La Tuya

My mom arrived in Williamsburg on Friday. Originally, Chris was supposed to pick her up after class, but I couldn’t wait to see her, so I left work early and headed out to the airport. She was a little hungry from the large meal on the flight (a hearty bag o’ pretzels and a tomato juice) so we hit Plaza Azteca for Mexican and I had Chris meet us there. ¡Que rico! After gorging ourselves with salsa, queso and a very fattening Mexican meal, we went home and lazed on the deck with a nice fire blazing in the pit. Margie joined in, and we chatted it up until it was time for ice cream, then sleep.

Friday morning mom and I both slept in. We got a very late start. We ate breakfast at home, which she absolutely needed to photograph (my grandchildren will be impressed by my tattered tablecloth!) and then mom and I got our shopping fix. Then we went for pedicures! ¡Que rico! ¡Que bonito! When we got home, we made ourselves pretty, picked up Margie (who also got pretty) and we ate dinner at Ichiban in New Town. It was a challenge walking with two petite (short) ladies. They walk slowly. I mean, they walk slowly. Holy cow, they are slow. Mom and I got a little sloppy on the plum wine and sake. Margie played it cool with a daiquiri of some kind, and Chris held his own with a gigantic bottle of Kirin Ichiban. We devoured our meals, and when we got home, it was off to sleep!

Saturday we got up, had breakfast and it was out to the stores again. Now I know where I get my shopping gene from…and the frugal gene too! My mom knows how to find good deals. We had to cut it short, though, because Mom was expected to cook one of Chris’ favorites, Garbanzos. ¡Que rico! We had to slam it though, because we were meeting our friend Aubin at the Bruton Parish for a candlelight concert (Bach's Brandenburg Concerto V and Handel trio sonatas performed on period insturments!!!). It only lasted an hour, so in the rain, we drove over to Alizé Bistro (A Carroll’s) for some cocktails. That was a blast! We made it home and attempted to watch SNL, but à la Courtney Love, I passed out in my party clothes and whined when I was summoned to bed.

Sunday was a lazy day. We got up late, watched The Soup for the umpteenth time (it never gets old) and decided to barbecue. We sent out the word…sort of. Only Margie, Jerry, Jason & Amber were game on such short notice, as most of our invitations are. We’re pretty spontaneous people. As our friend Ron so eloquently put it after I harangued him for never showing up, “'We’re having a barbeque in five minutes, can you make it?' 'Uh-no'”. Anyway, I think Mom and I finished the chips and queso entirely by ourselves. We also had hamburgers, bratwurst and beer. ¡Que rico! After the glutton fest, we opened gifts. Then we started painting moustaches on our fingers. Then we did shots. It ended without incident (save Jerry’s “trumpet” solo) around 10, just in time to get a good nights’ rest for work and school.

"Hey! Who invited Hitler?"

I woke Mom up around 7:15 this morning, hugged and kissed her, and then I was off to work. Chris dropped her off at the airport on the way to school. I must give a giant Thank You to my man for taking her to the airport and putting up with an all-girl weekend without the slightest comment; and an even bigger THANKS to my big brother Joey for delivering the package and receiving it on time. The eagle has left the building…I repeat, Elvis has landed.