Now Cinderella don't you go to sleep.

Well, it's Thursday, so it seems about time to blog the weekend.

Jeff and I had a whirlwind four-day mini-vacation last week. On Friday we were off to D.C. for my boss' wedding. I had been looking forward to this for a while for a lot of reasons.

1. I love weddings. I'm ALWAYS looking forward to them.

2. Seeing Evan and Courtney, our friends from San Diego, now residing at UVA Law school.

3. Seeing my coworkers who, despite the fact that I talk to them for nine hours a day, have only seen them once or twice.

4. Going to a city I've never been to before and seeing the sights.

5. Excessive drinking and eating.

OK, well maybe I hadn't intended to include that last part. Nevertheless, it happened.

The drive down to D.C. seemed surprisingly easy. I drove down to South Carolina last Christmas, and 16 hours in a car like that is just BRUTAL. In comparison to that, eight hours seems like a breeze. The hotel was nice, considering it was in D.C. limits and was just over $200 for three nights (combined). Nothing can set a trip off on a bad foot like a bad hotel room. Later that night, Courtney and Evan drove up to meet us and get dinner. 

The next day we headed down to DC to see as much as possible in the few hours we had. The plan was to see the Smithsonian museums Air and Space and Natural History, and hit up the National Gallery. Now here's my theory: I'd rather sort of skip through quickly and try and see everything, then go through slowly and miss half the museum. However, I was the only one who felt this way and spent most of the day by myself. My favorite was the National Gallery -- saw a real DaVinci! Can't beat that! It far exceeded other art museums I've been to in my life. By the time we got to the Natural History museum, I was pooped. We saw the Hope diamond but I was ready for a nap by then. I'll have to go back!

Courtney and Evan, our excellent and patient tour guides, departed from us around 5 as Jeff and I headed to my coworker Jon's house for dinner and chat. It was the first time the "wives" had met each other after much lead-up. I was so happy everyone got along. I spend a lot of time gabbing about Jeff to my coworkers (I can't help it!). Jeff and I dominated conversation (nervousness?) to the point where we felt bad about it later. Dinner was great, and we went to get dessert afterwards before heading home.

Sunday morning was Matt's wedding and the ceremony was filled with beautiful flowers that made you forget its was supposed to be outside. It was a short and sweet ceremony before the drinking contest, I mean fun, began. Look, when they're passing around mimosas, what am I supposed to do? I know the answer to that: drink as many as possible. I'm pretty sure I revealed some embarassing facts about myself, and that was before I even started dancing. Sigh. Dinner was great and I broke Lent to participate in dessert. (I regretted how much I ate and drank when I came home and found out I gained more than two pounds!! :(

Some neat things about the wedding:

1. The flowers. They were plentiful and beautiful and they made the room smell great! The bouquets also had white feathers on the bottom, which was a neat look.

2. My boss is Chinese and there was a Chinese tea ceremony in the middle of the reception. Basically, the bride and groom serve tea to the grandparents and parents and they give the bride and groom gifts (jewelry). It was highlighted by one of Matt's relatives explaining the ceremony ("And now comes the appraisal.") She was funny.

3. The dessert. Ha! Berries and cream in a chocolate shell. It was tough to break apart, but I managed.

The best pic I got of the bride and groom. My camera skills were sub-par.

The centerpieces.

My coworkers (from L-R): Jon, Steve, Me, Brett and Matt (the groom). Not pictured: The heel of Jon's shoe.

Jeff looked so handsome in his suit and new shirt and tie :)

When we got back to the hotel, I totally crashed on the bed and slept it off for an hour. Got up around seven to have dinner with my coworker Brett and his wife Kim (a total doll). Jeff spent the rest of the night head-first into a pillow. The next morning we drove back and it felt like it all ended too soon. 

I can't wait to see all these folks at our wedding in... holy crap... 114 days!