rock me mama like the wind and the rain, rock me mama like a south-bound train

hey, mama rock me
~dylan, made into a song by old crow medicine show, covered by the brandon clark band

I am not doing very well on not buying anything in august, exactly. well, most of my "not within my personal exclusions" purchases have been wine from wineries. oopsie.

the weekend was a doozie--of the good type. matt's parents came into town just to hang out with us! it was kind of a big deal to me--I realized that I was SO excited about it, y'see, and then I was kind of like "huh, I mean, matt's parent are FANTASTIC but I am super-dee-duper excited about this, perhaps to the point of being over-excited..." and then it dawned on me--I've never had a parent come far away just to visit me.

I mean, not to lessen the amazingness that was the study gifts my mom would bring me for finals (one year it was fruit! like a ginormous bowl of fresh fruit. it was super awesome. and made me a little homesick even though I was only ten minutes from my mom's. when I was younger I used to get distraught if there wasn't a bowl of fruit on the table. it still is a little distressing even now!) and her delivery of such, or my grandparents' trips to TU or anything--that's not what I mean. But here in NC? None of mea familia has been able to visit. It's very understandable and I'm not upset about it in any way--it just explains why I was so very much looking forward to their visit!

so, friday night it was dinner at the mellow mushroom and then volleyball. well, sorta. volleyball was a free-play (even though they said it was games!) and we didn't play at all--just sat and drank beer with matt's parents and luke and julie. It was actually pretty fun even though we all wished we hadn't changed our friday night plans for the non-game.

Saturday after I slept in (hooray!) and watered the plants, did laundry and did the dishes we met his parents and wandered in brightleaf square in downtown durham. It's just SUCH a cute area! We went into antique stores and looked at the record store and enjoyed the weather!

While there I found a little store called portobello road--I think if any of you who know me well went in there you'd see that it is JUST the store for me. All sorts of colorful vintage items--and anything that isn't vintage is usually made from recycled or reused materials. It was AWESOME.

I found two things that I couldn't resist--one was this set of bowls. I have wanted vintage pyrex bowls for quite some time--my mom has some and I LOVE them. they are way cooler than new pyrex bowls, I think. I was commenting about them to matt just a few weeks ago! And here they were, in my kitchen colors! So, of course, I bought them.

And I also picked up some vintage placemats. They will go on the table in the kitchen--I think these are VERY Carrie. I also kind of want to make a handbag out of them.

This place had old sheet sets (though all the cool ones were twins) and aprons and vinyl furniture and wall art and WOW. I could've spent A LOT of money in there! I also found out that my bowl set is missing the 4th bowl--the huge one--and that that one is orange with the yellow flowers. BUT I like the yellow being visible and I have other bowls, and it's tres spendy on ebay, so I think I'll just take what I got. Besides, odds look better than evens anyway.

the bowls also look quite nice out on my shelf. I haven't finished organizing it yet, but they may have to be on display. we'll see.

another thing that I wanted and didn't get was this guy. It came with two other pieces-both square casserole dishes. I didn't need all of 'em and decided I should buy the $24 bowls rather than the $44 set of casseroles--I'd been wanting bowls, not casseroles, after all. I did find the thing on ebay and etsy though, and I am seriously considering the purchase. Hello, it's a sunflower, it matches my kitchen AND I love it. I think it will be coming home with me at some point. we shall see. AND I FORGOT TO ADD IT. HERE it is, it all of its sunflower-ee glory.

we also went into morgan's imports, a very cool durham store that you should totally visit. ariel introduced me to it, if I recall correctly. matt's mom found cool stuff for the grandkids and I found a planner. b&n stopped making the one I used last year, and I already know four dates I need to have on my 2009 calendar, so I picked this guy up. also, it is "green" see?

we went to lunch at jason's deli, and then next was the chatham hill winery. they have fixed up the place since I went a year and a half ago. it was not as good as oakencroft, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

and then it was time for dinner! we found the recipe for cashew chicken and fried rice, got the ingredients and away we went! (I make both a little different than the recipe, if you want to know ask!) I made someone else cook the rice though. I can make creme brulee and pizza from scratch, but have me cook plain old rice? I burn it every time.

we ate, we watched the olympics, matt's dad got our stereo and tv to have sound at the same time by working some magic and he complained at the cable company for us--which was good because after all the drama with the cable company my temper woulda been REAL short.

and then it was time for dave's bday party--80s themed. it was REALLY fun. I knew it would be a good time, but it was even better than I expected! and jamie can sure make some deelish shots. even little baby luke was dressed for the occasion! we cut out a little before midnight (early for us) to go home to sleep. (by the way, I totally stole all these photos from nicole--I didn't end up taking ANY!)

I was singing in the morning. Which went well, actually. I mean, it could've been better, but lots of people enjoyed it and told me so, and of course I appreciated it. And I felt like it was worth all the effort. I was also pleased because I hit all the high notes. :) Matt and his parents came to church with me, enjoyed Jay's preaching and treated us to a yummy lunch at the mill afterwards. Here they are before they went on their merry way.

then it was NAPTIME! I had been yawning all through church and lunch!

after that it was FINALLY time for batman, which was really good. I really liked rachel and commissioner gordon, and of course, alfred and fox. and batman, 'cept for his voice when it sounded like he had eaten gravel. joker was creepy but interesting and it was just graphic enough--freaky without causing nightmares. I agree it could've been a little shorter, but overall, two thumbs up from these critics! we stopped by b&n to get our calendar for next year (trees! and they planted one for our purchase!) and then I had to do work (boo hiss) and watched dreamgirls (sorta kinda, in the background, it was good but not mind blowing. I like rent better.) and then, sleep. ah, blissful sleep.