A weekend away

I had a great weekend last weekend- the best in a very long time.  I went to visit some friends who live about two hours away.  Josh and Jen are both awesome people, and their daughter Lily is a brilliant and sweet little girl.  The weekend was packed full of goodness.  I don't know where to begin.  On Friday night, we had Indian food for dinner.  I had been craving Indian food for some time, and this was delicious.  Plus, Jen scored free dessert for all of us.  Go Jen! This is just one example of how Josh hit the jackpot in the spouse lottery with Jen.  There was also a My Little Pony quiz at dinner.  I failed miserably.  Lily kicked butt, but Josh did come in a close second.  I think he might disagree with my assessment of the quiz results.  I got to see Gravity Falls for the first time that night.  This is a Disney Channel cartoon I had been told repeatedly that I would like.  Was it over-hyped?  NO.  It's fantastic.  It's about twins who go to stay with their great uncle in a town where weird things happen.  There was a lot of Gravity Falls viewing over the weekend.

On Saturday, we went to Oktoberfest at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.  SteelStacks is a neat place. Its website describes it as an arts and cultural campus.  It used to be a steel plant.  The highlight of Oktoberfest was the wiener dog races.  The dogs weren't restricted to the little area set up for the races.  There were dachshunds everywhere!  They were cute.  Adorable.  Some were dressed up.  Jen made us falafel for dinner on Saturday night.  Yum.  Lily asked for me to read her a story, which was nice.  After Lily was asleep, Josh and Jen and I played the game Taboo, which had such timely references as Linda Tripp and Mike Tyson.  I also saw Freaks & Geeks, which I had never seen before.  I tend to steer away from tv shows about kids in high school, but this one is good.

On Sunday, we went back to Bethlehem.  We checked out a cemetery and walked around the town a bit before it was time for a service at Jen's church.  Yes, yes, I know- I'm an atheist. That doesn't mean I can't attend a religious service.  When I told someone about going to church on Sunday, she was stunned.  It's not like I burst into flames if I cross the threshold or anything.  Plus, if you're going to go to church, Unitarian Universalist is the way to go.  The choir sang the Pink Panther theme.  Josh says they worship Cthulhu, but I wouldn't mind if they did.  Unitarian Universalists are cool.  AND, afterward, they feed you snacks and coffee. My church never fed me snacks and coffee.  Anyway, this was a special day for blessing animals, so people brought their pets.  Lily's fish and caterpillar made an appearance, along with several dogs, cats, and one bird.  Also, the guy sitting next to me looked like Red Sox owner John Henry.

I always have a good time when I see Josh, Jen, and Lily.  I've been going through some stuff lately that has caused me a lot of stress and anxiety, and being able to spend time with my friends over the weekend was like lifting a huge weight off of my shoulders, at least for those three days.  I hope I get to see them again soon.