Weekend Recap (long post!)

Three day weekend was a blast! Matt and I had a date night on Friday - dinner at Pinky's where I had the "Ding Dong" burger. Matt got a regular burger with pimento cheese and bacon. Plus we got a side of fries, onion rings and two brews, all for about 20 bucks!! After that we headed to my graduate school (I have a MFA in Creative Writing) to hear one of my professors read from his recent group of short stories. It was a weird experience being on the campus again.* The reading was fantastic and my old professor was wonderful. Although my feelings were slightly hurt that he didn't remember me, but then again, he's had hundreds of students in the five years I've been gone, and hundreds before me.

*Side bar: I worked there for four years and went to grad school for two of them. I graduated in the summer of 2005, a few months after we were married, then quit my job and haven't really been back since. Being around all those writers and students made me wistful for my time there - I was 24 and the world was at my fingertips. I worked a job with minimal responsibility, read poetry and fiction every evening in a coffee shop and wrote until the wee hours of the morning. It was bliss.

Saturday we slept in late, and I worked on my blog, did laundry, ran errands and lounged on the couch. We hung out with our friends Laura, Dar, Lorean and David on Saturday night and played games, ate snacks, and talked. Here are some photos from the night:

 Laura and Lorean and David's daughter Micah. Isn't Micah so stinking cute? Even upset she is a DOLL!

Laura, me and Lorean. Laura is expecting #2 this July!

We played noun phrase/verb phrase. Matt is obviously more interested in the candy he's eating.

Delirium ensues...At one point Dar and David wanted to make ugly faces for the camera. 

Face #2

It took 3 takes to get the right angle of David's " funny face".

Sunday we went to church, ate leftovers, watched an episode of Top Gear (love that show and have a secret crush on Richard Hammond), then Matt went back to church for a men's meeting, and I vegged on the couch with the cat in my lap and the dog napping at my feet.

And on Martin Luther King Holiday, we slept in again, I worked a little and Skyped with my friend Courtney. She read me a book that she reads to her son Riley called "Hug."

 Image Source

The story follows a little chimp named Bobo who sees other jungle animals hugging their parent. He happily identifies each set of animals hugging one another, but realizes that he cannot find his "hug" - his mom is nowhere to be found. At the end, he sits in the middle of his animal friends, each coupled off around him, concerned and helpless, as he cries for his hug. All of a sudden, Bobo's mom calls out from the trees and comes running to give him his hug and everyone celebrates. 

She said the story reminded her of my struggle to become a parent - as my friends each got their "hug" through the birth of a child, I was the little monkey - desperate, crying and feeling alone while my friends surrounded me wanting to help. She ended the story by telling me that just like Bobo got his "hug", it is certain I will receive mine and we will all be able to celebrate. Baby M is on their way.

Later Monday afternoon, I headed over to my friend Tonya's. She was cleaning out her kids stuff and asked if I wanted to borrow anything - of course I jumped at the chance. She sent me home with a Pack and Play, swing, johnny jumper, Snap and Go stroller, two car seat bases (we bought the same car seat that she used with her boys), play mat, newborn bathtub, a bag of toys, and she gave me a high chair from Ikea that she never used. Isn't Tonya just the best? My mom will be using a lot of it - she is going to be our nanny during the week. My mother in law might get in on the babysitting action too, so it helps to have some extra gear around.

We ended the weekend on not so great of a note - Matt got food poisoning (or the stomach flu, we can't tell) and I got sick too. I hate hate hate being sick. So let's end this post on a inspirational quote from Martin Luther King Jr, a man who fought for what was right and gave his life to a cause we should all continue to take up - justice, freedom and unconditional love. 

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  - Martin Luther King, Jr.