Wedding Weekends From East to West

A few months ago, when I was scheduling my GRE exam, I wanted to build in a little bit of a reward for myself. Knowing that I had two weddings on back-to-back weekends at the beginning of October, I scheduled my exam for the last day of September.

So, after successfully (thank God!) completing the GRE, it was 'have stole, will travel!'

I first flew east for the wedding of Chris and Mary Fesen in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was a lovely affair in an old Italian ethnic parish in Hoboken. The reception that followed was in Manhattan, in a penthouse dining room with views of the Empire State Building.

At the end of the weekend I enjoyed a lovely day with my parents on Staten Island, including a little celebratory dinner and a Sunday Mass with grandma.

As the new week began, I flew to Portland to prepare for the coming weekend's wedding, and a few days vacation in my old stomping grounds.

My first night in Portland was a Monday - the day I traditionally spent with Ken Hallenius, who also took Mondays off from work, and his wife Julie. So the three of us gathered at The Original, and ended up trying their somewhat famous Voodoo Burger: a cheeseburger on a Voodoo Doughnuts glazed doughnut instead of a bun.

It was as absolutely outrageous as it sounds - and though it was really good, we were glad that we split it three ways!

Throughout the week I enjoyed the gracious hospitality of Frs. John Dougherty and Jay Steele, the new pastoral team at Holy Redeemer Parish. They were actually away for several days at the annual Archdiocesan Convocation, so I covered the daily Masses, the School Mass, and even did a hospital call!

It was a real blast to be back in the parish, and especially to preside at the weekly School Mass. I was able to catch up with a lot of my parishioner and faculty friends, and see some of the changes that are slowly occurring at Holy Redeemer.

I also had plenty of time to spend hanging out with the 'usual suspects' in 'all our old familiar places.' Ken and I got our hairs cut at HairM, and enjoyed lunch together on Wednesday. Then, that evening, since I never did get to toast Arthur Guinness on the 250th anniversary of his great drink, we gathered at Kells for a pint:

and then had the traditional late-night doughnut around the corner at Voodoo Doughnuts. I was particularly honored that this was Brenda Greiner's first ever trip to the 'hole' in the wall establishment ;)

I had way too much fun to cover it all in one post, so stay tuned for more!