Monthly Archives: November 2005

It has been a long while since I’ve written. Since then, I went to New Orleans to visit my dad and pack up my old apartment. I shipped my belongings back to myself in Chapel Hill via UPS in 23 boxes! It was weird to be there and witness a city so proud of its decadence and culture now in a state of humility and total reconstruction. I have to be honest that I was very glad to fly back to North Carolina, though not without a tinge of guilt.

On a happy note: lately, a lot of mysteriously good stuff is happening.

First, here is a photo of the AMAZING TECHNICOLOR BEDSPREAD that Clinton’s friend’s pregnant wife Meg MADE US for our wedding gift! This picture does not do it justice. It really is the most cool and beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, so colorful and made with tiny loving stitches. If you look closely at it, you will see birds, stars, pumpkins, penguins and more.

Last Wednesday I received all of those 23 boxes via UPS. The UPS man had quite a time of it, scanning and hauling and sweating. He lifted up every one, wheeled them to the front steps and then carried them into the house. He did not even let me help. Afterward I gave him a glass of water and we chatted about my move from New Orleans to Baltimore to Chapel Hill. He told me where to find a good local mechanic. When he left, he wished me good luck and then gave me a huge bear hug! I told him that I consistently receive excellent service from UPS, with the package delivery workers going above and beyond their duty to make the customers happy. Hugged by the UPS guy – can you believe it?!

On Sunday I went to Target to buy myself a desk, desk hutch and bookcase. Once I got past the checkout counter, two employees helped me cart all three of the boxes to my car. On the way, I realized that would take a small miracle to get the boxes into my small Toyota sedan, and I told them so. They just looked at each other. I sensed their deep skepticism, especially when I pulled my little car around.

Just as the two were busy strategizing about the angle by which to insert the first box, a muscular, middle-aged women with a t-shirt and gray spiked hair walks up to me and asks where I live. I told her Chapel Hill, and she says, “I have a truck. Wait here, and I’ll bring it over.” I was very happy at that moment, but not altogether as surprised as I probably could have been, what with the way things have been going lately. (No more strange than being embraced by a sweaty postal worker!)

I turned to the two Target employees and explained that some random nice lady was driving up with her truck and would follow me home with the boxes. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were stunned into an open-mouthed state of confusion and disbelief. They did seemed relieved about the boxes, though. I shrugged, “The kindness of strangers, huh?” They just continued to stare at me. I told them that they might not believe me, but actually this kind of thing happens to me all the time. “Never happened to me before,” Tweedle Dum said dejectedly. Tweedle Dee seemed to be straining to think. He said, ” I guess you if you just go through a time when nothing goes your way, one day everything goes your way.” Something like that, I told them.

Louise, the lady with the truck, follows me all the way back to Chapel Hill – about a 25 minute drive from Target – and helps me unload the boxes. As she got back in her car, I told I hoped I could return the great favor back into the “˜cycle’. As she put her sunglasses back on, she said simply, “Pass it on” and drove away in flash of silver SUV, her Stevie Ray Vaughan thumping.

I assembled all the furniture myself, of course. (See photo of desk!)

Last week I found myself in two different job interviews for the same organization. (I won’t say, on this blog, which organization that is, just because I’m superstitious and don’t want to jinx myself.) I’m very excited about the chance to work there, because it is the organization I’ve always dreamed of working for, and it is also currently the biggest public health NGO in the world. They have amazing benefits, a wonderful work atmosphere, and employees who want to save the world. Today I’m going in for round two of interviews. The 4-hour interview “˜agenda’ shows that I’ll be in five different interviews there, including an interview panel and a 45-minute writing test. Please wish me lots of luck. My nervousness about it is making me feel slightly ill.

Last night Clinton and I saw Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash movie. I have to say that it exceeded my expectations and I was very pleasantly surprised by the talent of Joachin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. An entirely enjoyable film!

Tomorrow Clinton and I are leaving on the plane to spend Thanksgiving with Mom, Chad, Cady, Sam and Grandma and Grandpa in Spokane, WA. We’ve got Xbox, Harry Potter, Vietnamese food, turkey, cranberry, Grandma’s famous fruit salad and gizzard stuffing, hiking with Grandpa, board games and much more planned for ourselves.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to everyone!

My favorite picture of Clinton – he is so handsome. The first batch of our wedding pictures is now available for viewing. Enjoy!

Saturday November 5 – Wedding!

My mom flew to DC from Spokane, WA and then drove down to North Carolina on Thursday. Dad flew in on Friday from New Orleans, and Clinton’s parents and their foster baby, Mariah, came all the way from Alabama by car. Carly drove down from Baltimore for the weekend too. We tried to organize a pre-wedding meal of North Carolina-style BBQ on Friday night at the famous Alan and Sons restaurant. Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived, so we ended up at Applebee’s, the only place open in Chapel Hill that night, it seemed.

On Saturday, Clinton and I were married in the garden outside the Chapel Hill police headquarters by a man with a hook, the reformed sea pirate Captain John Stokes, now Magistrate of Orange County. The weather was perfect – about 72 degrees, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. Clinton wore a blue shirt, navy blazer, brown pants and a blue and brown tie. I had sent him shopping for a “retro” hat, and he came back with one called “Country Gentleman”. I was holding a beautiful bouquet of white roses, blue lupines and white lilies, which Clinton had made for me at the Chapel Hill Florist. It matched my dress of powder blue and gold lace. I wore golden emu feathers in my hair.

After the ceremony, we all drove to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens to take family pictures by the ponds in the Asian gardens. Then we went to Pao Lim for a Chinese lunch, champagne and fried cheesecake.

Clinton and I spent that night in Raleigh at the Velvet Cloak Inn. We left on our honeymoon trip on Sunday morning: to Chimney Rock Park and Lake Lure, near Asheville, NC!

Our Honeymoon

Clinton and I drove across the state of North Carolina, past horse pastures, hay fields, and forests of red, gold and orange leaves to the town of Chimney Rock, just off a winding country road.

We stayed in the Mountain Village Chalets. Ours was the Lake Lure Cabin, equipped with wood-burning fireplace, full kitchen and deck with rocking chairs and hot tub.

We spent the first evening strolling through the little alpine-like village of Chimney Rock and listening to the river. We perused the Native American craft stores and souvenir shops, where Clinton found an accordion he wanted to buy. We played Battleship and drank pumpkin spice coffee at a place called Coffee Crumbs. We watched the leather-clad bikers cruise by on their way to the local chopper convention. Then we had an elegant dinner of prime rib, Cabernet and homemade apple pie at Larkin’s on the Lake.

The next day we had breakfast at Genny’s Home Cookin’ – I ate the fresh mountain trout with a squeeze of lemon, along with eggs, hashbrowns and toast. (Fish for breakfast!) After a generous amount of coffee we drove up to the entrance of Chimney Rock Park to begin our hike. We outfitted ourselves with a raccoon-headed walking staff and fanny pack for Clinton and a Mexican rancher’s hat for me. The hike was about one and a half hours of dizzying climbs over rocks and under waterfalls. By the way, this is the place where the Last of the Mohicans was filmed! The views were magnificent.

We had pizza for lunch at La Strada’s by Lake Lure and bought local-made jams and jellies from a roadside stand. We drove into Asheville for the afternoon, just 25 miles up Highway 64, to visit the Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café and browse the home furnishing stores. We had an unexpectedly excellent dinner at the Flying Frog Café, where we were seated in a private, candlelit curtained-off table for two. I had the Wiener Schnitzel and Clinton had the Kashmiri Chicken. We drank Bombay Spice Chai tea and South Indian Mysore coffee from a French press. The dessert was the best of all: a wine-soaked poached pear in a cherry liqueur over chocolate mascarpone, topped with fresh strawberries and grapes.

That night when we drove back to the cabin from Asheville, the little towns were dark and empty. The only light was the half moon through the pine trees. We decided that everyone in Chimney Rock was a zombie, and that we’d have to spend the whole night defending ourselves against the undead. We actually worked ourselves into such a fright that seeing a bonfire in a field made us jump out of our skins and yelp as we drove by. We decided that to protect ourselves from zombies, we’d need to build a big fire back at the cabin and keep the raccoon staff nearby while we were in the hot tub. We (obviously) survived the night.

Today after our drive back to Chapel Hill we bought a set of beautiful wood nightstands — our first household purchase as a *married* couple! We also saw a very sweet movie called Elizabethtown. It has been a perfectly wonderful honeymoon. (See our photos here!)

I leave for New Orleans on Thursday to pack up my apartment.

Home Improvement

On Saturday, Clinton and I made a major purchase together: a Ryobi cordless electrical drill/screwdriver. It has been very entertaining (and a little frustrating) to attempt “˜domestic’ things together, like home improvement projects. We’re both pretty bad at them.

The first task was to replace the latches on the kitchen cupboards. They used to frequently swing open at random times to hit you in the forehead. It would make me so mad that I wanted to slam them any chance I got! But I bought magnetic latches at Home Depot and with my new electric screwdriver I attempted to take out the old crappy latches which someone had tried to repair with duct tape (to make them more sticky or something?). As for the new ones, I ended up super-gluing one of them on because, well, it’s a long story. And I did all this, mind you, while Clinton was out on the porch building a guitar made from twine, a cigar box and a stick.

The second task was much easier – putting contact paper in the drawers and cupboards. Next, we ended up going to the hardware store three different times on three different days, in search of nuts that would actually fit the bolts that hold up the dining table. The bolts looked like they needed ¼ inch nuts, but those were too small. Then we tried 3/8 inch nuts, but those were too big. So when we ended up choosing 5/16 inch nuts, we got to (finally!) eat dinner at a real table instead of balancing plates on chairs in front of the couch. However, I still haven’t figured out how to put the new curtain rod up in the kitchen”¦

Other news

Meanwhile, life in Chapel Hill is going really well. This morning I went jogging in our woods-ey neighborhood. People here have bicycle racks on their little economical cars and also bumper stickers that say things like “Make Levees Not War” and “Peace is Patriotic”.

Then I went to pick up our wedding rings, which were being engraved at the jeweler with our secret message to each other.

Clinton and I played Risk Godstorm for two nights in a row this week and he beat me both times. But I will challenge him to a rematch very soon, maybe on our honeymoon.

Hooray! I have a job interview on Thursday at the Chatham County Public Health Department in Pittsboro, NC (about 20 minutes from our house). I would be the lead public health educator for the county’s anti-tobacco initiative.
Saving the world – one smoker at a time! Wish me lots of luck for the interview, please.