Decisions

I am not a girl who likes to make decisions. I'm a Libra, and Libras are known for indecisiveness. I constantly question myself about which decision is the right one, and after I've made a decision, I constantly question whether I have made the correct choice.

2007 so far has been a year of decisions. Decisions about getting a civil marriage license, decisions about my car, and lately, decisions about our church wedding. It's halfway through the year, and already I am decisioned-out. There are some other major decisions I know I am going to have to make in the near future, but I've reached my limit and have decided to put those off for now, to save my sanity.

I envy how easily my husband can make decisions. He makes them, and if they are the wrong ones, he deals with the consequences. He doesn't constantly worry about possible outcomes; he just lets things happen and deals with them as they occur. I wish I could adopt some of that view, but after 31 years of being the way I am, I'm not sure I can change.

Washington tour

My flight to DC included a very rude woman sitting in front of me. She absolutely could not live without having her purse under the seat, despite that being against the rules as you are supposed to put your carry on under the seat in front of you. Since she was in row 1, there was no seat in front of her. She was told by the flight attendant not to leave her purse lying on the empty seat beside her, so her solution was to take up the space under the seat, leaving the lady beside me with not much room to place her bag. I argued with the old hag and she refused to put her purse up in the overhead bin. Finally I suggested she not pick row 1 in the future. I almost took her purse and snuck it behind another seat to teach her a lesson, but I'm not that much of a mean bitch. I don't know why she was so obsessed about it, I certainly wouldn't trust people behind me not to go through my stuff, but I'd notice if the overhead bin right above my head was open. Anyway, she was an old rude hag who refused to follow the rules. I hate it when people make their own rules, especially when flying. We all have limited space... stick to yours.

I arrived and got a cab with a crazy cab driver who tried to sell me his poetry book. He also had this habit of repeating what he was saying at least 10 times... after a while I was thinking, buddy, get over the fact that my jacket matches my suitcase. He kept going on and on about how his eyes popped out when he saw I was color co-ordinated. The kicker was when I got out my wallet, which is also pink. He really flipped then. Didn't have the energy to tell him my favorite color was actually purple.

The hotel cost a fortune even after the deal our supplier worked out for the meeting attendees. It was the Grand Washington Hyatt in downtown DC, so I didn't expect it to be cheap, but I did expect my tub to drain and the electrical outlets to work. I wasn't impressed in the least.

I spent Thursday afternoon touring around DC. I opted to take a trolley tour, where I could hop on & off for the day. I got to see the main highlights, so I think I did pretty well for not having much time there. I've put some pics below. I think the highlight for me was the Lincoln Memorial. It was just really impressive. I saw it during the day and evening, and it was equally as impressive. I also made a stop at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and while there I bought an activity set of rocks for my nephew for his birthday.

Thursday night our meeting group met for dinner at Jaleo, a tapas restaurant. If you have never heard of a tapas restaurant (I hadn't), it's basically a bunch of small Spanish dishes served as a meal. Sort of like ordering a whole bunch of appetizers and sharing amongst everyone at the table. I really liked the concept, but I wasn't much of a fan of authentic Spanish food. I did try a bunch of things, but it's not something I am likely to try again without looking over the menu first.

To be honest, I didn't think I was going to like Washington, but I did. There is so much to see and do, you need at least a week to get through things of interest. I would like to go back some day, with John, and get to more of the museums and revisit the memorials. I expected it to be stinkin' hot, but I was told it was two of the coldest days they'd had in a while. It actually ended up being comfortable for touring around, so it worked out well.


I had lunch here on my first day. They only serve burgers and fries, and always use fresh ground beef. It was pretty good. I read a comment from someone who called it the In-N-Out Burger of the East Coast. I will have to compare. Had lunch with guys in suits wearing backpacks. Expected to see Bradley Whitford with them; felt like I was on lunchbreak in an episode of The West Wing. :)

Chinese Subway and, what I thought was very odd, a Chinese Texan BBQ???

Chinatown

I didn't expect to see one of these in a downtown area, let alone in Chinatown.

Capitol Hill

Lincoln Memorial

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool as seen from Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Wall

Vietnam Wall

Vietnam Wall

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

Washington Monument

The closest I got to the White House

The Hope Diamond

Easter Island head. Easter Island heads rock! :P

WWII Memorial at night

Lincoln at night

Korean War Memorial

Montreal

I arrived in Montreal a little bit early. Good thing as I don't have much time to make my connection. Since I am flying into Reagan National, I also have to go through an extra security screening. Hopefully not a body cavity search. :P

They have a St. Hubert Express in the food court at the airport now. Nice to have another option for eating here.

Stupid security checker *threw* my sneakers into the scanner. Thanks, asshole.

The extra DCsecurity check included personal wanding and looking through the bag. No biggie.

At least it's light out

I know why I picked this early morning flight - it was because I would get to Washington, DC early enough to do a few touristy things. I have to admit though that I was tempted to change my flight yesterday so I wouldn't have to leave so early.

I am not crazy about the fact that DC is a high crime area. I am usually a smart traveler, but being a small blonde woman walking around by myself, I'm not exactly at low risk. I think once I land and get settled at the hotel, I will seek out a guided tour. That way I am not walking around alone, and will likely see more than just wandering around by myself, trying to find things.

I haven't been looking forward to this trip. I don't get much out of traveling alone to somewhere I've never been that is known for its high crime rate. I'm only gone 2 days though, and will be back home again by suppertime on Saturday.

I am kicking myself now though for not following through on my plan to stop in Toronto overnight tomorrow night and go to my shoe store on Saturday morning. I just don't agree with my flight choices this time.

Time to board...

More progress

I called the Union Club today and confirmed that I wanted to use it as our wedding reception venue. I need to drop off a deposit, hopefully I will have time to do that tomorrow as I forgot to take my chequebook with me today. I told the venue what we had decided on for a meal. All that remains are to buy some candles and decide on some smaller aspects regarding timing of events at the venue.

I confirmed with my priest today that we had picked 11am as the time of day for the wedding. I don't remember us confirming that, so I figured it would be a good idea. :)

I ordered the favors tonight. I insisted on going with edible favors, and I think they will be familiar and yet unique.

I didn't have as much luck with shoes. The ones I was eyeing are out of stock in my hard-to-find size. As if finding 8.5 AAAA shoes isn't hard enough, trying to find a wedding-appropriate shoe isn't any easier.

Wedding planning a go-go

I've been pretty busy. I've started wading through the world of wedding planning. Today was a particularly disappointing day because my reception venue turned me down for the sake of lost profits. I am now in search of a new venue that can hold 100 people for a sit-down lunch.

I was in Portland this past weekend and found a dress. I didn't have to compromise on what I wanted, and the price was fabulous. It just needs a few alterations and I'll be all set. I've asked Jenn to be my matron of honor, so we found her a dress as well and got a discount for buying the two both at David's Bridal. We had to order it and will go back down to Portland some time in the next month or two to pick it up.

Portland also yielded a lot of deals on clothes. Target was crammed full of clearance racks so I picked up a few things there. Also got in on a store closing sale of New York & Company so I picked up a few more things there. It was a good trip, and the exemption increase to $400 for 48h certainly helped out considering I had a wedding dress to bring back.

The new car is working well. I had it in the body shop yesterday to get the paint scratches taken care of. They gave me a rental overnight and I got my car back today at lunchtime. I was glad to have it back today though. A Kia Spectra is not the same as a Grand Prix. This car does have a larger gas tank, so it's taking a lot more each time I fill up.

That's really all that is up with me at the moment. Wedding planning has basically taken over since it's a mere 3 months away. Planning something that requires a lot of decision-making is not easy for someone who can't seem to make a decision. I wonder if having to do this in a tight time frame will help me get any better at it? Who knows. The civil wedding certainly had the ease factor, I'll give it that. Things are starting to come together though, and I am staying positive that I'll be able to find a new reception venue.