friday, 18 january
i arrived at dulles on the 18th and found my way to arlington where my dear friend yung-mei lived. i was staying with her for the duration of my dc holiday. she was also my date to the wedding. i know yung-mei from work. except, i never worked with her. she was the predecessor to my former position and whenever she came to visit, i'd always go along. we got along very well. it turned out that we are both tigers and sagittarians. plus, she's half chinese. in 2003, i visited her in manhattan while she was there for grad school. i stayed with her then as well. she had this great apartment that was clearly an administrative mistake. that was my first new york trip.
by the time yung-mei and i met up, it was dinner time. she lives right by the mall at pentagon city. she suggested some places including ruby tuesdays. i'd never been there but have seen countless annoying commercials for them. so we went there for mini-burgers, chili and salad bar. it was yummy.
saturday, 19 januarythe big wedding day. we squeezed everything in before. like shopping. and more shopping. and getting ready. we got there just in time for the ceremony. the wedding was at the washington club on dupont circle. it was built in the early 1900's. apparently, the building was originally a residence and later housed the first women's club in dc. there is so much history there. it's really amazing. and it's been kept up beautifully.
the ceremony was lovely. from the dresses to the officiant's speech. steph, as you can see above was breathtaking. there were a couple of opera singers performing. i don't think i've been to a wedding with opera singers. fancy. the reception was right after the ceremony. after cocktail hour, that is. i was on antibiotics so couldn't partake in the alcoholic beverages. the reception was in the room next to the ceremony. i think there were about 150 people there. i'm really bad at gaging things like that and height (random). it was a good amount of people. what was interesting about this wedding was all the single women there. yung-mei tells me that there's a huge population of single women in dc and new york. i guess it's a good thing i'm in the bay area. less competition i suppose. hahah.
back to the reception... the speeches were awesome. there were 4 total and a couple of them brought tears out. her father's speech was super sweet. her best friend's speech was the big tear jerker. fantastic. the best man speech was, to say the least, entertaining but the most inappropriate. and finally her sister's speech was quite nice too. the slideshow lasted a bit longer than most but i enjoy seeing childhood pictures of my friends. the food wasn't as bad as i've had at weddings. i had a great time. i just wish i wasn't on antibiotics so we could've gone out afterwards.
sunday, 20 january
steph and erik had an open house as a post-wedding event. they have a 3-level home with this great backyard. there was still a lot of snow out that day. it was one of the coldest days, mostly because of the wind. i'd left yung-mei's with wet hair and the wind chill went right through me. i think i got wind burn on my cheeks. they were still red the next day.
i didn't get to talk to steph or erik much at the wedding so it was nice to catch up with them there. i chatted a bit with her parents, his cousin ilsa from minnesota and ate way too much. a former student and friend of my mine, terrence, was there was his lovely wife gayle. we met up at the open house and has dinner afterwards. i'd never really got to know gayle previously. they invited me to their wedding but i couldn't go. damn that ted. anyway... they are having their first baby so it's very exciting. for dinner, we went to this yummy pizza place (fomerly the thai room). at the wedding, i was seated next to them at the reception. and spent a good amount of time catching up. terrence (as he knows) was one of my favorites when he was a grad student. i'm happy that we've been able to keep in touch through the years...
monday, 21 january
i spent monday in annapolis, md, visiting an old coworker and her family. i worked with danie at scripps in san diego. i think she was there for her bf at the time (husband now), chris. my ex and i used to house sit and dog sit for them when they were away. they were part of my san diego family when i lived there. she was like my big sister.
the last time i was in dc was october 2004. danie was pregnant with her second child. before that, i hadn't seen her since i moved from san diego to the bay area. that was 2001. i decided to spend the day with her and the rest of her family. her kids are now 6 and 3 and totally adorable. at first as with most kids their age, they were shy but by the end of the day, her 3 y/o was telling me she loved me. super sweet. ugh, i wished i'd taken more pictures...
we ate at this sushi restaurant in downtown annapolis. it's right by the water so it was freezing there. i know, i'm such a wimp. the kids were running all over the place but well behaved. it's nice to see what a wonderful mother danie has turned out to be. and get this, these kids eat raw fish. they were eating the sashimi like chicken nuggets. it was amazing to see. i didn't start eating sashimi until well into my adulthood. crazy. at one point during dinner, danie says to me, wow, leaving san diego was the best thing for you! this is the absolute truth. when i think about who and how i was back then, i think, who is that girl? yuk, yuk, yuk.
when we said our goodbyes, it was a little sad. after spending the day together, it made me want to visit more often and keep in better touch with them. they are really good people.
i think i'm going to finish the last two days in dc later...
