Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Aging in Louisiana

A very emotional goodbye to Ottawa was somewhat eased on the weekend as we had grand plans to meet each other in New Orleans to celebrate my 30th birthday! Yes. I am 30 now. I thought I would be really up set about turning 30 but instead, I have found myself really looking forward to it. I mean, what’s not good about life right now? I have a great job, I have a very handsome fiancĂ© who I am crazy about, I have lived in a number of places around the world and I am about to be a Housewife of Orange County for a few months! I really have no complaints.

So by Friday afternoon, as I packed up my last few work bits and pieces I was beyond excited to head to Ottawa airport to be reunited with my favourite man. Alas, United Airways struck again. Let me complain for a brief moment. Airlines in the US are the WORST. Seriously the worst. They are expensive, flight attendants are rude, your luggage gets lost with unacceptable regularity and flights get cancelled all the time. Not to mention dealing with security at US airports and the CUSTOMS process. Argh! Its miserable. There are things that we love about the US, don’t get me wrong, this just isn’t one of them.

And, United Airways is by far the worst of them all. I really hate flying with United and avoid it at all costs. Alas it was a must for this trip. So I arrived at Ottawa airport on time for my flight, cleared customs with a very nice man who gave me restaurant tips about NOLA and awaited my boarding call. During this time I was also in constant phone contact with Joep. His flight to NOLA with United Airways had been cancelled / delayed until the following morning. It was very upsetting and Joep was less than impressed. Just as it was getting time for me to board though, Joep called to say that he had found a seat on a Delta flight that would get him to NOLA that evening as planned. Yippee!!

My ecstasy wore off very quickly though because as I hung up the phone I heard the announcement that MY flight was cancelled. What?! Yes. Welcome to flying with United. To add insult to injury, as we were all taken out of the boarding lounge and back upstairs to checkin, I was informed that there were no more flights out that evening because the weather in Washington DC was bad. This confused me because my connection was in Chicago. The United Airways gal didn’t care. In fact she then went on to say that the earliest I could get out of Ottawa was the following morning at 6am. I was pretty upset but held it together and asked for my hotel details. She responded by … wait for it … shrugging her shoulders! Imagine my consternation. I asked what that meant, the shoulder shrug and she informed me that because it was a cancellation due to weather they didn’t have to give me a hotel for the night. Seriously?! What?! I was inconsolable. Thank goodness for good friends, I called Katie who collected me from the airport, arranged icecream to lift my spirits and let me stay in her spare room for the night. I love Canadians – And I love Katie. Seriously.

The only upside to all of this was that the flights I was on the next day were operated by Air Canada! The BEST airline in North America (along with Porter air which is also stellar). The checkin staff and flight attendants are super helpful and friendly and they are reliable to be on time. Heaven.

But the drama wasn’t over yet. Even though I had cleared US customs the night before, I was required to re-clear customs but this time in Toronto. I hate clearing customs in Toronto. The guys in Ottawa are way nicer. I had a 3 hour layover and it’s a good thing I did because getting through customs was a nightmare. I was properly interrogated and had to print out all kinds of information including a page of our wedding website (true story!) to prove that I wasn’t planning on staying in the USA. Lord. It was awful. And the customs officers were so rude and mean! The final guy I dealt with was the only nice person there. He spoke to me like I was a real person and didn’t feel the need to shout or degrade me in any way. In fact, he took one look at the printouts, stamped my passport and sent me on my way. Bless him. I hate clearing customs into the USA.

By the time I boarded my connecting flight to NOLA (which I only just made thanks to the interrogation) I was a hot mess. Poor Joep had received numerous hysterical calls from me and was waiting with baited breath to see if I would make it to NOLA that day.

I made it! And boy was I happy to see Joep at the airport. Whew! We collected our rental car and headed to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where we had a beautiful room for the weekend. Time for the celebrations to begin!

Upon arrival at the hotel we headed up to the room where Joep surprised me with champagne and strawberries – Delish! Funny though because Joep ordered 2 bottles of champagne so the hotel delivered 4 glasses assuming that 4 people would be drinking 2 bottles. Wrong! Only 2 of us were needed to polish of 2 bottles. I’m not sure this is something to be proud of but I am proud.

We couldn’t get started on the champagne straight away though because we had 1 very important activity to get done. Joep had done all the research and so off we went for a 1.5 hour drive to Slidell Municipal Airport where I was going to throw myself out of a plane at 10,000 feet. Yes. I was going SKY DIVING!!

On the drive out I was pretty quiet. In fact, I didn’t have much to say at all which, for some reason, irritated Joep until I pointed out to him that I was feeling a little nervous about the jump. He only kind of understood. You see, Joep was not jumping. It is not because he didn’t want to (sure Joep), he really really wanted to (mmmhmmm …) but there are weight restrictions. Lets not forget that Joep is very tall and therefore, very heavy. So he was too heavy to jump. He was ‘very disappointed’ (riiiiiiight …) … it wasn’t going to stop me though! I was all set to go.

The next hour was spent signing forms to say that if I died I couldn’t sue anyone (yikes) and watching a couple of people before me jump which was very exciting and made me feel way better about my jump. I was then given a brief training course on what to do when we left the plane (ARCH!) before I was kitted out in my sexified purple jump suit. By this stage I was feeling very excited and very nervous. As I got strapped up the excitement gave way to just nerves and a little bit of fear. But I was committed to doing this. Seriously.

By the time I was saying good bye to Joep and heading for the plane I was feeling a smidge weak in the knees. The plane was teeeeeeeny. Seriously small. There was enough room in there for the pilot, my tandem jump instructor and 1 other man. So small! And it was also a bit rusty and shaky. I was properly afraid that I would ironically die in a plane crash whilst planning on jumping for the exact plane that killed me. True story. My imagination really got the better of me.

As we rose in altitude I started to feel a bit better surprisingly. I think it is because the guys in the plane with me were so calm. Just as I was thinking that we were about to jump, the guy sitting opposite me looked at his altitude reader thingo (technical term) and leaned in to tell me that we were half way up … HALF WAY! I looked out the window, swallowed hard and willed myself not to cry. Again, the fact that the guys were so chilled out made me feel better. Plus the views up there were AMAZING!!

After a bit more climbing I was informed that we had reached 10,000 feet. Eeeeeek!! I followed instructions and moved in front of Hippi (yes, I was getting strapped to a man called Hippi … you’d be surprised by how relaxed I was about this. In hindsight I probably should asked to see some credentials before throwing myself out of a plane with him.). I was then strapped tightly to the front of Hippi (I was also having visions of the clips coming loose and me plummeting to my death as Hippi pulled the cord and gently floated to earth) and given my pep talk. It was all going to be fine. It was going to be lots of fun. When the door opened I was to put my left foot out onto the rudder of the plane, then my right foot. I then had to cross my arms over my chest and Hippi would do the rest. That is, Hippi would throw us out of the plane … eeeeek!!

So there we were, 10,000 feet above earth in a dodgy teeny little rust bucket of a plane about to throw ourselves out. I thought I held it together pretty well. When I received the video I was corrected. It is hilarious. I look like I’m about 4 years old and I’ve lost my mum at the supermarket … petrified. Without further ado, the hatch door on the plane opened and it was all action. Left foot out (onto a plane rudder that it 10,000 feet in the air … it took some effort to force my foot out!) … right foot out. Cross arms. One, two and …. We were out! We did a couple of flips at the start of the free fall before falling straight towards earth. It. Was. INCREDIBLE! I’m getting excited as I type this. Seriously it was out of this world. Literally falling at a crazy speed towards earth. Its noisy and windy and EXHILARATING! I loved every second of the 45 second free fall. Then Hippi yelled ‘ARCH!’ and I arched and he pulled the cord and the parachute opened (**insert sigh of relief**) and we floated to earth. It was seriously incredible. Words do not do this justice.

It is one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life! The float down to earth was pretty awesome and the views were amazing. Plus you are still going relatively fast and zipping around in circles and stuff.

We came in to land and Joep had befriended the crew (naturally) so they let him come all the way out to the landing field so he was waiting for me when my feet hit the ground.

I was over the moon!! It was incredible!! The guys we jumped with were SO professional and the whole experience was just amazing. Everyone should do this before they die. It cannot be beat. I am grinning as I type this just from the memories!!

After getting out of my sky diving attire Joep & I hit the road to head back to New Orleans. The drive home was significantly louder than the drive there. I couldn’t stop talking about how awesome it was. I still can’t! It was seriously awesome.

Back at the hotel we freshened up and kicked off the birthday celebrations with a couple of bottles of champagne in our hotel! Joep had made reservations at a restaurant with live jazz music nearby so after pre-dinner drinks we headed out for a night on the town.

Bourbon Street is super famous but it is also super tacky. And STINKY!! As you all probably know, New Orleans is hot. Like hot hot, temperatures you can hardly imagine. This doesn’t help the stinkiness on Bourbon Street. Still we battled the stink and made it down to our restaurant. The live music was awesome, the food was good but the service was … speedy!! We were half way through our entrees when our mains arrived. Joep, being the good Dutchman that he is, was quick to point out to the serving staff that things needed to slow down a notch. Good man! It allowed us to enjoy our meal in a more leisurely fashion. After our meal we hit the streets of New Orleans to enjoy the nightlife.

And what a nightlife there is!! Yowsers! The streets were packed with party goers and it was a lot of fun just to be mingling. Before too long we came across a great jazz bar so we set ourselves up at the bar with cocktails and enjoyed some great music, some wonderful chats and lots of laughs. It was a truly wonderful evening!!

The following morning we were up bright and early (this is a recurring theme for us … we are not good at sleeping in these days. Its annoying.) and we hit the streets to do a walking tour of New Orleans. Once you get away from Bourbon Street the city is just amazing. You don’t feel like you’re in the USA at all. The city has such a different feel to other US cities we’ve visited. We had an amazing day walking the streets and enjoying the markets. We bought a bit of NOLA artwork from local artists at Jackson Square and we enjoyed more creole deliciousness. Late in the afternoon we made our way back to the hotel for cocktail hour (yes, again). This time we headed to the rooftop pool to soak up some vitamin D and to make some decisions about where to eat that evening. It was an important evening because midnight marked the end of my 20’s!! End of an era!

We decided on an oyster bar that came highly recommended called Acme. It was seriously good. We took seats at the bar and proceeded to pig out on oysters and crabs and Louisana specialties like gumbo and jambalaya and hush puppies … when I had to ask what hush puppies are I was met with belly laughs and guffaws of disbelief. When I answered the question ‘Where are you from?’ with ‘Australia’ I was forgiven. They are delicious by the way. Its basically deep fried corn bread. Mmmmm deep fried goodness.

As the evening wore on and the wine bottles were emptied we were about to settle up our bill and move on when the bar tender put a shot in front of me to congratulate me on turning 30. It was an oyster shot. I didn’t think twice before slamming it down. It. Was. Awful. Completely disgusting. I do not recommend these to anyone. The least delicious thing ever. But it didn’t put an end to our ‘last night in my 20’s’ celebrations!

We hit the streets with gusto stopping to get takeout daquiris along the way (true story … its like a fruit smoothy but better). We were purposely avoiding Bourbon Street and we’re glad we did because the music and atmosphere on other streets was wonderful!! After soaking up some of the nighttime sights and sounds we stumbled across O’Brien’s Pub which we had seen earlier in the day and thought looked fun.

We were right. We spent the rest of the evening there enjoying the dualling piano’s (these people are TALENTED and can play ANYTHING you request … seriously) and drinking hurricanes to our hearts content. It was lovely!

I’m not sure whether the clock struck midnight while we were in the bar or on the walk home but I do know that by the time we got back to the hotel I was 30!

The following morning we awoke feeling much better than we deserved to feel and headed out for brunch at Stanley’s on Jackson Square. Best eggs benedict ever! Seriously. I still crave them. The food was amaaaaaazing. Alas we couldn’t linger too long as Joep had booked us on a swamp tour of the Mississippi.

So after packing and collecting our car we drove out to the tour area. Upon boarding our airboat which Joep said was waaaay better than the normal undercover boats we looked to the horizon and saw big black clouds. There were only 9 of us in the boat and a few of them also looked concerned by the weather. Joep was pretty confident that we would be fine. As the boat pulled out of the dock the heavens opened. Like seriously opened. I’ve never experienced rain like it! But our driver didn’t turn back. He was loving it!

30 minutes later we were sitting in the boat in the pouring rain in a small canal area because we couldn’t go out to open water because the lightening was too dangerous! Yes. There we were sitting in a giant metal box in water while fork lightening bolts struck all around us. Needless to say, I did not feel safe. I also did not look good. I had donned a cute little white summer dress for the occasion. By this point my dress was completely see through and I regretted choosing polka dot ret knickers as my undergarments for the day. Thankfully everyone else on the boat was too busy trying to cover their faces from the rain to notice.

Eventually our captain made the executive decision to turn the boat around and take us back. We made it back without being struck by lightening and dashed into the main building. My favourite part was watching everyone try no to step in puddles on the way to the building … we were already soaking wet! Why would stepping in a puddle be a problem?!

Thankfully Joep & I had our cases with us so we were able to get changed into dry clothes. While I was changing Joep befriended a lovely irish couple that had been on the boat with us. They had a 2 hour wait for their bus ahead of them and they didn’t have any dry clothes. Joep offered them a lift back to New Orleans which they gratefully accepted. In the car ride back we became fast friends and after drying off at their hotel, we headed out for a few drinks and a bite to eat and ended up spending the rest of the day together! I love chance meetings like that!

And so, after a wonderful day of eating and drinking (well, Joep couldn’t drink because he was the DD but he didn’t mind because it was my birthday … good man) we headed to the airport for our flight to Laguna Beach.

Surprisingly there were no delays on our flights back home (shocking I know!) and we made it back in record time. It was a WONDERFUL weekend! Turning 30 is the most fun ever and I plan on doing it again and again and again … it’s my ideal age.

Oh and sky diving was awesome!!! True story. Now lets see how my life of housewifery will go!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Goodbye Ottawa … **sniff sniff*

We can’t believe it has been 2 years since we packed our bags and headed to Schiphol Airport after our Amsterdam farewell party. We also can’t believe how lucky we have been the last 2 years. We have had some amazing experiences. We have fallen in love with one of the worlds greatest countries. And, most importantly, we’ve fallen in love with some really amazing people!

The weekend of August 13 & 14 was our last weekend in Ottawa. Joep flew out on Monday for work in the USA and I will join him this Friday for 30th birthday celebrations in New Orleans.

Our last weekend in Ottawa was spent doing what we love to do most of all – Hanging out with friends at good restaurants and bars! The Ottawa summer totally pulled out all the stops for the weekend. It was warm and sunny and perfect weather for finding a spot on a terrace and enjoying the company of good friends.

All good things must come to an end and we are pretty sad to be leaving Ottawa – even though we know that we are very lucky to have such great adventures awaiting us in the not too distant future.

We will always look back on our time in Ottawa as one of the happiest times. When we arrived 2 years ago we were still recovering from the accident. I don’t think either of us even realized how much more recovery we had left to do until we actually had time to worry about ourselves and be selfish for a while. Taking on the challenge of moving abroad together made us stronger and happier than either of us could have imagined. We had our highs and we had a few lows but the good times easily exceeded the bad.

Canada is really one of the world’s most incredible countries. We’ve attended the Olympic Games, we’ve seen polar bears in the Churchill, we attended the worlds biggest rodeo! Not to mention that this is where we got engaged so it will always be a place close to our hearts.

Now two years on we are both lucky enough to have had some great career successes, we’re planning our wedding & we’re moving to Laguna Beach, California.

There are times when Joep & I will look at each other and say ‘How did we get so lucky?!’ Well however it happened, we’re glad it did!

Thanks for all the great memories Canada! And to the Ottawa gang, we look forward to seeing you all somewhere in the world again in the NEAR FUTURE!!

It’s been a blast!!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

An empty heart & a bat in a restaurant

Reality bites!! After an incredible weekend in Vegas it was time for me to get back to reality. The return to Ottawa was, thankfully, uneventful. As usual I got the red eye and landed in Ottawa at 8am in time to get to work by 9am. It’s a killer flight and I will not miss it. But worth it to have a whole extra day with Joep!

It was great to be reunited with friends on the Tuesday and to check out my new housing situation. Thankfully I moved out of my June sublet into a much quieter house … it was everything I hoped it would be. Still, I am not cut out for long term share house living. I need my own space. And bathroom. Call me spoiled. I don’t care.

My arrival back in Ottawa was also made interesting by a couple of very random occurrances. On my first Wednesday back I had a hot date with one of my all time favourites, Anne-Marie. We were meeting at a local bar which we are big fans of. I was in my room working and just about to stop to head over to the bar when I heard a commotion outside my window. A guy was right outside my window shouting at a girl about 100 metres down the road. So here is what I was able to surmise from their conversation … actually it was from his monologue.

They had been engaged and were madly in love. Well he was madly in love with her. She then cheated on him and called off the engagement and apparently began dating a lot of different people. I know this because he said to her ‘I hope you’re happy! I hope you’re happy now having all your sex and everything’ (**insert waving arms when saying ‘all your sex’**). He still loved her and wanted to be friends with her. In fact, they had been going for a bike ride which he had been looking forward to all week when this scuffle broke out. In addition to wanting to remain friends, he also wanted her to return all of the gifts he had given her. This included the necklace she was wearing that day. She declined. He was less than impressed. Final bit of information I obtained was that he was originally from out east and had moved to Ottawa completely broke. He had hoped that she would be there for him and help him but … and this was the pinnacle of the drama … instead he was left with an empty heart & an empty bank account.

Oh lord. The entire neighbourhood was staring our their windows at these 2. The girl was speechless and kept trying to leave. Meanwhile, the girls in my sharehouse gathered around my window which had the best view of the drama unfolding. It was like watching a movie! It also resulted in me running late for meeting Anne-Marie. Thankfully she was also running late. When the commotion died down I headed out and a wonderful evening ensued!

Reunions are just the greatest and AM & I picked up where we left off – Beer and good chats. Life doesn’t get much better. As the evening wore on 2 of AM’s friends coincidentally arrived at the bar and pulled up chairs at our table. We were all enjoying a lovely chat when something fell out of roof onto AM. It looked like a big bit of dust of something and we were curious re what had caused it to fall so we all looked up. In the ventalation system above us there was a little furry head poking out! Oh lord. At first we thought it was a mouse … then we saw its little claw was attached to a WING! It was a BAT!

I can’t remember what happened next but my nearest memory is that I someone got from my corner seat to the door of the bar in warp speed. So fast that AM asked ‘Where’s Jen?’ before spotting me at the exit. The bat disappeared for a little while back into the ventilation system and I joined AM behind the bar while the staff tried to figure out how to get the bat free. While cowering behind the bar the bat made its 2nd appearance of the night … I lost it. It was totally freaky. Everyone else seemed to be very very calm. I was very confused by this because, as I pointed out to AM, bats could have rabies! To which she very seriously responded ‘Yes. It could also be a vampire.’ Good point AM. Fear levels escalated.

My fear levels reached a whole new niveau when something tickled the back of my neck. As I flapped around like a crazy person I turned to see the bartender in hysterics laughing. Yes, yes, very funny to make fun of the girl who is afraid of bats.

The bar staff agreed that the best way to rectify the bat problem was to block all the holes in the ventilation system so that the bat had to go back to the original entrance and be free. Good plan. After they blocked up all the holes AM & I resumed our wonderful reunion evening made even better by the free shots we were given to alleviate our nerves. Splendid!

Not really though. Just as I was getting really relaxed again and was totally engrossed in a story AM was telling me, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. It was black. And it was flying. IT WAS THE BAT! Before it could attack me (which I was quite sure was its plan), I slid under the table screeching hysterically. I slid so quickly that my skirt came all the way up and I am now the girl who sat under the table in her underwear crying because of a bat. I don’t care. I have good survival instincts.

I have no idea how the bat got out of the restaurant because I was under the table. But I do know that it made for a very entertaining evening!

So there you have it. A bat. In a restaurant. It was beyond freaky!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

I Do – In Vegas!


They say that what happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas … I clearly am not living by that rule. What happens in Vegas is definitely worth documenting so when we’re old and grey we can read all about how cool we used to be.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the gorgeous Mel & wonderful Christian’s wedding in Las Vegas on July 31! For those who don’t know Mel, she is an old friend of mine from our Coles Supermarket check-out chick days … we clearly go way back! So when they told us that they were planning to wed at the Graceland Chapel in Vegas, we were there!

Joep and I had a week of R&R together after I returned from Australia and that weekend we hit the road early Saturday morning for Vegas! The road trip was uneventful, just driving into the desert really. Its about a 4 hour drive from Laguna Beach to Vegas and next time we will get food before we hit the looooooongest stretch of road with no food on it! We were pretty hungry by the time we arrived in Vegas but this is clearly not an issue … there are enough places to eat when you get there! We’d both been to Vegas before but there is so much going on that it warrants a 2nd trip – Plus Joep wasn’t old enough to drink when he was last there so he was hoping to see a different side of Vegas.

After checking into our AMAZING room at the Bellagio (including a view of the Eiffel Tower) we headed straight down to the pool for cocktails, sunshine and lounging around. Heaven! While at the pool we decided to have a delicious meal together that evening. We researched a few places and eventually picked a spot that would allow us to overdose on steeeeeeak.

Vegas is really a crazy place. Joep & I both agree that its not our favourite place on earth but it certainly has to be experienced to be believed. The streets are so crammed with party goers and offers of hookers and strippers. It is both impressive and depressive at the same time. Impressive that this incredible city full of bling and craziness has been built in the middle of the desert, depressive because it is a concentration of everything that seems to be wrong with the world. People over-spending, over-drinking, over-gambling – In fact, while waiting for me to get ready for dinner Joep went down to the bar and struck up a conversation with a lovely gentleman who was there celebrating the year anniversary of his 3rd marriage. When asked where his wife was, he informed Joep that they were going through a divorce right now. Yikes. Still at least he had a drink in his hand and was settled in at one of the pokey machines … double yikes.

I arrived towards the end of this conversation and so, all dolled up, we jumped into a taxi to head out to our restaurant of choice. After about 25 minutes in the taxi we were waaaay out of the city and away from the strip and we were both starting to feel more than a little uncomfortable. We felt significantly worse when the taxi pulled into a chain restaurant in a super dodgy neighbourhood. Needless to say, we didn’t get out. Instead we asked the taxi to take us straight back to the Bellagio. The Lonely Planet really let us down on that one!

A $60 round trip later, we were right back at square one and wondering where to head for dinner. Joep found a great restaurant walking distance from out hotel so off we trekked. Strip Steakhouse has a great reputation and great reviews. We were excited and, by this stage of the evening, starving!

The meal the followed was … well here’s the thing. Since moving to California and buying a gigantic bbq, Joep has mastered the art of buying and cooking the best steaks. I’m not exaggerating. He seriously makes the best steak you will ever taste. So we are positively spoiled. Which means that all other steaks pale in comparison. Therefore I will not say that the meal at Strip wasn’t good. It was good, but Joep’s steaks are better. Fact. The wine and cocktails were delicious though! And we had a really lovely evening in a very great restaurant with a great atmosphere.

The following morning we woke up a bit worse for wear after the following day/nights frivolity. There was little time for feeling sorry for ourselves because we had a wedding to prepare for and attend! First stop was to get brekkie before stocking up on a few refreshments to be consumed between the ceremony and the reception. The bride and groom had expressly told us not to get us gifts but instead, each guest was required to prepare a short speech to present at the wedding. Joep & I had mused for some time over what we would do for our speech. While standing in the line to buy refreshments I had a brainwave … what says ‘congratulations on your marriage’ better than 2 white people rapping for you? Nothing. So our decision was made.

The hours leading up to the wedding saw us madly drafting lyrics to our rap song which would be sung to the tune of the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel air. We were excited. We finished the lyrics, got dressed and headed out to the Graceland Chapel with plans to rehearse the rap between the ceremony and reception.

The wedding ceremony was AMAZING! It was so much fun and such a laugh! Elvis Presley walked Mel down the aisle to meet Christian who was looking mighty fine in his own Elvis attire. In total the ceremony lasted about 10 minutes and it was such fun. After the ceremony there were wedding photos to be taken before we were booted out of the Graceland Chapel to wait for our limousines back to the hotel.

A limo ride and a couple of bottles of champagne later and we were all back at the Bellagio. Rather than joining the rest of the gang for cocktails Joep & I headed upstairs to practice our rap song. We were committed to this performance. Feeling suitably practiced, we made it downstairs for 1 pre-dinner cocktail before we headed to the restaurant for the reception.

The evening that followed was SUCH a great time! Mel & Chris hired a private room at the Sensi restaurant and the food was out of this world. If you’re ever in Vegas you must eat there. It was delicious! We completely pigged out and enjoyed a few beverages. Shortly after the main course Joep & I decided that we would kick off the speeches and get our rap done before we were too intoxicated to do it justice.

Joep had found a karaoke version of The Fresh Prince of Bel air theme song on his blackberry which we connected to the sound system adding the finishing touches to our rap. Joep LOVES rapping. He is hilarious at it and we had a good hearty laugh performing for Mel & Chris.

Performance out of the way we settled in for an evening of good chats, lots of laughs, some groove shaking and great memories. We were so honoured to be part of Mel & Chris’s celebrations!!

Oh and for those interested (and because Joep is so proud of them) here are the lyrics to our rap song:

Now this is a story all about how
Mel’s life got flipped turned upside down
Now let me tell you a little story please seat real still
I’ll tell you how she became the wife of a man named Christian

In Western Australia born and raised
At Coles was where she spent most of her days
Scanning and packing those groceries in bags
And sometimes fighting with Lynn, the old hag

When a really great guy who turned out to be great
Started hanging round and they began to date
They had so much fun, it was really sublime
So they started hanging out together all the time

They moved around together for quite a few years
Sharing lots of laughs and too many beers
If anything I could say that this love is rare
But c’mon guys, these 2 are a really great pair

Two beautiful children came into the world
Then Mel tricked Chris to think that there was a third
(*but there wasn’t!*)

And now we’re here together to celebrate
A love that we think is pretty great
Please raise your glasses around the room
Here’s to the beautiful bride and groom!!

Alas the following day was a work day for Joep so we couldn’t stay out too late as we were up before the sunrise to hit the road on Monday morning. Worth it.

The road trip back was significantly quieter than the drive there but we made it home in 1 piece. A great weekend with great friends!! We won’t forget that one for a while!

And now it’s back to Ottawa for me … 3 more weeks until I am done and we can live together full time again. Yippee!!!