Goodness me, I am STILL reeling from all the haps of this blissful 3-day weekend. Wherever shall I start?
I came home from work on Friday, not only to these gorgeous earrings made by my soul-friend, UmberDove...but also to an ENTIRE evening of solitude. I took a quick run, I bought a bottle of wine, I made myself some ravioli, I watched an inordinate amount of trash TV, I journaled, I cried over videos of my niece, and I bought my sister a plane ticket to come up to Seattle and see U2 with me this weekend.
A leisurely Saturday morning with tea and ElleDecor...this picture is also starring my new coffee table...which I am absolutely enamored with! I do love craigslist.
Then it was a walk to the farmer's market, a stop for our favorite spinach smoothies, and then we simply
couldn't resist the temptations of a lamb schwarma and some ginger iced tea. Oh dear delicious gods. If you ever find yourself wandering Seattle's University district, hungry and thirsty, aimlessly hoping to find the perfect sandwich, let's talk about Schwarma King.
After we returned home, I sat to write for a bit whilst watching Joel work on the tomato beds. Looking back, Joel and I both really enjoyed this time specifically. I love hanging out with him at home, doing the same thing...but I love doing our own things even more...coexisting in different tasks to our mutual happiness. It just gives me great pleasure to look out my window and see him doing something he loves...not to mention the lusty glances that were exchanged through that window. Caliente!
We then strutted our stuff downtown to attend a burlesque show (I purchased this vintage dress when visiting Kelly, and I feel that it and me were indeed meant for each other). We were feeling so fabulous that we stayed afterward and listened to some live music in the lounge, then walked to a new (to us) pub in Pike's Place Market, The White Horse Trading Company. Books and ale, yes please!
After all that walking in my heels, home felt amazing.
We spent Sunday lounging with Jenn, Brian, and Olive...doing laundry, eating homemade cornbread, laughing at Olive. A perfect day. Olive is enamored of cameras, especially Auntie's DSLR. She will sit for whole minutes on end toying with the buttons, snapping photos, and since she always wants to be doing this while in my lap, I certainly do not mind! I took several videos of her entertaining antics.
Monday, I woke to the wonderful news that Devon had her baby boy, Ethan! After a lovely talk with the exhausted mom, I got to work moving all my books, re-potting plants, refreshing the jasmine collection around my house (I'm obsessed lately) and general nesting. We felt we simply had to have mexican food on Memorial Day, so off to soak up the margaritas at Chupacabra . Then it was a leisurely trip to the Goodwill, where I bought even more stemware (if you have been to my house, you know of the inordinate amounts of drinking vessels Joelio and I tend to collect. This time I found two pretty slutty brandy snifters, two victorian-looking wine glasses, one gorgeous leaf-embossed shot glass, and one small-stemmed crystal port glass). I need an intervention. Then we decided to try another bar close to the store, but it was very blah.
We came home to watch several episodes of Doctor Who and plopped into bed happy and wishing every week could be Monday's off.
Senior Booze and I have returned from our road-trip. Thank God we rented a car, otherwise all of our loot would never have fit. Though I am unashamed to admit that I wish this was all for us, I am here to say it isn't.
Working on pictures and stories from the trip soon, stay tuned.
(Sometimes self-care requires that I drink and drink a lot. Other times, it begs me to cherish my liver. I have to be keenly in tune with its wee voice.)
Oh don't you feel it...that fabulously worn out, "I'm so tired I could cry" Friday feeling? I'm feeling it, kids. But I must rally, for tonight I'm hosting my friends for a house-warming party, for which I'm making stew, fresh bread, an awesome wilted-spinach salad, and cupcakes!
Right at this very moment, there are two big crock-pots full of Emirl's Beef Stew cooking. I got up at 5:45am to get it all started, but did a majority of the work last night.
I am prepping Emril's Essence* here. If you don't know, it's just a combination of great spices, but I admit to being a bit disgusted by the name...a person's "essence" sounds like his virility or seed, or at the very least, an ancient Mayan translation of someone's aura. I don't know, I think it's a lame name. It's also known as Bayou Blast, but dear god...don't even get me started on that name.
I find something very comforting about Sous-Chef work. All the chopping and slicing and juliening makes for a nice brain nap towards the end of the day. I also usually require strong drink whilst cooking, but the night before I had a hot toddy and two 3oz pours of Bourbon...usually, my old man constitution would be able to handle this, but with only a cheese platter under my belt, I was pretty friggen sauced. Since then, the idea of booze has made my stomach turn.
Sidenote: How many of you cook with your computer right there in the kitchen? I think there's a total niche market for this, a specific computer, mounted, protected, etc.
Yes, that's really all I have for you at the moment.
Are you doing something big and social for the weekend or do you plan to pamper yourself with solitude and nesting? Readers, I plan to do both.
That's just the kind of weekender I am.
Sincerely the weekend slut,
*Just FYI:
Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):
