"The good ol' song of Wahoowa...."

*Before I continue with this post-cast :) I would like to give my great friend K-fo a shout-out. She is celebrating her 27th birthday today! K-fo , Happy Happy Birthday!*

I'm so far behind and I don't even know where to start. Do you ever get that feeling? Too much has been going on over the last week. I've been gone from work (where I do most of my blogging action) and have so many restaurants to write about I can't figure out where to begin.

On top of this I'm 2 games of tag behind. I'm sorry to whoever tagged me! The memes will come soon!! Is there some unwritten rule about ONLY writing one post a day? Well, to avoid figuring out what to start with, I'll just go in order.

This brings me to last weekend. This week is my birthday week. I celebrated the big 2-6 on Tuesday, the 27th, and was lucky enough to get a weekend off to celebrate with friends at my alma mater, given away by the picture here. Tailgates and football and good friends promised a fun weekend, (but a really tired week of recuperation).

When my friend K-fo and I were driving out of Charlottesville on Sunday afternoon, exhausted and beaten by the weekend's festivities (and debauchery), I said our weekend kind of reminded me of a Vegas ad I keep seeing on TV. "What happens in Vegas...stays in Vegas." That works really well for college reunions too. "What happens in Charlottesville, stays in Charlottesville."
There's something about going back to the school you went to for 4 years, and wanting to hit all your favorite watering and eating holes. But with only a short 48-hour trip, how can this be possible?

Well, we tried and managed to do a VERY good job. Friday night we got into town and headed straight to the Biltmore, once home of the Tuesday $2-dollar pitcher nights (I think inflation has driven these bad boys up to a whopping $3 or $4-dollar rate) and excellent salads with pizza crust bread on the side. It hadn't been 2 years since we had graduated that we went back for the salads, and they didn't seem to taste as good as they did back then. Salads aside, they do still have one of the best appetizers "Thumbs and Toes," a boneless chicken wing dish that never ceases to please. The chicken is coated in an orange spicy barbecue sauce and soothes any salty food craving.

After the Biltmore, we made our way to Michael's Bistro, a bar and restaurant none of us discovered until our upperclassmen days at UVa. It's right off the corner and has some of the best patio seating (off their 2nd story dining room) and excellent beers. I used to go on jogs with friends and stop in at the end for a snakebite (half cider half lager of choice). There were no snakebites Friday night, but we enjoyed a fun dinner and 2 bottles of wine (not a good mix after the beer at Biltmore), nonetheless. My friend Malibu met us and insisted on buying us tequila shots to get the evening going. I will get revenge Malibu:)

Saturday morning getting bagels at the famous procrastinator Bodo's was a must (the owner of this million-dollar bagel mecca had a storefront with a sign "Opening Soon" for at least 10 years before the restaurant actually opened). I've been living in NYC for a year now and still there's something remarkable about the Bodo's bagel. Never toasted but somehow always fresh and delicious. K-fo and Greek Goddess and I woke up and each treated ourselves to bagels to start the day. I was hurting so bad from the night before I never even made it inside....

The rest of the day we spent at a family barbecue out in the country, enjoying cheeseburgers and hotdogs and lots of homemade salads and desserts. It was a fun-filled afternoon reminiscing about the days of Wahoo S'women (what we dubbed our swim team), told through the eyes of the beautiful class of '00 (I was the reunion party crasher being of the class of '01).

I didn't want to be in Charlottesville and miss tailgating all together so I headed out with the Redheaded Diva to crash some post-gaming tailgates. Luckily we found several and I was relieved I got the best of both worlds. Tailgating is an art at UVa and became one of my favorite pastimes.

After tailgates, Redheaded Diva and I met up with Fashionista and some other Wahoo alumni and headed to the corner yet again. This time we were hungry for some Buddhist Biker Bar food. We were slightly disappointed with the kitchen being closed so early. There was a time where we would eat dinner at Buddhist (excellent brie and apples and egg rolls) at 9pm and continue the evening barhopping. I guess their focus now is bar and not restaurant to draw the bigger crowds. Sad. This led us to Littlejohn's, home of the subway sandwich and late-night post-bar eating. Their sandwiches go by names such as "Wild Turkey," "Ranch Hand," and the "Nuclear Sub," among many others. My ranch hand, filled with roast beef and tuna fish, tasted just as good this weekend as it did 4 1/2 years ago. Littlejohn's is to UVa students as Subway is to Jared.

So, there you have it. The only place I wish I could have gotten to was the sandwich place Take it Away, and our yogurt place, Arch's (a locally owned yogurt version of Coldstone). All in all, good friends and good food made for an awesome weekend and a good belly.