A week from now, I’m marrying my best friend.

On one hand, it seems like we’ve been planning this wedding forever but on the other hand, it seems that it really snuck up on us.

All in all, we’re in pretty good shape to-do list wise. All of the presents for our attendants are put together. I had my final dress fitting on Friday. The Architect did programs today and he’s working on typing out the seating chart. We’re pretty well organized.

I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m stressed yet… maybe that will come later this week.

I’ve had this quote swirling around in my head for the past couple days:

“I still think someone can ‘turn out’ until age 18 (I secretly hope that there’s still a remote chance that I will ‘turn out’ ok)” – Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There’d be Cake

It kind of struck a chord with me. I hate thinking of our lives and our personalities as being static at any age. Shouldn’t we be able to change at any time? Don’t we have the ability to better ourselves at any age? We can still “turn out” okay, right?

Perhaps once we cross over that invisible line of adulthood (legally at 18 years old), there’s always going to be tenets of our personalities and lives that stay the same. We’re always in some way the victim or the saint, the sinner or the hero.

Maybe we carry something with us throughout our lives but I think there is always still that ability to “turn out” okay… if we want it.

I’m hopeful…

New Orleans is definitely a good destination for any foodie. We had a few amazing meals while we were there.

This is the French Market. It’s part flea market, part food lovers paradise. They have a ton of different stands with different New Orleans specialties. We loaded up on Cajun spices and I also introduced the Architect to pralines. Pralines are sugary pieces of heaven made of good stuff like brown sugar, butter and nuts (yes, they’re definitely not diet friendly but they’re oh-so-tasty).

Later on, Phil and I went to dinner at the Market Cafe, which was (perhaps unsurprisingly) right across the street from the French Market. Here’s my fiance and his chicken that was stuffed with yummy things like andouille and catfish.

I went with the Jambalaya.

New Orleans is also known for its nightlife. We stayed very close to Bourbon Street. My mom (yes, my mom) told us that we should go to Pat O’Briens (a well known piano bar) to drink Hurricanes. And so we did. I’m not sure all what goes into a Hurricane but they are rum based.

On the morning before we got on the plane to come home, we went to Cafe Du Monde. I had heard about Cafe Du Monde from several people who said that it was not to be missed. Cafe Du Monde is famous for two things: chicory coffee and beignets.

Beignets are French donuts. It’s basically fried dough covered in powdered sugar. Definitely a special treat.
The coffee was quite rich and delicious.

Both had the Architect’s approval

Life is really speeding by these days:

-  We’re about 2.5 weeks from the wedding. I’m trying very hard to not let the little things stress me out and so far, I think I’ve been pretty successful. There’s been a few little issues that have cropped up here and there but nothing major and I hope it stays that way.

- Major renovations on our apartment are set to begin early next week. I’ve made peace with having to rip the apartment apart. It’ll be nice to come back to all of the new things in the apartment after the honeymoon.

-  I’m finally coming into the new decade by getting a smart phone (this is a big thing for me as I’ve been happy enough to be unconnected from the rest of the world sometimes but it’s time for my old flip phone to be laid to rest).

- We got some good news yesterday that could mean that we’ll be changing our locale within the next 2-3 months. Not to be vague but I want to make sure everything is copasetic before I give any more detail. This could really be a wonderful opportunity for the Architect and I. Saturday needs to come soon so we can start making decisions.

Life is really good.