let's talk about some things.

One week later, my perspective is altered. MILDLY.

February still blows. Grad school is still sadistic.  My ladycrush professor still hates me, but has agreed to tear me a new one privately during office hours versus publicly during class.
It is an improvement.

TFA sent me this in the mail:

I'm sorry, I should be clearer:

Well, helLO, 704ish pages of reading plus scored exercises plus DVD viewage to complete before June 1. That is 40+ hours of sleep I will not be enjoying to squeeze you in around my real, actual, degree-bearing work.
ADULTHOOD.


I did in fact get paid, but lo and behold, my latest paycheck is already a day late and rumored to arrive next week.  My understanding is that the delay is "not really [Bosslady's] fault," as the checks are telegraphed to a printer in Bangkok, set aboard an RMS steamer on her maiden voyage round the North East Passage, and PonyExpressed from an apothecary shop in Anchorage before reaching my hot little Philadelphia hands.

As you do.

But thankfully, magically, this past weekend I attended my

FIRST!

WEDDING!
EVER!

and hot golly was it a beaut. As of Operation: NoLa Wedding, Richard has officially doubled his number of awesome cousins and it was THE BEST OF TIMES you guys.

I kind of desperately needed a trip and this was the one to take.  Not only is Philadelphia's gray/freezing/dismal February grating my nerves, but I am snowed under with work and there is no end in sight.
Grad school.  It will eat your face.

So I bought a ticket to the warm/sunny/happy subtropics in December and have been literally counting the days to First Ever Wedding Bonanza since.  Just imagine: the last time I had crawfish étoufée was in November, you guys.  NOVEMBER.

And! this wedding fell one week post-Mardi Gras and two weeks post-NoLaSaints SuperBowl Fantastical Miracle of the Century.  Yes: this wedding was EXACTLY that awesome.

I do apologize for the awkwardness of the pictures [we were on the second floor of the jazz hall (um, this wedding was in a jazz hall. HOW COOL IS THAT)], but a few gems include:

This jazz hall. It had all kinds of a major tree growing right through the middle. Wicked awesome.

This New-Orleanian performance art piece.  (Like everything else Louisianan,) New Orleans boasts its own wedding culture. This is a brass-band-led "second line" (which according my research derives from also-NoLa-specific funeral processions. Circle of life?).

And this live brass band.  Note the second line getting the party started on the right.




Live music.  Finger foods of outrageous deliciousness. Open bar.
WEDDING. CAKE.

Absolutely worth jet lag, zero sleep, and falling drastically behind on my (thesis) (papers) (reading) (life) work.
Vacations taken irresponsibly in the middle of the semester: RECOMMENDED.