five finds friday (more feelings, an architect’s table I want to find and milk tea)

Is there anything better than birthday week?

By a coincidence of timing, I ended up taking the boys on a couple belated birthday adventures of their own over the last few weeks and those have been like gifts to me – kayaks and treehouses and drives on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Any day I see a wide expanse of a mountain view is a good day to me.

funny

This week my sweet friends surprised me with a night out for desserts and drinks to celebrate BIRTHDAY. (I found a drink I like so I can add it to my VERY limited list of Beverages I Enjoy. Sangria. Who knew? Here is the rest of the list, if you’re curious: Water. Hot Tea. Milk Tea. Limeade. Orange Juice. Amaretto Sour.)

The night was delightful and fun and just all sorts of lovely.

Katie brought a gigantic bag with a gift placed far down inside.

We were at a swanky little downtown restaurant with the best seats in the house overlooking the french doors and the outside pavilion.

She insisted I open the gift there at the table.

I could have fit inside the bag. (This is not an exaggeration.)

Inside the bag, at the bottom, my gift was waiting.

It was a very fancy

PLUNGER.

Which is kind of perfect because I need one.

When a sweet elderly couple walked by our table on their way out of the restaurant, the gentleman used his cane to tap my chair to get my attention.

“Well, what was in the bag?” he asked.

My truthful answer gave him a hearty chuckle.

You can’t make that stuff up.

fashionable

Let’s talk about furniture fashion instead of clothing fashion.

In a tea room where the kids and I stopped yesterday for London’s birthday (EIGHTEEN!!!) I spied this incredible piece of furniture.

It’s some sort of architecture desk or drafting table or something and I think it said something about Texas University on the side.

It is beautiful and I want to own it.

I want it to be my kitchen island.

The little drawers would be perfect for baking supplies and tea towels and measuring cups. The side shelves would hold cookie sheets and cake pans like a dream.

One side is tall enough for a bar stool to sit under. And wouldn’t a red metal stool look perfect?

Of course I asked the owner where she got it. (Maybe a college? she said.) Of course I also asked her if she wanted to sell it. (She avoided my question which I did not care for. Just tell me no directly or I will always think there’s hope.)

So now I will search and scour the internets for this table.

Anyone have any leads for me?

flavorful

I am currently obsessed with Milk Tea.

I had it for the first time in a Japanese noodle shop on this summer’s Literature Field Trip to Richmond and the Outer Banks.

It was incredible.

I have now found it at an Asian grocery store here locally. They sell it both cold at the counter and in small cans on the shelves.

Both are fantastic!

faithful

This is a cheesy photo of me staring at the prettiest birthday cake that my friend Jo made for me.

I’m just so giddy-thankful for friends that love me well.

Friends that pick up the phone when I call and friends that tell me what I need to hear, not just what I want to hear. Friends that send me texts and messages and words of affirmation and love and hope.

Friends that show up and plan ahead. Friends that are spontaneous and last minute. Friends that laugh with me and friends that cry with me.

I’ve been singing this same song of praise for friends and I can’t explain how I got so lucky to get to sing this song for so long but I’m thrilled to keep singing the same tune.

feels

London turned EIGHTEEN this week.

I was filling out a form for Otto for camp and when I got to the blank for an additional emergency contact, I wrote down her name.

My kids now have TWO extra emergency contacts in their sisters and that is CRAZY.

I feel EVERYTHING about it all.

My friend Hannah called this week just to be sure I was not coming unglued. I guess all of my recent posts have been extra sentimental or emotional or something. (Hey, I work out my feelings through words – of course there’s a heavy dose of emotion involved. This summer has a heap of change for me.) I couldn’t exactly assure her that I was not coming unglued, but I think I’m mostly okay.

Maggie also texted to check in on me because she gets emotional at her babies’ birthdays and so she couldn’t imagine the weight of 18 birthdays. And I remember when MAGGIE was 18 and so does she and so we’re all just feeling ALL of it.

I told the kids recently that sometimes, at this age, they just feel like really great roommates. (Of course, the kind of roommates who want me to pay for their gas and keep the fridge stocked.)

I like it. I’m nostalgic. I love right now. I loved then. I love it all. I’m a ball of nerves and feelings and hope and joy and sadness and for whatever reason and for all the reasons the feelings are just super surface-heavy right now.

So it is.

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