She's planning a trip to Bostonia in early July (around the time of my birthday). It'll be her first trip to Boston, ever, and I'm really looking forward to it. We won't be able to do a lot, since she gets tired very easily, and there will be a lot of coordinating of medical supplies, like oxygen tanks. Still, though. I want to take her on a duck boat tour and out to eat dim sum.

Wine
Today, when I got home, there was a large, extremely heavy package on my front porch from my mom, addressed to ana and me. It was a case of local North Carolina wine, made about 5 miles or so from my mom's house, along with an anniversary card. The muscadine wine is extremely tasty, especially for a cheap wine, and it reminds me of the grapes I used to swipe by the handful from my grandfather's grapevines.

I hadn't really had much Duplin Wine, though I liked the scuppernong wine when I was in college, but my brother P convinced me to try some of the red muscadine while ana and I were there for my grandfather's funeral. Tasty stuff. We got another bottle while we were in NC for my brother J's wedding. When we got back to Boston, ana checked their website and we learned that we couldn't order from them directly. We talked about asking our favorite liquor store if they could special order for us, but we hadn't gotten around to it. And then the package showed up. Sweet.

Wedding
Have I written about the wedding? I don't think I have. My brother J got married a couple of weeks ago, and we spent a long weekend in North Carolina with my mom and family. It was actually not as bad as it could've been, cheesy music and pink bridesmaid dresses notwithstanding. Oh, and the reception was dry - the beverages consisted of a punch the color of new grass and iced tea. The food was edible, but only just. Even so, I got a bit weepy watching my baby brother dancing with my mom.

The rest of the weekend was much better. ana and I mowed my mom's grass. That was quite an undertaking - even with a riding mower, 1.5-ish acres is a big yard. ana got a blister from turning the steering wheel. I got a knot on my head from a branch that was a bit lower than I'd anticipated.

Sunday was mother's day, and my brother P gave my mom a framed picture, taking at the wedding, of my mom and her four children. It was really touching, and the picture actually turned out quite well. Interestingly, the picture was P's wife's idea - someone who generally speaking, doesn't get along all that well with my family.

J and his wife left for a cruise early Sunday morning - as in, they needed to leave around 4:30am. My mom drove them the 1.5 hours to the airport. She offered to pick them up as well, but JC's mom couldn't bear to be apart from her little girl for that extra 1.5 hours, so she made the excuse that she didn't want my mom driving after dark to pick them up. Uh, ok, 4:30's ok, but 10:00pm isn't?

While we were close by, ana and I went to Wilmington to visit Brainfarmer, who was my maid of honor and is probably my closest friend. She brought along her little daughter, who's about 5 months old now. She's the most mellow kid I've ever met, I think. She was perfectly happy to sit or stand in my lap, or in ana's lap, or wherever. I hope, for B's sake, that the mellowness remains.

Work
$uber_boss is keeping her promise. And, though some in our office might be lending their expertise for an important, though evil, project, I will not be working on it. At least not exclusively. This makes me very happy. My boss was apparently worried that I would take it the wrong way that I wasn't being assigned to $evil_project. I don't think she got that I was absolutely thrilled that my sk1llz mean I'm more valuable elsewhere.

Today, I moved into what will soon be the grant-writers' shared digs. I needed to move earlier, since $new_employee needs my desk. So today, I moved my stuff into the corner office with a window. It was silly, but my monkey brain grinned in a Grinch-like way, looking at the office, and said, "Mine!"