some girls wander by mistake.

this weekend was excellent, one of the best ones i've had in a very long time.

thursday was my little sister's birthday. james and i took her (and aurora) to garden cafe for dinner, then to popcorn flix in the park to see the wild one. marlon brando was ridiculous, but the film was overall pretty good.

friday work was slow enough that i was able to leave a few hours early, which was just what i needed to finish up the house and rest a little before my friends came into town. by evening, sparkle_m0ti0n arrived with wishingforrain & husband; i hadn't seen michael since halloween, and cathy & dan since their wedding last may! time flies--it's weird to think how much has changed in between these visits. we had reservations for buca di beppo for dinner, which was excellent-eating. we then headed downtown, briefly stopping by room 3nine and then ultimately i-bar until close. thanks to albertamae, fairyphotos, danielmath and call_me_crash for being a part of it all!

saturday i made everyone so-so omelets, went to sci-fi city, then saw v for vendetta (again). i also bought a few books (and wishingforrain got me the postsecret book!), including a europe travel guide, and weird florida (both intending to help me with my wanderlust and travel goals). we came home, went back out for dinner, and eventually made it to austin's for coffee/tea, but overall had a pretty relaxed day.

sunday started with a mountain of french toast, and the game munchkin bites!, which was quite fun. i took wishingforrain & co to the airport that afternoon, came home and tried to nap (exhausted and achy--either from too much drinking on friday night or the beginning of getting sick).

here it is monday, i'm tired and icky (still), work is promising to be pretty slow, and while i welcome this change it's really hard to feel this lousy and stay engaged with so little going on. that said, i have a weekend full of great memories (and pictures!). i miss my BFF already, but hopefully, we'll at least be on the same coast one of these days.

there is nothing i could talk about that isn't completely trivial/insignificant in the face of hurricane katrina.

the remaining family i have there, we think, made out okay: they were on the west-side of the storm [above new orleans, in gonzales and a neighboring parish].

still, a city i love will be forever changed. baton rouge, my hometown, has a good deal of destruction. louisiana as a whole is looking really rough.

our house flooded twice in louisiana when i lived there, and the thing a lot of people don't understand about gulf-state floods: the ground is clay, and that water has nowhere to go. houses submerged are going to stay submerged for days, even weeks. it's so, so depressing.

all moved in.

one by one, every friend who agreed to help move, bailed. that, and other factors [no truck reservation, argument with my mother which left me in irrational tears, oversleeping] started off the morning on the wrong foot. but mcdonalds was still serving breakfast at 10:47am, and this one good thing turned the whole morning around.

so, just my grandparents, mom, and me and sasha, got the entire place moved over. every last stick of furniture in 2 trips. the tile was still being grouted on the bottom floor, so everything had to be moved into the garage. tonight we're setting up, and i can't wait.

because of this, last night we had to sleep upstairs on the futon, and my allergies were insane. i knew the previous owners had a cat up there, but i totally put off steam cleaning in lieu of painting. i'm paying for it today as i can hardly breathe, and keep coughing up what tastes like blood. so gross.

the drive to work took me an extra $2.00 and 15 minutes, but wasn't intolerable.