Today was weird. (in bullet format)

I know I was supposed to post more about my super-awesome trip to see Val, but...shit happened, Blog. So there is this:

• Momma and I were cleaning out Gram's apartment to donate her clothes to Goodwill, and that was weird. It was so surreal. Like, the person who used to wear those clothes and live in that place was never going to wear those clothes or live in that place again. So strange. I got super-nostalgic.
• One of Gram's friends dropped by while we were there, and that was weird. Kay, who called to check on her the day she got sick. It feels so strange to hear someone you don't know at all describe someone you know really well. Everything she said was just so sweet, and true. I think it made me realize that I'm going to miss her more than I realized at first.
• Mom didn't freak out once (not really) the entire day, and that was weird. I think she was probably just focused on getting things done. I'm sure the moods will be back in full force on Thursday.
• I laughed, like full on uncontrollably laughed, for at least 5 minutes straight with my mother over a mispronounced word. (This wasn't really weird, just a little unusual.)
• My mom out of the blue, asked me what a friend of mine looked like, and that was weird. It wasn't the asking that was strange, it was the amount of detail she wanted. "What does Courtney look like?" She's about 5'7" (I'm not sure as to the accuracy of that.) "Is she thin?" Not especially. "Overweight?" Not at all. Normal-sized, I guess. Why? "No reason. What color is her hair?" Red. Sort of auburn, really red in the sun. "Okay..." Is that all? "I guess."
• My mom talked about vibrators, and that was WEIRD. She was talking about how you find strange things when people die, and how she'd rather be finding shoe boxes full of random crap rather than a vibrator or a stash of Viagra (my grandfather). I swear, she said "vibrator" like five times. *shudder*
• On the way home we talked about the movie Bruno and my complete lack of a desire to see it, and that was not weird. What was, was my mother asking me why, in an existential sense I suppose, Sacha Baron Cohen was 'like that.' "Is he gay in real life?" No. (Engaged to Isla Fisher!) Just an idiot.

Thus ends my weird and slightly sad and morbid day. Goodnight, internets. I shall see you tomorrow.

Trip Part I

I have been visiting the Sister since Saturday, in Nashville, and it has been SO nice. I do a lot of the same things as I do at home, but now I do them at my sister's house and have two dogs (one lovely, one dumb) and a cat (who I am convinced is my soulmate) and my sister and brother-in-law around to keep me company. (During the day it's just me and the animals, though.) Also, the people here are SANE. That's such a nice change of pace from my neurotic mother.

I have been out of the house, though. Today, I went (seemingly) all over creation. I visited the area of town where VanderbiltUniversity is (also the super-trendy music district), West End and Hillsboro. It was good, and I saw the Nashville replica of the Parthenon, which is actually pretty cool and not as cheesy as it sounds. It is a full scale replica of the one in Greece and has a very lovely Athena inside the upper level.

I also went around the Vanderbilt campus where my sister works, which was SUPER lovely. *sigh* I wish my college were as pretty. Did you know it is ALSO an arboretum? I sure didn't!

After a productive lunch with my sister (yay for figuring out What's Next), I was pretty tired of walking and I decided to go chill at a famous coffee house where many a music industry person has been spotted (Ben Folds, anyone?). I hate coffee, and yet, I actually liked what I got. It was this chocolate-caramel thing that was SO good. Also, I got to read some of my book, The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue (VERY worthwhile read so far). I ate some wonderful salmon for dinner with fresh corn, cucumber, and feta salad which was delicious and I shall be making when I have my kitchen to work with!

All in all, been a pretty good vacation so far. We're headed to the in-laws house in Alabama tomorrow and will be taking the route that goes through Chattanooga and Atlanta, which I am excited to see. ALSO, we're eating breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, which is like, super-famous in the world of breakfast foods.