lucky ducks

We attended the wedding of my cousin Andy and his wife Barbara this weekend, up in Baltimore. To be more precise, we attended the wedding yesterday, which -- for those of you who have of late been vacationing either on Mars or under a rock -- was 7/7/07, a date deemed auspicious and thus booked out the wazoo for weddings across America (and beyond, too).

Because we were "groom's side," it was one of those events where we knew half the people really well and the other half, essentially, not at all, so we ended up spending all the time with the family -- which was, I have to say, well worth it. My cousins are pretty uniformly awesome people, and I say this knowing full well that (a) some of them probably read this and (b) they know enough about me that I must never ever anger any of them in the slightest way.

Hi, Shapiro cousins! I love you!

Seriously, though, we had the best time hanging out in Relative Central. If there's one thing that the cousins know how to do, it's get dolled up to the nines and rock one hell of a party. Particularly with an open bar. (Kidding! Well, not really. OK, not at all.)

We also spent a lot of time with my parents, who came to D.C. first and helped us put the finishing touches on the apartment (NOT THAT I HAVE MY COFFEE TABLE YET, STUPID SHIPPING COMPANY). We did a little exploring in Georgetown and the Penn Quarter, had dinner at Jaleo, and then drove up to Baltimore together; on Sunday, we had brunch at and explored the Baltimore Museum of Art, which was a completely lovely place and has a stunning collection of Impressionists, mostly Matisse. We had to drop the folks off at the airport today and I already miss them.

And, of course, Barbara and Andy seemed happier than is humanly possible to be. They're very sweet together and also very ready for children, which is awesome, because they live forty-five minutes away and I can visit. Huzzah!

Mazel tov, Mr. and Mrs. Klau!