i am procrastinating! but i have a good topic: Kendall’s wedding!

It was in one of my favorite non-New York cities, New Orleans. the Big Easy. Luke and I, as usual, had not packed or prepared in advance and found ourselves trying to plan a weekend’s wardrobe at midnight on thursday. we went to bed after 1 and woke up at 4:45 a.m. on Friday. By 5:30, we were at the 14th St. 1/9/2/3 subway for an adventure in public transportation!

Who knew there is no express train between midnight and 6 a.m.? the 3 disappears altogether, and the 2 runs on the local line. but since we didn’t know that, we let a 2 train go and then waited and waited by the express tracks until i read the subway map legend and figured it out. weirdly, it said express service starts at 6:30 but at 10 after 6 a.m. a 3 train rolled into the station. By 6:25 we were at 125th street where we waited 5 minutes for the M60. That took us straight to LaGuardia. We got to the gate just as they were starting to board. whew! it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the airport — but if it weren’t for that after-hours non-express thing, i think it would ordinarily have taken 15 minutes less. if you ever need to choose your way to the airport, you’ll have to weigh the value of time vs. the value of money equation. it cost $4 for the two of us to get to LaGuardia.

our flight out there was noneventful. however, word was that bush was speaking at a commencement at LSU the next day. our flight was put in a holding pattern 100 miles out of N.O.L.A. because of “VIPs.” How much do you want to bet we were hovering for bush?

we arrived 10 minutes later than expected and grabbed a cab to the city. we had a half hour to get to Dauphine Street in the French Quarter for lunch! i had made reservations for the last lunch seating at Susan Spicer’s Bayona.

we just made it. and the hostess kindly stowed away our luggage. We met up wtih Tamar, who was a sight for sore eyes! it’s funny to see a friend who lives in your town–but whom you haven’t seen in weeks–in a far away city.

the restaurant is beautiful. it’s in what must have been an old house. the walls are the most soothing color of burnt red. one room — an interior one with no windows — has murals on the walls.

as is almost always the case at fancy restaurants, the appetizers have all the sensational flavors. we three shared an appetizer of grilled seasoned shrimp with black bean cake. mmmm. the chef also made dishes vegetarian on request so i had the sauteed scallops minus the pancetta. luke had the amberjack minus the bacon. tamar had the shrimp with chorizo. i don’t know why i bothered, i ate meat all of my other meals that weekend.

i loved all the flavors, but especially the dessert. we ordered two because we couldn’t decide. the hazelnut bomb with banana fritters looked gorgeous and tasted good, but it lost the contest to the mango coconut spring roll. yum!!!

our leisurely lunch lasted more than 2 hours. then we rolled our luggage along to our hotel just outside the quarter on st. charles ave. we checked into the free room i got for refinancing with wells fargo, and guess what? it was what you’d expect from a free room. our view was onto the interior of the hotel and just across the way from the hotel gym! we kept the curtains drawn!

now i’m getting tired. must sleep. but will say that the wedding was tasteful. kendall looked gorgeous — as always. david was handsome. i had to read a poem by rumi, and i didn’t lose it in the middle of my recitation. and the reception was fun! the band was excellent — new orleans jazz, with lots of brass. david requested the last song to be audubon zoo. it’s a children’s song i guess, but they speeded it up so we could dance to it and the refrain goes, Dey All Axed About You. (”…I wen on down to de audubon zoo and/Dey all ax’d for you/De monkeys ax’d/De tigers ax’d/And de elephant ax’d me too…”).

afterward, several dartmouth buddies and kendall’s brother chuck (i kept calling him charles!) convinced kendall and david to come to tipitina’s with us. we saw a great opening band whose name i never caught. they did bluesy rock, my favorite kind. then we listened to a few numbers from the headliner, Big Sam and the Funky Nation. funk-ay!

one wedding down, 6 more to go! plus, of course, luke and mine! this is going to be a busy summer.