o happy day!

no joke, this is exactly what my house looks like right now.

well if yesterday was any indication, this should be a good weekend.  i'm not sure how much i've discussed this on here, but i am incredibly close to my paternal grandmother.  her name is dorothy {dot} and my whole life i have been called dot jr.  not only do i look exactly like her {the only thing i got from my mom's side are the big boobs} but we have almost identical personalities.  she is the person in this world i admire the most.  she is well-educated and well-travelled and kind and smart and funny and stylish and i could go on and on.  at 84, she has more zest for living than many 24-year olds i know.  she is constantly remodeling her house, reading books, hosting international students, hosting dinner parties, and driving all over the country to visit friends and family.  the other day she called us to see how our weekends were and casually mentioned she had just gotten back from a helicopter ride.  hilarious.  i wrote my college application essay on her.  she is, in my eyes, a complete rock-star.

for my 20th birthday, she gave me my two most cherished possessions.  her engagment ring {which is now appraised, insured, and locked away in a box until some nice boy decides to place it on my finger} and her locket.  her locket isn't much in terms of dollar value, but it is priceless.  she and each of her three sisters received them for christmas 1937.  they were gold-plated and engraved with their initials.  of the four sisters, my grandmother was the only one who kept her locket into adulthood.  the rest were lost.  it's really a beautiful locket, but the best part is that inside there is a picture of my devastatingly handsome grandfather in his world war II army uniform.  i never met my grandfather.  he died the year before i was born.  i grew being told how much he would have loved taking me out for ice cream and fishing, about how he lit up a room whenever he walked in, about how wonderful he was.  whenever anyone asks who i could have dinner with living or dead, he is always my answer.

this fall, i thought i lost my locket.  the last time i remembered having it was in california, but my uncle couldn't find it anywhere in his house.  i contacted boys i had dated over the summer, random people whose houses i had gone to cook-outs at, and everywhere in between.  no luck.  to say i was devastated is an understatement.  i had always planned to wear this locket at my wedding as my something old.  i had given up hope of ever finding it.

weirdly enough, when we were in wyoming, i kept having dreams about finding the necklace.  then yesterday i was going through my big work purse/tote and for some reason shoved my hand down into one of the tiny pockets that i never put anything in.  lo and behold, there is my locket.  the chain was quite tangled but after some dedicated wrestling, it is now unkinked and back on my neck.  what a lovely way to start my weekend!

tonight is farmer's market and homemade spring risotto {which recipe do you think?  ina or giada?} with friend k.  tomorrow is sunshine and the bull and oyster fest in town with the girls.  sunday is home for easter service and brunch with the parentals.  i hope you darlings have a wonderful weekend!  what are your plans?