B's Woe Curing Weekend

On Friday, sleep-deprived and cold, I decided that four of the residents of 1408 could use a big, piping hot pot of soup for dinner. I felt that I owed Cap and J something major for J rescuing me at 3am from my boiler motor nightmare. W was also driving home from his interview in a snowstorm. Nothing fixes life's little woes like a pot of soup!

I love minestrone soup, so I sucked up my hate of chopping butternut squash and made Ina's winter minestrone. Make it. It won't disappoint.

I decided that we needed some serious veggies--all organic--to combat the chemical spill of the previous week. I kind of went all out. It was delicious!

On Saturday morning we did my most favorite thing ever: antiquing. I scored these awesome vintage cocktail forks for $2 at my favorite local haunt, South Charleston Antique Mall.  

$2!!!

I fell in love with this pink rug. I am pretty sure it belongs to the same vendor I got my Swedish MCM dining chairs from. If so, I know him personally and might be calling him this week to find out the "friend" special for this beauty. ;) I mean, even W liked it and was excited by the prospect of expanding our vintage/antique rug collection!

I mean, isn't it just perfection?!

Then, we did W's favorite thing: ethnic food, specifically Vietnamese, specifically coconut chicken curry. I love the banh mi bo.

YUM. To everything pictured above. Except maybe the dude over W's shoulder.

This is South Charleston, WV's downtown, where the antique shop and Yen's are located. Interesting fact, South Charleston is actually west of Charleston--its just on the south side of the river. Directly behind me is a prehistoric Indian burial mound.

It was about 20 degrees and sneeting (snowing/sleeting). But, W and I (sans my super warm $130 coat.....) braved it and the ankle-breaking stone steps.

On Sunday, we indulged in a little thing (and new weekly tradition--for better or worse) I like to call cheese o'clock. The boys also got together and had a rather stress-inducing chat about residency. I just stuffed my face with cheese, plugged my ears and hummed.

So far, this weekend has proven to be the antithesis to the first two weeks of 2014. Let's keep this up, universe!

-b

*Editor's note: This post should have gone up mid-week but yet another string of bad luck pushed it from my mind. Just call me Scrooge. 

November, You're Blushing

It seems like I was just whining about Monday, doesn't it?

TGIF, y'all, for real.

As soon as I get my hands on a camera that actually works, I will be posting more pictures of the apartment. My cracked and beat-up IPhone4 (WHAT. what. represent.) fails every time I try to capture the crumbling plaster and peeling paint of our current abode.

Rather than a weekend of big plans, W and I will be relishing in November, which happens to tie October for my favorite non-summer month. I seriously love Thanksgiving--always have, which means I have an equally serious love for the month in which it falls. My favorite thing to do is watch the Macy's Day Parade and nibble on my dad's famous stuffing, which he doesn't stuff in the bird since we fry our turkeys in South Carolina (read that last part in your best Honey Boo Boo voice). W thinks that it is so lame and so weird to watch the parade--I mean, who actually does that?

Millions,W. Millions of people. Its the freaking Macy's Day Parade! Back off.

November means that family time and delicious food and good movies and great music and parties and friends and happiness are just around the corner. It really is getting to be the most wonderful time of the year.

And so, this first weekend of this my-tied-for-first-place-favorite-non-summer-month will be spent doing my favorite things:

I have asked and W has agreed that we shall grill out Friday and Saturday night (maybe Sunday, too??). Because grilling sans mosquitoes is a godsend.

Cap and I will be going to an estate sale Saturday morning.
Looking for:
1. Dining room chairs to replace the ones I sold in our August yard sale so that people will actually be able to sit for Thanksgiving, which I am hosting. Yeah, I didn't really think that one through....
2. Serving pieces and utensils.
3. Etched mirror to go above my dresser.
4. Bowls that will go with the Horchow.

The leaves are really putting out the goods today, so I'm hoping the weekend is just one, long golden and delicious day. I plan to stare at some leaves for a while, hopefully from the comfort of my lawn chair. W and I are totally those weird people who sun themselves in the middle of the front front yard. Wrapped in blankets. Maybe sleeping. Drooling? Yep.

Hiking. There's a new trail I want to check out.

Table fixing, since our kitchen island leg broke (and sent my beautiful glass bowl shattering to the ground).

And, fire pit!!

Have a wonderful weekend! Follow me on instagram (bri_jackson) to see my "currently coveting" posts and our steals as we wheel and deal at the sale!

-b

B Travels to DC

This past weekend was a flash and in the best of ways.

I won't bore you with all of the details, so I will share my travels with you in a very orderly, Type-A-med-student-husband-approved way.

1. It all began with a seven hour road trip with two of my fifty-year-old board members. It was awesome. We stopped every hour to pee and ate schnitzel along the way!

2. I got to Georgetown around 5pm and checked in at the hotel all by my lonesome. I was antsy and excited, so I decided to go for a walk and explore a bit, and yeah, mother nature happened. Torrential downpour sans umbrella.

3. I ducked into a Hagen Dazs for refuge and was guilt-ed into spending $4 on a sorbet that I took three bites of before the rain temporarily let up, inducing me to chuck the sorbet and hightail it back to the hotel. I spent the remaining few hours before Marg arrived painting my nails and watching Twilight movies.....

4. 9pm - Margaret arrived. We went to Thunder Burger. OMG. My burger was so delicious. And the fries?! And the aioli for the fries!? I can't. Marg had a gin martini, dirty. I had a vodka (duh).

1. Marg thought it was a WONDERFUL idea to go see Jessica the psychic. I can attest to this being a very bad idea indeed. We walked up the narrow stairs and into the woman's living room where her eight year old granddaughter was playing on an IPad with a cat snoozing under the chair. "The Psychic" then charged Marg $10--since the $5 special had just run out..............--and proceeded to stare at the ceiling while she read Marg's palm..................................... and got EVERYTHING wrong.

2. Elizabeth got in at midnight so we called it an early evening and got up bright and early Saturday to go explore the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. I didn't take any pictures there because I was too busy obsessing over the incredible jewelry stands! W will be getting me earrings from one stand for Christmas :). I will post those later.... After the market, we introduced Marg to the US Capitol, which she had confused with the White House. She kept saying, "Where's the big black fence that you stand in front of?????? Its so much bigger than I remember!!" Lawdy.

3. We walked through the sculpture garden on the way to the Natural History Museum.

4. Fall colors in DC on our way to the Natural History Museum and the Hope Diamond.

1. Lunch at Paul's, a favorite bakery. Marg and I split the biggest, most delicious raspberry macaroon we had ever seen. Mmmm.

2. NATIONAL ZOO. OMG. BEST IDEA EVER.

3. Flamingos! My new obsession.

4. The tiger was very agitated.

1. Dinner at Bistrot du Coin, another favorite. Cotes du Rhone was the beverage of choice.

2. WE FOUND CAP!!! Margaret, Elizabeth, Me, Cap at a rooftop bar.

3. View from the rooftop.

4. Of course, we had to stop and love on the DCPD Clydesdales.

1. Elizabeth escaped early on a plane Sunday morning. Margaret and I thought it would be a great idea to ride bikes all over Georgetown after the previous evening's antics. It actually was awesome! I was very surprised that we were able to stay upright the entire time. We had brunch on a patio by the river with Margaret's BFF, Carrie and then we parted ways. :(

2. My conference began that night at a palatial building near Dupont Circle called Anderson House. It was filled with elderly women drinking gin and scotch. The final day of the conference found me at Gunston Hall Plantation, eight miles south of Mt. Vernon. It was incredible in all of its colonial charm.

3. Napoleonic Bee necklace I purchased at the gift shop and am now obsessed with.

4. Came home to my fluffy daughters and sweet W who is another year older.

Great trip ladies! Let's do it again soon!

-b

B on the Road Again

I am off--yet again--this weekend sans the medical student. I know you all must think I am quite the absent spouse, but I am becoming more and more convinced that the old adage, "absence makes the heart grow fonder," might indeed be true as well as a necessity when it comes to NOT murdering your med student husband.

Now, I am going to shock you all when I confess that I will be leaving W for five days this Friday, which also just so happens to be his 29th birthday. Terrible, right? I should be so ashamed of myself. In fact, I totally am, yet it did not deter me from scheduling my girl's reunion in DC this weekend.

You see, dear readers, I get to hang out with two of my dearest friends in one of my favorite cities.

At Margaret's Kansas-themed going away party. I was the state insect. She was Glenda.

This is Elizabeth. We were doing what we did best, barhop in CHS, SC.

You see, I was heading to DC this weekend anyways for a work conference that starts on Sunday and ends on Tuesday. I am notorious for turning work trips into fun getaways, hence this weekend's obvious girl-time theme!

Margaret currently lives in NYC, and when W and I were there visiting in April, she told me that she had purchased a Groupon for a round-trip bus ride to DC. Knowing that I went to DC often for work, we decided that my next work trip should coincide with her using the Groupon. We are so economical.

I haven't seen Elizabeth since a few months after my wedding, nearly 3 years ago. RIDICULOUS. So, we thought we would make it a true reunion. You see, all three of us enjoy visiting one another.

Elizabeth and I visited Margaret when she lived in Denver.

This weekend is sure to be thrilling. I have barely recovered from our whirlwind weekend in Lewisburg and the hazy late-night we spent at the Greenbrier and its cave-like casino on Saturday (geesh), but I wouldn't miss this epic girl's weekend for anything (even for W's birthday, apparently!!!!).

Coincidentally, Cap and J will also be in DC this weekend, so I have convinced Cap that she must stay with us and even stay on with me through Tuesday. J just doesn't have a say.

Can you spot Margaret and Elizabeth? Hannah from the Birmingham trip is in there, too!

Can't WAIT!

-b

Fighting the Crud

As I sit here at work, head throbbing and woozy, I am coming to terms with the fact that I am most likely housing an infection in my right ear. This is likely to become a very annoying and painful ear infection set out to destroy my fun-filled weekend. I have been feeling not quite with it all week, which isn't too unusual for me this time of year when my allergies turn my head into an achy balloon of mucus. Excuse my obvious lack of shame when it comes to discussing bodily functions. I am after all the wife of a third year medical student. We don't mince words or spare one another from life's grosser moments. I can however usually get over these fluctuations of the middle ear and excessive expulsions of sinus fluid out of various orifices with quite a bit of sudaphed (the meth-maker's drug of choice) and gallons of saline nasal spray. I fear now that my white blood cells' efforts have been surpassed by the apparent dedication of this year's crud. Consider me a victim.

I was late getting to bed last night as I was unknowingly sucked into this awful show called Nashville about the worst kind of music (country) that I will probably become OBSESSED with when I watch it in its entirety this afternoon (because I need closure).................. but when I finally crawled into bed and laid down on my right side (my preferred side to begin my weird sleep routine on), I felt a searing pain right beneath my jaw bone as I rested my head against the pillow. I gingerly rubbed the spot that hurt and felt a knot. I first thought it might be a pimple, so I sighed at my body's extreme hormonal confusion and let my head fall back down. Searing pain again! This time, I sat up and prodded more intensely. It felt like a hard, painful pea under my skin. So of course, I violently shook W awake, grabbed his hand and jabbed it under my jawbone.

My little army against this lump.

"DO YOU FEEL THAT!?!?! What is it?!?! Am I dying?! Is it cancer?!!?"

Without even lifting his head from the pillow or shifting his body to more easily prod the lump, W slurred that it was a lymph node and that we would look at it again in the morning.

"LOOK AT IT!? You haven't even opened your eyes!?! AND, YOU'RE GOING TO BE A DOCTOR!?"

However, W was once again fast asleep.

I of course did not sleep for the rest of the night. How could I? I couldn't complete my sleep routine, which is to lay on my right side (as the inside spoon) until the weight of W's leg cuts off the circulation to my right foot. Then, I heave my leg out from under his and flip to my left side. I stay in this position for approximately 10 minutes until it is no longer comfortable. Then, I flip back over to my right side and fall peacefully asleep until morning.

The painful pea-lump did not allow me to sleep on my preferred side. BITCH.

This morning, I reminded W of my cancer. (I am not making light of cancer. I honestly had nightmares all night that it was indeed a cancerous tumor. I am what some like to call a hypochondriac.) He checked it, informed me it was not deadly, and said I was most likely getting an ear or sinus infection. WONDERFUL.

I will not allow this to deter me from the next three days' packed schedule. Sure, I am deathly afraid to turn my head to the right, since that pinches my node and hurts and makes me break out in a terror sweat, but there is just too much to do!

Let's reflect for a moment on the very real torture that awaits me tomorrow at 12:30pm........... ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY fourth grade students will descend upon me and my fragile museum house for a tour and history lesson. Please say 50 Hail Marys that I make it through unscathed. Or, just load me up with some fast-acting antibiotics and lots of ibuprofen with a few cups of coffee to boot. Maybe, we should all just say a little prayer that these children make it through the afternoon in one piece. PSA: I am not responsible for my actions while heavily medicated. I have several activities planned to keep their evil minds from concocting terrifying feats of fun in the vicinity of the 200 year old museum and its precious artifacts. They will be forced to play a corn toss, gourd roll, and then, when they can take that no longer, I will make them all string cheerios on to yarn that they will then hang in the trees for the birds. I dare them to allow their minds to wander to sinister thoughts of asking too many questions, running, jumping, not using inside voices, and constantly twitching as their undeveloped brains cannot control their writhing bodies.

After the tour, W and I are hitting the road for Lewisburg for the weekend. We will of course be staying with Cap and J so that the boys can have their date night. Cap has--in true perfect-wife-fashion (J is so damn lucky)--planned a thrilling Oktoberfest themed evening for us complete with a bonfire. Maybe, we will all don animal-themed masks and dance around the flames like the pagans of yesteryear, praising the gods for fruitful harvests to last us through the dark months (winter). (I do know my Halloween history, do you?) Or, we might just roast some marshmallows. It has the great possibility to get CRAZY. (As always, follow my Instagram (bri_jackson) to keep up with it all.)

Then, Saturday morning, there is an event in downtown Lewisburg, called TOOT or Taste of our Town, where restaurants and vendors set up tents and make delicious food. There's haggis (blegh), ribs, crabcakes, tiramisu and so much more. Cap and I plan to enjoy a little bit of everything. W will most likely be at the Greenbrier Resort talking up a few vascular surgery residency program directors (whew) from the northeast. Fingers crossed that he makes some worthwhile connections! After that, who knows what will happen! Maybe, we will have dinner at our favorite restaurant in West Virginia, Julian's. Maybe we will have another pagan bonfire. The possibilities are endless. This weekend is peak color for the leaves, so we will be sure to enjoy the foliage.

Let's just hope that this infection/swollen lymph node thing is a DUD. I refuse to accept it. No thanks. Go away.

On that note, I would like to take this time to vent about the extreme lack of compassion from my medical student husband in the wake of my illness. My boss sent me home early to rest and recuperate before the heathen tour tomorrow. This meant that W and I could enjoy lunch together at home! W was in the midst of reheating leftovers for lunch, when I trudged in and set water to boil for my go-to sick meal, Ramen noodles. I asked W to put my noodles in the water when it started to boil, which he did. Then, he very unfeelingly yelled from the kitchen for me to come, "Watch your noooodles!" How rude! I asked him if this is how it will always be from now on--do only paying patients get his time and care? Well, do they, W????

Its like that time I went nearly 10 years not being able to see long distances. My MOTHER, a school nurse (!!!), never believed me when I told her that I couldn't do boardwork from my desk--I had to sit on the floor under the board just to see it. Sure, it was her job to do yearly screenings on all of those ungrateful public school kids to make sure that they could all see and hear, but her own daughter? Nah! She'll be fine! Boy, did she feel guilty, when finally during my freshman year of college (!!!), I convinced her that I really couldn't see the board--"No, MOM, its not a ploy for attention because I might actually be blind"--did she agree to make an eye appointment for me. On the ride home from Lenscrafters with my sweet purple DKNY specs on, I surveyed the trees in the distance and couldn't stop the eruption of joy the sight induced. "MOM, I can actually see the leaves on the trees! I never knew you could see the individual leaves! I just thought everyone saw a massive blob of green." I think she might have cried. GUILT. I really made her feel bad that night when I wondered at the stars. "Stars are actually little pinpoints in the sky. They do look like diamonds! I never understood that line in 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' until just now. WOW!!!

Oh, how the times have not changed. I guess its just me and my health, all by our lonesome. W just doesn't have the time for us!

MISSING: ADORABLE PUMPKIN *REWARD*

On another note, some jerk stole my ridiculously cute pumpkin off the front porch of my museum. I mean look at that thing. Have you ever seen anything so adorable--look at its pudgy stalk??? I am bitter and pissed and feel very violated. WHO STEALS PUMPKINS FROM A NON-PROFIT!?

What are your plans for the weekend?

-b

A Most Successful Sunday Funday

This past weekend promised to be a major flop. After weeks of nonstop running around like a crazy soccer mom on a mission--these women are INSANE--I decided that this past weekend would be lazy, peaceful, calm.

I forget that deep down in the very depths of my soul, I am one of those crazy soccer moms, minus the snotty-nosed brood for the next couple of years, who have only one speed and no time for lazing.

Friday morning, I felt the itch. It starts on the back of my neck. I start to get antsy. Soon, I can't sit still. I can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes. I am so over work. I check the clock. 1:17pm. Damn. I check that the intern is steadily working away like a good little intern. Cue major guilt trip at my ADD onslaught. The thoughts begin.

Oh, W.

We should do something tonight.
I wonder if anything is going on.
God, I would love to go to a pumpkin patch.
Maybe, we could pick apples on the way to the pumpkin patch.
The flea market is in the morning, too.
Google things to do, charleston wv, october 2012
There's a chilli cook-off downtown tomorrow!
And fireworks!
There's a pumpkin festival 30 minutes west of here.
LET'S DO IT ALLLLLL.

Pies and Pints Pizza Date Night: Chicken Gouda and Mushroom Garlic.

And so, we did most of it. I had to work for a few hours on Saturday, so that saved our weekend from becoming one, long, drawn out activity.

Don't get me wrong, I love wanting to do things and actually having things to do, but it does get exhausting. Ask W.

Our Friday ended up with some light shopping and date night that consisted of pizza and beer. Awesome.

W glows in the dark at the State Museum.

On Saturday, we visited the flea market, which is honestly ALWAYS disappointing, but some lady bought a box of toys at a WV flea market a few weeks ago and found a $150,000 Renoir painting. I think I will keep being disappointed. After that we crashed a Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome on the Capitol grounds because we decided to be sheep and follow the crowd. We decided to tour the State Museum instead.

Ahhhhh, the Farmer's Market.

I went into work for a few hours, which offered W some relief. Then, I left W to his studies and went searching for accessories for this weekend's trip to the Greenbrier Resort. Swanky. More on that afterward...... It was extremely unsuccessful but no less satisfying. I also stopped by the Farmer's Market, you know, Heaven on Earth. I bought some fall essentials for the museum and the 150 demons elementary students coming for a tour this Friday. Pumpkin, check. Indian corn for the corn toss, check. Knobbly gourds for the gourd roll, check. Cheerios and yarn for the redneck birdfeeder craft, CHECK! Bring it, children. You WILL be entertained.

Kale and chicken and rice with carrots for dinner Saturday night.

On Saturday night, we watched incredible fireworks over the river. This town loves it some fireworks. I think the mayor must require fireworks for all events within city limits. Its like that 30 Rock episode where Jack gives broadcast television a spectacle not unlike the Oscars or a terrorist attack, The Rockefeller Center Salute to Fireworks. I think fireworks might be peak for this town. I am not complaining.

Exhibit A:

Cute, right? She was very tall.

Exhibit B:

Yes, these are fireworks cascading off the bridge into the river. Ah-maz-ing.

The fireworks were a part of a classic car show that happened all freaking weekend and closed down major roads and disrupted my life for far too long for a few hunks of rusted metal. I am not a classic car fan. The fireworks were, in my opinion, the most worthwhile part of the car show.

Sunday dawned and was sure to be a lazy day. It was cold. It was drizzly. It was perfect couch potato weather. But the soccer mom in me was waging a war on inflated food costs and had her Diet-Coke-loving heart set on a trip to Sam's and the dreaded Walmart. She quickly packed up W and bustled him off for a morning of bulk-shopping. Her pony tail had never swung more happily than speed-walking the wide aisles of Sam's as she handled the sturdy packages of 36 count paper towels and double stacks of paper plates and directed W on the proper placement of the precious savings in the cart. This soccer mom left Sam's with 36 rolls of toilet paper, 24 rolls of paper towels, 9 thick cut pork chops, 40 chicken tenderloins, a red wagon wheel of Brie, a carton of baby portobella mushrooms, 2 cartons of half and half, a gallon of milk, cereal, two 6 inch stacks of flour tortillas, and several Bolthouse smoothies and coconut waters for a mere $100. Happy soccer mom.

Hello, my name is Lo, and I am the most adorable kitten-cat you've ever seen. I like bathtubs--especially wet ones.

Walmart was and is always a terrible idea. But this fateful Walmart trip united soccer mom with her new lover.

Behold:

Lover, Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner.

W and I spent a few good hours scrubbing the house from tip top to bottom with this delicious concoction. The lavender scent left the soccer mom in me drunk on sparkling cabinets, damp floors, and freshly vacuumed furniture. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling. W even felt it, too.

Then, it was only right that I don an apron and roll up my sleeves to begin on the evening's menu. Pot Roast. It was incredible. I used Pioneer Woman's recipe here, but added a few of my own ingredients like red wine, mushrooms, potatoes, and peas.

This is W's. He likes his on white rice. I am watching my carbs, so I went without the deliciously pearly grain.

Sunday night ended with an episode of Once Upon a Time (a show that I once loved; that W scorns; and that I too am beginning to think is a little bit ridiculous; what do you think?) and W's famous chocolate chip cookies. YUM.

How was your weekend?

Picture overload right? Right.

-b and soccer mom

Weekend Recap

This weekend...

W got our windshield ready for the road trip.

Bri caught up on the September issue of Bazaar. 

Ate at The Home Place 

Indulged in fried chicken and green beans (YUM)

had quality time with our hubs.

took senior pictures...

Class of '05!

Bye bye weekend...