Ladies who lunchfast

[cleolinda]

So McRachel, one of my college friends, now lives in New York but she comes down to visit at Christmas on her way home to Mississippi, so we were all excited about her coming to the Lovely Emily's birthday party Friday night, except that... her flight got delayed. Or canceled. Or both. Cancelayed. Something. And then she couldn't get in on Saturday, either. But Sunday! We will all have brunch on Sunday! And there will be other mutual friends there that I haven't kept in touch with but would like to get back in touch with and we will all learn the spirit of Christmas or mimosas or something and it will be awesome.

Em and I get to The Grill--formerly The Mill, down in Five Points--and no one is there. That's okay, maybe we're a little early. Em makes a couple of calls. Guess where McRachel is? Cincinnati, a friend tells us. She... she will not be coming to brunch. Apparently we are the last to hear about this, which is why no one else came. But it's eleven and I didn't have breakfast at all and Em just had half a bagel with cream cheese and it wasn't even real cream cheese some yogurt, so we are going to have lunchfast anyway, dammit.

So we dig into our biscuits and gravy and ham and eggs (this is how we brunch in the South) and discuss the party on Friday and Em's wedding dress and divers other subjects when hey! It's McRachel on the phone!

"I HAVE BEEN LIVING IN AIRPORTS FOR THREE DAYS," she says. "I AM WAITING ON A FLIGHT TO BIRMINGHAM AND WHEN I GET THERE I WILL GET STRAIGHT IN A CAR AND DRIVE THREE HOURS HOME."

"I'm going to mail your Christmas present to New York," I say, when Em hands the phone over to me. "It'll probably be there by the time you get back...?"

"OH GOOD."

"Yeah... hey, whatever doesn't kill you, right? It's an adventure."

"I FEEL LIKE AN ADVENTURER."

"See? Having adventures, looking for artifacts--your present kind of looks like an artifact, it'll be there when you get back..." And I make a mental note to tuck something extra in the package for her. I don't know what, but she sounds like she needs it.

("DID I TELL YOU THAT I SAW TWILIGHT?")

We wish her a safe trip and much ham. And then we fiddle around with our cheese grits until noon, at which point the restaurant can serve alcohol, so we can down a couple of mimosas in her honor.

This afternoon: ~* MOAR SHOPPING *~. Man, I am glad I had that mimosa.

Comments

[jharrison19.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I hate holiday/winter flying. I'm flying to Chicago in January. D:
Yay for southern brunches. I had amazing georgia pecan pancakes for my bday morning after at the atl bluebird cafe. Yum.

[evilsimon.livejournal.com]

This seems to be going around. I've been stranded in Portland for three days ._.

Stranded

[suzeclues12.livejournal.com]

Give yourself a treat and if you can, check out 1) Powells and 2) Voodoo Donuts. They will both change your life. Meanwhile, keep warm!

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, flying at Christmas. I've only done it once, and I got stuck in the ninth circle of hell, aka the Philadelphia airport, for 24 hours. My dad ended up driving from Ohio to get me, because the chances of getting a flight by Christmas were close to nil.

Mmmmm, southern brunch. Nom.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Oh well. At least there were mimosas.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Oh, gads. I'm flying home for Christmas, and I'm not leaving until the 23rd, because too much of my family can be too much of a good thing. But now I'm worried I won't get there at all. Your poor friend.

At least you and the Lovely Emily had a nice lunchfast and it sounds as though your friend will get home safelu.

[girlalmighty]

Man, I love Southern brunch. I made biscuits and gravy yesterday, but between my sister being a vegetarian and my mom being allergic to gluten, it just doesn't come out quite the same. I mean, no sausage in the gravy? Rice flour instead of wheat? Tragic amounts of fail!

[jaysta-11.livejournal.com]

So we dig into our biscuits and gravy and ham and eggs (this is how we brunch in the South)

You so totally aren't kidding. I love the south.

[nem0.livejournal.com]

*de-lurks* Oh my lord, I haven't heard the cream cheese bagel line in so long I forgot where it came from. Thanks for the nostalgia!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee. I deploy that one as often as possible, to be honest.

[gwynnywonk.livejournal.com]

One of my mom's friends is trying to get her son to drive home from Utah to Seattle. DRIVE. The pass has zero visibility, with the westbound lanes closed, and the eastbound traffic reduced to one lane. "But I got him some chains! He'll be fine". Uh, yeah. It's so cold here in Spokane that the pipes in our church burst and flooded half of the chapel. We got almost three feet of snow in the past week. CHAINS ARE NOT GOING TO DO IT.

In other news, yay MGMT! They make fun noises.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

This is the only song I have by them--I think I got it off audiography?--but I really want to hear some more now.

[glass-radical.livejournal.com]

The Spirit of Christmas Mimosas.

I rather like that idea.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hey, make 'em with pomegranate juice or something and they can be a nice holiday red.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, up here in the Frozen Northlands (i.e. New England) it hasn't stopped snowing since Friday lunchtime. Nobody's going nowhere. The worst part, though? It's supposed to hit the 40s on Wednesday and rain, which means we won't have a white Christmas. UNFAIR.

[renwednesday.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the last time I had brunch. Or, more specifically, a meal that someone officially entitled "brunch" out loud. Hee.

McRachel seems to talk on the cell phone like I do - IN CAPSLOCK. Because apparently I still have not grasped the concept that a cell phone is much more than two cups tied together with a string, and therefore I do not have to yell quite so loudly. xD

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't usually render her in capslock--she was just very tired and frustrated and in an airport.

[roseredhoofbeat.livejournal.com]

Your posts make me so ridiculously homesick. I would sell my soul for a proper biscuit.

[edda.livejournal.com]

I hope your friend gets to enjoy a proper breakfast, anyway.

*tips back a mimosa*

[divadeanna.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, you just made me want to drive to my favorite meat and three that serves breakfast all day. I think the cheese grits were the straw that broke the camel's back. But then I remembered it's Sunday, and that place is impossible to get into today. :-(

[prncssaurora.livejournal.com]

Oh blerg, I'm flying out of NYC tomorrow night and I REALLY hope I don't have airport shenanigans. I always have really bad luck with airports too, so... yikes. But my flight is non-stop, so that helps my chances, right? RIGHT?

Holiday shenanigans

[suzeclues12.livejournal.com]

We had expected 3 vistors for Christmas:

1) Mom - who will be staying at her house due to a relative's funeral (not close a close relative - to my husband or I that is, but nonetheless, she is going....no matter how un-nice he was throughout MY living memory).

2) Daughter - NYC - dicy ice situation?

3) Son - Portland - dicy ice situation?

And now, the possibly future fiance/definitely serious boyfriend of said daughter is coming the day after Christmas (with a possible proposal?) - also from NYC - which takes the anxiety of "Mom's visiting, is the house imaculate?" to a new "We've never met him, is the house immaculate?" level.

Ah, the holidays! If you're not stuck in an inhuman airport, afraid to leave in case you miss your flight, then you're cleaning the house like a mad woman, trying to figure out what to feed someone for breakfast who seems to be allergic to all known carbohydrates, dairy and eggs!

Good luck, everyone!

[lyrainverse.livejournal.com]

Did she put bee pollen in her yogurt?

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

No, there were no signs of bees...or bee husbandry.

[elisa0984.livejournal.com]

I love brunch.

[deathwatchlove.livejournal.com]

Your friend McRachel sounds like she's been having about as much fun as I've had trying to get home. I live in New York and I've been trying since Friday to get to my parents' house in Jackson, MS. Now I'm stuck in Newburgh, NY, and hoping to get on a flight to Philly, then to DC, then to Jackson tomorrow.

Best of luck to your friend. All the airports north of about Kansas are kind of crazy right now.

[laigaiem.livejournal.com]

Seeing you here is seriously weird, because I was thinking of you throughout that description of the call from McRachel, and here you are.

[flaxenescapee.livejournal.com]

Wow, after reading what your friends went through, I'm glad I left Christmas-Bailout-2008 until next month... The planes will be better by then, right? Right?

[rivki8699.livejournal.com]

Dude, I spent about 5 months in Birmingham in '04 and '05 and we went to the Mill/Grill all the time.

[aestasbeyond.livejournal.com]

I'm Rachel and I'm from Cincinnati...and I apologize to your friend on behalf of our stupid airport. Which is actually in Northern Kentucky and not in Cincinnati at all.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

Poor gal! How the hell did she end up in Cincinnati? I don't see how New York and Mississippi equals a stop in Queen City. That's kinda psychotic. I don't blame her at all for driving back. Which airline did this to her? I want to know to STAY AWAY.

Saturday was weird hell for me too. I had $400 worth of $20 bills fly out of my coat onto a parking lot and into a four lane road(at an exit to an eight lane highway.) I skinned my knee, played frogger, dropped the f-bomb -probably breaking the world record- and I still am short $20. But I didn't get hit by any cars. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Beware the Saturday.

Mimosas sound like heaven right now. Yum. Good idea!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It sounded like they just started putting her on any flight they could actually find leaving the airport, given all the snow cancellations. She said she scanned her boarding pass at one point and there was this whole long list of flights they'd put her on standby for.

But I didn't get hit by any cars.

Good Lord, I'm glad you made it out okay!

[maggie-qow.livejournal.com]

I feel your friend McRachel's pain; I was once stuck in Atlanta for an entire day while trying to fly back to Meridian. In that time, my friend had his wallet stolen, I was on an insane amount of cold medication for the flu, there was massive drinking, and all four of us ended up under a blanket (over our heads like a tent) watching R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." Then a tornado almost killed our plane on the way home, and we were stuck on the tarmac in Birmingham for hours. The stewardess started handing the liquor out like candy. When we got to Meridian, I seriously got on my knees on the tarmac and thanked the universe, God, and whomever else I could think of.

Also, drinking before Christmas shopping is imperative.