it's been a while

Two weeks.

That's embarrassing!
I haven't even wished you all a happy July yet.
(and by "you all" I really mean mostly myself, because I think less than 10 people read this. I'm a tenth of my own viewership.)

Since I've last spoken with you, a lot has happened! Dusty and I went home for a whole 10 days, which was magical. We celebrated my best friend's wedding, and no, it wasn't anything like the movie. That would have made things a whole lot more interesting. And shocking. And awful.

Needless to say, the wedding was beautiful and it was wonderful to get to celebrate with her.
I want to do a full "home" post, which will feature a beautiful bride, an adorable baby, and lots of Mexican food. :)

After we got home, we were on the receiving end of a derecho. Don't know what a derecho is?
Neither did I.

de·re·cho/dāˈrāCHō/

Noun:

A line of intense, mean, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and invites all of its windiest friends to damage everything in its path, including trees and power lines until its satisfied that every town in its path is forced to live in barbaric conditions for as long as possible.

Oh. And also? It all happens in about twenty minutes. Maybe less? I don't know. All I know is we were out getting ice cream and the next thing we knew, people were dying and trees were falling and we were stranded outside of our apartment complex.

I also hope to do a full post on that interesting week.

In the middle of the city-wide blackout, the in-laws came into town. So we had to figure that out as well!

And somewhere in the middle of all that, there's some fourth of July celebratory activity.

THEN we went to Washington D.C. for the weekend. Which was the hottest, sweatiest, and stickiest I've ever been in my life.

While I'm at it, I'll go ahead and do a full post on that.

Which will probably include a full paragraph describing my humid body. It'll be good.

The bottom line is that I have hundreds of pictures that I still need to upload (none of which are of my humid body), but life has been batty. So once I do that, I'll have tons and tons of posts up my sleeve. And I'll bet at least half of them will be really interesting.

At the current moment, my parents are now here visiting. Which has been really awesome. July is just the month of family and trips and adventures. My mom has visited a few times, but this is the first time my dad has been here since we first moved in! So there's a lot to show him, and it's been really fun. 

And TONIGHT my aunt and cousin are coming in. It's gonna be a full house, and I kind of can't wait. 

They came in on Monday night. They came by train.

Let me say it again -- they came by train. 

The railroad sprawled in muggy dusk,

With wooden planks and metal husks.

Top hats and dresses, with long golden tresses.

Time long gone, of fancier people,

We stand around near a bell-chiming steeple.

Our loved ones draw nearer

And we grow steadily cheerer

All along the railroad way.

That's my poem, because I was feeling very poetic that night. Except I wrote it just now, because I'm feeling very poetic thinking about the poetry of that night.

I mean, come on. Who knew this even existed in Lynchburg? If you did, pretend like you didn't because I feel like we happened upon the secret garden of travel locations.

Welcome to Lynchburg!

Here they come!

When they arrived, they were ready for some barbecue. Unfortunately, all the good stuff was closed, so we went instead of Cook Out to get some burgers and shakes!

They have a super delicious mint Oreo shake there that I sometimes crave. 

This is a video I sent to torture a friend who is gone for the summer. I'm a pretty sweet person deep down.

Did I mention both Dusty and I got horrible colds? That was thrown in the middle of all this nonsense as well.

Although I think we're both better now, so things are looking up.

So Tuesday night, we did some grilled chicken, wedge salads, grilled veggie kabobs and Caribbean Snow (our favorite snow cone hut that we can't stop talking about) and we watched The Dark Knight, since mom had never seen it!

That was a nice fun night in. 

My parents went to the nearby National D-Day Memorial that day, too. Days are much more cheerful knowing your family is nearby. :)

Then yesterday, after a Starbucks run, and a whole day of work, we went straight to Jimmy's on the James for dinner.

Dusty and I first went there with a Groupon a few months ago, when it was really busy. We thought it was a really fun atmosphere, and really enjoyed the food. When we were there last time, I decided it was a place that I had to take my parents when they were able to visit next.

So off we went!

We were the first ones there, arriving right after it opened at 5pm for dinner.
We had our lovely fresh flowers on the table, with fun oldies music playing in the background.
Jimmy himself came by and talked with us for a really long time, describing the night's specials in detail.
Our mouths were watering by the end!
He's a really personable guy, who has developed a really lovely restaurant. We all decided to try something different. I got the Barramundi fish special. Oh. My. Word.

It was almond-crusted Barramundi with coconut cream. It was absolutely the most extraordinary dish of the evening. They only get it once or twice a month! A real treat.

My mom got the pork, which was also on the specials menu. It had been marinated and was served with a peach glaze. It was spectacular.

My dad got a house favorite, the Shrimp and Grits. Dusty also chose a house favorite, the lamb. It was really tender and delicious, with their buttery "spoon bread" on the side. 

One of the key menu features at Jimmy's on the James is the dessert.

Fried Oreos.

Now, don't judge. Basically, just imagine the most delicious funnel cake you could ever dream up, and that's what this is like.

Oreos are fried up in a thin, delicate, chocolate batter. They're warm and delicious, served with fresh cream and berries, with a chocolate drizzle. Ohmyyygooosshhh.

We had also heard that their donuts were extremely good.

But we had no idea how good.

Two honey-glazed donuts are grilled to a golden luster, topped with vanilla ice cream, fresh berries and a honey drizzle.

They had the most amazing crisp to them, almost caramel-y. 

Needless to say, we were waddling out of there, very happy indeed. 

We plopped on the couch at home, and watched an episode of So You Think You Can Dance to just relax and laugh and ooh and aah. 

:)

We're having a great week! That will only get better, I'm sure. 

I'll try to not be so lazy and upload my pictures and post some more next week.

But until then, so long, farewell, alveterzane, adieu, au revoir, goodbye.

In love,

Cait