Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

This past weekend one of my best friends got married! I’m of course so happy for the couple and excited for this new chapter in their lives. The wedding was held in southern New Jersey, which was such a gorgeous area. Everything about the wedding and reception was perfect. But that is their story not mine, so I won’t share more about the wedding. Instead I want to document my and my partner’s travel experiences.

The area where the wedding was held is understandably a popular beach and wedding destination and it’s peak summer/wedding season. Hotel prices close to the venues were expensive. My partner and I initially thought we could save some money staying with my family in Maryland and just driving up to NJ from there. We gave it some thought and decided we’d probably spend as much in gas as we would for a hotel, especially if we went further out of the beach area.

This is the third time in our relationship I’ve been tasked with finding and helping to decide on a hotel. This is the third time it’s not quite lived up to our hopes. Thankfully there were no major issues with this hotel but we probably would have had a better experience at the Holiday Inn Express next door. So my partner and I have had a couple conversations on how we improve upon these lessons moving forward.

Initially the plan was to travel on Friday afternoon, so I took half a day off from work. We ultimately decided to travel on Thursday evening after work. But I can’t just take PTO with such short notice. So I worked from the hotel while my partner went around the local area exploring. It’s a really good thing we did that because we get to the hotel and I realize I forgot the dress I was going to wear to the wedding. My partner used some of that time exploring to find me a new dress.

My and the couple’s mutual friends start making their way to the area on Friday morning and inform us that there is a welcome party that somehow slipped my attention. So my partner and I make another shopping trip to pick up a different new dress for this party and some nicer shorts for him to wear.

This is significantly more new clothes shopping than I have done in a good long while. I was worried that the last minute nature of these purchases would lead to things that were workable for the immediate need, but ultimately not have a place in my closet and would need to be parted with too soon. However, I LOVE both of the new dresses. So much so that I know I’ll be happier parting with two old dresses that have their flaws for me but someone else might enjoy for those exact qualities.

After acquiring the needed new clothes, my partner and I have some time to explore. We were having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in Atlantic City so we walked the boardwalk and the beach for a bit. It was a pretty dreary day out, but I love the beach in all it’s forms so I was happy. My partner tolerates the beach, but was happy that I was happy.

Fast forward to the morning of the wedding. My partner and I are getting married and I realize that I forgot an accessory that we went out of our way to buy a few months ago. His suit is teal and my dress was/is pink. He has a pink tie to match my dress and I had teal shoes and a hair bow to match his suit. I forgot the hair bow. I was really upset about how forgetful/careless I was with packing for such an important event. I did of course use my coping skills so the day wasn’t derailed or anything. I’m still working through how hard I can be on myself and to have made such stupid mistakes, it doesn’t make it any easier to give myself grace.

The shoes I wore I bought from Poshmark specifically for the wedding. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a typical case of breaking in new to me shoes. Turns out they were too small for me. And unfortunately with 4 hours in between the end of the wedding ceremony and the start of the reception, my partner and I decided to do a number of things that required a lot of walking, including walking the Wildwoods boardwalk and getting pictures together. The blisters on my feet were so severe that I actually couldn’t wear my shoes at the reception. Still we had a great time.

The day after the wedding we drove home. Except I wish it were that easy. We wanted to get breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. We wanted to go back to the zoo to see all the animals not just the handful we could fit in the day before. We had to make a stop at a collectibles store to maybe do a favor for a friend. We decided to make a stop at a local shopping area in Pennsylvania as a place to grab a drink, maybe lunch (we were still full from breakfast so we skipped), we went looking for a souvenir ornament for his mom who collects them. After that we made a stop at the Palisades Mall for another collectible store (this time for our own interests) and to grab dinner. I took a chance on a crepe stand that was by our entrance/exit and I was disappointed. We finally make it back to our apartment at 11pm, after checking out of our hotel in NJ at 7:30am.

The drive itself was fun and useful, so I’m not really complaining. Besides I would have done and given anything to be with my friends as they celebrate this moment they’ve been working on for years and is just the beginning of something amazing for them.