Sunday, March 31, 2013

All Good Things Reprise: Episode 5

an old easter tradition

Happy Easter, friends! It seems, no matter how hard I try to counteract the cosmic forces of momentum, that life just gets fuller and fuller! For the most part, it fills up with good things. But it's still very full. And this week, for me, has been full of stories. So hit play, and read on for 10 happy bedtime stories from this week, about going places, trying new things, learning new things, reading new quotes... Tales of love and adventure!



1. Since it's now officially spring, two of my coworkers and I are starting an adventure that should carry us through the warm season into the fall: #DestinationHockessin, which involves us walking to a different local restaurant for lunch every Wednesday (because Wednesday is payday, what up!) This week marked our first excursion. We kicked off the adventure at Quinn's Cafe, and all three of us had DELICIOUS sandwiches. Plus, they didn't even blink an eye when we asked for fruit cups instead of potato chips. NOMS.

2. I moved into Little Italy about seven months ago, and every day have driven past this tiny, brightly-colored storefront less than a block away, which bears the name: Pastabilities. My mom has been bugging me to check it out probably since we moved in; and Jason's mom, who works literally 3 blocks from my house, has also started to get on our case to go check it out. We've been meaning to, really, for months now; but finally got around to it just this past date night... And we were NOT disappointed! At around 8:00 on a Wednesday night, we had the place to ourselves. It's bursting with quirky decorations, and they turned down the lights and turned up the music for us: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, the Greats, of course. It felt a bit to me like Ariel's secret lair in The Little Mermaid. Very charming, and the owner & cook, Luigi Vitrone, and the server, Evan, are friendly, warm, hospitable. Jason kept commenting that the food reminded him of his grandmother's house -- and this is, of course, high praise.

3. This:
























4. I had Friday off from work! WAHOO!

5. ...Which means Jason and I could leave town to go visit Mary and Zach in D.C.! Just so happens their parents were also in town for the long weekend, so I was ecstatic to be able to see and hang out with one of my adopted college families, and for Jason to also get to meet them. After we left he said, like he always does when he meets another one of my friends from a past life, "Your friends are awesome. Also, I love seeing how you come from them." So, shoutout to my friends for contributing in no small or insignificant way to who I am, to my mannerisms and my values and my perspectives.

6. While we were walking on the National Mall (NBD, guys) I caught a glimpse of a face that in profile looked incredibly familiar. I nudged Mary and asked if she recognized him. "He does look familiar, let's conduct some casual loud conversation about St. Olaf while we walk past to see if he looks up."

So we're walking past, yelling things like, "Man, I miss ST. OLAF!" "And hanging out in BUNTROCK COMMONS!" "Which was right next to ROLVAAG LIBRARY!" "And right next to that I had most of my classes in HOLLAND HALL?" "And I loved living on the third floor of MELLBY!"

No luck. But a few minutes later, Zach called us back to where our group had gathered with this guy and we said, "WE KNEW IT!"

Apparently Mary's dad started whistling the St. Olaf fight song and ofcourse a true Ole couldn't walk past without fist pumping to the Um Ya Ya waltz.

7. Every now and then the Written Remains Writers' Guild holds an event at the library called Get Out and Write, which entails a published writer in a certain genre giving a talk about the writing, publishing, and marketing process, and then we do an hour of free writing. A great excuse to write. And a great opportunity to hang out with my mom and brother :)

8. In the front page of a gorgeous menu from Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, where we had dinner Friday night: "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Too true, V. Woolf, too true.


9. I'm going to Hogwarts!!!! A well-picked gift from one of my friends who just got back from London this morning -- this exists:







10. Jason says number 10 is Mary's 7-minute hugs... But I'm going to widen that scope to hugs of all kinds, lengths, and frequencies. We've already had dinner twice today and we're about to dive into number three! And each of these dinners involves a round of hugs coming in and another one coming out; plus hugs during peace time at church this morning, and then again when we left church. (I guilted Jason into hugging my dad twice at church, which tickled me pink. He thinks men don't hug, but I think that's what's wrong with the world.) Hugs all afternoon on Friday in D.C., 7-minute and in passing hugs and otherwise. Can't ever get enough! It makes me want to scheme up an excuse to have holidays every day...

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