Rain, Tea, Muffins, and Emma

On Saturday, Lukas, Marcus, Arianna (a freshman who lives a floor below us), and I all met for lunch and went to Wal-Mart (it's sad when that's the only thing exciting in your whole week). It was pretty much your average shopping trip, except that it was raining steadily. I was (of course) the only one with an umbrella. It's a very cute umbrella: it's medium pink, with flowers and cherries on it--but NOT garish--it was a Brighton gift with purchase (okay, so technically it's my mom's, but she's quite generous). It's also one of those one-person umbrellas: so of course Arianna and I shared it. The boys, Lukas especially, were most infuriating. He had the gall to insist that it wasn't even raining. I beg your pardon, but when one can see raindrops falling for the sky quite continuously in all directions, my understanding is that it is, indeed, raining. Granted, it was not pouring, but it was more substantial than a drizzle, which is the definition of raining, in my opinion.

After going to Wal-Mart, we had just gotten back when it was time to go over to Mike's to watch Emma. I have to say, it's quite funny watching a chick flick (or a chick classic?) with only guys. Lukas had seen most of the movie before, Marcus had read the book (but not seen the movie) and Mike didn't know any of it. Anyhow, a raining Saturday afternoon is the perfect time to watch a Jane Austen movie and knit, which I proceeded to do until Lukas made me turn out the light because of the glare. Mike, who's quite the cook, had made bran muffins from scratch, and they were very delicious. We he suggested tea a few minutes later, of course we took him up on the offer.
This is where the real fun begins. Mike didn't have any mugs, so my tea was in a glass cup, Lukas' was in some random drink container, and Marcus--get this--had to drink out of a crystal gravy boat. It was quite a humorous situation, considering that Marcus had never had tea before (I know you're all gasping in horror), we were all advising him about whether he should add sugar or honey, the importance of adding milk to english breakfast tea (but NOT to fruit teas), and asking him how it was. Of course, as he's never had tea before he couldn't quite answer our inquiries as to whether he needed more sugar, etc.
The best part was when we got back and unpaused the movie. I had remarked to Mike how perfect tea and muffins were for watching Emma, and he responded with his typical surprised response of "Really?/." sounding quite pleased. And no sooner did we unpause the movie, than the next line was "I think we should stop for some tea." LOL, you should have seen our faces. It was such an awesome moment. I love Jane Austen. And tea. And muffins. And friends. And even brothers.