4.13-15.2012; or, A SavorySpringSweet Weekend

The week had been less than kind to me. (For example: On the way into the funeral of a wonderful man, my friend Aidan's father, I dropped my iPhone on the sidewalk and the glass on the front splintered into a million pieces, but they stayed on the phone, thankfully. I've ordered a new part and am going to attempt to repair it myself. Attempt.)

But the weekend was a balm for my crackling heart.

Gabe called me on Friday night to see if I could pick him up from the gallery, since his car broke down, and we drove past this lovely church. I see it all the time, because it’s right across the street from The Frist, and like a mile from my house, but the cool evening’s blur gave it a newness that accentuated its oldness.

And home was so inviting:

It always makes me think of this bit of Ayn Rand's Anthem:


Here, on this mountain, I and my sons and my chosen friends shall build our new land and our fort. And it will become as the heart of the earth, lost and hidden at first, but beating, beating louder each day. And word of it will reach every corner of the earth. And the roads of the world will become as veins which will carry the best of the world's blood to my threshold. And all my brothers, and the Councils of my brothers, will hear of it, but they will be impotent against me. And the day will come when I shall break all the chains of the earth, and raze the cities of the enslaved, and my home will become the capital of a world where each man will be free to exist for his own sake.
For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor.
And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner. The word which will not die, should we all perish in battle. The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory.
The sacred word:
EGO


The next day brought the beginning of wedding season. Two bridal showers. First for my friend Rachael:

Then for my friend Leslie (pictured here with my mother):

Then I got to eat with a family friend and her little girl, Hillary:

When I got back home I was struck with the desire to figure out how to make a giant, 3-dimensional paper star. So I did.

Sunday brought one more bridal shower, this time our close friend Bradley's fiance's.

I got back in time to head to the West side for Mad Men.

(Photo by Heather, or maybe Otto?)

(Dali watched with us)

(Photo by Gabe)

Afterwards, we decided it would be a great idea to walk all the way to the Parthenon. So we did.

Found that you can't escape traces of Bono, even in a Village restroom.

(here's how far we walked)

When we finally got back to Otto's, we all lay in the grass until 1:00 am. SO good.