Cajun Invasion

Life has been busy and I am just not getting to blog much. Whew!
Well, my main topic of the day is the socio-economic impact of all of the Katrina victims that have chose to stay in Chattanooga. Initially, and for the most part of the time since the hurricane, we didn't hear much about the victims that were relocated here. Now, all of a sudden Chattanooga has 3 or 4 new "Cajun" restaurants, a good choice of self-employment for the people who liked Chattanooga enough to stick around. I wonder if this is going on across the south, and in 10 years or so it will be normal and commonplace to see "Cajun" restaurants around town. I just think its weird.

This weekend was a wild and crazy adventure. Friday after work, Matthew and I went and early-voted (Go Ron Paul!), then we went to the wedding rehearsal of my good friend Niki. Of course, as with all good things we are doing, Matthew got paged out to the apartment complex where he was on call and had to fix/replace something and we missed the greater part of the rehearsal. We were able to still make it downtown at the Marriott to the rehearsal dinner, which was excellent and I finally got to meet her new hubby, who was exceedingly friendly.
Saturday Matthew, my Sister and I drove to my work where I put in a whopping 20 minutes of work! We then drove around town and looked at neighborhoods where some houses we thought looked right for us were. Boy, were we shocked to find the best houses in the worst neighborhoods! Of course, those 'bad" neighborhoods are mere blocks away from the very affluent houses, so you never can judge until you drive around and just see for yourself! It is such a process!!!
We went to Niki's wedding (awesome) and then went home.
Sunday we met the realtor (also, exceedingly friendly) and saw 5 houses, only one of which we honestly liked, but it was so small I don't think our furniture would fit right. We went to the mall and found some good clearance sales.
Then we went to Mass at St. Jude's and went to O'Charleys where we were to meet the family we are sponsoring at church.
This is a funny story. I hate to play the race card, but it seems the only conclusion. We planned to meet Bonita and Christopher at 7 at the restaurant and we arrived on time. The hostesses (two of them!) said to go ahead and get a table and they took the other party's last name and said they would bring them over when they arrived. We waited until 7:45 and then finally ordered and left at 8:15. We called them and they said they were at the restaurant waiting for us! The hostesses (the same two) had done the same thing with them, sat them and took our name, but put them on the other side of the place, just 5 minutes after we had left their name with the hostesses!! Can you believe that?! So, my only conclusion is that they assumed we were not together because we are white and they are black. I am so writing them a letter!!!
Monday, work went well and the day was over fairly quickly. I have found out through tips from co-workers that there are a ton of houses in north Georgia. I e-mailed the realtor and he confirmed it.. all of the houses we want are hiding in Rossville and Ringgold. I called the mortgage lady we are working with and she also said you get more house for your money there, and the property taxes are lower, so we could afford more house anyway. I took home about 35 house fact-sheet printouts and we got about 1/2 way through last night. Once we narrow it down more Matthew and I will go and drive by them. Again, it is such a huge process to buy a house, and what a pressure to try and find the best fit for us! I am tired already!