Wonderful Weekend

The original plan for the Easter weekend was to drive to his parent's house (6 hours to and from) and a couple of days with them. At the last minute, though, it was decided that a trip to their house may be too much to squeeze into one weekend, plus Lyndon had spent the whole week working on the house (painting, etc - see post below!), and we really wanted to spend some time enjoying the new transformation.

However, I was still a little disappointed that our trip was canceled. I had my hopes of up driving somewhere new and just getting away. The weather is getting warmer and there was nothing I wanted to do more than just hop in the car and drive, and look forward to a weekend of leisure, good food, and good shopping with his parents. So to compromise, the two of us decided to take a little day trip to Oxford, Mississippi. I had never been there, and it's only about an hour and a half from Memphis.

What a great area! And what a perfect day it was. We began by eating lunch at City Grocery, where I had the most amazing salad. I can honestly say it was the best salad I've ever eaten. It was pork confit salad, with marinated pork, arugula, mandarin oranges, marinated cheddar cubes, slivered almonds, and the most wonderful dressing. Lyndon had the shrimp and rissotto, which, between mouthfuls, he assured me was very delicious. It was one of those dining experiences where everything seemed to fall into place and everything seemed perfect: the service was phenomenal, the atmosphere just lovely, our conversation was lively and wonderful. That memory is going to be forever seared into my memory. In other words, you should go here and eat.

Surprisingly, there were a large number of women's boutiques and jewelry stores sprinkled throughout the small town. I wandered in a few of them, and while many of them had cute, summery dresses on display (the kind that make you want to lose 20 pounds, tan, and get a pedicure so that you look right for the season), I wasn't about to spend $170 for them. I just wasn't interested.

Lyndon always checks out book stores, so he made a bee-line for Square Books, and upon entering I immediately wanted to gather up as many books as I could carry, find a cozy nook and spend the afternoon reading and sipping coffee. It's a two-story bookstore, with a large reading selection on both floors. Upstairs they have a charming little coffee counter, where you can order yourself a coffee. On that particular day, they had opened all of the windows and the spring breeze was flowing throughout the entire store, which added such a nice touch to an already warm and cozy atmosphere. I happily left the store with a new crochet book, while Lyndon found several poetry books that he didn't already own (a miracle!).

This may have to be our new Easter tradition. Initially I was a little disappointed to not be spending the weekend with one of our sets of parents, but this trip more than made up for it. If you are ever in the area, you should definitely stop by.

(Please note that I borrowed these pictures from the respective websites of the places listed above, as I stupidly forgot to take any pictures with my camera the whole time we were there. That's how much I was enjoying myself, I suppose).