Conference and Wedding recap

When last I wrote I was preparing for the women’s conference and thinking about my dating life past. Funny enough that I’ve been on the road travelling more than usual and I keep seeing company trucks for the company that the 08 ex-boyfriend that my mom ran into works for, irony!

Thursday of last week I worked until 2 and drove home to change and pick up Jack to go run. Jack ran half a mile, and he was done although he did run the half mile back to the car. He will be 7 in December and I guess his heat tolerance is not what it used to be. The nice thing is I don’t have to worry about my dog overexerting himself because I made him run when it was too hot.

I drove him home and then finished another 2 miles from the house. It’s hard to run from my parent’s house because the road in front of the house is super busy, the speed limit is 45 and it take a few feet before you hit sidewalk and I know there are snakes. However sometimes for the sake of time I make it work and this was one of those times.

Thursday I had to be at church at 5:45 and due to traffic I arrived at 5:50. I was so aggravated! I got to sit in the very front center row on Thursday night and it was AMAZING!!! Alex Seeley spoke on Thursday night and Friday morning and she was fantastic!!!

This was Friday morning I was too far away to get a really good picture. 

Friday after lunch there were 2 different breakout sessions. After the last breakout session I drove to Marshalls and bought a different outfit. I had been wearing a really cute green dress that I scored at a consignment store but since I dropped some of my lunch on my dress a new outfit was necessary and I didn’t have time to drive all the way home.

I volunteered on the facilities team for this conference so that translated into emptying trash and making sure that the bathroom never ran out of toilet paper. I believe that toilet paper is important and I happily made sure that every stall had a full supply!

Priscilla Shrier my friend Tania got this awesome photo

Friday night Priscilla Shrier was the speaker and she was incredible! Both Alex and Priscilla were just incredibly beautiful and warm and lovely and powerful in the words that they shared! I am so thankful I was able to be a part of it all!!! Friday night I didn’t get home until after 10 and I had to be up early to get Jack’s stuff together. My friend Nicole let me drop him off at 6 Saturday morning. I drove home after dropping him off to shower and pack. 

My friend Patrice’s middle sister Alley, who was also my roommate for about 2 years, got married this past Sunday in Isle of Palms, SC. The historic SC flooding that happened the previous weekend fortunately did not affect Pepper Plantation, the venue where the wedding was held. I drove down in rain the entire way. I was a little concerned about road closures but fortunately the way I had to go there were no closures. I had been doing a Daniel Fast up until the conclusion of the conference and Saturday at 11:30 my fast ended.  I had to wait until 12 to actually stop for lunch. Then I stopped again about an hour later because I felt ice cream was a good idea. I arrived at the house where Patrice and her family were staying at around 2.

Her parents, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins all stayed in a HUGE, gorgeous house on the Isle of Palms. They had a gorgeous view of the ocean, a pool, and it was just a perfect place for that many people! It was too rainy and cool to swim but I would imagine in the summer time that place is fabulous!!! My parents arrived and checked into our hotel room and then came over for dinner.

Sunday morning I went for a 4 mile run. The first 2 miles were amazing and easy. The next 1.5 miles was way more difficult because I didn’t realize that going out the wind had been behind me but coming back I was running directly against the wind. It was a beautiful morning and I love running when I can see the water!

I showered and grabbed breakfast with Mom and Dad and then we said bye to my Dad and went to the venue to help set up. It was a big team and we all managed to get Alley’s vision to come to life. Everything looked so beautiful!!! Alley had everything in boxes labeled what the box went to, example table 1, cake table, etc. with lists of exactly what was in the box, with pictures to show what her vision was. Mom and I left about 1:30. We took lunch to my Dad at the hotel and then I started getting ready.

The wedding was at 5 and we arrived at 4:30. I was on baby W duty since Patrice was in the wedding and Aaron was in charge of L, who was the MOST adorable ring bearer!!! Since I was on W duty I didn’t sit down. He talked the entire wedding ceremony so I stood in the back as far away as possible so that he didn’t distract from the main event. I stood by during pictures so that when they needed W I handed him over. Then once pictures were completed I handed W over to my mom so I could eat. They had pork and chicken bbq, coleslaw, mac and cheese (OH MY GOODNESS SO YUMMY!), marinated tomatoes and cucumbers and a variety of Carolina style sauces. The food reminded me so much of my brother and sister in laws wedding!

My cute "date"

Instead of wedding cake they did wedding donuts in the shape of an S which is their last name. The donuts were delicious. I was full and I still finished the donut because it was that good! I also had a little bit of the banana pudding, also delicious! However… I’m not going to lie, I missed having wedding cake. I know not everyone has an affinity for wedding cake. I know that I have had lots of friend do alternatives to wedding cake. I just really missed the icing! Patrice and I have this thing we’ve done since we were in middle school, I eat the icing and give her my cake and she eats the cake and gives me her icing. We did that at my wedding even.

First Dance

Patrice and L dancing during the Father/Daughter dance the song was James Taylor Carolina in my Mind, yes I teared up :)

Toast to the bride and groom

After the wedding Patrice’s parents held an after party at the beach house. My parents and I went over early in order to help get everything set out. We stayed at the house until almost midnight talking and laughing and hanging out.

Monday morning after breakfast I left to pick up Jack and then once I got home I did some chores and prepared for the rest of the week.

FL trip, 90 days ending, back in the groove

This is the last week of September and I’m thankful! I’m thankful for the amazing trips! I’m thankful for my amazing friends! I’m thankful that this crazy month is wrapping up. I would not trade one trip or one memory and I realize I am beyond blessed! I’m also thankful that despite being full October is not a heavy travel month.

The month was not originally supposed to be that travel heavy but when Patrice called to tell me that she was being flown down to FL for the Medi convention and that she could bring a guest and she wanted me to come I simply could not say no. I didn’t have to pay for the flight or the hotel. I was a guest at the formal banquet and the dinner cruise. Breakfast and lunch were provided on Saturday. And the best part of all was a weekend away with my friend, it was an amazing and wonderful time!

I mentioned last week that sun poisoning is painful and no joke. The swelling in my legs and feet was a little scary! I was concerned about my shoes for Friday night because if my feet were still swollen they were not going to fit.

Wednesday night I picked up my amazing jewelry set from my friend Amy. She saw a picture of my dress and immediately offered to make the jewelry for me. I was delighted with how it all turned out!

Thursday morning I was up early to pack. I left for the airport and arrived shortly before Patrice. We got everything checked in and made our way through security. Coffee was absolutely necessary and we got our fix at Starbucks. We landed in Tampa and ubered to our hotel. I downloaded the app right before we left Charlotte and we found it to be the coolest thing ever! So convenient and easy!

Once we checked in to the hotel we made our way to dinner. We ate at a Cuban restaurant called the Columbian that had amazing food! We each had a salad that was fantastic! I had a cup of Spanish bean soup that was delicious and we split the Cuban which was awesome!!! This trip officially ended my 90 days no sweets no whites (no white bread, pasta, crackers, etc) and so Thursday night I celebrated with a cookie, I was so full from dinner that a cookie was the extent of my celebration.

Friday morning one of my heart quest sisters picked me up. We took her two littlest to a close by playground and they enjoyed playing while she and I caught up with each other. It was so good to see her and hear what God is doing and it’s so awesome to have that opportunity to catch up and give hugs! FB and social media are great but when you get to see someone face to face it’s always special! I will say this, FL is hot! I just experienced an incredibly hot summer in Charlotte and honestly it never bothered me. I could walk outside and stand and not sweat even when it was crazy hot. Florida is a whole other level!

After we said goodbye I went back up to the room and hung out. Patrice had to be ready by 2 so before she went to that we grabbed a bite to eat at the sports bar restaurant that was in the hotel. Where we stayed there were 3 places to eat a fancy restaurant, a sports bar a casual (but expensive) café type place and then they also had a bar in the lobby.

Friday night we had the formal dinner. Patrice had a gorgeous, stunning, gold sequin dress that was by Ralph Lauren. She was handing out awards at the dinner. She looked fabulous!!! I bought my dress on my birthday. It’s a strapless ball gown that had a pattern print underneath with a tulle net overlay by Faviana. My friend Amy made the jewelry that was absolutely perfect with it! She is such an incredible artist!

I was there to help if she needed me, hold her purse, and basically for me it was a free meal and I talked to the people at my table and had a wine glass that never went empty. I had to make sure that I drank more water than wine, which I did. The wait staff did an awesome job making sure that everyone was taken care of. After dinner we went to the lobby bar and had a glass of wine and talked to people. Patrice is on the marketing material that a lot of offices use so everyone wanted to meet her and talk to her and get to know her.

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast, the eggs were amazing! It was a buffet style breakfast and there was plenty! I made sure that I enjoyed every last bite of the pastry, I wished they had had cinnamon rolls! After breakfast we went to the pool and hung out until lunch time. Lunch was served buffet style and they did an awesome job! The desserts were little so I made sure I tried one of each! I also enjoyed a piece of bread and a bread stick!

Saturday evening we had a dinner cruise. Oh my gosh it was so beautiful on the water!!! Not only that, BUT THE FOOD!!!! It was all so good! We were given drink tickets when we got on the boat so that was 2 drinks each but the wine Patrice was drinking she had to purchase so that was additional tickets for me and even still we ended up with a leftover drink ticket. I couldn’t find the tickets so I purchased a drink and then we were offered drinks at one point and of course we accepted.

They passed the desserts hor ‘doeuvre’s style. I managed to snag a brownie bite and a chocolate covered strawberry, much to my disappointment that was the extent of my sweet treats. I was still full from dinner so I suppose it worked out. As we were exiting the boat they did have hot fresh chocolate chip cookies and I did thoroughly enjoy that! We went to the lobby bar for a drink, we talked to people and then made our exit. 

We enjoyed breakfast Sunday morning and then packed up and headed to the airport. I dropped Patrice off with her family and by this time it was after 4. I was craving both sushi and pizza so I stopped by Harris Teeter to enjoy both. I also picked up a coconut crème filled Russell Stover chocolate pumpkin. I went home and I enjoyed every last bite and then a little while later I enjoyed a bloody mary!

This morning and for the next 12 days I won’t be having sweets, alcohol, no bread of any kind, no meat including no fish or eggs, and no dairy. I’m happy to do this, I’m not complaining and I won’t be talking about it or posting about it via social media. I didn’t want to feel unnecessary temptation during this time because I hadn’t properly prepared. I understood what I was beginning this today, and since my 90 day no sweets no white was ending immediately before I started this I made sure that I dealt with as much of what I had been missing as possible so I can focus as I need to for the next 12 days.

This week I have to get back in the workout groove. All last week I had to give my legs time to heal. I’m not looking forward to my return to the gym. I know it’s going to hurt!

5 Minutes

I tried on my formal dress last night to make sure the shoes I thought would work actually worked, they do. I about had a moment though. I’m not sure what was going on but my mom was struggling to get the dress zipped. I haven’t gained any weight (haven’t lost any either) so I don’t know why it was such a challenge last night. Regardless, it still fits, the shoes work, and in a week and 2 days I’ll be boarding the plane for FL!

Last week wasn’t as crazy busy and even the weekend which was decidedly over booked at the beginning of the week definitely eased up by the end of the week. I had a 10K Saturday morning. I pushed super hard to the point where the final half mile of the race I couldn’t run the last hill. The entire course is fairly “hilly” and the final mile has an uphill portion that I forget about until the moment I’m facing it and hating life and wondering why I keep doing this to myself!

I was supposed to go down to one of the farms to go shooting with a friend of mine but it had been so rainy we postponed that. I was supposed to take my friend Nicole out to dinner but she was sick so that got cancelled. I rarely go see movies but War Room was on a short list of movies I really really wanted to see! I asked my Mom if she wanted to go with me and we had a movie date on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday I went to the 8 prayer service, the 9 service and I had the 1 year old nursery during the 11. We had 8 babies, it was a little crazy at times! We had 2 of the older girls from the kid church (they were 11 or 12 I’m guessing) come in to help us. OK so I’ve been in nursery since I was at least 11 and keeping nursery on my own since I was 12. I was shocked (and panicked honestly) when one of the girls picked up a toddler underneath her rear end. I said please support her back she could easily fall backwards. These 2 just really didn’t seem to be able to understand how to help or what was needed and I was surprised. Next time I know of a young lady who is really good and I’ll be requesting that they go bring her back.

After nursery I met one of my small group girls for lunch to catch up with her. Then after I dropped her off at home I went home and fell asleep. Nursery is exhausting!!!

Last night I got to have dinner with the lady who was filling in at my previous company while they were looking to replace the operations director position. I always liked her and once I handed in my notice I was like now we can finally go to dinner. It was awesome to catch up with her! She and I are the same age. I’m not sure how often she’ll be back to NC since they found a replacement but I’m glad we got to have dinner last night!

This week I’m so excited! Thursday night Margs comes to town and Friday morning we are driving to the beach. My freshman year of college there were 2 girls who lived beside me. We’ve all stayed in touch but it’s been a really long time since we’ve seen each other. So this weekend we are having a reunion at the beach! I found an awesome deal through Airbnb and booked the place several months ago. It’s finally here!

I know I said I wasn’t going to do the online dating thing, and I wholeheartedly meant it. I’m not going to lie I’ve contemplated it several times over recently. The truth is for the next 8 weeks my life is way too crazy and insanely busy to try and add anything else to the mix. I also recognize and understand that I’ve only been officially divorced since April. I’ve had dates that have been fun and awesome and have made me realize that I don’t want to rule out dating but the flip-side of this is I’m really and truly happy right where I am.

I think I’ll give myself a lot more time to just enjoy where I am. Once I’ve passed the year anniversary of my divorce if I’m not already dating someone and haven’t dated anyone for a while I might have to reconsider my no online dating stance…. We’ll see. I know I have to be careful about trying to force my own solutions and my time line. I think I’ve realized that I need to stop making these kinds of “rules or decisions” for myself and allow for flexibility and re-considerations.

Dirty Dancing Festival Lake Lure NC

My friend Nicole arrived at my house around 2 and we loaded up my trunk and headed out. Traffic on Fridays is always a challenge and last Friday was no exception! We arrived in Black Mountain and got checked in.

I read about this festival back in April and it sounded like so much fun to me! I have always liked the movie and I love dancing! So I researched and I thought Black Mountain was closer to Lake Lure then it was. I was a little dismayed when I found out it was actually about a 30 minute drive.

After we got into our room we were starving so we decided to try out the Black Mountain Ale House, it was really delicious!

My friend Kerry and I had both made plans for this festival but she had rented a cabin. I got a text from her on Friday night asking what hotel we were in. Turns out the cabin had been misrepresented and they were not going to stay there. I said ok well it will be tight but we will make room. She texted back that they had been able to book a room. That was fortunate because 5 people in our room would have been really tight!

Friday night we decided not to try and drive back over to watch the movie opting to just hang out at the hotel instead. Saturday morning after breakfast Tiff, Nicole and I headed up to Lake Lure. Kerry and her friend Lou were about 30 minutes behind us. What I didn't know was that cell reception at the top of the mountain would be non existent. I wasn't able to get ahold of them all day long and I was SO bummed! I had really been looking forward to hanging out that whole day with everyone!

Nicole Tiff and  I found parking and made our way to the line to get in. Once we were in we figured out our game plan. We walked down to the beautiful flowering bridge. We stopped in a little shop for water and rested for a minute. Then we made our way back and sat and listened to music and watched people dance and it was so much fun! I actually got asked to dance and agreed to it. There were lots of very nice guys there who would just dance with everyone and that was really fun!

They had a shag competition and it was so fascinating to watch! I definitely plan to go back next  year!

We arrived back at the hotel the same time as Kerry and Lou and we made plans to visit the place Nicole and I had gone for dinner on Friday night. They had live music and we sat and talked and listened to music for several hours. While we were hanging out Tiff got a glass from Appalachian Brewery and she wanted to take the glass with us but the waitress carried the glass away. So we all made an effort to drink as much water (and some of us drank beer too) in order to get her the glass back but it never came back to our table. As we were leaving we asked the dishwasher to try and find it but it wasn't back there. So we gave the manager Kerry's number and asked if she found it to please call.

The way Kerry and I met, she was married to D first. She reached out to me and we met in December and then became friends on FB and IG. We had a girls night in April and she's been amazing to me! The more I've had the opportunity to get to know her the more I realize what a complete idiot my ex is. Yes he is an idiot on many levels but when it comes to his first wife, he had the most perfect person in the world for him. He is no good for anyone but she is amazing and fabulous and I love her and he's got to be the dumbest intelligent person I've ever met. He was frighteningly smart in some ways but in human interaction he's just incapable! I always knew if I met her I would love her and I was right!

When we got back to the hotel Nicole and Tiff went to bed but I wasn't tired yet. So I hung out with Kerry and Lou. While I was there we got a text that they found the glass. Lou had been DD and she offered to just go ahead and drive back to get the glass. Kerry gave me a $10 to tip the manager and we got the glass back for Tiff. We were so ridiculously excited but it was one of those just really fun things and it really made the night that we were able to get that!

Sunday morning we said goodbye and headed home. It was an incredible weekend!!! I am so thankful for the friendships and the time we were all able to be together!

VA DC trip

Friday morning (11/21) I drove to visit my friend Jessica and her family. I love visiting and catching up and spending time with them! Saturday morning started off with a very cold run! They live right on the W&OD trail which is awesome! 

Later on that day Jess and I took the metro in to DC. We got off at the Foggy Bottom station and walked into DC. 

I googled the DAR building because I thought it was close to where we were. It was and Jess walked me to it so I could see it. 

We saw a sign for a museum and Jess told me if I wanted to check it out she was fine with going in. I've been a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolutions) since I aged out of CAR (Children of the American Revolution). I was so excited to see this building that I have heard so much about!

The first thing we visited was the museum. They currently have an incredible quilt collection on display!

After the quilts we ran into a docent who offered to give us a tour of the state period rooms and we took her up on the offer. There are several state DAR societies that have a room in the DAR building. They are done in different periods of time from American history. When we were there they had just started the decorating for Christmas. The first room she took us to see was the NJ room.

It's hard for me to keep track of which room belonged to which state. There are certain ones that I do remember but we saw so much and the sweet lady who was giving us the tour had so much information to share it was incredible!

They have a toy attic that is full of toys. Jess pointed out that toys really haven't changed much, now they are just plastic and more cheaply put together but the concepts are still the same. 

A living room set for tea with the doll prepared with her tea set.

A dressing table

The CAR room which belongs to the National Society Children of the American Revolution

 This is the DAR library. They have an incredible amount of resources for tracing family genealogy.

The ceiling of the library is absolutely beautiful. They just completed a project repairing these lay lights that are the ceiling.

The Alabama room

This room had the Christmas tree decorated. I LOVE the chandelier!

 Notice the santa hat, that made me laugh!

All of the Christmas trees were so pretty!

 This was the Ohio room. They had it decorated for a 60's Christmas

This kitchen was set up with a hearth and all the different cooking implements they would have used during this time period.

This room was set up like a tavern. 

The stair cases in the building are marble and they have these beautiful pine cones on the banisters

There is a copy of the Declaration on the wall

This was the original DAR building before they enclosed the sections.

You can see Jess and I in this photo. This was a display that talked about a guy who died drinking an alleged 2000 gallons of beer, They had beer jugs that were popular during a certain time period.

In the Louisiana room they had stories and different pictures of brave women.

This was also on display in the Louisiana room.

In this room I took a picture of the musical instrument. Those glasses in that table are the instrument.

I thought this Christmas tree was so beautiful! It's hard to tell but it has ostrich feathers.

Another beautiful tree and the view

Decorating for Christmas

This ceiling is part of a large foyer and I thought it was so gorgeous!

Off of the large foyer they had a little room and this hope chest was in there. Notice the date.

This room was decorated as a bedroom

The Tennessee room was one of my favorites. You can see the Picture of Andrew Jackson on the wall. Apparently he picked out the pink chairs that are underneath his picture for the white house.

President Jackson caught some flack for those pink chairs so he also had to order chairs from an American furniture company as well, they were still pink, just a little more "masculine"

This is the North Carolina room. It was decorated as a very formal dining room. 

 

I recognized some of the name of one of the ladies who had donated pieces to the room and I got a kick out of that!We spent over 2 hours exploring with our docent. I am so glad we were able to visit and see everything! After we said goodbye we ventured back out in the cold again.

the White House

 These are pictures of the back of the White House they never really show the back of the house on TV but the back is so pretty too!

Jess and I. It was so cold! We decided to head to the restaurant where we were meeting my cousin for dinner after this picture.

My cousin suggested a restaurant called Tonic and it was so good! While we were waiting for Cameron we ordered wings and beer, so delicious!

Cameron arrived and we had dinner and talked and I got to hear all about what is going on with her. She is a 3rd year law student who graduates this spring. I'm so excited for her!

We got a quick picture on the Metro before she had to get off at her stop.

I am so thankful for the trip! My next post is coming. Sunday we went to the Botanical gardens and they were so beautiful!