Lesson #1. My kids are gosh darn good lookin' : ) Ok, the first lesson really is: Let Mom buy dinner when she offers. (just kidding, I ♥ treating these guys!) This is a favorite hangout for college kiddos, called Acropolis. You can eat fabulous, flavorful Greek food, enjoy the authentic music, smoke hookah, and watch a cute little belly dancer here. I took wayyy too many pictures on my phone, but they're used to it. Alex even helped me "set up" a shot of his salad! Poor guy, he knows me toooo well.
The floor is covered with bar napkins; the dancer comes by...she throws napkins. It's a birthday...the servers throw napkins. If I feel like it, I can throw napkins. The Mom and reasonable adult in me was thinking, "These kids are gonna slip and fall on all these napkins on this smooth concrete floor!" I know. I'm old.
See these cute little, innocent, sleepy faces? Ok, they are cute. And relatively innocent. But not sleepy. Lesson #2. Time has no boundaries in college. This was right before 2 am. They look as fresh as daisies. I was holding my head up with my cane. ; )
Lesson #3. Eat and cook whenever you're hungry (not a bad rule!) (and Lesson #2b: Only cook if you run out of money to eat out, or when your Mom comes to visit) I told Linds I would make her anything she wanted for dinner, and she chose lo mein. Her Publix has a great selection of ethnic foods and produce, so we crammed into her lil kitchen and dove right in. (I usually sit on the counter to chop vegetables, but I let Linds have my spot. Kidding!)
Rule #4. Invite friends when Mom cooks. Matt came over to help cook and eat. Actually, he was supposed to make us dinner, but he thought it would be nice if we worked together. Smart guy! (and very good in the kitchen!) (ignore those bare feet that are very close to the chopped celery & cilantro)
Dinner! Chicken lo mein. Lesson #5. If ya gotta cook, cook alot, so you can eat it for a coupla days. (it's almost mid-terms, leaving no time to prepare food)
Lesson #6. Eat dessert. (after all, they're young, they can afford the calories) Matt's an ice cream fan, so we found our way to Coldstone and look who we saw! (ice cream is a friend of everyone) The Tampa Ren Fair is in town, right up the street! There truly is always something to do there, which is really cool.
By then, it was 9:30, and Alyssa was calling to see where we were going for the night. What?! It's not bedtime?! We had decided the night before (or actually that morning!), to visit Ybor City on Saturday night, so they could show me a good time. (Alyssa even gave up her closing shift : ) So we dolled ourselves up with no plan of action whatsoever, and with Lindsay as my navigator (thank you iPhone maps), took off for Ybor! THE THINGS WE SAW THERE!!!....
Lesson #7. Go with the flow. The albino python in a shopping basket, the "little person" dressed like Hulk Hogan, the young, nubile club barker in a G-string, the fetish club (don't ask), the huge, outdoor 80's party...the list goes on and on. Ya know what? It was a BLAST!!!
Lesson #8. Keep on keepin' on. Me & Lindsay in Ybor. That's me in the jeans and cougar *ahem* leopard shirt, in case you couldn't tell us apart. This was at midnight, I was holding up better than I thought!
7th Avenue in Ybor. Fun, fun, fun!!!
On Sunday, we went to Mass at the Student Center, had an incredible breakfast at First Watch (it's a chain, if you find one, EAT THERE!) and went to a chic apartment complex to check out some new digs for the girls. When I took a picture there to "pin" on Pinterest (much to Lindsay's horror), the cutsie sales girl that showed us around said, "Ohmygosh, I just set up my Pinterest! Here's my phone!" (so I could show her what to do)
That afternoon, we caught up with Alex (who had a great time), and sadly, the weekend came to an end.
Lesson #9. I'm pretty cool after all ; )
Jordycakes, you & Arissa made the blog AGAIN!
