We finally made it. Getting here was quite an adventure for both of us. Packing up the apartment in New Orleans completely stressed me out (I may or may not have cried on the kitchen floor while packing baking pans), and when the movers and packers arrived, they unpacked all of my boxes and repacked them. They're the professionals, so I couldn't be too upset, but if we ever use movers again, I have learned my lesson.
Before the packing and the moving, we had to say goodbye to our New Orleans friends. Goodbyes are seriously the worst. But I'm so happy I was able to spend that time with them. I had a lady date with Kelsie and Veronica that was supposed to be just coffee, but ended with champagne and beer at a bar. We also had a gathering at New York Pizza to say goodbye to more of our Nola friends. I immediately cried when I arrived to the party, because my best friend, Garrett, made me this. It's framed and full of our inside jokes and it's my party and I'll cry if I want to:
Here's some pics of our favorite New Orleans people:
When the movers left, we headed to Gonzales to spend the weekend with my family. It was great. I love my family so much and I treasure any time that I get to spend with them. Aunt Boo was also in town and so we had lots of reasons to get together with everyone. We went to the movies, out to eat, played with the kids at home, had a pizza party, and laughed a lot. We stayed in Gonzales until Tuesday morning when we were leaving to drive to DC. And of course, I had a complete meltdown Monday night when all of my feelings about leaving came pouring out when it was time to say goodbye to Jackson. Poor little guy said, "Your face is red." So, I successfully weirded Jackson out, but I obviously have no control over my emotions (see above).
We said goodbye to Mom and Dad on Tuesday morning (yep, cried again). As we pulled out of the driveway, I felt emotionally prepared to pick up the cats and then start making our way to DC. But things were not going to be that easy for us. When we were crossing the lake and were almost to New Orleans, I got a call from my agent. She said that the casting director of HBO's "Treme" had called and wanted to know if I could be on set the next day for a scene. The actress they had cast had to drop out and they were offering the role to me. I was shocked. A lot of conflicting emotions were going on inside of me. On one hand, I was so ready to just get to DC. We had waited so long and I was emotionally spent from all of the stress and the goodbyes and I was just so ready to get there. On the other hand, I got a part on "Treme"!!!!! Finally! After trying to get on that show for two years! It was a big deal to me and a great opportunity. There was no way in hell I was going to pass it up. And at that moment, I was reminded why I love Cody, because he didn't even hesitate. He said I had to accept the role and we could wait to go to DC. He's the best. Seriously. I'm so lucky. So we drove back to the apartment, spent a night on the air mattress and I reported to set at 5:30 the next morning. I had a great day on set. Everyone was super nice and shooting was lots of fun. I hope this doesn't sound like name-dropping because I really do hate that, but I want to go on record as saying that Steve Zahn is sweet, funny, encouraging, and so NORMAL. I also got to spend the day with Darryl Montana, Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas (Mardi Gras Indians). He got a big hug from me after we were wrapped. He is a real-life New Orleans character. It was a perfect last day in New Orleans.
Our drive was fine and uneventful, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The cats weren't thrilled, but that was to be expected. We arrived in DC Thursday night. I can't believe we've already been here a week. Time has flown. We've been getting to know our neighborhood a little better. Here's a couple of spots we've been to:
Radius Pizza
A New York style pizza joint. Their pizza is delicious (we've already eaten there twice) and this is where we watched the Super Bowl.
Heller's Bakery
A Greek bakery. The people that work here are the friendliest but it's a great place to grab coffee, a pastry, and get on the internet. It's only three blocks away and I'm here now!
While at Heller's on Saturday, we grabbed a copy of the City Paper (DC's equivalent of Nola's Gambit). We saw an ad for the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival at the American History Museum. I was wondering how and where I was going to get my old movie fix in DC. The Prytania Theatre in Nola will always be favorite place to see an old film and I'm still searching for somewhere like it here. But this film festival seemed like a good alternative for the time being. Warner Bros. just sponsored the renovation of the theatre in the museum and this was their grand opening. Best of all, it was FREE. So on Sunday we headed to the museum and browsed their display of Warner Bros. movie memorabilia and then lined up to first hear a talk by NPR film commentator, Murray Horwitz, and then see a screening of "The Big Sleep" with Bogart and Bacall. The talk was short, but interesting. But when he opened the floor to questions from the audience, Cody and I agreed that "audience questions" always made us a little uncomfortable and embarrassed for everyone involved. I was especially weirded out by the heavy-set guy with the pony-tail, that mouth-breathed all over the microphone and wheezed about his obsession with Lauren Bacall, begging the speaker to give up any information he had about her. Ew.
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| Lauren Bacall's suit from "The Big Sleep" |
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| Daniel Radcliffe's costume from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" |
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| Warner Bros. display case |
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| Memorabilia from "Casablanca" |
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Jack Warner's address and telephone book
Notice "Davis, Miss Bette" :) |
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| Murray Horwitz |
Our furniture and all of our stuff arrived on Monday and although it felt good, it was also a little overwhelming. We slowly unpacked over the next couple of days because it was the only way I could deal with it. Inspired by Bogie, I got a library card (yay!) and checked out "The Maltese Falcon" on DVD. On Tuesday night, we drove to Logan Circle and ate at a Mexican restaurant for Taco Tuesday (my favorite made up day) and when we got home Cody suggested we watched the movie. We weren't finished unpacking, so I used the movie as a motivator to just finish unpacking already! We got it done and when we felt that it finally looked like an actual apartment, we watched the movie.
I'm so happy with our apartment. I feel like we were meant to live there. I'm actually enjoying doing the dishes, and the laundry, and the cleaning....because it's OUR apartment and it feels good to take care of it...let's see how long this feeling lasts;)
xoxo
