Kate, Val, and I had a fabulous time over our girls' weekend this past weekend. We try to get together once a year, and in the past we have hung out around Greensboro, have gone to the mountains, and have visited the beach. This year the other girls were kind enough to suggest we stick close to the area (meaning Val had to make the long drive from NC) since Elsa is still nursing (though she did self-cut two feedings early last week, so now we're down to just four times a day). Val arrived on Thursday evening and was here through Sunday afternoon, and for once it actually felt like a nice, long weekend to me... perhaps because a significant amount of the time I was by myself, sans Elsa.
Val arrived in Decatur Thursday evening, and once Jarrett was home from work and Elsa was down for the night, I headed over to Kate's house to pick up both of them, and we headed to Downtown Decatur for dinner out at Leon's Full Service. We started out at the bar while waiting for a table, Val and I with cocktails and Kate with some sort of bottled fancy ginger ale. Once seated, we were met with our extremely pushy waitress, who threw me off by immediately wanting to take our food order. Thankfully we had already perused the menu and knew what we wanted -- we ordered the pub frites with the goat cheese fondue and the herbed caper mayonnaise to start, and I ordered the burger, Val ordered the beef bistro steak sandwich, and Kate ordered the turkey sandwich. Everything was good and, albeit loud, we had a nice time settling into our girl time. After dinner, I dropped them off and headed home to try to get a good night's rest (after a week of not sleeping so well) so I would be well prepared for the following days' activities.
Jarrett has been -- and still is -- very busy at work with some huge projects, so he was unable to take Friday off, as we were originally hoping, so I had Elsa for the day. Because of this, the girls headed over to my house around 10:30, knitting in tow, and we sat around and chatted and knitted until Elsa woke up from her morning nap around 11:00 a.m. We then headed out to introduce Val to our favorite Atlanta knitting shop, Knitch. Afterward, we drove back into Decatur and had lunch at Taqueria del Sol, which was as good as always, but I found it quite difficult to balance Elsa on my lap, ward away her grabby hands, feed her her lunch, and still somehow manage to eat mine one-handed. The Taco Nazi never claims to be a child-friendly restaurant, and they definitely don't try with their lack of highchairs and limited space for strollers. But they also know they don't need to try -- we all keep coming back for more anyway. After lunch we went back to my house and I tried to put Elsa down for a nap. Us girls did some more knitting (and more chatting, of course) while we listened to Elsa chatter in her crib in the background. She finally did fall asleep, but not for long, and I went ahead and got her up and we headed to the Farmer's Market to get some ingredients for our dinner. By the time we made it back to the store, Tim and Jarrett were home from work, and Jarrett's mom had arrived from North Carolina. I stuck around the house until Elsa was again down for the night, and then I headed on over to Kate's, where we made homemade mozzarella cheese, and then homemade margherita pizzas. Kate and Val had already made the dark chocolate brownies, and I topped off the indulgences by making bellinis (Kate's, obviously the virgin version). So with all of that and a chick flick (He's Just Not That Into You), it was the perfect evening around the house. And, yes, knitting was definitely involved.
Saturday was the big day away from Elsa. I got up with her and did our morning routine, but then headed over to Kate's after her morning nap. We had pancakes for breakfast at her house, and then headed out to our pedicure appointment at Jazmin Spa. This was my first pedicure, though I don't know how. Why had no one told me how unbelievably fabulous these little splurges are? Okay, I think I have been told before, but it always seemed so frivilous and unneccesary. But forget that. This needs to happen at least once a year from now on. Here we are at the pedicure (note that knitting was involved even here... we've been joking that we should rename our next Girls' Weekend "Knitcation"). The moon-boot-looking foot covers were electric, keeping warm the heated goop that was in the plastic bags and over each foot... some sort of foot masque.
I can't even tell you everything they did to my feet and calves. All I can tell you is that it felt fantastic. And my feet look pretty nice too. After the spa treatment, we went to Sun in My Belly for lunch, and then back to Kate's to regroup, knit a little, and decide what to do next. Our decision? To go to the theater to see a chick flick (The Proposal). I think the last movie I saw in the theater was Race to Witch Mountain, which I saw with my mom back in April. It's not like it was that long ago, but I just feel like we never get to the movie theater anymore. I can't even remember the last time Jarrett and I went to see one together. Anyway, it was nice to say the least. After the movie, we again went back to Kate's and -- you've got it -- knitted some more. We decided to walk to Universal Joint in the Oakhurst Village for dinner, but then it decided to start raining while we were there, so we had to call on our chauffeur, Tim, to drive us back to the house once we were done eating. Once back at the house, we finished off our bellini ingredients, ate some brownies, watched our last chick flick (Bride Wars), and -- ahem -- knitted.
Now throughout the day I probably drove Jarrett a little crazy with my calls and messages, asking how things were going with Elsa. Jarrett and his mom took fabulous care of Elsa, and she did completely fine without me. Of course. They took her out around town. They helped her work on perfecting her wave. They fed her. They changed her. They loved on her. They were great. Really, I never questioned their ability, but a mom can still worry.
On Sunday morning, again after Elsa was down for her nap, Kate and Val picked me up, and we went to Murphy's to linger over a delightful brunch. I had their veggie omelet, Kate had eggs benedict, and Val had some sort of variation of Kate's. Between my omelet, a biscuit, hashbrown potatoes, and a huge cafe mocha, I was set until dinner. Val had to take off for NC around 2:00 p.m., so we spent the last of our time over at Kate's doing yet some more -- what else? -- knitting. I know we probably seem like extreme knitting dorks, but I can't tell you how nice it was to have all of this time to actually dedicate to nothing else but knitting. Val and I were lamenting the fact that when we're home, everything else -- all those household chores -- nags at us even when the kids are down for a nap and we do have some time to breathe. Things like reading and knitting nearly always get shoved off to the side. So this weekend? This weekend was lovely. I missed Elsa even the short time I was away, but it was still nice to be away.
So, girls? 'Til next year...
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