Weekend Review {2/6}

FRIDAY

BIRFDAY FRIYAY!!!

About 45 minutes before I planned on leaving work, my boss asked me if I could sit in on a meeting from 2-3pm and I pulled the birthday card.  "Uhh, can I call "birthday" and maybe we could reschedule?"  Turns out, it was a technical meeting that I didn't need to attend, but #notsorry.  My boss also knows how I feel about meetings after lunch on a Friday and my feelings about meetings during lunchtime that do not serve food (I'm against both, if you were unable to guess).

I had a 1:30 gym date with Roux's Humom.  After an unintentionally difficult workout on a new machine that I couldn't figure out how to change the level (neither could Roux's Humom), I enjoyed a birthday gift from Roux's Humom, a chocolate covered kreme filled doughnut.  #thisiswhyIworkout 

Despite wearing most of the kreme, I headed to Publix to pick up birthday cupcakes, then headed home to wait on Teh German to come home.  Instead of taking the dogs to play with Roux, I sent them outside with pig ears.  It was Phil's perfect temperature so he decided to grace me with some zoomies in the backyard.

While I waited on Teh German to get home, I worked on the wedding website.  It's coming along nicely.  I'm hoping it will be finalized by next weekend.  I have a meeting with the photographer on Friday and I'm hoping we can work out a ceremony time then.  That will be the key to finishing the website and setting it up with a personal domain, then I can move forward on wedding invitations as well. 

Finally, Teh German came home, birthday flowers in hand, and changed and we headed to Spero for my birthday dinner.  There were no pics, but we had some delicious noms, as I had predicted.  Also as expected, the food took forever.  But it was so good that everyone kind of forgot how long we had to wait.  There were murmurs of "best chicken sandwich ever" from very picky individuals, so I'd call my selection a win.  Of course, the bread flight was a win all around.  While I had brought cupcakes in, we were all too full to eat them!

We left Spero completely satisfied and headed to Theater 99 for the improv show.  I may have yelled at Teh German while we were trying to find parking because he was getting frustrated at me that I didn't know where we were going, despite me telling everyone (and him) over and over I had never been there and had no idea where I was going.  Once we got into the theater, we found seats.  We had brought the cupcakes in with us.  We weren't hungry enough to eat them until intermission.  They were as delicious as I had anticipated. 

I got to be part of the show.  The show was very much like "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"  Skits were based on audience suggestions and format was pulled from a hat.  The scene I was a part of was 2 actors and when they would "forget" what they were talking about, myself and another volunteer had to make a suggestion they had to incorporate.  Let's just say, I'll stick to my day job.

We all felt that the show ended very abruptly at 2145 and we had no idea what to do with ourselves, but knew we wanted to do something.  Someone suggested we go to Burns Alley and I checked it out on Yelp and it was described as a dive bar.  Ok.  We walked a few blocks and arrived.  We were told there would be a $10 cover charge for the guys (ugh).  Teh German got out of the cover charge in exchange for a cupcake.  Whatevs.

We hung out with the millennials and mediocre college band for about an hour until we were all yawning and had made fun of all the good stuff and decided to call it a night.  We were home by midnight, which was kinda perfect for this old lady.

Complete with a rat-tail, although he definitely looked older than we are.

SATURDAY

It was a slow start on Saturday morning.  Neither of us wanted to get out of bed, but we did for Meri.  You see, Roux's Humom had suggested that I enter Meri for a "Most Earresitable" category at a dog event in Isle of Palms.  Except that this event started at 9 and the competition started at 10 and it takes us 45 minutes to get there and well.. you see where this is leading.  We made it right at 0958 and Meri's ears were completely broken.  BROKEN. 

My dog with the huge, cute ears?  Yeah no.  They were laid back on her head almost the entire time we were at the actual event.  Roux, of course, won Best Eyes, which we all expected.  We assumed Meri's ear situation was because she was overwhelmed at the noise and strange dogs and strange people and before we left, I, too, had my ears back. 

Too late, I realized that I needed to leave/go outside.  Most of the time, I can control my anxiety about crowds and noise, but as we were leaving, we got to the door and small child was blocking the exit and seemed to be quite confused about it's mother telling it to get out of the way and a strange dog was giving me the sniff-down and all I could hear was my brain sounding like a fire alarm and I was sweating all over and there was a knot in my throat and it was all too much.  Everything was too much.

In addition to all the noise and people, I had been handling Meri who is particularly horrible on a leash, so I was minimally frustrated on a very basic level.  When we got outside, I asked to trade Meri for Phil (who is an angel on a leash) and I was obviously very disgruntled.  To Teh German it looked like I had just snapped.  He tried to be helpful, but really, I just needed to sit in silence and breathe and collect myself.  Mentally, I understand that nothing is going to happen, but mentally all of my triggers were present and well, I snapped.  He said I should avoid these types of situations and I pointed out that normally, I do.  He then asked how we could fix the issue and I explained that putting myself in the situation is a way of making it better.  Poor guy.  It was a Catch-22 for sure.

After the dog event, we headed to IOP beach.  Roux's Humom was able to get some photos of Teh Ville walking on the beach.  When Roux's Humom called the walk because her ears were too cold (it was about 40°F on Saturday plus the wind from the beach.. it was chilly for Charleston, we decided it was lunchtime. 

#crazyhairdontcare

My favorite men.

LOOLLZZ to Roux's ears because of the wind.

Meri chasing birds while I tried not to bust my ass and keep up

We had intended to go to Thai Basil for lunch since they had cock-blocked me on Friday because their downtown location was closed for renovations, but when we got in the car to head there, I checked the hours and they didn't open till 5.  I was PISSED.  Mostly because this isn't the first time this has happened to me with Basil.  I just do not understand restaurants that aren't open the full day on the weekend.  Grrrrr.

Instead, I suggested Charleston Cafe since they would have lunch and breakfast options... and their special sweet tea.  It was a solid choice.  I got their chicken and waffles.  The only downside to this was that their chicken still has the bones in it, but I managed.

After lunch, we decided to swing by the wedding venue so Teh German could see it in the daylight and Roux's Humom could get an idea of what it looked like for potential photography needs.  We walked around with Phil and Meri while I explained where everything was inside.  Since it was a nice Saturday, there were many dogs on the grounds (it is a public area).  This was ok with me because the first dog we met was a dalmatian! /swoon.  I finally got to verify that you CAN see THE Bridge from our venue.  YYYYAAAASSSSS!!!!

After the tour, we headed home.  Good to my word, I headed upstairs to take a nap soon after we got home.  Teh German joined me after getting the Roomba set up to charge.  When the alarm went off at 4, I was disgruntled.  I had been sleeping hard and I wasn't ready to get up.  We had committed to going to roller derby with a few neighbors.  Teh German didn't want to get up either, but we finally did.  We showered and we ready right in time to head out the door a minute after our ride pulled up in the driveway.

We ended up being an hour early for the doors opening, so I looked up bars that were close on Yelp and we agreed to check out Neighborhood Tap house.  Extra bonus for us, they had a check in special on Yelp, so we were able to get a free basket of chips and a free basket of fries to tide us over until dinner.  We all had a beverage while we waited until we could head back to the rec center. 

When we got back, I had to search pretty hard to find a seat for 5 of us.  I felt like a real turd when I sat down in front of a family with littles who couldn't see over my big head.  The dad assured me that they'd move if they needed to and it was fine. 

I had never been to roller derby before so it was very interesting.  But this particular session, you could donate money to take away or add team players or points so it was very difficult for a newbie to keep up with.  Additionally, the match was Star Wars themed so the teams were the Empire and the Resistance.  It was pretty overwhelming for someone who had no idea what was going on.

After the match was over, we headed to the La Hacienda, a local mexican chain, near our house.  We had dinner and chatted.  I wasn't overly impressed with the restaurant, but I know that my standards are impossible.

Eventually, we paid up and headed home.  After being dropped off, Teh German and I took care of pre-bedtime things (prepping dog breakfast, dishes, etc) and headed upstairs to bed.  We discussed that maybe roller derby wasn't our thing and I pointed out that we should give normal roller derby another chance (when they don't accept donations to change the course of the game).  We did agree that hockey was still our #1.

SUNDAY

Sunday we slept in until 11.  #notsorry

She was using me as her literal body pillow.  Made it difficult to get out of bed.

This hot mess had Teh German giggling.

When we did finally get up, I decided to make a sweet potato hash for breakfast.  #stupid  We were both super hangry by the time I was able to get everything fixed.  I roasted cut up sweet potatoes in the oven (which of course takes forever in general), I cooked ground turkey for a meat, and I tried my hand at poaching eggs (huge fail, in case you were wondering).  I vowed that I would buy an egg cooking machine.  It's currently on my Amazon wishlist.  I haven't bit the bullet yet, but I have a feeling it's going to happen after my rewards get applied to my account this month.

While I was cooking, we turned on Roomy the Roomba to set about the task of making our house less slovenly.  I couldn't watch because there is no set pattern to that thing.  We were impressed that it was able to get in between the dining room chairs, over the runner, and the kitchen rugs and not get stuck.  After an hour and a half, Roomy got tired and went back to his (yes, it's a he for some strange reason) house/base to charge.

Phil and Meri were NOT a fan of Roomy.  Teh German and I were pretty impressed.  We didn't expect perfection, but it was way cleaner than I had anticipated.  The only downside was that it didn't even go into the office for some reason and that rug could really use some love since Phil shed all over it. 

With 3 eggs wasted for the dogs, we finally had breakfast/lunch.  Teh German said it was pretty good and I said I refused to cook it again unless we had an egg cooking machine.  After breakfast, I printed out some coupons and headed out to Walmart to pick up items that have been on my list for weeks.  I had Victoria's Secret coupons as well, so I went to the mall first. 

In a strange turn of events, there were actually options to choose from in my size!  WHHHAATT??  Yep.  Of course, the one color I really wanted wasn't available at all in my size.  WTF?  Whatever.  I ended up getting 2 bras and my free valentine's day panty.  I prob could have just put the rewards towards a single bra, but oh well. 

Walmart was a patience testing trip.  I had asked Teh German if he wanted to come with me and after I informed him I was going by VS, he said he'd just stay home.  It was for the best.  I'm sure he would have lost his mind at Walmart on a Sunday afternoon.  Him staying home meant that I could take my time and look around at etc items if I felt like it, so it was ok with me that he stayed home.

When I got home, I had Teh German help me unload the car and then we went on a walk with Roux's Humom and Roux.  While we were walking, Teh BFF called and we chatted and caught up for the rest of the walk and while I made dinner.  With dinner ready, Teh German and I ate as the super bowl started.

Props to Luke Bryan for not slaughtering the National Anthem.  Every fucking prop ever to Lady Gaga for keeping her politics as subtle as her lyrics are (they aren't) while VP Mike Pence sat in the audience.  I feel like someone should diagnose him with "hysteria" so he can have a lobotomy forced upon him.  I mean, he likes to pretend we live in the early 20th century, so I don't see how this solution is wrong.  I digress.

After dinner, we cleaned up and hit the couch.  I worked on the wedding website while Teh German cheered for the Falcons.  Originally, we had planned to go to a friend's house for their super bowl gathering, but I was wiped out from so many days of activities, just as I had expected.  We didn't get into bed until after 11.

Of course, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was AWAKE.. FML.  Sleeping until 11 isn't always beneficial for me.  It was after midnight when I finally went to sleep and the alarm came early at 0530. 

____________________________________________

Overall, a very satisfying birthday weekend.  I even managed to accomplish doing the laundry this weekend AND I didn't do ANY on Friday, because #birthday.  I would happily go to another improv show and it was awesome doing so many new Charleston things that we weren't aware of (roller derby) or hadn't done (improv).  I commented to Teh German at one point that my list of things to do apparently wasn't all inclusive and he laughed. He also gets props for coming up with an idea for something to put on the list last week.

While this week is looking quiet, only 10 more days until Teh Mom, Teh Running Bestie, and Teh WJL descend on Charleston and we have a wedding filled weekend!

Lurrrvveeeeeee