Celebrating David & Ricky [and other DC shenanigans!]

Happy Thursday! Today I’m going to tell you all about my amazing weekend in DC. It was super fantastic.

My husband and I road tripped down to DC on Friday. It’s been so long since we’ve taken a road trip together sans kids. In the old days we would have stopped at BP, grabbed some Mountain Dew, Slim Jim, Combos, and a couple packs of cigarettes, among other things. We also would have made sure we loaded the car with all of our favorite CDs. This time was much different. We packed apples, tuna salad sandwiches, plenty of water, and pretzels. And no cigarettes or other things. We had a nice drive, listening to internet radio from my husband’s phone. After a while, I introduced him to Serial. We listened to that for a good couple of hours until our heads hurt and we couldn’t focus anymore. Then my husband called to restore satellite radio, and we listened to techno, jam bands, and classical music.

We made it to DC in amazing time, and before rush hour. If you’ve ever experienced Capital Beltway on a Friday during rush hour, you’ll know why this was probably one of our most important moves of the entire weekend. My cousin, aunt, and uncle arrived several hours later, minutes before the rehearsal dinner began because they headed out of CLE later and thus sat in DC traffic for a long while.

Rehearsal dinner selfie!

My entire family converged on DC for this wedding, and it was really great to see everyone. One of my brothers unfortunately couldn’t make it, but the other one did, plus cousins, my parents, aunts and uncles. The rehearsal dinner was super fun. We sat at a table with my cousin’s first cousins on the other side. (Confusing enough for you?) They were very nice and hailed from NY and ATL. In fact, a lot of the eastern seaboard was represented. ATL, VA, DC, MD, NJ, NY, MA… I wonder where else I’m missing…

We discussed how ridiculous these varying iPhone sizes were… mine is the smallest and oldest. 4S baby!

The rehearsal dinner was held at the Old Ebbitt Grill, almost across the street from the White House. My aunt’s fiance happens to work, and have security clearance, in the same building as the restaurant. As a special treat after dinner, he took us all up to the roof of the building which had spectacular views of the city. Just beautiful.

On Saturday morning I went for a run with my friend, Suzanne. It was freezing. You can read all about that here. After my run, my husband, mama, and I headed to Georgetown to do some shopping and eating — two things I’m particularly good at! Major bummer for me, though, because it was still 25˚F! Brr! And my poor mama from AZ — I made her borrow one of my winter dress coats to go shopping because she arrived with a tiny fuzzy vest that she was trying to pass off as a jacket. Mom, you’ve been in AZ too long!

Lunch selfie!

We walked down M Street for a block or so and then decided it was too cold to dawdle and headed indoors for lunch. Because we didn’t plan this event too far in advance, we picked a restaurant at random, and waited for a table which ended up being right next to the door which opened and closed frequently. Brrrr again! The restaurant, Clyde’s, was all right. I’m not sure I’d recommend it but it had warm food so that was a plus. And two totally weird things happened while we were there. We were literally sitting right next to the street, so we witnessed a worker putting garbage bags below the street under one of the grates (this actually happens?), and then as we were finishing up and putting on our coats, someone on the other side of the door from us fell into the window and knocked over his entire table. After the entire restaurant looked over to see what happened, someone yelled, “Is there a doctor in the house?” and a few people rushed over. I heard the man say, “I’m all right, I just tripped” and everyone cautiously went back to their lunches. It was very strange indeed.

On our way back to the hotel we decided we would try to shop a bit. It was just too darn cold. We headed into one kid/baby store to “check it out” but really it was just to go inside and warm up. My husband got us a cab back to the hotel.

Cab selfie!

Upon arrival back at the hotel, we ran into my dad and his girlfriend, my aunt, and my brother hanging out in the lobby. We hung out with them for a few minutes, and then my exhaustion got the better of me and we retired to our room for the afternoon. I truly had no intention of napping, but the warm room, the squishy bed, and the faux fur throw lured me to sleep. Next thing I knew, it was 3:30 pm and family photos were at 4!

Technology. SMH.

World’s most comfortable bed.

Haul ass!

After quickly dressing and fixing makeup, plus a super speedy run to Starbucks, my dapper husband, my well-dressed mama, and I headed down for the photos and family dinner. It was lovely. We sat with the NY/ATL cousins again, and heard some pretty funny stories from them. Great company. My aunt gave an emotional toast, as did my cousin’s father, and it was truly a wonderful occasion. After dinner, we headed to a yoga studio for the ceremony!

Alice in Wonderland meets chic hotel meets library.

My beautiful Aunt!

The grooms!

Yum!

Wedding dinner selfie!

That must have sounded confusing. Let me explain. The grooms did a fantastic job at organizing their wedding weekend. First, we had a family dinner. It was nice and intimate, relaxing, and a great start to the evening. After dinner was a cocktail hour followed by the wedding ceremony. The evening concluded with cake and dancing.

Where was I? Oh yes, the ceremony. The ceremony/reception location was amazing. It was a yoga studio they rented out to use for private parties. The space was industrial with warm wood floors and brick walls. The decor for the ceremony was beautiful. An altar made of branches, white candles, and green floral touches throughout. Just beautiful. I knew my cousin was nervous, so I watched him with anticipation. As he stood at the front of the altar and watched his husband-to-be walk down the aisle, I felt like I was right there with him. The ceremony was led by their friend and was short and sweet. Lots tears were shed throughout the room. After so many years together (14!), and thinking they would never see this day come, my cousin and his groom finally tied the knot to make it official. It was an amazing, beautiful day and evening, and I’m so grateful I was able to be a part of it.

The cake cutting was another emotional ordeal. My other cousin (not the one getting married, but his brother) gave a remarkable toast which certainly caused the entire room to cry. There wasn’t a dry eye within the entire venue. And then the sister of the groom gave another toast, which caused us all to shed another tear or ten! But it was lovely, and such a magical event. It was amazing.

Toaster who made us all cry!

The grooms!

Their two pugs! So cute.

The cake was delicious and the brief moments of dancing were fun. But after hours in heels, it was time for me to put my legs to rest. Apparently I missed a heck of a party, which I only heard about the next morning. I was a little bummed no one pushed me to stay out, but what’re you gonna do?

Plus, when my husband, mom and I got back to our rooms, we found a carrot cake. Who does that?! Apparently — and here’s the story to the carrot cake — they were in an elevator earlier in the day with a lady who had a carrot cake. My husband told her if she needed help finishing it to come to room 513 which just so happened to be my mom’s room number! Ha! Lo and behold, when we returned from the wedding, there was the cake in all it’s carroty glory.

Say “CARROT CAKE!”

We met up with the family for a farewell brunch on Sunday morning, which was also my brother’s birthday. Good times! Lots of yummy food, a full bar (which I didn’t take advantage of because it was 10 am and we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us…), and great conversation.

The drive home was uneventful. We listened to some more classical music and Serial. It’s like we’re old now. So lame.

And that’s all I got, folks. A super fantastic weekend, an emotional and fabulous wedding celebrating two amazing, amazing people, and good times with family!

Huge congratulations to David & Ricky. May your lives be filled with fantastic adventures, enduring love, and an abundance of happiness. Love you guys.