ship is about ready to set sail

Today is my last day in the States with my boy. I'm at home trying to pack, trying not to cry, and trying to enjoy the last bit of sunshine I'll see til who knows when. I'm not looking forward to flying home to depressing and destructive hurricane weather. I'll say it again: North Carolina really is where it's at for beautiful weather.
As much as I've complained sometimes, I have been so thankful to have been able to stay as long as I have.

This weekend was a good getaway. Chandler and I drove down to Clemson, SC to visit our friends. He stayed with his old roommates Matt Moose and Tyler Lacrosse and I stayed with Tyler's girlfriend, Melissa Turner. We drove down after he got off work Friday night and made a little stop in downtown Greenville. We walked around a little bit then stopped into the new location of The Channel. I met Jay, the owner and his wife and their [adorable] youngest followed us around. They were incredibly friendly. Jay showed us around to the stage upstairs and we got some hot tea in the restaurant on the main floor before leaving. They want to make it a place for young people to hang out in a safe area. If I lived around there I'd love to stop by as often as life allowed.

From there we drove to Melissa's house and hung out with her and Tyler for a bit before the boys went home. Melissa's son, Ethan wasn't staying there this weekend, so I got to sleep in his race car bed! Haha. I enjoyed being surrounded by little boy's things, but I would have enjoyed seeing Ethan even more. He was excited when we were supposed to be coming to visit the weekend before. He loves Chandler, and most especially the truck Chandler was driving for the last few weeks he lived in Clemson during the Spring. Too bad.

Saturday, after sleeping in, Chandler came and picked me up and we walked around downtown Clemson for a bit trying to figure out a place to eat for lunch. Since Ancheaux's closed down earlier this year (*tear*), we went to TD's because we wanted to go to a Clemson original. Tyler and Melissa came to join us and we shared some fried pickles and ate sandwiches and wings. After lunch they left to work some more on a video project and we went to Sonic to grab a cherry limeade for me, cherry slush for him and also to the lake to enjoy the sunshine along with said drinks. It was much hotter there than in Charlotte. People were swimming!! Oh to swim in September in Newfoundland! Unreal.

From there we went to Katherine Rainey's house because a few friends (Molly Brantly, Lauren Jordan, and their friends, Heather Johnson and Carson Carroll) were in town also visiting and they were all over there. Chandler dealt with the estrogenfest at the house then we all went to Spill the Beans to splurge on some delicious ice cream. We shared the usual chocolate softserve with cake batter and sprinkles. In a waffle bowl. Best $8 spent that weekend haha.

Tyler got us to pick up the pizza he ordered on the way back to his place, so the four of us had that and salad for supper. Then we headed off to Alex Fagan's to watch the Clemson football game on tv. It was an epic loss. Everyone was saddened once again by their precious school. Even I, who only understood about 14% of what actually happened during the game, felt a sense of depressing loss. We moved to the backyard and made a fire all the same and relaxed out there. The evening was surprisingly cool compared to how hot it was in the afternoon.

Sunday morning we went to DCF the church for the college kids in Clemson. It was an alright service, but I didn't really get much from the speaker. He had a good idea, talking about how the church should be a family. But he used his own family photo album, or rather, random pictures on his disk drive, to guide the message. Seemed like he was up there randomly coming up with examples off the top of his head for about 436 pictures in the slideshow, to a message with no end in sight.

Bless his heart.

After church we had planned to go to the Lemongrass for lunch. I had been craving it since I first had it last summer. But we walked up to the doors to discover--to my sorrow--it is closed on Sundays. So sad! We went to Sticky Fingers as an alternate, which was an overpriced mediocre choice. Live and learn. Next time we won't be so hasty.

I wasn't quite ready to leave yet, so Boy kindly complied and we went for a little wander. It was a fair distance to get to Fall's Park, but as we walked we came across a couple of cycling races going on that day. The main roads were blocked off and there were swarms of people walking everywhere. It was a neat sight to see.

We were hot once we got to the park but the water cooled us off nicely.
Every time I take a picture with this camera I am disappointed with the quality. It needs to go. Maybe if I complain enough, a fairy will show up and grant my wish for a better camera.

We finally continued our journey back to Charlotte, listened to Paper Route, contemplated the wonders of exit 100, had goofy sitting-in-the-car-too-long moments, but cherished the last road trip til who knows when.

We spent the later part of the evening at Caribou Coffee so that Chandler could study Math. I bought us some latte chillers, vanilla and caramel flavoured. Both were disappointing due to their overabundance of sweetness. Undrinkably sweet. I made a sorry attempt to tone down the sugar by adding hot coffee but that was a big fail. Oh well, I enjoyed the atmosphere nontheless!

The highlight of Monday was having lunch with T.Ray (my boss at CWJ) at Pike's Soda Shop. I had some hawaiian chicken sandwich that was so-so, while Chandler had a burger, and TRay had pecan fried chicken (I think? A Pecan-chicken-something that looked good). Shoulda just had a soda. Those things taste delicious. Sadly, no pictures from inside there, but a scene from Shallow Hal was filmed in there.

Tuesday's highlight was going out to supper at Tony Rama's with Chandler's extended family to celebrate Ashley and Brandon's birthday. The ribs did not disappoint, nor did the Red Velvet Cake for dessert. Once again, no pictures. I need to stop being a chicken. Afterwards, the two of us went over to T.Ray's house to see the rest of the family before I left. It was good to see everyone and their dog, George, once again.

As I said, today has been filled with all the leftover packing I didn't want to do earlier. Chandler was sweet and surprised me on his break between jobs with Chick-fil-A sandwiches for lunch. He barely had time to gobble his down before he had to run to be on time, but it was very thoughtful of him.

After work we brought Mckay to pick up the pizza he ordered and a little later, Chandler's dad brought home some ribs for me to try. The closest I'd get to having his own. We had hoped to meet up with a couple of other people, but after a few unanswered phonecalls we went to The Penguin ourselves to enjoy my last order of fried pickles at that place.

The next time I'm in Charlotte, that restaurant will no longer be the beloved Penguin as it has been known, due to the battle between greedy franchise wanting owners and the mutiny of its staff. Good news is that it will exist elsewhere, however it won't have it's nostalgic atmosphere. We can only hope it will be a change for the better.

Anyway, I enjoyed my pickles. And I got me a souvenir.