EGT's Recipe for a Perfect Long Weekend
Invite jlrpuck. Mix with 80s videos. Chill.
From the posts I've erected over the weekend, you might think I spent most of it drunk. Surprisingly, I did not. At least, not drunk on alcohol. But drunk on sexy? Because I have my very own life-sized David Tennant who is sitting now in the corner of my living room watching me broodingly while I watch "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" (this is thrillingly exicting for him, as you can imagine. David would be leaping with giddiness were he animate)? Oh, yes. Definitely drunk on sexy.
On Friday, jlrpuck flew up. She and arctacuda went off for the afternoon while I did whatever nonsensical things it is I do at work. I finagled myself into getting out early, which put me in an excellent mood. Also putting me in an excellent mood? The fact that it was DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS, DESPITE WHAT JLRPUCK MIGHT TELL YOU. I wandered over to arctacuda's place of employment, where I met them coming up from the Common. Now, did I notice that jlrpuck was carrying some sort of cardboard thing? Yes. I did. Did I give any though to it? No. I did not. I am not really a naturally curious being, nor am I anything approaching observant. I live very much in my own little world, and it didn't even occur to me to wonder about what crazy spy sort of things jlrpuck might bring with her when she travels. So we went to my house, so I could retrieve my car.
From there we went to Harvard Square. It was, as I have already said, a picture-perfect night in Boston.
Sometimes, Boston has the sort of weather that makes me wonder how anyone can bear to live anywhere else. Okay, most of the time I wonder how anyone can bear to live anywhere else. It is a great blessing to love the place you live as much as I do, but it's very annoying to your friends who have to hear you say, "Isn't this the best city EVER?!?!?!" pretty much every time you go out and do something.
So we go to Harvard Square. Picture-perfect night. We wander through an old cemetary, chatting while jlrpuck took some of her typically gorgeous photos, on my camera for a change,
and then we had dinner at Border Cafe, and I got to, you know, actually eat, as opposed to the last time I took jlrpuck to Border Cafe and was busy having a nervous breakdown and sat at the table to queasy to have food. After Border, we stopped at Tealuxe so I could have iced tea (I picked one of the teas of the day, a coconut-based one, and it was quite good), and then I stopped at CVS and picked up a ridiculous amount of stuff due to the fact that I never go grocery shopping.
Then we went home, and arctacuda said something about how I should look for sexy men in my shower. This is a thing with arctacuda, she believes there are constantly sexy men hiding in my shower. Trust me when I say: There are not. I really had no intention of looking in my shower, I don't know why I leaned over to pull the curtain back, but I ended up saying something like, "There are no sexy men in the--OH." Because it turned out there was a sexy man in the shower. And he joined us in the living room for the entirety of the weekend, being subjected to my Red Sox hat (what we have learned: David Tennant will look good when he is my boyfriend and I make him wear a Red Sox hat) and the indignity of a pirate's eye patch (because we are crazy).
Somehow we managed to find a marathon of '80s music videos, and, after 14 hours of watching these videos, I am fairly confident in my conclusion that the 80s were a very weird time period. Also, I believe this is the worst video of the '80s, in case you were wondering.
On Saturday morning, we made breakfast. It is always a feat trying to get food to come out of my kitchen, but magical jlrpuck and arctacuda managed to achieve it, and then we departed for Rhode Island. We went to Newport, which is one of my favorite places on Earth because I am weird and want to live in a palace and like to fantasize about having a Newport mansion and spending lazy summer days draped on a chaise lounge in a room made of marble and hung with Gainsboroughs that faces the ocean. Yeah.
Arctacuda, who has a sixth sense for topiary, found a camel topiary on the grounds of Rough Point, which is the mansion where Doris Duke lived.
We parked for a closer look, and ended up wandering the grounds, which were impressive mostly because we were in Newport on the cliffs and it was a gorgeous day and the ocean looked beautiful.
After Rough Point, we drove Ocean Drive, stopping at Brenton Point once I figured out that neither jlrpuck nor arctacuda had ever had a Del's lemonade, and you must have a Del's if you're going to do the Rhode Island tourist thing (mini!Ten enjoyed a Del's as well).
We stopped briefly at the Inn at Castle Hill,
but we were running late for tea and had to make haste, especially because we had to allow ourselves time to GET STUCK BEHIND THE SLOWEST TRUCK EVER.
But then, happily, we arrived at the Basically British Tearoom, which was FABULOUS and I am so glad we decided to go. The place was utterly charming, the scone was the best I've ever had, the tea was ridiculously delicious, the finger sandwiches were delectable...I honestly have no complaint with the place and want to go back as often as possible. It turns out my sister is going to law school near there. This was a bittersweet turn of events, because she really likes the school and I'm very excited for her, but we had always had this plan that she would go to school in Boston and move in with me and I was really looking forward to it. I am sad this will not come to pass, as I thought it would be fun, and I also thought that, even if I didn't have a new job by September, which looks increasingly likely, at least my life would still change in one good way that might make it better, but the sadness is alleviated slightly by the fact that her law school is near this tea place, so at least we can spend lots of time there when I visit her!
After tea, we went back to Boston, for wine and nachos and more videos and finally a bit of DW. And then, in the morning, it was off to brunch, a lovely Irish breakfast with grilled tomatoes (mmmmmm) and grapefruit mimosas but only after it was noon (because Boston is almost Scottish in its trickery levels). After breakfast, because I had a parking space downtown and it was another gorgeous day, we went to Quincy Market, which was a ZOO. It's been a while since I went to Quincy Market on a weekend. Dear God. Far too many people crammed in there. After that, we literally raced a nasty little thunderstorm back to my house and, once it was past, wandered out for ice cream. Then it was, sadly, time for me to take jlrpuck and arctacuda away...
...Because I had to prepare for my next round of guests: my entire family, who descended en masse, parents, sisters, grandmother, brother-in-law. We had a lovely time, having dinner and then playing a board game, and then having breakfast together this morning. Once they left, I sat outside on my balcony for a bit and read, because it was another beautiful day. Then I treated myself to a Dunkin' Donuts iced tea and a pedicure, and then I walked to the park near my house to enjoy more of the weather. On the way back, I decided to play a game called "EGT Tries to Kill Her Otherwise Thriving Plants by Not Leaving Well Enough Alone." I bought a teacup flowerpot, largely because it was a teacup, and how perfect is that for me? Because I am the world's worst estimator of size, I bought it because I thought it was bigger than this other pot and I could re-pot the plant in that pot that was in desperate need of a bigger pot. Once I re-potted the plant, I could tell that, in fact, the teacup was not bigger at all, so that had been silly. I moved that plant back to its old pot, and then moved my indoor impatiens, which have been flourishing, over to the teacup. So we'll see what happens there. The outdoor impatiens had also been flourishing, except that I was busy this weekend and missed watering them for two days, so now they are all sulkily wilting.
After the gardening, I went for ice cream and then came back and sat on my balcony again, enjoying the fact that I was not at work and, indeed, had not thought about work since I'd left it Friday afternoon. It's amazing how much better my jaw feels. I was actually able to open up my mouth wide enough to eat a cupcake, which is definitely not normal for me. It's been an utterly perfect weekend, and I am sad it's over. How long until the 4th of July...?
From the posts I've erected over the weekend, you might think I spent most of it drunk. Surprisingly, I did not. At least, not drunk on alcohol. But drunk on sexy? Because I have my very own life-sized David Tennant who is sitting now in the corner of my living room watching me broodingly while I watch "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" (this is thrillingly exicting for him, as you can imagine. David would be leaping with giddiness were he animate)? Oh, yes. Definitely drunk on sexy.
On Friday, jlrpuck flew up. She and arctacuda went off for the afternoon while I did whatever nonsensical things it is I do at work. I finagled myself into getting out early, which put me in an excellent mood. Also putting me in an excellent mood? The fact that it was DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS, DESPITE WHAT JLRPUCK MIGHT TELL YOU. I wandered over to arctacuda's place of employment, where I met them coming up from the Common. Now, did I notice that jlrpuck was carrying some sort of cardboard thing? Yes. I did. Did I give any though to it? No. I did not. I am not really a naturally curious being, nor am I anything approaching observant. I live very much in my own little world, and it didn't even occur to me to wonder about what crazy spy sort of things jlrpuck might bring with her when she travels. So we went to my house, so I could retrieve my car.
From there we went to Harvard Square. It was, as I have already said, a picture-perfect night in Boston.
Sometimes, Boston has the sort of weather that makes me wonder how anyone can bear to live anywhere else. Okay, most of the time I wonder how anyone can bear to live anywhere else. It is a great blessing to love the place you live as much as I do, but it's very annoying to your friends who have to hear you say, "Isn't this the best city EVER?!?!?!" pretty much every time you go out and do something.
So we go to Harvard Square. Picture-perfect night. We wander through an old cemetary, chatting while jlrpuck took some of her typically gorgeous photos, on my camera for a change,
and then we had dinner at Border Cafe, and I got to, you know, actually eat, as opposed to the last time I took jlrpuck to Border Cafe and was busy having a nervous breakdown and sat at the table to queasy to have food. After Border, we stopped at Tealuxe so I could have iced tea (I picked one of the teas of the day, a coconut-based one, and it was quite good), and then I stopped at CVS and picked up a ridiculous amount of stuff due to the fact that I never go grocery shopping.
Then we went home, and arctacuda said something about how I should look for sexy men in my shower. This is a thing with arctacuda, she believes there are constantly sexy men hiding in my shower. Trust me when I say: There are not. I really had no intention of looking in my shower, I don't know why I leaned over to pull the curtain back, but I ended up saying something like, "There are no sexy men in the--OH." Because it turned out there was a sexy man in the shower. And he joined us in the living room for the entirety of the weekend, being subjected to my Red Sox hat (what we have learned: David Tennant will look good when he is my boyfriend and I make him wear a Red Sox hat) and the indignity of a pirate's eye patch (because we are crazy).
Somehow we managed to find a marathon of '80s music videos, and, after 14 hours of watching these videos, I am fairly confident in my conclusion that the 80s were a very weird time period. Also, I believe this is the worst video of the '80s, in case you were wondering.
On Saturday morning, we made breakfast. It is always a feat trying to get food to come out of my kitchen, but magical jlrpuck and arctacuda managed to achieve it, and then we departed for Rhode Island. We went to Newport, which is one of my favorite places on Earth because I am weird and want to live in a palace and like to fantasize about having a Newport mansion and spending lazy summer days draped on a chaise lounge in a room made of marble and hung with Gainsboroughs that faces the ocean. Yeah.
Arctacuda, who has a sixth sense for topiary, found a camel topiary on the grounds of Rough Point, which is the mansion where Doris Duke lived.
We parked for a closer look, and ended up wandering the grounds, which were impressive mostly because we were in Newport on the cliffs and it was a gorgeous day and the ocean looked beautiful.
After Rough Point, we drove Ocean Drive, stopping at Brenton Point once I figured out that neither jlrpuck nor arctacuda had ever had a Del's lemonade, and you must have a Del's if you're going to do the Rhode Island tourist thing (mini!Ten enjoyed a Del's as well).
We stopped briefly at the Inn at Castle Hill,
but we were running late for tea and had to make haste, especially because we had to allow ourselves time to GET STUCK BEHIND THE SLOWEST TRUCK EVER.
But then, happily, we arrived at the Basically British Tearoom, which was FABULOUS and I am so glad we decided to go. The place was utterly charming, the scone was the best I've ever had, the tea was ridiculously delicious, the finger sandwiches were delectable...I honestly have no complaint with the place and want to go back as often as possible. It turns out my sister is going to law school near there. This was a bittersweet turn of events, because she really likes the school and I'm very excited for her, but we had always had this plan that she would go to school in Boston and move in with me and I was really looking forward to it. I am sad this will not come to pass, as I thought it would be fun, and I also thought that, even if I didn't have a new job by September, which looks increasingly likely, at least my life would still change in one good way that might make it better, but the sadness is alleviated slightly by the fact that her law school is near this tea place, so at least we can spend lots of time there when I visit her!
After tea, we went back to Boston, for wine and nachos and more videos and finally a bit of DW. And then, in the morning, it was off to brunch, a lovely Irish breakfast with grilled tomatoes (mmmmmm) and grapefruit mimosas but only after it was noon (because Boston is almost Scottish in its trickery levels). After breakfast, because I had a parking space downtown and it was another gorgeous day, we went to Quincy Market, which was a ZOO. It's been a while since I went to Quincy Market on a weekend. Dear God. Far too many people crammed in there. After that, we literally raced a nasty little thunderstorm back to my house and, once it was past, wandered out for ice cream. Then it was, sadly, time for me to take jlrpuck and arctacuda away...
...Because I had to prepare for my next round of guests: my entire family, who descended en masse, parents, sisters, grandmother, brother-in-law. We had a lovely time, having dinner and then playing a board game, and then having breakfast together this morning. Once they left, I sat outside on my balcony for a bit and read, because it was another beautiful day. Then I treated myself to a Dunkin' Donuts iced tea and a pedicure, and then I walked to the park near my house to enjoy more of the weather. On the way back, I decided to play a game called "EGT Tries to Kill Her Otherwise Thriving Plants by Not Leaving Well Enough Alone." I bought a teacup flowerpot, largely because it was a teacup, and how perfect is that for me? Because I am the world's worst estimator of size, I bought it because I thought it was bigger than this other pot and I could re-pot the plant in that pot that was in desperate need of a bigger pot. Once I re-potted the plant, I could tell that, in fact, the teacup was not bigger at all, so that had been silly. I moved that plant back to its old pot, and then moved my indoor impatiens, which have been flourishing, over to the teacup. So we'll see what happens there. The outdoor impatiens had also been flourishing, except that I was busy this weekend and missed watering them for two days, so now they are all sulkily wilting.
After the gardening, I went for ice cream and then came back and sat on my balcony again, enjoying the fact that I was not at work and, indeed, had not thought about work since I'd left it Friday afternoon. It's amazing how much better my jaw feels. I was actually able to open up my mouth wide enough to eat a cupcake, which is definitely not normal for me. It's been an utterly perfect weekend, and I am sad it's over. How long until the 4th of July...?