Filed under: Close to Home
Usually, I post pretty light things. But this is imporant.
Filed under: Close to Home
Come to me with no baggage, and I’ll make you a sandwich.
❤
I voted for Tim Kaine in the first election in which I was able to vote. (I also volunteered on his gubernatorial campaign.) Veep would make my next 4 years. ❤
Dear Pergo,
Maybe you should tell her. ❤
I’ve got a ways to go, but I understand that being liked isn’t the only important thing in life.
I wonder if anyone has told C* that.
I hope to see your beautiful self soon.
Love,
LPar
One of my faves:
Sex Ed
Betsy Sholl
Well-dressed, demure, jammed into those
politely arranged desks, it’s hard to be
serious, but we are. No one even parts lips
to acknowledge what used to drive us crazy
in the back seats of cars, what kept us up
half the night reliving the last slow dance,
girl on her toes, guy bent at the knees
to press in against her.
The instructors speak precisely about
the importance of our children knowing the facts,
so surely none of us in our high heels and
neck ties is going to admit how our first mistakes
have suddenly blossomed so tender and lovely
we’ve been forgiven a thousand times,
a thousand times forgiven and repeated ourselves.
But fingering the graffiti on this desk,
I remember being braille to you, being read
like a steamy novel, and how those lessons
stayed with us, practical as driver’s ed, those hours
of simulation behind the wheel of a parked car.
The truth is I don’t regret having studied with you
though I do feel inarticulate, like an athlete
asked to speak in a room of kids, who has nothing
to say except, “practice, practice.”
Once our daughter watched the cat in heat
yowl and slither across the floor, and without
looking up asked, would that happen to her. Sometimes
it isn’t shame that makes us speechless. It’s not
regret that makes me linger at the curb watching
her toss back her yellow hair and yank open
the heavy doors to school.
I realize that I haven’t actually written anything about what I’m doing at Oxford (I mentioned it a bit on my “About Me” page). That’s for a few reasons:
1. I just recently got my computer hooked up to internet.
2. I haven’t had much time to devote to writing something worth reading.
3. I want to tell stories with pictures. I left the cord that connects my camera to my computer at home.
So, I’m going to do most “site seeing” posts after I return home.
But, quick and dirty:
I’m at Oxford’s University College (Univ) for three weeks to study International Economics & Commerce. I have class Mon- Thurs from about 8:30 to 10:30 (though this varies because my tutor has to travel). My class has 9 people in it and our tutor (a prof. at Univ) is known around as “Slick Nick”. He has, in the past, taken a liking to his female students. I’ve heard that he’s been asked to “tone it down”, but it’s still quite apparent that, in his own words, he is, “after all, a man”. Nick is mostly harmless and a pretty good lecturer.
A run-down of the past week. Again, I’ll do longer “site-seeing” posts with pictures. I’ll also add pictures of the campus and my dorm room, etc.
Sun. 6/29
Arrived at Univ. My room is on the very top floor of a 13th century building. It was hell lugging my suitcase up the last set of stairs with was narrow and incredibly steep. We went on a 2 hour walking tour with the program director, Mark Thomas (History/ Econ prof. at UVA).
Mon. 6/30
First class with Nick. This was a jam-packed day of activities. After class, we went on a library tour, did a scavenger hunt, and then went punting. After all of that, we had our first Banquet Dinner (there’ll be another the last evening of the program). Then we all went to a club. That was pretty fantastic even though a piece of broken glass went through my flip-flop and cut my foot a little.
Tues. 7/1
After class we went to Blenheim Palace. Pics to come! Went out to a pub after dinner.
Wed. 7/2
My class didn’t meet today. Nick was in China. Went to a club, danced dirty.
Thurs. 7/3- Sun. 7/6
Went to Edinburgh. 7.5 hour train ride each way– TOTALLY worth it! Edinburgh was amazing. Walking tour, pub crawl, museums, unveiling of an Adam Smith monument, met great people at the hostel– pics and more to come.
Mon. 7/7
During class we had a debate about the pros and cons of globalization. After class I mostly just hung out until dinner. Then a bunch of us hung out in the beer cellar.
Tues. 7/8
After class a few other girls and I went shopping at this really cheap clothing shop in Oxford. After that, my croquet team won our first match, putting us in the semi-finals of the tournament. Tonight is Trivia Night in the beer cellar.
Filed under: Close to Home
A special monogrammed order that came in at work today:
Filed under: Close to Home
Writing about 3rd graders made me want to post a pic of “young Lindsay.”
I was probably about five years old here. I had just learned to ride a two-wheeler.
… Your shiny new forever. — That’s was the message in the card that I gave to two lovely friends what just got married this past weekend. bwhahaha.
I’m actually all for commitment.
Anyways, it was definitely the first *fun* wedding that I’ve been to. Tons of my friends were there, and there was an open bar! Really, what could make for a better weekend? It was a bit of a drive… Martinsville is about 5 hours away from the DC area (somehow I made it back in a little over 4). But, it was kind of nice to be in LITERALLY THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. And the fact that we all stayed in the same hotel basically created a 48-hour party.
The bride of course looked lovely. The groom was handsome. (I only hang out with good- looking people.) And you know those people who sort of run in your same circle, but you don’t really know them all that well? Or maybe your circles create a venn diagram and you both occupy the middle portion at times. Well, I actually got to know some of those people a little better this weekend.
A bit of a babbling, uninteresting post… so here’s a picture! (For all you creepers who don’t know me, I’m the one on the left.)
Best of luck and much love to T* & M*.
Filed under: Close to Home
Saturday night, a friend from work, her boy wonder of the week, his boys, another girly from work, and I all went to Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm Restaurant in Ashburn, VA. We got there for dinner around 8:30 and then stayed and hung out at the bars.
It was a cool place. The entire restaurant and bar areas were old-school fox hunting/ Middleburg horse scene themed– I of course enjoyed that. I was surprised by the diversity of the crowd that was there. During dinner there was of course the 20s-30s crowd, but also a prom group, a few families with well behaved children, an 80 year old man with a lobster bib and his wife, and few middle aged couples. Perhaps I’m just used to living in a college town where everyone is my age, but I thought the range of ages of the dinner crowd (and even the late-night bar crowd) was impressive.
The service was average, the food was good, but it was really the setting that makes the restaurant. It was a really nice evening and we were able to sit outside under a large tent. As it grew dark, the lights in the tent were pleasant and the large stone patio and pool with lily pads were quite picturesque.
There were two main bars. One was pretty dark, a little crowded with some kind of wrestling match on TV. The other bar was more lit, had a bit less people, and might of had something on TV but it was unobtrusive. Those of age could easily provide drinks for others.
So, if you’re looking for somewhere to go in Ashburn… maybe after flying into Dulles (Clyde’s is right off the Toll Rd.) I’d recommend Clyde’s. 🙂
Giraffe Print 