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.

labo(u)r day weekend

I had a pretty filled weekend! It's the busiest I've been since camp was over, really. Chandler and his band, The Decour had a show Thursday night in Boone which was a couple hours drive away. Our friend, Alexis Worthington opened up first, then the boys, then Jonas Sees In Color.

It was a really good night.

After everything was packed up we went out to eat at Boone Bagelry and enjoyed some good breakfast and hung out. We stayed overnight at our friend's houses who go to college there; Chandler with Hodge, me with Alexis. In the morning we met up again, joined by Marc Gmuca and ate at Our Daily Bread, a really relaxed spot downtown with great soups and sandwiches.

We said our goodbyes then drove another few hours to meet up with the rest of Chandler's family in Cherokee where we stayed at for the whole weekend. It was a hotel and casino, and it was loud and sparkly. haha.

The night we got there was the grand opening of the new music venue right next to (and part of) the hotel. Hank Williams Jr was the feature and as he played I recognized some songs.

I liked how he put on different hat for every song and when he got up and rocked the piano.

We watched the show from a VIP booth and were served some fancy h'ordeuvres. Anyway me, Chandler and his mom didn't stay for the whole show.

We went down to the casino got some burgers to eat (cause we were so hungry after those strange appetizers), and his mom showed us around. I can definitely see why it's addictive, the buttons are fun to push, but I also saw just how fast people can lose their money.

Saturday morning the men went golfing and the ladies to a little town not too far away called Dillsboro. It in its own way reminded me a bit of Newfoundland with it's small homes made with wood, sitting close together on the roads. It was filled with little shops and things in a one block radius.

 Later we got cleaned up and met at the venue for appetizers in the VIP box. They were much better this time with big chicken wings and egg rolls, so we didn't go hungry.

Then we saw Lady Antebellum!

I liked their music a bit before, and they were SO good live! I'm a fan now, for sure! We all had a good time at this show, especially all the ladies in the group.

This concert was definitely for the ladies. Chandler's mom kept talking about how cute Charles was from Lady Antebellum. After the show we went back to our room and watched Get Him to the Greek and finally went to bed since we had a big adventure to go on in the morning!

Sunday was like the "Sons + Their Girlfriends' trip. Chandler and I, Jordan (his bro) and his gf, Kristin, then Brandon (his cousin) and his wife, Ashley, met up at 10:30 to go white water rafting on the Nantahala!

It was such a blast and I couldn't have asked for a more entertaining group of people to go with.

Those boys say the most ridiculous stuff in the most hilarious ways, so when you put them all together you know it's going to be a good time. We didn't have time for breakfast before the trip, but after we registered at the rafting place, the only food available was an overpriced hotdog shop. We ate it anyway!

Rafting took about two hours, the water was very cold (not Atlantic cold though, thankfully!) and Brandon managed to fall into the river about 4 minutes into the trip!!

Luckily no one else fell in after that, though there were a couple of close calls. It probably wasn't a smart move to bring my digital camera, but everything was okay!  We kept getting stuck on rocks and spinning around but it was funny.

At one point another group of people got pushed towards us and as they bumped our raft, some weird red headed chick smiled at and flirtily touched Chandler on the shoulder. Everyone joked that I should have taken her out with my paddle! haha.

By the time we got back there was just enough time to shower before we piled in vans to go out for supper. We went back to Dillsboro to a place called the Jarrett House that was full of antiques and had traditional southern food. (I had me some chicken and dumplin's, comfort food at it's finest.) It was a house built in the 1800s that I wouldn't want to spend the night in. I could see it being haunted. :P

Monday we all packed up by 11, met up and went to the buffet in the hotel for breakfast. After that we packed up the cars and went our separate ways. Some went back to the little stores in Dillsboro.

Chandler and I drove to Asheville, however, and walked around a pretty place called Grove Park Inn before heading back to Charlotte.

 The inn had some pretty important guests stay there, like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

We walked around on the terrace and took in the view of the Smokey Mountains. There were rocking chairs everywhere and the majority of the population was over the age of 60, but we did see a few people our age wandering around too. I took pictures for a group of girls who had offered to take a picture of us.

On the inside of the main entrance there were some huge windows that were open like shutters and showed off the view of the mountains. There was a huge stone fireplace that you could pretty much stand in. Felt like Harry Potter. I was wondering where my Floo powder was!

I would honestly love to live up there near the mountains, or a least visit a ton. The view is gorgeous; the contant breeze is so refreshing. And I'm fairly certain that there's something magical in the water in Cherokee because my cold improved by the second day of the trip and my skin was clearing up fast.

It is an indian reserve, maybe there's healing powers in it? Wouldn't be surprised. I felt the difference because ever since we got back to Charlotte I've been all stuffed up again! I already miss being surrounded by the glories of nature and that fresh mountain air.