My, What a Wonderful Weekend

There are moments I wish I could put in a jar and carry with me everywhere. Whenever I was feeling depressed or misunderstood or unhappy with the general trajectory of my life, I'd take that little jar out of my pocket and nothing could touch me. I want to put the last four days in that jar.

From the time she arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning, Weatherly and I had a blast and a half. We spent the first night giggling and drinking wine well past four in the morning. The next day, we dragged ourselves out of bed to go wander around downtown. Our first stop was a quick tour of my office, followed by a wander through the stacks at Powells.



Continuing our journey, we grabbed grilled cheese sandwiches from the Grilled Cheese Grill and ate them at Director Park. We rounded out the afternoon with a quick visit to several of my former coworkers and a guerilla rooftop hang before hopping a bus back across the river. The evening truly kicked off once we parked ourselves on Doug Fir's patio and were joined by Jonathan and Conor.



Doug Fir led to Rontoms, where something was apparently very funny.



We paused to snap a photo...



before moving on to dinner at Que Pasa Cantina. Our final destination was supposed to involve karaoke at the Hutch, but we found a handwritten sign blocking the door once we'd walked all the way down there. Fortunately, Bobby and I have Rock Band, so we called Tara and Brandon to re-route them to our house for more fun. We sang many songs, I was equally terrible at drums and guitar, and Bobby and Weatherly kept the performance going long after our other guests had departed and I'd settled in for a siesta on the couch.

Day two: drag ourselves out of bed for breakfast at Genie's before heading up to Grant Park to visit a certain bronze statue of Ramona Quimby:



On to Williams and Hawthorne to poke around little boutiques, then a sandwich at Grand Central Bakery. Sushi from Yoko's, pastries from Pix, and a couple episodes of The State rounded out our Saturday.

Sunday held more breakfast, this time at the Tin Shed, and visits to various fabric and yarn shops. The afternoon was reserved for the Ringers' annual Memorial Day Weekend party. This year's had a garden party theme. Observe:











Today was Weatherly's last day in town, and we were committed to making the most of it. Our food plans involved a 9 a.m. trip to Broder with Conor and Jonathan, but we'd also promised Weatherly beignets from Delta Cafe. Thus, the Tribrekta was born. We'd go to Broder, hungry up for an hour or two, drop in on Delta for beignets only, and cap off the morning with a visit to Voodoo Doughnut. Unfortunately I'd neglected that today was Monday, and Delta's brunches are weekend-only. I'd also never seen such a crazy line at the satellite Voodoo location, so those plans were scrapped too. Instead we wandered up Woodstock and had lunch at Toast. Finally, we met Bobby's mom, dad, and sister for dinner at the Laughing Planet in our neighborhood.

Intersperse hours of giggling, hugs, and much-needed conversation, and I had a mighty perfect weekend. Until next time, madame bestie. I miss you already.