Weekend Wrap-up

Having Alex and Laura in town was so much fun. I wish they would both move here so we could hang out all the time!

Alex and I got up bright and early Saturday morning to tour the National Gallery. We had lunch and then I took her to visit the CIC. Considering how much I had built it up, I'm not sure if it managed to live up to expectations, but she certainly seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. I was so glad.

In the evening I cooked dinner and we had friends over to eat. I even put the extra leaf in the dining room table so there was room for all of us - my favorite. I love having a house full of people.

We all hung out at my apartment for the evening, the boys watching football while Laura and I knitted like the premature grandmas we are. Lots of good conversations too.

On Sunday, Joey picked us up and took Laura, Alex and me to my favorite church. That guy, I tell you. What a trooper. Then Laura's brother John invited us over for brunch so we sojourned up to CUA (where he's a grad student) for a meal with his roommates that included bacon, real Southern grits, and the most delectable mimosas (the quintessential brunch drink, in my opinion). It was fabulous.

Laura has a hilarious habit of egging me on in my eccentricities. Somehow it came up that I have a hobby of memorizing poems, and so of course Laura incited the table to make me recite one for them. I was pretty much dying of embarrassment but the whole thing was actually kind of fun, and definitely pretty entertaining. Laura's brother and his roommates are just as eccentric as I am - apparently John met one of his friends because both men were sitting on their porches smoking pipes at the same time. I hope to see more of those guys in the future. On the way home, Alex and Laura decided they wanted to memorize poems too, so I taught them this one by ear - one of the first ones I ever learned.

After Laura and Alex left on Sunday, I went to a party at Serena's house and spent the night there. It never ceases to amaze me how Serena and I are so different - she a gentle, soft-spoken introvert and me an outspoken extrovert - and yet we get along so well. As she says, we complement each other. I love that.

On Monday, I had part of the day off, so I went to Target and bought a bookshelf for the living room. I assembled it and arranged all my novels on it. It turned out looking great and helps to fill in the room a lot. I'll post a picture soon, along with some other little home improvement projects I've been making.

The rest of yesterday was spent prepping for this weekend's visitors. I cleaned the whole apartment and set up beds for the guests. I also spent some time planning meals for their visit. The menu leans toward warm winter foods - chili and cornbread, ribs and mashed potatoes. It's funny - when I was younger, I used to get bored listening to my mom plan meals. I was like, "Who cares whether we have pork or chicken?" And now I spend so much time doing the same thing myself! Alex was laughing at me, because while we were falling asleep on Friday, I kept asking her things like "Should I make rice or couscous tomorrow?" How the mighty have fallen!

Tomorrow evening, my first installment of visitors arrives - Lillian and Maggie. I can't wait!