Philly, Vietnam, and Bridget Jones

I just got back from my twenty-six hour leave. I had a wonderful visit with my long-time (of eightteen years!), we had some good conversation on our long drive. I spaced out, and so missed our exit, and then we decided to take the back roads to make it up instead of backtracking on I95, which disturbed our conversational flow somewhat since we had to pay better attention to the roads we were on or looking for, etc. Anyway, we got there, and her place is... well, it is.... in need of much work, but I definitely see the potential. We were grossly disturbed by the odor as we entered. Apparently Toby, her cat, has been having some urinary trouble, and since the whole house is in construction induced disarray, he was probably stressed and felt the need to communicate that stress on the floor. Yuck! I like cats, but I hate that smell. It is so disgusting.

So we decided to go to Vietnam for dinner. I, never having Vietnamese food before, let TT take the lead and recommend a dish for me. I don't remember the Vietnamese name for what I had, but thought it wise to stick with something on the menu labeled "house specialty" (good principal in general). It was a giant bowl of vermicelli noodles and bean sprouts and other fresh veggies and several different meats on top. There is also a sauce that smells like stinky feet, but tastes delicious when poured over the noodles. We drank fancy tropical drinks, I had the Mai Tai, and she the Suffering Bastard. A very delicious meal indeed. I had never know Vietnam was so close... and that it is in China town...weird. So after that we went to this mod martini bar, which was styled like a diner and very cool and hip. My favorite design details were how the bar stools looked like cross-sections of stuffed olives, and the lights over the booths were giant olives with toothpicks in them. We sipped on our chocolate martini and cosmo, until our movie was about to start and then headed to the Ritz. I could tell this was a chichi movie theater because in the candy case they had Black Rhino Bars (yum), Lindt bars, and other fancy candies as well as fancy teas, coffees, scones, etc. I guess it is called Ritz for a reason. Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, wow, it was much funnier, I thought, than the first one, and TT and I were roaring in laughter with the rest of the crowd at several parts. I think the best part is when Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver have a very prissy fist fight--that was hilarious.

I got to sleep in, and didn't wake naturally until eight a.m. a whole hour later than usual! But TT and I lazed in bed and stared at the dust swirling in the sunbeam above and chatted for almost two hours before we got up and out. Had a big, fat Belgian waffle with fresh fruit and bacon for my noon breakfast. It was so delightful to have a leisurely morning and yummy cafe vittles. The drive home was full of thoughts, things that have been weighing on my mind, good think time, although I can't say that I came to any real conclusions, but it was good to hear myself think.