Clay Weekend!

Saturday rudely awoken at 7 am by big mama. i’d had a bad end of my week so i figured the best cure for my blues would be to go home for a day and visit with ma familia. hadn’t been home in a while, and as a result of her excitement to see me, my mom called me at 7 on saturday morning just to confirm that i would in fact be making the journey home that day. i went back to sleep and arose at a more reasonable hour. after a quick shower, i jumped on the metro and was back home in alexandria in record time. my mom came to pick me up on her moped, which is far funnier than mere words can express. she came speeding round the corner, wearing a giant motorcycle helmet with a flip down visor, beeped her littler horn at me and beckoned for me to hop on… good lookin.

got home and was instantly greeted by ariface as she came barreling down the stairs! nothing like a hearty welcome from my favorite ten year old. a couple weekends ago, my dad took my mom and sis to medieval times for dinner and a show (hahah!). since ari is basically treated as an only child now, and she’s utterly adorable, my dad totally spoiled her and bought her all kinds of medieval paraphernalia! upon entering my parents’ house, i came face to face with a couple of medieval times flags that my dad had stuck in the chandelier to spruce up the place. unfortunately, he didn’t use any foresight and the plastic handles of the flags slowly melted together every time someone turned on the light. ari cut them apart and then challenged me to a duel. i casually chose one and then she informed me that she would be right back with her choice. a few minutes later, she returned with a giant foam-core mace, a jewel encrusted dagger and a 4 foot long sword. our weapons were grossly mismatched. after we fought for a few minutes, ari decided to show me some of her fabulous clay creations - she's going through a snack period...


marvelled at her artistic ingenuity and then mom took us out for an uber-fancy lunch at the local olive garden followed by an epic shopping trip. Tj Maxx and Target were extraordinarily good to me and i came away from the 4 hour, orgiastic display of consumerism with mighty fine booty. i'm not sure when i became quite so domestic, but i always seem to experience a strong magnetic pull whenever i'm within a few feet of the housewares/kitchen section of a store. ari and i spent an embarrasing amount of time playing with fancy rubber spatulas and exorbitantly priced gourmet pizza cutters. and ladles... forget about it. i managed to pull myself away from the kitchen aisles with only a minor purchase: a space-age, rubbery baking sheet that is as stylish as it is functional. the bulk of my purchases fall under the category of personal adornment and they are glorious. behold...


went back to my parents house to have a hot cuppa tea and watch a bit of some basketball game with my dad before he graciously gave me a ride back into the city. my dad can be such a nice guy - case in point: he was perched on the edge of seat (figuratively of course because my dad is shaft, and shaft never perches... he lounges) waiting to see how the dark horse of college basketball, george mason, would fare in whatever game they were playing. everyone was playing well and the game was tied at the end, so they went into overtime. but my dad had promised to drive me home before 9, so, with nary a complaint or sour expression, he peeled himself away from the comfort of his battered old couch and drove me home.

as soon as i got back home, i pranced around for about half an hour in my new purchases, wearing my sunglasses at night because i'm really that cool, before meeting up with ben so we could head over to clay's mini-party a few blocks down the road. there was minimal awkwardness when we got there, but i really enjoyed it. there were just a few of us there (all couples so far) and we each made haltingly hilarious and dry comments to one another until those first few bottles of wine kicked in. peter made delicious chili, clay/emily's neighbor brought over some delicious white wine with a hint of peach. they ordered a few pizzas and abi brought us all fabulous plastic rings to serve as party favors. ben was wholly impressed by clay’s cd collection – specifically the presence of united states of america (american metaphysical circus). he also had the books and boards of canada… so basically, ben and clay have the same musical taste. joined in on an exceedingly lofty conversation revolving around finite and infinite games, eavesdropped on a conversation about medicine cabinets, discussed the importance of a firm handshake. later, i drunkenly (and perhaps mistakenly) informed someone of his chumpish tendencies. in true party form, as the evening progressed so did ben's advances and we ended up engaged in yet another epic pda session – i think we have a problem. bailed on going to another party later – by that point it was 3 and i had well surpassed the laurie limit for alcohol consumption. overall, it was a perfect night:





Sunday
woke up frighteningly early. blew my nose. made french toast. went back to sleep until 4. played with photoshop and then got ready for a fancy dinner with ben. we ended up going to a fancy restaurant in a hotel in dupont circle. wore a skirt and faux pearls. it was extravagant and delicious – salmon on a bed of spinach with asparagus, crème brulee, deliciously strong raspberry ripple. so so fancy. thank you ben.


Monday
Hard Tomorrows and Greenland - felt very weird to be there. the bands didn't sound the same as i remember. i didn't feel like dancing, which was a first for me. it was nice to see a few people though - nan, collin, erik, aric, etc. but the only really good thing that came out of that night was the chance to reconcile with a good friend of mine from college. she's an extraordinarily cool broad and i felt horrible that things had gotten so strange between us. we had a long talk, interspersed with girlie hugs in the corner of black cat and i think we both feel 1000% better.