Yep. Seasonal affect order (SAO) is kicking in. I'm gonna be totally honest here: I hate--hate hate hate!--that my mood is so heavily affected by the weather, but I think my life will be better if I just acknowledge that fact. Now the key is to remember that next time it gets dark at 4:00pm.
Speaking of getting dark at 4:00pm, happy equinox! And first day of spring! (I appreciate the pagan holidays because it never makes sense that winter starts on December 21, and this is the first year that spring has actually beat the equinox to me. So nail a pizza to a tree, or something, in honor of the equinox.)
OK. Let's get down to business. I am in a really good mood if you couldn't tell, in large part due to the awesome holiday weekend that just happened. (Was St. Pat a pagan? I hope so.) Here's why: I was house- and cat-sitting for my fam while they hit up Ohio and Indiana for some college visits, so instead of resigning myself to loneliness I decided to fill the house with good people.
My mom suggested I get a keg, but I chickened out. Jameson tastes wayyy better anyway.
So. I spent Friday on the edge of my seat waiting for the day to be done so I could meet up with my girls. Ellen, one of my beloved Olaf Kansans, drove up from D.C. She, Kristy, and I snagged Audrey off the bus around 8:00, and we headed over to Cosmo's Diner on Maryland Ave.
First off, I was very proud of myself for finding it with very little direction, aside from checking out the map on Kristy's phone before we left home. Makes me feel like a local.
And speaking of locals, let me add to my list of reasons it rocks dating local boys. Awhile back I was seriously craving baklava, so J took me to Ali Baba's for $1 baklava. We also talked about someday trying to make it, which I've heard is quite a feat, and would therefore most likely involve me constantly refilling our wine glasses and him doing most of the work. Anyway, I took the following picture of a sign on the table and sent it to him:
And he IMMEDIATELY responded: "COsmos!!!!"
Too great.
Anyway, Cosmo's was awesome. The bread and the salad alone kicked some serious ass, and my spanakopita definitely did not disappoint (even though I still can't pronounce it). While we were sitting there, not surprisingly being the most raucous booth in the whole place, the lights flickered on and off, and on and off again, and went out for a second before what we assumed was the generator kicked on. Meanwhile, a series of dramatic flashes of electricity lit up the skyline outside, vaguely in the direction of my house. It wasn't really in the direction of my house, but close enough that I set a world record in short-course heart racing.
But we all know I overreact.
After dinner we headed over to W. 4th Street to an 80s-themed arcade bar I saw in Out & About last month: 1984. It seemed pretty legit, but since I wasn't around in 1984 I can't say for sure. It seemed like everyone else in there was around in 1984, though. Unclear in some cases whether they were going to bars in 1984, but still. One guy watched us all open tabs with the bartender and leaned over to Ellen: "Remember when you had to pay in cash at bars?"
Actually none of us remember that, because we've only been going to bars for a year or so. We balanced our pride in being four of the last/best things to come out of the 80s by feeling a little out of place, but nobody made us feel unwelcome. The bartenders were pretty cool, actually, gave us recommendations and helped us make tough decisions like what our next beer would be. Among them: Abita Purple Haze, which was the best raspberry wheat I've had since hitting the 75th Street Brewery in Kansas; Evolution Lucky 7 Porter, which kinda stole my heart; Angry Orchard Apple Ginger hard cider, which was by far my favorite cider ever; and the ever-popular Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, touted enthusiastically by Audrey as her all-time most favorite beer ever that she can never find but it's here!
Note that 1984 does not have a full bar, just a killer selection of hipster beers (I could say craft but they're pretty proud of their PBR so I'll widen the net for that) and the Mike's Hard/Twisted Tea varieties. This threw an interesting wrench in Kristy's beer-weaning, which wasn't scheduled to start until laying-out weather. She kind of had to jump out of the nest after two cheer beers, and discovered to my shock and awe that she likes hoppy beers, and hates wheat. Huh.
I'm also fascinated by the fact that their Facebook page ranks way higher than the actual website, which I found on Yelp. It just opened in early December, and it feels like real-people, on-the-ground management. Everyone was friendly and familiar and there was a DJ who was spinning actual records, which is awesome. And I think we secured our street cred from leading a rousing chorus of "TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT! I DON'T WANNA LET YOU GO 'TIL YOU SEE THE LIGHT!"
We stayed there as long as we could, waiting for Karin to report on the status of her late bus from New York. She got in around 1:30 and since Wilmington is in a metropolitan no-man's land the only two places open at that time of night are IHOP (but only on Main Street Newark) and Denny's on 273. So we went there, to eat ill-timed breakfast food with all the other drunk people in the state, and catch up a little before Ellen had to head back to D.C. at 6 in the morning. Far shot from our New York nights of leaving the bar before everyone else at 3:30am...
Saturday, despite Ellen's absence, was an absolutely gorgeous day. We picked up Anne from the train station at noon and the five of us headed out to Old New Castle to meet Jess.
As you may have noticed, Old New Castle is pretty much my favorite place ever. It's that history-romance-cobblestone thing. (Those are pretty much synonyms, by the way.) Also the fact that the courthouse steeple is the center of the Delaware circle.
Turns out we were starving by the time we got there, so we stopped for lunch at Trader's Cove, a super cute cafe in an old colonial building with a gorgeous little beer & wine garden out back. (We deduce it is a popular hangout for theater people, theater people in this case possibly being reenactors...? Who knows.) We got grown-up PBJ sandwiches and falafel sandwiches and I got a curry chicken sandwich. All were very good, and come with adorably sliced fresh fruit, or homemade sweet potato chips. Noms.
Actually, the colonial building is called Penn's Place--allegedly the place where William Penn slept his first night in New Castle. (See what they did there? Eh? Eh?) We think he was 22 at the time, and we postulate that he also ate grown-up PBJ's in his beer & wine garden. Before he became a Quaker.
Mostly we spent the afternoon in the sun, chatting. But Jess made us go inside this antique bookstore, a place called Between the Covers, where we all got lost for awhile. We found some gems in there, like a British first edition Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was going for $250. Other books were worth tens of thousands of dollars. Nuts. For the literary crowd we are.
Old Town shuts down right around 5:00, so after the bookstore closed we meandered back to the house for the night. J and some of his friends eventually came over and I could not have been happier at how the night went down. Good number of good people, good drinks, good food, good times. Just so satisfied. Also, I love my friends.
And Jameson.
On Sunday I got up and made this gorgeous brunch, with the help of my gorgeous friends. I love, love, LOVE hostessing. Seriously. And we were about to linger over brunch for a half hour or so, since Karin's bus left at "noonish."
Ha.
We were going around the table, stating our goals for the day, and Karin said, "My goal for today is to get to my bus with 30 seconds to spare." We all laughed, and I said, "I'd like to give you a little more time," and Anne said, "Wait, what time does your bus leave?"
Karin looked at her watch, cooly, and said, "8 minutes from now?"
All five of us exploded from the table. I just grabbed my keys, even though I was still in my PJs, and Karin and I zoomed off to the bus station (which is at least 10 minutes away--that usually seems close, but not under the circumstances). I actually made very good time, without making any highly unsafe traffic decisions.
And the bus was still parked in front of the station when we got there. Sigh of relief.
Turns out, they had severely overbooked the bus, so I waited in the car while Karin rescheduled her ticket for 2 hours later. None of us were complaining at all about the extra hours with our girl. And we all voted to just sit around and chat. So we really lingered over brunch. And chatting. And grilled cheese sandwiches.
The thesis and theme of the weekend is, as usual, love. A weekend with any and all of these girls never fails to leave each of us refreshed, encouraged, invigorated. Content. And contentedness has not been a particularly common feeling in any of our adult lives.
These friendships are so important, and what I have come to appreciate this weekend is that they are developing adult friendships, relationships that have moved beyond the bounds of our student status, Cage raging and research projects. We have continued to support and affirm each other in very real ways in a very real world, and I have no words to express how valuable these grownup friendships have been to me so far this year. They have surprised me, pleasantly, and given me the strength I've needed to come as far as I have since graduation.
Anne also mentioned laughter. We laughed this weekend. We laughed reminiscing about laughing in Buntrock, at Cage tables, at inopportune moments, in our weird but contagious choir, echoing and magnifying in the huge atrium student center. She told us about a mutual friend, Hannah, who has started doing smiling meditation, and all the awkward moments that have come from her smiling outwardly for 5 minutes straight, for no apparent reason. It struck me that I spend most of my days pursing my lips, squinting at my computer screen, hunching over in my supposedly ergonomic office chair, my right hand stiffening in its grip on the mouse. So I started smiling for five minutes on my drive home everyday.
It's distracting, but it's evidence of how powerful and important these connections and conversations are in our lives if we are to be happy and successful. And they are like a yeast starter: They build on themselves and spread to other people. It gets easier and easier to reconnect with these women every time we meet up and say goodbye again. Also, these relationships brought a new light and depth to some of my important local relationships, and I am ecstatic to have been able to share all these incredible people with each other.
Not to mention, the house was cleaner when they left than when they showed up.
My next goal is to make everyone move to Wilmington...
Speaking of getting dark at 4:00pm, happy equinox! And first day of spring! (I appreciate the pagan holidays because it never makes sense that winter starts on December 21, and this is the first year that spring has actually beat the equinox to me. So nail a pizza to a tree, or something, in honor of the equinox.)
OK. Let's get down to business. I am in a really good mood if you couldn't tell, in large part due to the awesome holiday weekend that just happened. (Was St. Pat a pagan? I hope so.) Here's why: I was house- and cat-sitting for my fam while they hit up Ohio and Indiana for some college visits, so instead of resigning myself to loneliness I decided to fill the house with good people.
My mom suggested I get a keg, but I chickened out. Jameson tastes wayyy better anyway.
So. I spent Friday on the edge of my seat waiting for the day to be done so I could meet up with my girls. Ellen, one of my beloved Olaf Kansans, drove up from D.C. She, Kristy, and I snagged Audrey off the bus around 8:00, and we headed over to Cosmo's Diner on Maryland Ave.
First off, I was very proud of myself for finding it with very little direction, aside from checking out the map on Kristy's phone before we left home. Makes me feel like a local.
And speaking of locals, let me add to my list of reasons it rocks dating local boys. Awhile back I was seriously craving baklava, so J took me to Ali Baba's for $1 baklava. We also talked about someday trying to make it, which I've heard is quite a feat, and would therefore most likely involve me constantly refilling our wine glasses and him doing most of the work. Anyway, I took the following picture of a sign on the table and sent it to him:
 |
| "Also look what i found!" |
Too great.
Anyway, Cosmo's was awesome. The bread and the salad alone kicked some serious ass, and my spanakopita definitely did not disappoint (even though I still can't pronounce it). While we were sitting there, not surprisingly being the most raucous booth in the whole place, the lights flickered on and off, and on and off again, and went out for a second before what we assumed was the generator kicked on. Meanwhile, a series of dramatic flashes of electricity lit up the skyline outside, vaguely in the direction of my house. It wasn't really in the direction of my house, but close enough that I set a world record in short-course heart racing.
But we all know I overreact.
After dinner we headed over to W. 4th Street to an 80s-themed arcade bar I saw in Out & About last month: 1984. It seemed pretty legit, but since I wasn't around in 1984 I can't say for sure. It seemed like everyone else in there was around in 1984, though. Unclear in some cases whether they were going to bars in 1984, but still. One guy watched us all open tabs with the bartender and leaned over to Ellen: "Remember when you had to pay in cash at bars?"
Actually none of us remember that, because we've only been going to bars for a year or so. We balanced our pride in being four of the last/best things to come out of the 80s by feeling a little out of place, but nobody made us feel unwelcome. The bartenders were pretty cool, actually, gave us recommendations and helped us make tough decisions like what our next beer would be. Among them: Abita Purple Haze, which was the best raspberry wheat I've had since hitting the 75th Street Brewery in Kansas; Evolution Lucky 7 Porter, which kinda stole my heart; Angry Orchard Apple Ginger hard cider, which was by far my favorite cider ever; and the ever-popular Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, touted enthusiastically by Audrey as her all-time most favorite beer ever that she can never find but it's here!
 |
| Love at first pour |
I'm also fascinated by the fact that their Facebook page ranks way higher than the actual website, which I found on Yelp. It just opened in early December, and it feels like real-people, on-the-ground management. Everyone was friendly and familiar and there was a DJ who was spinning actual records, which is awesome. And I think we secured our street cred from leading a rousing chorus of "TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT! I DON'T WANNA LET YOU GO 'TIL YOU SEE THE LIGHT!"
We stayed there as long as we could, waiting for Karin to report on the status of her late bus from New York. She got in around 1:30 and since Wilmington is in a metropolitan no-man's land the only two places open at that time of night are IHOP (but only on Main Street Newark) and Denny's on 273. So we went there, to eat ill-timed breakfast food with all the other drunk people in the state, and catch up a little before Ellen had to head back to D.C. at 6 in the morning. Far shot from our New York nights of leaving the bar before everyone else at 3:30am...
Saturday, despite Ellen's absence, was an absolutely gorgeous day. We picked up Anne from the train station at noon and the five of us headed out to Old New Castle to meet Jess.
 |
| The most beautiful women in Delaware. I'm sure of it. |
Turns out we were starving by the time we got there, so we stopped for lunch at Trader's Cove, a super cute cafe in an old colonial building with a gorgeous little beer & wine garden out back. (We deduce it is a popular hangout for theater people, theater people in this case possibly being reenactors...? Who knows.) We got grown-up PBJ sandwiches and falafel sandwiches and I got a curry chicken sandwich. All were very good, and come with adorably sliced fresh fruit, or homemade sweet potato chips. Noms.
Actually, the colonial building is called Penn's Place--allegedly the place where William Penn slept his first night in New Castle. (See what they did there? Eh? Eh?) We think he was 22 at the time, and we postulate that he also ate grown-up PBJ's in his beer & wine garden. Before he became a Quaker.
Mostly we spent the afternoon in the sun, chatting. But Jess made us go inside this antique bookstore, a place called Between the Covers, where we all got lost for awhile. We found some gems in there, like a British first edition Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was going for $250. Other books were worth tens of thousands of dollars. Nuts. For the literary crowd we are.
Old Town shuts down right around 5:00, so after the bookstore closed we meandered back to the house for the night. J and some of his friends eventually came over and I could not have been happier at how the night went down. Good number of good people, good drinks, good food, good times. Just so satisfied. Also, I love my friends.
And Jameson.
On Sunday I got up and made this gorgeous brunch, with the help of my gorgeous friends. I love, love, LOVE hostessing. Seriously. And we were about to linger over brunch for a half hour or so, since Karin's bus left at "noonish."Ha.
We were going around the table, stating our goals for the day, and Karin said, "My goal for today is to get to my bus with 30 seconds to spare." We all laughed, and I said, "I'd like to give you a little more time," and Anne said, "Wait, what time does your bus leave?"
Karin looked at her watch, cooly, and said, "8 minutes from now?"
All five of us exploded from the table. I just grabbed my keys, even though I was still in my PJs, and Karin and I zoomed off to the bus station (which is at least 10 minutes away--that usually seems close, but not under the circumstances). I actually made very good time, without making any highly unsafe traffic decisions.
And the bus was still parked in front of the station when we got there. Sigh of relief.
Turns out, they had severely overbooked the bus, so I waited in the car while Karin rescheduled her ticket for 2 hours later. None of us were complaining at all about the extra hours with our girl. And we all voted to just sit around and chat. So we really lingered over brunch. And chatting. And grilled cheese sandwiches.
The thesis and theme of the weekend is, as usual, love. A weekend with any and all of these girls never fails to leave each of us refreshed, encouraged, invigorated. Content. And contentedness has not been a particularly common feeling in any of our adult lives.
These friendships are so important, and what I have come to appreciate this weekend is that they are developing adult friendships, relationships that have moved beyond the bounds of our student status, Cage raging and research projects. We have continued to support and affirm each other in very real ways in a very real world, and I have no words to express how valuable these grownup friendships have been to me so far this year. They have surprised me, pleasantly, and given me the strength I've needed to come as far as I have since graduation.
 |
| This is not unusual for us. |
It's distracting, but it's evidence of how powerful and important these connections and conversations are in our lives if we are to be happy and successful. And they are like a yeast starter: They build on themselves and spread to other people. It gets easier and easier to reconnect with these women every time we meet up and say goodbye again. Also, these relationships brought a new light and depth to some of my important local relationships, and I am ecstatic to have been able to share all these incredible people with each other.
Not to mention, the house was cleaner when they left than when they showed up.
My next goal is to make everyone move to Wilmington...
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