Alright folks, so I realize this post is practically a month overdue, but the one thing you should probably know about me right off the bat is that I’m a horrible procrastinator. Besides, I *do* have a day job.
But without further ado, here goes:
Day 6 (7/15/11)
Saturday was officially Lindsey and Brianne’s Blast From The Past day. Let’s start at the beginning: But not the very beginning, because then you’d have to read one hell of a novel. So here’s the short and dirty of it:
My two oldest and best friends are Brianne and Rachel. We’ve known eachother for somewhere around 18 years, went to middle and high school together, and were generally inseparable. We spent most of our time singing along to 80s music, playing Rummy, drinking Dr. Pepper, and eating striped cookies.
Brianne’s family moved to California 10 years ago, and they turned the move into one hell of a giant road trip. Seven people crammed into a minivan, and two people piloting the giant Ryder truck. I was among those nine people, as was a pregnant Brianne and her husband Nate. The trip took two weeks, and it included one giant mutiny commandeered by me, Bri, and Nate–who were only along for the ride in the first place, no less–just outside of Raton, NM.
After the trip, life went back to normal: I went back to Baldwin; Bri and Nate settled back in Southern Maryland; and Bri, Rachel, and I hung out when I came home on breaks from school. Zoe was born in the spring of 2002. I spent practically my entire summer break at Brianne’s that year, but by the end of the year, Nate (who was in the navy) was transferred to San Diego.
During the past eight years, not including the epic!road!trip!, I saw Brianne exactly twice. I hadn’t seen Zoe or Nate at all, and I’d never met Ethan, who’s now six.
So clearly, Lindsey and JT’s Epic!Road!Trip!Extravaganza! was not only epic in its own right, but also because my last three days of the trip were spent with Brianne & Co.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, Saturday was officially Lindsey and Brianne’s Blast From The Past day. Apparently Bri had a slew of pictures from the 2001 road trip that I had never seen, plus random pictures taken over the past 18 years. So we sat around like the two old ladies we’ve apparently become, reminiscing about the good old days and regaling her kids with all of our awesome adventures. Yet somehow Zoe and Ethan didn’t seem so impressed. I’m gonna go ahead and say that’s because they’re not old enough yet to truly appreciate Pure Moods, or the importance of striped cookies.
Which brings us to the food part of the post: since we’re clearly old, Bri and I headed to the grocery store to get random implements of destruction for that night’s dinner. You should probably know that Brianne makes a lot of chicken–she always has. So naturally, chicken was on the grocery list. But once we arrived at the store, the heavens parted, the angels sang a rousing rendition of Adiemus, and chicken for dinner was a distant memory. Why, you ask? Because we found the striped cookies!
Everything's better when viewed through the lens of a striped cookie
Tasty, cookie-y, chocolatey, and altogether magic. We ate the hell out of these cookies when we were younger, and it was about to happen again…except this time, we were going to nosh on them at the pool, and legally chase them down with grownup beverages: beer for Bri, and vodka tonic with a lemon for me. Not just any vodka tonic, but a (un)classy, pool-friendly one housed in my water bottle, accompanied by a flask-full of vodka and another can of tonic water stashed in my bag.
Now *that's* classy.
And that’s how my trip ended. Poolside, with one of my dearest friends and our favorite childhood snack, watching two tiny Briannes run around the pool. Even though I yelled at them to walk until I was blue in the face.
Okay, fine. Making this post remotely food-centric was a feat that I’m certain I didn’t accomplish, but to be quite honest, I’m not sure that I care. Casey and I warned you long ago that we reserved the right to post whatever we wanted 🙂
Ham Hocks and Latke Drops 