Waiting for the Man

Today was a really great day, in all senses of the word. I mean, work was eh, but not bad - I got some really good stuff done, at least in the first half of the day, and I worked in some time to chat with my mom. The weather was absolutely PERFECT - you could not dream up better.

It was just filled with random nicenesses. Chatting with mom was one. Receiving praise from the boss was another. Receiving two cds from two different people. Buying Katie's birthday present. Happy hour at New Deck. Walking to South Street with Tom. Buying concert tickets (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! at the First Unitarian Church). [Finally] buying The Velvet Underground & Nico (from which the title of this post comes). And tomorrow is Friday!

The day was honestly spectacular. I think it was mostly because of the weather. I am realizing how much the weather affects my mood lately. More the intense heat than anything else. Although intense cold has just the same effect. I hate weather that makes you just want to stay inside. Although I like rain... But anyhow, today was just wonderful.

And it was preceded by a rather decent week and a great weekend. My darling Olivia had come to visit on Saturday. We had a big dinner party in her honor, I made green and white lasagna (which turned out great, quite unexpectedly, as it was my first try), Kate made breadsticks, Deanna made salad, the boys brought wine, we listened to the Amelie soundtrack as we ate, there were namecards involved - it was lovely!

Anyhow, so after dinner, Tom, Andy, Olivia and I decided to go to Monks and we brought our namecards with us. We got seats at the bar and started the fun. I decided to drink scotch instead of beer, as their selection is quite intimidating, and I had my first taste of an Islay malt (Laphroaig 12 year) - which made me realize that I'm not a huge fan of the Islay. It wasn't bad, just VERY flavorful and peatish. So then after I had finished I took another look at the selection. I saw a "21" among the bottles and was quite intrigued. I queried the bartender, Bernadette, about the bottle and found out it was a 21 year old from the Orkney islands. It was a merchant label (The Glenhaven) which means that they buy surplus casks of a whisky and sell it in the States under their name. I wish I knew which distillery it came from, but I didn't examine it closely enough. Anyhow, I knew I wanted some. It was $15/dram but weeeellllll worth it. I was drinking a scotch as old as I am, fer Christ's sake! It was really gorgeous and definitely the best I've had thusfar. Smooth, slightly fruity, stimulating, light color, definitely full-bodied and robust. After that, although I did want more, my pocketbook was still scolding me, so I got a dram of a 12 year old MacCallan, which was quite nice as well. But the 21 year old was fabulous! While I was drinking, I struck up a conversation with a man behind the bar, who turned out to to be Tom, the co-owner, and a lovely person. We chatted about wine, Scotland, and of course, scotch. He also complimented us on our namecards! It was a really fantastic evening.

Well, I have been indulging in my Harry Potter habit and Tom just brought me the most recent publication, so I think I'll go start it. Have a splendid night, friends and lovers.