Roommate Reunion

I'd have to say unequivocally that my favorite year of college was my Junior year.  Why?  I got to live with these two fabulous girls in the dorms:

(L to R: Crickett, me, Martha)

Sure, they would tire of my OCD tendencies and scoff at the bathroom clean-up schedule that I posted in our suite, but we all learned to live together and have a good time doing it.  After our Junior year, Martha transferred to Samford for pharmacy school, and Crickett and I finished out our degrees at Millsaps.  I went on to grad school in Memphis and Crickett lived in South Africa for a while doing advocacy work before returning to the States to settle in DC.  Martha married a nice guy in the Army, who keeps them constantly on the move.  Our times together since that year in the dorm have been limited to one-on-one visits, with the three of us reuniting only for mine (2007) and Martha's (2008) wedding.

I included both of them on a baby shower invitation list in the off-chance they could make it, but of course, they could not.  Martha called to say that she wanted to visit before the baby got here, and that's how we settled on this past weekend for her to fly in from Columbia, SC for a girls' weekend.  Over the  phone, we reminisced about our times in the dorm and Crickett.  Little did I know that Martha had orchestrated, with JD, Crickett's surprise flight in to Memphis for the weekend as well.  They dubbed it 'Operation Blue Suede Shoes', and I could not have been more surprised!  Martha, JD and I went to a Grizzlies game on Friday night:

(Me and Martha at the FedEx Forum hours before Crickett's secret arrival)

After the game, Martha and I were just sitting around the house in our PJ's catching up when Crickett busted through the kitchen door with a very Crickett-esque, "Honey I'm home!"  I was so confused - and excited that the gang was back together again.  Apparently JD and the girls had woven all these elaborate lies to make sure I was none the wiser.  Considering what an amateur detective I pretend to be, I really had no idea.  Even when JD would interchangeably refer to Martha as Crickett when making plans for this girls' weekend, I just assumed he was confused.  The three of us stayed up pretty late Friday night catching up, and Saturday morning we walked a 5K out at Shelby Farms to prepare us for a yummy lunch at Central BBQ:

(Crickett at Central BBQ - she really did not eat all this food)

After getting ready, we headed down to the Peabody hotel so Martha could watch the ducks march through the lobby, followed by a few drinks (not me) in the lobby listening to this woman playing the piano.  We left the Peabody and managed to snag the last open table at Flight.  If you've ever eaten there, you'd know what a treat it was.  We enjoyed sampling each other's choices and watching everyone else wish they could get a table;)

(Crowded Peabody lobby waiting on the duck march)

(Having drinks in the lobby post-duck march)

(Martha was pretty pumped over her dessert at Flight)

After dinner, we walked down to the Orpheum to catch the 8 pm showing of Mary Poppins.  It was a fantastic performance with amazing costume and set design.  It sort of made me wish I could have seen a 'behind the scenes' making of the set.

(Orpheum sign)

(Play announcement)

(Right before the play began)

Sunday we all slept in, grabbed lunch at Holiday Ham and spent the afternoon shopping.  Martha was pretty excited that Memphis had a Pottery Barn Outlet and Williams Sonoma Outlet.  We met up with one of Martha's family friends in Collierville for a few hours, then ate dinner with JD at Soul Fish.  Sunday night, we spent the evening piled on the couch making fun of the Grammy's, then the girls flew back on Monday.  The house seems pretty quiet now without them here, but I know it will be short-lived.  Only three or so weeks out from the baby's due date!