There's No Place Like Home

It took Dorothy a massive twister, a trip through Oz, near captures by the winged monkeys, and countless run-ins with the Wicked Witch before she realized the truth.

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There's no place like home.

And that is exactly why I headed hOmaha for the weekend: I was a psychotic mess for a couple of weeks, and I straight-up needed my mom and dad.

And they were there.

With booze.

On Friday, we munched on cheese and crackers and wine - lots of wine - while my parents tried to figure out what exactly was wrong with me.  (I'm not sure we really came to a conclusion, other than the fact that I'm just a hot mess.)

And then my mama made ruebens, courtesy of the Abs Diet, that were delicious.  I think I'm going to need to invest in a griddle...

We drank yet more wine, and then I suffered through my taxes.  My dad may beg to differ, but I did them mostly by myself.  It turns out that they were a lot easier to do when I only had one job - and zero glasses of wine.

On Saturday morning my mom and I headed out to Zorinsky (it's a lake again!) for a 3.8-mile jaunt.  It was a beautiful day:

We mostly walked, but we did quite a bit of running as well.  I'm so proud of my mom and how fast she's recuperated from various injuries.  She'll be running miles upon miles before we know it!

I was starving when I got home, and my dad took me out to lunch.  It was really nice: we don't get a lot of one-on-one time, so it was really special that he asked if I wanted to go out to lunch.  I have the best pops in the whole wide world.

We headed to a brand-new-to-us place: Bailey's, on 120th and Pacific.

The entire menu looked absolutely delicious, but my dad and I both opted for eggs benedict, which seemed to be their speciality.  My pops ordered the Guerrero Benedict, that came with chorizo, refried beans, cotija cheese, and chipotle hollandaise.

I had the special, which was a typical eggs benedict topped with hash browns, avocado, and what was supposed to be turkey Canadian bacon.  Unfortunately, it was actual ham (which totally grosses me out), so I tossed that to the side.

After lunch, we ran a couple of errands and then headed home.  I took a brief snooze, met our friend's new pooch (so cute!), and then my favorite shopping buddy and I headed to the mall and to World Market.

I wasn't going to buy anything, but as usual, I succumbed to Express - and bought pretty much the most beautiful maxi dress ever.  Unfortunately (and due to Express's horrible website), you'll have to wait for pictures from the Bahamas before you see it.

Don't worry: that's only five more days.

Jealous?

Speaking of the Bahamas, that was the reason behind the trip to Whole Foods: I needed a supply of ginger to alleviate the motion sickness that I'm fearing.  I bought ginger mints (four packs!) as well as Ginger People candies.  I might have to go track some more down, though, because I'm fearing I may not have enough to tide me over for five days asea.

I guess we'll find out!

For dinner, the 'rents and I headed to Maru, an amazing Korean grill.  My mama and I started with a couple of spinozas (pictured above), and the three of us shared a couple of sushi rolls:

Spicy California & Dynamite

For dinner, I opted for the calamari bibimbab:

This meal is served in a granite stone bowl that is super hot and literally still sizzling and cooking the food as it is set at the table.  The rice bakes onto the bottom and gets brown and super crunchy, so the servers recommend mixing it up immediately.  It's also served with three side dishes:

I believe these were some sort of spicy potato, kimchi, and another type of slaw.

It was - as you can see - a phenomenal meal.

After dinner, we headed home and watched the world's worst movie.  Dead Like Me is an absolutely amazing TV show that I highly recommend to everyone (seriously: it's clever, endearing, and hilariously snarky).  The movie, on the other hand, was ridiculously stupid.

My mom and I quickly tuned out the whole thing and started Pinterest-ing, but my dad was bound and determined to finish the entire thing.

Pops headed to Vegas early Sunday morning, so my mom and I headed to brunch after lounging around for a few hours.  We hit up the Jackson Street Tavern in the Old Market.

(Funny story: we had to call the hostess from outside the restaurant because their front door was locked!  And they were wondering why business was slow!)

For brunch, I ordered the California Omelette: mushrooms, avocado, spinach, and havarti.  It was served with wheat toast and a side of fresh fruit.

It was oh, so good.

After brunch, we headed to the Joslyn, my mom's art museum, to see the Egypt exhibit - To Live Forever.

Ever since I was a little bitty girl, I have been absolutely fascinated with Ancient Egypt.  I took an Egyptian art class in elementary school and made my own cartouche, the Field Museum in Chicago has always been my favorite, and my first tattoo was even an Egyptian hieroglyphic.

Needless to say, this was an awesome exhibit, and I loved it.

Also, we had to stop and see my Little Dancer - my all-time and forever favorite piece in the museum:

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A load of laundry later, I was headed back to Des Moines - but with a much happier heart than when I last saw it.

My mom had this bookmark waiting for me on my bedside table.  My nana made it, and that is a flower that she pressed and a beautiful sentiment written in her calligraphy: "Home is the place of renewal and safety, where for a little while there will be no harm or attack and, while every sense is nourished, the soul rests."  As soon as I got home, I framed it and put it next to my bed as a constant reminder of how lucky and thankful I am that my parents are so close, so amazing, and by far the most wonderful human beings I know.

There truly is no place like home.