Last weekend.

The time has come again. Jesse has been home for a good two months, and tomorrow he leaves for a whole one. It's probably the reason I've been slacking on updating -- spending my downtime with Jesse was priority the past couple of weeks. (And updating will most likely take up as a distraction upon his departure.)

It's been some time since he was out of the country on tour, and we've haven't been apart for an entire month since the very beginning of our relationship. In fact, the beginning of our relationship started February 27th, 2007 -- a six-year anniversary coming up! He will be in Sydney, Australia that day. But I don't dwell on these things; it's corny but we do have the rest of time to hang out... which he takes care to remind me of every now and then.

We spent his last weekend in town like real hardcore cool people by going to a backgammon meet-up. Yeah, you read me right. Jesse loves the game backgammon, and while I find it frustrating to play him because he is simply streets ahead of me in the game, I like it too. Jesse heard about a meet-up at SPiN, the Susan Sarandon-owned ping-pong bar in Manhattan. Backgammon aficianado Jaime also joined us and we descended into the back room a bit nervous for what type of crowd backgammon brings around. Turns out it wasn't only octogenarians, but a pretty diverse crowd of young, old, foreign, etc.

Jaime remarked at one point, "dang, if I was single I would totally come here to pick up guys." You heard it, ladies: BACKGAMMMON MEET-UPS! Better start learning the game!

On Sunday, Jesse and I had a double date brunch with Kells and Jon, to La Palapa where brunch is $15 for a coffee, a delicious margarita, and the best huevos rancheros I've ever eaten. It's our favorite Manhattan brunch spot - at least the most frequented. After having a laugh as we always do with those two, Jesse asked me if I wanted to see a movie since we had no plans for the afternoon.

Me, see a movie?

Sometimes it's hard to get Jesse to go to the theater with me, especially since I go so often. My Letterboxd is telling me that I saw 40 films in the theaters last year. That's...a lot. I like going with Jesse because he is highly opinionated about films. Even when he's not with me I leave the theater wondering if it would be something Jesse would enjoy. I'm getting better at predicting his love/hate levels!

Anyway, I checked my phone and the new Williamsburg Cinema was playing Soderbergh's latest (and last?) feature film, Side Effects. Soderbergh can really go either way with me, and I wasn't sure if this was something that would be any good. I thought it might tread a little too political (for a movie starring Channing Tatum, if you know what I mean), but it ended up being something entirely different than what I expected. I really liked it, and Jesse did too!

That evening we went to a new restaurant in our neighborhood that had been getting good reviews and is up for a 'Best New Restaurant' award. It was delicious food! And had great cocktail to boot. It was a fitting ending to a great last weekend.

I'll draw on the wall and you can play UFC rookie.

Last night we gathered in the East Village apartment like we were still middle schoolers. Jesse and I rode the subway from Brooklyn prepared with a board game and two bottles of wine for a nice evening in with some good friends.

However, once we arrived and started catching up, Kelly, Amber, and I just kept going with the conversation amongst ourselves. We leaned against the countertops in the kitchen sipping red wine and nibbling on peccorino cheese. We screeched our exclamations and whispered our more salacious news. We discussed Manti T'eo, Lance Armstrong, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, and Joss Whedon. We moved to Amber's bedroom and talked bedroom talk, laughing to the point where no noise comes out -- like we do. We took pictures and talked about the internet and generations and getting old and how crotchety we were going to be. We went to Kelly's bedroom and watched an old video of the three of us from college with tearful laughter. Amber is moving out of the apartment they share next weekend, and Kelly commemorated their time living together by giving her half a heart drawing. It was sweet; there were tears.

And where were the husbands? Parked in front of the television with beers and a video game, laughing on their own. What was supposed to be a fun, little co-ed game night turned into the women talking for hours (a task easy for us three) and the dudes pretending they were NFL football teams. We laughed on opposite sides of the room, occasionally throwing sideways glances at each other. We should have passed notes.

Jesse and I left much too late for a week night; we didn't have parents waiting up at home. We smiled at each other on the ride home, recounting our night to each other even though we spent it in the same place. I'm a little tired today at work, but it's always worth it to have laughed a whole night away with your best friends in the entire world.