New Orleans here we come!!!

Many of you already know this story but I thought today, being February 25th, it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane......Our Wedding and why New Orleans has become an annual trip.  You may know already that Brian and I met through a mutual friend.  A girl, I now work with, who worked with Brian in Slidell, LA introduced us.  Actually, I heard stories about this Brian guy for about a year before we started talking but anyway, we started talking in October of 2009.  We official met the first weekend in December when he flew here for my office Christmas Party.  We spent New Year's together in Ohio and weekends in LA, VA, and GA in January and February.

Our first date December 4th 2009.  The day we officially met.

 At the end of February 2010 my running buddy John and I were going to New Orleans to run the marathon.  It was the first year for the Rock N Roll event and I made plans to fly out a couple days before to hang out with Brian prior to the race.  The Thursday before I flew out Brian and I were emailing and he suggested we go ahead and get married while I was in town.  At first we both laughed about the idea but then I said "ok.  Let's do it."  He then called to see if I was serious.  I was.  We were getting married in one week!!  I talked to my parents to make sure they were ok with us eloping.  My mom wasn't surprised and they were happy for us.  By Friday night we had rings, a judge to marry us, a photographer, and I had a dress.  Brian was able to get our marriage license the following week and I was flying out Wednesday night.  We were going to get married Thursday February 25, 2010 at 4pm in Jackson Square, New Orleans.  It was crazy but I was so excited until Wednesday when I got to the airport and found out a flight was cancelled.  My friends, Shaun and Christine, dropped me off at the airport and I discovered that as far as I was getting that night was Atlanta.  United told me the earliest they could get me to New Orleans was 4:30 on Thursday.  It was awful.  I busted into tears right there at the United counter at the airport.  Thankfully, at the time I still had pretty good status on Delta so I called them while the lady at the United counter continued to tell me that was the best they could do.  I was able to find a flight out of Atlanta with Delta at 7am getting me to New Orleans around 9 the next morning.  I handed my phone to the United lady and told her to get me on that flight.  She was bitter but she did it and I headed to the plane to at least get to Atlanta for the night.  The line was so long at security and at this point I was close to missing my flight.  A guy behind me was also late so he used me and got us to the beginning of the line because he told everyone I was getting married and he had to get me on the plane.  I was still so upset about what was going on that I just totally went with it.  We got to the front of security and booked it to my plane were I was the last to board.  I was holding my dress and asked the flight attendant if she could hang it up for me.  I'm not sure what was going on with the women of United that night but this b*tch actually told me she wasn't sure she could.  I would have to wait and see.  I'm not sure what I was waiting on but me and my dress went to my seat.  A few minutes later she came by checking seat belts, realized I still had my dress in my lap and grabbed it and headed up front.  I, of course, followed her and then watched her ball it up and shove it in the first class coat closet.  I stood there stunned.  I wanted to scream at her but I needed to be on this flight.  I told her, "you do realize that is my wedding dress and I am getting married tomorrow, right"  she just smiled and asked me to take my seat.  I think I got a text message to Brian before the flight took off but really at this point everything was a blur.  I was really hoping this was some kind of bad dream and I was going to wake up with everything back to normal and how it was suppose to go.  But I didn't.  I landed in Atlanta and got an email Brian had written while I was in the air.  He was super sweet and helped me relax a little bit about this insane situation I was in the middle of.  I met my parents who had come down to spend the night in the airport with me.  When we realized that that was going to be awful we headed home to get 2 hours of sleep and a shower before dad brought me back to the airport for my flight.  My parents were secretly excited that things worked out so they could see me on my wedding day.  Not that it was a nightmare but that I was able to see them and show them my dress, which mom was very excited about.  :)  That morning Delta was amazing.  They bumped me to first class, were extremely careful with my dress and even said congratulations.  It was a huge difference from the night before.  Today was my wedding day!  Brian picked me up and we headed back to his apartment.  We found a place to take my dress to get pressed. Thanks to the kind handling of United the night before it was necessary.  I took a small nap while we waited on the dress.  We grabbed lunch, picked up my flowers (which Brian picked out and ordered on his own!!), and headed to the hotel.  We got ready at the hotel and took a cab to Jackson Square.  We met the officiant, signed the marriage license, Brian paid the gate keeper of the square so we could get married inside the fence and our wedding began.  It happened so fast but it was just perfect.  Brian's friends came down to be our witnesses and we all went out to dinner to celebrate.  We were MARRIED!!

The reason our marriage is legal.  The Witnesses!  :)

The flowers. Brian did good!!

Our Facebook Official "We're Married" Picture

Celebrating after the wedding!

My friend John flew in the next day and some of Brian's friends come down to celebrate that night with us.  I have been told I kept showing my ring and telling people I was married.  I do not remember this so I can not confirm or deny that it ever happened. :) I can say the hurricanes in New Orleans are the real deal.  We spent most of the next morning in bed recovering from the fun night because you know being hung over the day before a marathon is the best idea ever!!  Sunday morning we were all up early and John and I started the marathon.  Needless to say it was one of our slower ones but we had fun.  Brian met us on the route a few times and at the finish.  At this point he told me he was not a runner and would never run a marathon. 

Out in New Orleans the day after our wedding!!

My running buddy, John!

I'm probably telling Robert "I'm MARRIED!!"  :)

Marathon start line

Skip forward a year.....in 2011 Brian and I took 5 week old Tucker on the road trip of all road trips that landed us in New Orleans.  We took Tucker to where we were married the year before and to his first race expo.  The boy that said he wasn't a runner was running his first half marathon!!  Brian ran the half marathon and Tucker and I tried to cheer him on.  We actually missed him and he ended up waiting at the finish line for about an hour before we finally got there but we tried.  It's the thought that counts ;)

Brian and Tucker's first race expo!

Showing Tucker the tree we got married next to in Jackson Square.

The "non runner" running his first half marathon!  ;)

Brian finished and Tucker and I finally made it to the finish line!

This year Brian and I are heading back to New Orleans and this year we are both running the half marathon!  We leave on Tuesday with a layover in Atlanta to drop Tucker off with my parents and then onto New Orleans for our first kid free vacation that doesn't include all running!!!  We have decided that the New Orleans Rock N Roll Marathon/Half Marathon will be our anniversary trip each year.  It takes us back to where it all started.  It is the perfect way to spend each anniversary and a great tradition that we started the same year we got married!  We will walk through Jackson Square each year and always laugh about the horrible experience of the flights, how we planned a wedding in a week, and how, amazingly, we are still married.  ;)  Happy Anniversary to us!! :)