby (who mostly skipped the rest of Friday and Saturday)? And there are two Stephs, and two women who are both named Roshni Patel, so it got a little confusing.
- sssanyway. After brunch we wandered down Magazine Street with the plan of cutting over to St. Charles and looking at the mansions, but a sudden downpour split our group asunder. Half of us spent twenty minutes browsing at West Elm (the nearest store) and then called an uber back to the hotel; the other half were trapped under an awning, but we were eventually reunited.
- the rest of that afternoon turned into pool time. Chandlord, Steph and I were quite clever and bought booze and chips from the liquor store across the street, so we sat in the broiling sun and drank mimosas, and it was all quite lowkey. But the pool scene changed dramatically - at first it was only us, but then some bros from a bachelor party showed up, and then some families entered the mix, and a bunch of our friends came down, so it became a party. Also, it was only really bearable if you were in the pool (preferably with a mimosa), since it was too hot to handle sitting in the sun without being surrounded by water.
- then, at five we did a ghost tour. This turned into a debacle since we didn't adhere to the 'arrive twenty minutes early' rule, and also it poured on us again, but it was super fun and interesting - I learned a lot! And now I want to write a book about ghosts and demons (real and imagined) in New Orleans, but that's gonna have to wait.....
- that night, we were told to dress 'slutty' - and then dinner was at Willa Jean, a v. well-lit bistro-type place where sluttiness was certainly not the order of the day. But I think the food was great, and I enjoyed my cocktail (the loup-garou, ordered solely because that's werewolf in French).
- then we kept going out - first to Carousel, which was a lovely, v. southern bar with live music and tasty cocktails (and where we magically got a bunch of couches and chairs together, which shouldn't have been possible), and then to Bourbon O Bar, which was on last call when we strolled in...but the magic of New Orleans means that they made cocktails for us in plastic cups so we could take them with us when they kicked us out. That cocktail was the fanciest cocktail I've ever been served in a plastic cup (rosemary is usually not the accountrement of choice for the solo cup crowd).
- after that, many people kept going, but several of us split off and got an uber back. I wasn't feeling well all weekend - my stomach has been hurting really badly, which I blame Ritu's sister for since it feels about as bad as it did at her wedding. So I went back, but we waited for the uber in front of a church where a British kid was playing guitar and panhandling, and I think one of the Roshnis would have given him more than just a tip if she wasn't married. I, of course, thought it was a trap and that one of his Rasputin-looking accomplices was going to rob us, but nothing bad happened, so c'est la vie.
Saturday
- Saturday I was feeling hungry and surly and stomachachey, so I skipped the outing to Cafe du Monde (where I couldn't have eaten the beignets and just would have gotten more angry) and had a crab omelette by myself at the Palace Cafe, which is just what I needed.
- Then, we had a late brunch at Country Club. The uber ride over was totally awesome, especially when the driver drove five blocks the wrong way down a one-way street to save us time (I adored her and gave her five stars because she was badass). Country Club has a brunch show with drag queens, so we ate our food (pretty tasty, especially for a place with live entertainment - I went basic, but a lot of the meals looked amazing), and we drank our bottomless mimosas, and we threw dollars bills at drag queens, as one does.
- Then, it was all more of the same...drinks, pool time, prep time, dinner time, drink time. Dinner was at a private room at Cafe Amelie, which was utterly delightful - it's another restaurant in an old house, and the set menu was delightful, and we all gave Ritu lingerie and she had to guess who it was from, which was entertaining. And I heard an awesome story from Connie about what her name could have been, and I bonded some more with Roopa (who I had already bonded with in the pool in a move that someone caught on video and made look way more scandalous than it was), and I continue to pay rent to Chandlord, and it was all fantastic.
- Dinner ended really late, so we ended up going back to the hotel and drinking in the lobby bar (after they were closed - we drank our own wine) and playing cards against humanity and asking Ritu inappropriate questions, and eventually ordering pizza.
Sunday
- I was *not* in it to win it today - my stomach still hurt, and I was vaguely hungover (although not as bad as Friday morning, when I almost vomited in the cab because the guy went way out of the way and some bitch decided to wear incense as perfume and my stomach couldn't handle it - okay, she's not a bitch, but I was not feeling particularly charitably at that moment). But Steph and I got a late-ish checkout, so I laid in bed until ten and ignored the messages saying to meet for breakfast, and then I showered and packed and met them anyway, since a second group of us ate after the first group was mostly done. We went to Lüke (ridic name), and I had a burger and fries that saved my life.
- Then, we walked toward Jackson Square, and as we reached it we thought we were about to get hit by a deluge, so we ducked into Muriel's (on my suggestion) for cocktails and dessert. This took way longer than anticipated because southern service can be slooooow, but my drink was awesome (spiked coffee), and Muriel's is haunted, so people enjoyed that. And then, after a quick walk to a voodoo shop to check things out (I didn't buy anything, since my list of enemies is too long for voodoo to be effective), the two Stephs and I parted ways from everyone else and took a cab to the airport, where my travel adventures really began.
And now those are all the bare details - it was a really fun weekend, and I had a great time with (most of) the other bridesmaids and friends, and made some new friends and reconnected with some old ones (especially Roopa, whom I never see; and Steph 2, who was Ritu's friend when they were out here the summer I lived with Adit; and Priyanka (not Adit's wife), whom I met in Germany and who actually graduated from Centerville the same year that I graduated from high school, which is bizarre). And, of course, I always adore hanging out with Ritu, and I had a great time with her even if I had to share her with a whole bunch of other bitches.
And now I really, really need to sleep - I want to get enough sleep that I'm able to be productive on the plane and also get things done when I get home, so sleep is the best possible thing I could do right now. Goodnight!
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