November is always a fun month for us because it means the holidays are approaching and we are usually gearing up for a trip to Pennsylvania. It also means cooler weather and Thanksgiving and the fair. We had a great November but it was also busy for me as well. That didn't stop me from finding tons of things to love.
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Oh wow, is it May already? I have completely skipped any posts of substance for April which is fairly rare since not only did we have a fairly busy month but my birthday is also in April and anyone who has known me long enough is well aware that, in my world, it is not a birthday but a birthmonth!
Regardless, I vow to be much better in May. I do have a lot to say, really, it’s just have it seems too mundane to publish on a daily basis and then I end up feeling like I’m inundating you with boring and the other half is just stuff I don’t want to put out there for public consumption. That other half is something I’m still working on trying to solve.
In the meantime, I figured I’d better do April’s Love now instead of fifteen days late.
This month, it was half and half – half events and half stuff.
The first event was Easter, which unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of, much to my chagrin. I tried but I was just having too much fun so I guess that’s what matters. That Sunday morning, Steve and I got up and dressed in our Sunday best (jeans and a nice black sweater for me, Sopranos bowling shirt for him! LOL) and decided to take Lucille out on a leisurely drive over to my mom’s where we proceeded to have the biggest gathering of family we’ve had in years. My nuclear family were – myself, mom, stepdad and two younger brothers. Plus Steve, of course. We also had my cousin and his wife and kids down from Green Bay, WI. And my brother’s fiancee, her mother and her two brothers and sisters. We women basically cooked and chatted while the boys wandered in and out of the game room playing pool, watching movies and into the garage to talk about cars and motorcycles and stuff. It was a very nice day and it’s a shame it only lasted a short time.
Then it was my birthday (April 23), which was fabulous and unfortunately, went rather undocumented as well. I think when it came to actually spending time with those I loved this month, I actually just enjoyed it instead of trying to document every aspect of it and while there’s no visual record, there’s certainly the memories in my mind. But my birthday was fabulous, aside from the whole being much closer to thirty (though I would be lying if I said I hated the thought of turning thirty). It actually started the Saturday before when we met up with parents at Carrabba’s and had a lovely dinner and exchanged gifts (my dad’s birthday is on April 15). I got my dad two t-shirts and the Tropic Thunder and Stepbrothers DVDs. My parents got me gift cards to Barnes and Noble and Bed Bath and Beyond, two of my favorite stores and one of which I’ve already used. Steve was up the night before my birthday until two-thirty concoting things in the kitchen, which turned out to be my presents and a cake. He came in at midnight and wished me a Happy Birthday. The next day, I opened presents in the morning because he was excited for me to open them. I got a new lens for my camera and two boxes of Nutty Bars. Because they are delicious, I brought a box to work with me and about an hour later, I opened it and found an iPod touch tucked into the box, which arrived there by Steve’s sneaky way of surprise. There were tons of email and Facebook wishes and my friends brought delicious cakes to work. A beautiful bouquet of flowers and and accompanying phone call arrived from my mom. Steve had a delicious dinner of beautiful steaks waiting for me at home and I spent the evening on the phone with friends and family, thanking them for their well wishes and gifts sent. Overall, I had a wonderful, wonderful birthday and felt very loved and was glad that I had so many special people in my life that went out of their way to wish me well and make me feel loved and wanted.
The final event was this past weekend when Steve and I, along with another couple, headed off to Charlotte, NC to meet up with Steve’s two brothers and watch PINKS! All Out being filmed at the ZMax Dragway at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. This was not an event that could pass without pictures and I have over 500 that I have to sift through but it was truly, truly amazing. We headed out on Friday evening and got to Charlotte around 9pm where we checked into our room at the Embassy Suites, which was a wonderful hotel. We got a room for $139 a night and because it was a suite and technically slept six, it only cost us $50 a person for the weekend. Aside from the fact that the rooms were amazing and fit the six of us without feeling cramped, the hotel was beautiful and the amenities were plentiful – breakfast was superb! On Sunday, we got to visit Concord Mills which was much different than I expected but we still had fun, racing Go-karts at the Nascar Speedpark and playing games at Dave and Buster’s. Then we got to go to IKEA and well, I love IKEA. I could spend an entire entry talking about IKEA and unfortunately, Charlotte is the closest one. After IKEA, we met up with my cousin and his wife and had dinner at Sagebrush before heading home after a long weekend.
But the highlight of the weekend was the thirteen hours we spent watching over 500 grassroots drivers run their cars down the 1/4 mile track, competing for a spot in the final 64 to win over $18,000 in prizes from PINKS! and the Speed Channel, which I did not know was headquartered in Charlotte. It was a very long and hot day spent watching the races, walking the pits, eating race food (foot long corn dog, what?!) and just generally enjoying each other and the events. And when the sun went down the real events started happening – whittling down from 64 to 16 to 8 and finally to the winner of the night, which I won’t disclose. You’re going to have to watch sometime towards the end of summer. We also got to witness four-way drag racing, something I had never seen in my entire years of going to drag races and yea, it was pretty much as spectacular as it sounds.
There were also burnout contests, jet cars, top fuel dragsters and a street car that ran the quarter mile in 7 seconds. When we left, I was a bit sunburnt, I was tired, sweaty, my legs and butt hurt and my ears were ringing but that’s exactly what we came for and it was absolutely worth every penny and every minute we spent getting up there.
And now to the smaller stuff. A monthly love post wouldn’t be complete without an obligatory Bath and Body Works discovery and this month it was their Eucalyptus Spearmint scent in their Stress Relief Aromatherapy line. It started with the bubble bath then it was the body wash and now the hand soap and next is probably going to be the shampoo and conditioner. I am just in love with the scent! It soothes me and smells so clean and fresh and not overly sweet. It was a great long-lasting discovery that I will gladly keep using.
On the tv front, Rescue Me started this month and god, did I miss that show. Even if you aren’t a Denis Leary fan, you should really watch this show. It’s dark and emotional and witty and so fabulously well-written that you can’t believe you just went from getting teary eyed to thinking ‘That’s really fucked up!’ to laughing out loud to a jock about cockfarts. It’s not just Leary, but the entire cast and writing and production that make this show an absolute gem and I really look forward to it every week. And now, good ol’ Michael J. Fox is on it as Leary’s estranged wife’s new boyfriend and the exchanges between him and Leary are literally laugh out loud, tears in your eyes hysterical!
Finally, just for the fun of it: Oreos! I never ate them much when I was young because we rarely had them in the house and because I didn’t like having to brush my teeth afterwards but Steve is a huge fan and I have snuck a few and literally can’t stop eating them. I’m craving them and a tall glass of milk! Preferably Double Stuf. Not good for the womanly figure.
So that’s it for April! I can’t believe four months of 2009 have just come and gone like that. Next month, or rather this one, since we are already in May, comes graduations and more work for me and hopefully, not set in stone summer plans. After the summer we had last year, I would just like some unplanned weekends that stretch endlessly before me. Lazy summer days are my favorite!
I did absolutely nothing today and I’m not ashamed of it.
And when I say absolutely nothing, I mean I woke up, said goodbye to my visitors, laid on the couch in various positions and caught up on various backlogged programs on the Tivo. Most of those backlogged programs included Flipping Out and Chelsea Lately, both of which feature absolutely hilarious and entertaining people. (Yes, I kind of heart Jeff Lewis in all of his absurdity and Chelsea Handler is just hysterical!)
I needed some lay around and relax and not feel guilty about things not being done time.
I didn’t even let myself think of the things I should be doing.
My father, sister and grandmother came in to visit us this weekend. My brother also came down from Myrtle Beach. He got here Wednesday night, the rest of the crowd rolled in Friday afternoon. We’ve had a busy house for the past few days. Thankfully, they are a rather easygoing group so it was a fairly low key weekend but it still is quite a bit of work having people in the house.
Friday evening we just hung out and watched a few movies because I had to work. On Saturday, everybody was slow getting up and moving but when we finally did, we headed out to the Animal Planet Expo that was being held down the street.
I stupidly, but not surprisingly, had not filled up on gas and almost gave myself a heart attack thinking we were going to run out. This is nothing new to the people who know me – I live by the “miles until empty” feature on my dash and the little orange gas light. Normally, when it starts to blink it means I have thirty miles left. And it was blinking. But we were only five miles or so from the gas station. And we were initially riding with the windows down so I thought we were cool. But I failed to remember we had five people in the car and I stupidly tried to accomodate that by turning on the A/C (see: because it was f*ing hot out!). And for about a mile, my car sputtered and complained about not having any gas and my hands were shaking and I was praying that we were going to make it.
And we did! So hopefully, I learn my lesson, though probably not, since I’ve actually ran out of gas before.
Regardless, the expo was fun. It was free and there were all sorts of exhibits there about pets and animals and such. We brought Sammy with so he was super-excited to be out and make all sorts of doggy friends. But it was so damn hot that we only lasted about an hour or so before we had to head home. Gotta love the South!
That was ok though, because we had dinner plans at a local Hibachi restaurant. My father and brother share the same birthday (today actually – HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y’ALL!!!) and since I’ve been too busy (i.e. lazy) to go out and shop, I just took them all out to dinner. And we had a fabulous time! Steve and I love taking people to that place because you get so much food for the price and because it’s an hour or two where we don’t have to entertain people because the chef does it for us. And the food is delicious as well.
We had apple sake and even got my grandmother to take a shot (she sipped it). We had steak and chicken and rice and veggies. They banged drums and gave my dad and brother leis and cupcakes and made them dance on chairs. And it was just a fun-filled, entertaining good time had by all.
On Sunday, we headed to the beach and spent a couple of hours out there. Steve and my youngest brother spent the entire time in the ocean collecting sand dollars and man did we get a shitload of them. At least a dozen or so. So many that I don’t know what I’m going to do with them – perhaps we’ll give them as Christmas presents. After the beach, we headed out for food and ate at a local bakery/deli downtown that I like because they had delicious bread and pastries. Then after that, we headed down to the The Charleston Market (I would guess it’s not PC to call it the Slave Market but that’s how I’ve always known it which wouldn’t make sense since slaves were never actually sold there) so my dad and sister could get souveniers.
Steve and I have always disagreed over flip-flops. I love them and would wear them everyday if I could. He just started wearing them and ONLY if we’re going to the beach and then he will throw them in the car and change once we get to the beach. Well, this weekend, we discovered why most Charlestonians live in flip-flops.
We were in the market, which is open-air. And a normal summer afternoon thunderstorm blew in. Now, we had heard about downtown flooding but we had never been there while it did. And before we knew it, we were standing ankle-deep in water while looking at the trinkets. We just stood around for awhile watching the rain and then finally started wading back to the car. Steve’s sneakers and my grandmother’s slip ons were soaked, but the rest of us, who were in flop flops, were perfectly fine.
It’s so funny to see some people in rain like that too. It was such a downpour that you were basically stuck – you were either going to wait it out or get soaked. And at that point, some people were panicking. Others were just running across the street, soaked to the bone, but grinning like this was an unexpected adventure on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
We were the others. I was having a blast. My grandmother was taking it all in stride but we didn’t want to keep her out too much longer so we packed the cars up and headed to my mother’s place. My mother had cooked dinner and a cake for another mini-birthday celebration and we just spent the evening at her place, hanging out, playing pool and watching TV.
Then, just like that, it was over. Everyone woke up this morning and packed up and went home to their respective places. I laid around because each set of visitors gets harder and harder. We LOVE haivng people in and visiting with them but the mere effort we have to put forth for it has literally drained me of any energy I had left. Yet we still have another set of visitors coming in the beginning of next week.
Next summer, the inn is closed, y’all!
For now, I’m just going to play some video games and spent the last day off recovering from the extended birthday celebration. Then I’m going to go to bed and wake up tomorrow to head to work and try to get things back to normal.
Perhaps at some point, I can start catching up!
