playing games with precious friend's at the leahy's tuesday night. so good. then catching the late viewing of Blindside with my brother, Jacob. I thought it was an okay film, apart from being so bloody predictable.
driving solo to dulles airport at 2:15 am on wednesday morning to get my brother, peter from california. in short: falling asleep on the road, sleeping in a sheetz parking lot for a 15 minute power-nap, and drinking half of a red bull before a joyous reunion.
(part of the) family dinner at mom's house wednesday night. then the keith grant suprising my sister, rachel and her boyfriend, sam later that night. playing rockband "the beatles" ensued with my brother, Jacob. Up was watched, and enjoyed by all.
thanksgiving morning was spent driving to my mom's parents house in richmond. once there, finally got to meet my cousin joel's wife, michelle, along with their two sons Logan(4) and Curtis(6 months). So much fun. Somehow Jacob and I ended up at the adult's table this year. How does that happen? Over factory-injected fowl, I learned that my Uncle Bruce works for the largest supplier of explosives to the US army. Automatically, my mind spit out a picture of me chained to their doors in protest. :-)
All of us kids(plus Sam of course) then left for my dad's parents house also in Richmond. His sister, Connie and all of her kids were there. Also, cousin Henry, and his wife, Colleen. I like them so much. Over dinner, I sat next to my cousin Hampton's husband, Ben. Being the first time I really got to talk to him, it was pretty fantastic. He converted me to red wine versus white, and answered all my questions about how he came to be a chef when he started out working for a computer software company. To the left of me sat my Uncle Deadbear. His main discussion over dinner was about how I should try to get into the best college possible, so then I could get a good job, etc. It's awfully hard to tell someone that you just want to help people in life, and could care less about your salary. People who considering helping to be writing tax write-off's as the highest form of charity just don't quite get it.
Late Thanksgiving night on the drive home, I think I had one of the worst brain fails ever. I somehow got it in my head that it would be a good idea to go Black Friday shopping with my mom. So, 6:15 Friday morning where was I? I was driving down 1-81 South headed to harrisonburg to get good deals of course! So Lame. Not 5 minutes after being inside the mall, I realized what an idiot I was. Here we are in awful times economically, and millions of people are grabbing things faster than you can say Kalamazoo. Not only in terms of money, but terms of characterIt was on the way home that I vowed to my mom "Never Again".
Friday night Rachel, Sam, and I headed to downtown Charlottesville. They graciously let me try to take some decent pictures of them, afterwards we split fries at 5 Guys. mmm. Then we headed to the Southern to listen to the Bowerbirds! It had been a long seven months since I had seen them last at MacRock. All I can say is wow. They played all of their classic old songs like, Olive Hearts, Hooves, Marbled Goodwit, In Our Talons, etc. Plus some of their newer stuff. I really like their new drummer. After they left, they even came out and played two more songs after much enthusiastic cheering from the crowd. What a good night. Oh yeah, plus I scored a bowerbirds bag that I'll now be using for grocery shopping instead of plastic bags. Boom.
Saturday (some of) the family headed to good 'ole Cracker Barrel with Peter for his "last meal". He chose this restuarant because the closest Barrel to him in California is all the way in Arizona. Who knew? After lunch, Mom, Peter, and I headed to Dulles for his send-off. Sad good-bye, but shall reunite in Florida with Pete in January.
Afterwards, I got in the driver's seat and with no directions proceeded to get mother and I into the heartland of Washington, DC. We were originally going to stop before getting into the city, and just park at a metro station, but ended up not doing so. We found parking, then proceeded to go inside a station and ask for directions to a restuarant that I had looked up right before we departed. Turns out we were only about five blocks away. boom. After stopping to ask someone for directions once, we arrived at Busboys and Poets. What a legitimate spot! They are a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market, and gathering place. According to their website they are a community resource for artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and dreamers. To top it all off, the make a mean veggie burger. You can't really go wrong eating here.
Sunday morning was spent sleeping in and catching up on laundry. Then I hit the gym for a killer workout. Fun, right?
All in all, this thanksgiving is one for the books.
