The Toxic Tour - Leg 4: Aulde Lang Syne

Awesome Former College Roommate, after driving an hour to Williamsburg to pick us up, drove us all the hour back to her house.  Upon getting to tour her enchanting home for the first time, I began to get a little worried: our vacation had now yielded three homes in a row that I really liked.

So I figured Bee was slipping me some sort of 'sunshine and roses' pill since -- as you know -- I'm kind of a bitch and am not used to appreciating others' work.  My lifelong motto: Beauty Not Created By Me Must Be Ridiculed.

But I could find nothing to ridicule about the houses belonging to my sister, Selfless Former College Roommate, and Awesome Former College Roommate.  Their abodes are just so . . . homey.  This was the first time I actually got to see each of these women in the spaces they built for themselves, and I really was impressed (how did they get so grown up?!).

Here's the guest bed in the lovely guest room (complete with bay windows; I love bay windows!) on the third floor of Awesome Former College Roommate's domain.  And, OK, you may not think this bed deserves to be immortalized on the pages of this blog; but that's only because you've never slept in it.  It is heaven on goose down.

I'd forgotten the nice things Awesome Former College Roommate surrounds herself with.  In our freshman dorm, I contributed to the decor with cardboard drawers and wall-art printed from my computer; Awesome Former College Roommate brought Laura Ashley rugs, duvet sets (with matching shams!), and Renoir posters.

Despite living with her for four years, I'm sad to report that my design sense hasn't gotten any better. I decorate à la thrift stores and then wonder why I'm embarrassed to have people over; she shops with thrift but surrounds herself with comfort.

See that?  Not only did Awesome Former College Roommate have calming (and -- bonus! -- living) plants in the guest room, but she also had a quaint hand-thrown pottery bowl filled with chocolates.  Mr. C found those right away.  There was also a basket of toiletries awaiting us in the guest bathroom, and several other nice touches.  We were so comfortable during our stay.  Naturally, since we are good guests, we immediately thanked our hosts by dropping their pack of Q-tips in the toilet and breaking their towel bar.  More than once.

Yeah, that huge chunk wasn't there before our arrival.  You can also see a large chip where the rod attaches to the base.
(And, on a completely unrelated note, see my reflection in the chrome?  I love finding mistakes like that in other's works!)

We stayed with Awesome Former College Roommate and her family for 3 nights.  I'd never before met her super-nice husband or adorable baby daughter, so it was great to spend time with them.  Even though, once again, her kid made mine look bad.  (Although, really, was it his fault?  I mean, if a two-year-old steals your apathetically-cared-for baseball hat, what other choice do you have but to tackle her?)


We spent some time on the Chesapeake Bay, letting Mr. C have his first 'ocean' experience, which was great until he got sand in his shorts; then all hell broke loose.  We also went to the Virginia Beach Aquarium, which was really well done.

Not something you'd normally want to look up and see.

After staring at so many fish, we had a hankering for seafood, so we went out to lunch.  Restaurants with little kids are always an adventure.  Awesome Former College Roommate's girl was an absolute angel . . . probably because she was in daycare at the time.  Sigh; I wish we'd had the same foresight to do that with Mr. C.


On our final morning at Awesome Former College Roommate's, her super-nice husband super-nicely (what is it with that man?) offered to take us all to the Botanical Gardens before our flight, despite the fact that he had a very-stressful research deadline looming.  So we said goodbye to Awesome Former College Roommate and her adorable daughter (who, thank God, was finally acting up because she was feeling sick), packed our suitcases into the car, and headed toward the Gardens. 


The Gardens near the Norfolk Airport are beautiful.  We only really hung out in the children's section, which was just fine with us, but that whole section is gorgeous.  They had a pirate theme going on, complete with a sand fort and a pirate's ship, along with -- of course -- the lush vegetation.  This place is obviously well-funded, meticulously planned, and immaculately kept. 


Naturally, since Beauty Not Created By Me Must Be Ridiculed, what struck me the most were the signs around the pirate ship.  Here's an example:

Who wrote that little gem?  I looked all over to find credit given to a local third-grade class, but nothing was in evidence.  Which seemed odd to me, since the rest of the place was so darn professional.  The closest credit we could find for the information signs was on the plaque listing a local bank as the top exhibit sponsor.  So we promptly deduced that it was a bunch of bankers who wrote that darling little paragraph.


We had just enough time to let Mr. C run through the elaborate fountains in the children's area.  It was so wonderful to see him soooo happy, and the perfect activity for him just before our flight.

Isn't he adorable (or, wouldn't he be if he had eyes)?

Our final few Legs would be to visit Bee's friends, so I had no idea what to expect.

As we waited for our flight, I had time to think about all the people I'd just spent the last week with.  What I liked the best wasn't actually seeing the ways they'd grown and changed, but seeing the ways they were still the same.  I mean, I hadn't seen my roommates since my wedding nearly six years ago (and I really hadn't gotten to spend much time with them then), but they still had many of the same mannerisms and expressions and catch-phrases they had when we lived together.  They even sneezed the same way they used to.

I think I was afraid that I'd look at my sister and my roommates and feel like we'd gotten old and that we didn't have anything in common any more.  But, in actuality, it was calming to see the same people I'd known for ten to thirty years, just maybe with a few more crinkles and a little more expendable income.  They were the same, just more confident; so it occurred to me that I must now be that way, too.

See, Self?  Going back isn't all that bad, after all!

Next Up: It's OK To Make Fun Of Your House Because You're Not My Friend

(And I Don't Think You Read This Blog)