vanilla black tea. [weekend with my love]

I drove the two hour drive to Townville, South Carolina, on Friday afternoon to retrieve my stone mason husband from the rock pile. When I got there he was up on his scaffolding laying rock about ten or so feet above the ground. He was on a roll so he kept laying for a while, and I went back to the car, rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof, and read The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell for about an hour, basking in the sun and letting the warm breeze play in my hair as it passed through the windows. After a while I walked back behind the house to see how Jeremy was coming. He had already laid another seven or so square feet, including a huge rock that he put on the wall by himself that was probably about 100 pounds. I chided him lovingly for laying that rock by himself, "I'd like to keep you in working order a while longer," I told him playfully. He finished up securing the rock in its place, which required almost a whole bucket of mud, then we went back to the cabin, he showered, we gathered his stuff, and started back home with smiles on our faces, and hands entwined as he drove the two hour trip that always seems shorter when I'm with him, and longer when I'm going to get him.
The weekend was another lazy one, full of movies and a couple meals at Las Cazuelas, but a perfect one because I was with him. I think in the entire weekend we watched seven movies: Tropic Thunder which Jeremy loved and thought I would enjoy more than I did; Crank because Crank 2 is coming out and we both like Jason Statham; Run Fatboy Run with Simon Pegg, another one of our favorites, a hilariously funny and sweet movie--high recommended; Yes Man was a perfectly Jim Carrey movie the way we remember him in The Mask, hilarious; Bedtime Stories was another cute one with Adam Sandler and his typically goofy antics; Doubt was wonderfully filmed and acted, though the closure was nonexistent and the climax was a bit anti-climactic; and finally The Duchess which I had seen before, but wanted to see with Jeremy as well--great costumes, hair, make-up, and Keira Knightley, but an awfully adulterous story--though still worth seeing in my opinion.
We are movie people. And the fact that I get free rentals for working five hours a week at Movie Gallery helps too.
On Saturday we enjoyed the afternoon together with our spaniel, Cael, always at our feet. We grilled out, and I made my delicious honey mustard, avocado, caramelized onion burgers, and also made a bowl of mangoes and pineapple flavored with a honey-lemon glaze and lime zest, as well as grilled asparagus with lemon. Yum. Jeremy helped me prepare everything then when it came time to grill the burgers we both went outside, tied Cael's leash to the house to let him prance around us (though he mostly just ignored me yelling "Cael, don't eat grass!"), and we enjoyed the Spring weather as Jeremy smoked his tobacco pipe and his new Black Currant tobacco, which smells divine. It was a wonderful dinner, as well as wonderfully handsome company.
Another interesting thing we did this weekend was going to look at a couple houses that are on the market. We are thinking about moving out of our current apartment and moving into Black Mountain or Swannanoa, and we decided to look at cheaper houses since it's so frustrating paying rent that goes towards nothing. We'd rather be spending money every month that's actually doing something for us. Anyway, we found this great little house in Swannanoa, and are praying about what God will have us do. Nothing is for sure yet, we are just exploring our options and trying to figure out what happens next. So do pray for us if you think about it.
So all that being said, I had an amazing weekend with my husband and now that he's gone again I miss him already, and hope this week passes by quickly so I can keep myself in his warm embrace for another weekend.
On a closing note, this song has meant a lot to me since Jeremy has been gone as he has: "Set Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright. (I've added a Song of the Week application to my blog, so you can hear the song here this week.) Also, I purchased Snow Patrol's new album A Hundred Million Suns which is quickly becoming another favorite of mine.

Enjoying my tea, but not my husband's absence,

Caitlin