Parents' Visit
I'm writing this-- as I occasionally do-- for me, for posterity, but am posting it in case anyone else is interested?
Two weekends ago my mom visited me for the weekend. She was in town for Uncle Fred's surgery-- which was actually in New York, but she came a few days early to spend the weekend with me. It was really, really great to see her. We got lost almost every single time we tried to go anywhere, but had fun anyway. She did Mom things-- took me on errands since we had a car and took care of me, which I really appreciate and it makes me feel happy and loved. We got my ballet gear (I'm liking ballet, despite sucking at it!) and went to Target to replace some of the functional doodads my roommates took with them when they left (whether because they had originally purchased them or, with a couple of my things, because they are assholes) and did a lot of Meals together, which is an important bonding thing for both of us. We went to Clyde's, a really lovely little restaurant in Georgetown that had some of the best soup ever, seriously. And she took my girlfriends and I out to dinner so she could meet them, and that was really sweet for me? And also she liked them all a lot which is good. Mom and I went and saw 27 Dresses, which I really liked and would totally recommend with the caveat that it's a mainstream heterosexual romantic comedy, and if you really can't stand those no matter how well they're done, it is probably not your thing. The night before she left we went to Cheesecake Factory and had a really nice dinner together, and then I stayed over at her hotel and watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, which I also enjoyed and my mother slept through because it was the middle of the night. Then we had breakfast, and she dropped me back off at AU with the complementary water bottles the hotel had given her for screwing up her tea order. They came in a really pretty water-colored Westin bag, which I cut up and put on my wall.
Daddy's in town this weekend! He picked me up from work, with some difficulty, since I work pretty much on the Mall and they are not interested in the comfort and convenience of non-Congress drivers, and understandably so; they have blockades built into the street which they can raise and lower at will, so they can entirely lock down about an eight-block square area if they need to. Streets are sort of unpredictably blockaded all the time, and my dad got yelled at by a few cops, but eventually we found each other and went to Georgetown for dinner. The restaurant was in this really cute old house, painted a cheerful yellow, that reminded me of New Orleans (where I have never been, so, actually the New Orleans town in Disneyland, which is forever cemented in my mind as a wonderfully picturesque and ambiance-tastic place to be.) It was Italian and very nice, and I can't remember/pronounce its name or any of the things I ordered, but we got eggplant with sauteed onions, balsamic sauce, and goat cheese, and garlic bread, and I got Minestrone-esque soup, and a really great steak with some kind of mushrooms and wine sauce and fettuccine alfredo and tea, and dad got a caesar salad and pasta with scallops, and a really nice wine. They had a live violinist and someone came in at one point selling roses and daddy bought me a bouquet, and after we went to Godiva and got chocolates, and chocolate-covered strawberries, and I talked him into getting us a cup of their hot chocolate which is literally the best, ever. Between the roses, chocolate and dinner it was sort of like an early Valentine's day, which was really sweet and I really appreciated. Due to non-tragic love-life oddness (I have, you know, a guy, just he's not here), I am not likely to have a male-bodied person whom I care about to celebrate with on February 14th itself, which was making me a little sad, but now I feel loved and appreciated and so on. My girlfriends don't have boyfriends in town either, so I'm actually looking forward to all of us doing something together. Tomorrow, daddy's taking us all out to dinner so he can meet them. He and I are getting together, doing a couple errands, having lunch, and then going museum-ing-- probably the National Gallery, which we both love. Sunday morning we are also doing something but I dunno what yet.
Love you guys and hope you're having a good 2008 so far!