Weekend Review {7/10}

FRIDAY

I made sure to do some work on Tuesday so Friday could be a short day.  I got shit accomplished ASAP for work.  Before Teh German came home at lunch, I headed out to the piercing place to get my ear jewelry changed.  FINALLY, my rook and daith are connected.  I was waiting until both were fully healed before going to get it changed out.  Of course, the roughest guy that works at the place was there and he was the one who changed my jewelry.  I did not leave a tip.  #notsorry

When Teh German got home, we packed and everything was loaded into Baloo when worked summoned me and I had to take care of some last minute things before we headed to NC.  I wanted to leave early because arriving super late at night is exhausting.  It also gave us the option for evening entertainment.

Teh Stepmom had already made dinner when we arrived, so after we settled for a bit, we finally ate dinner.  After dinner, we headed outside for 2 games of Organ Attack.  It was getting dark, so we were having to use our phones to read our cards and we figured that was enough. 

After Organ Attack, we headed to the fire pit.  Much to my dismay, it was storming in the distance.  I have this irrational fear of storms and sitting outside in them, so while the lightning looked cool, I was pretty sure we were going to get struck by lightning and die at anytime.  We didn't.

After some smores and a shower of embers on my sunburnt chest, it was finally time to call it a night.

SATURDAY

Our goal in going to NC was to attend the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain.  I'd never been to the games in all my years of living 1 hour away.  We made the decision to actually go on Saturday morning.  There was a 50-60% chance of rain while we were there, but Teh German pointed out that it might not rain and then we'd miss out and we had come up specifically for the Games. 

We got out of bed and headed up the mountain, making a stop at Bojangles for breakfast.  We were supposed to meet Teh WJL before we caught the shuttle to the Games, but I wasn't sure where we was and traffic funneled us straight to where we needed to go.

I couldn't figure out why my hands were torn up, then Teh German pointed out it was from my crutches.
This is why I'm keeping him!

We caught the shuttle to the Games and walked around for a bit.  Mostly, we just felt out of place.  Teh German is obviously NOT Scottish and neither am I, so it's not like we could "find our clan" and go hang out and learn about our history.  So instead, we just walked around, kinda lost.

Malt Whiskey gave me the lolz.

Greyhound?  Sighthound?  You decide.

Parade of the Kilts.

At 0730, runners started a marathon from somewhere.  It ended on the track at the Games.  The Bear is known by runners to be one of the hardest marathons.  Let's just say, I wouldn't do it for the medal, even if it was only a 5k.  The worst part, imo, was that the runners came up on one corner of the track and then had to run around the track to the finish line.  Buuutttttt, the entire time they are running the track, people were clapping and cheering them on.  It was kinda like the wave, but in clap form.

We got tired of sitting in the hot, despite the umbrella I had open to try to shade us some, so we went to scavenge for some food.  I got the absolute worst Scottish eggs I've ever tried to eat and then we got some overly-cinnamon-ed bread pudding.  Teh German got some sort of pastie and it seemed ok enough, but like a LOT of breading.

We were hot and I was extremely sweaty (with the hip brace on) and we finally took shelter in a shady grove to listen to some bands play.

#Iwazhere

I took the opportunity to take some selfies.

Listening to bands.

While we were sitting there, the guy beside us had on an NC State hat so I struck up a conversation with him and explained that we lived in Charleston but I went to NC State and we always get excited to see Wolfpack fans.  He agreed and informed us that he owns a house on Folly Beach and I kinda just wanted to beg to be his friend.  Not selfish at all.

After a while, we were tired of sitting and Teh German and I headed to the shuttle area so we could head back to Baloo and find Teh WJL.

As we were headed back to Baloo, the shuttle passed where Teh WJL was and I texted her to stay put because I was in stalk-mode.  We disembarked from the shuttle and jumped in Baloo to meet up with her.  While she was packing up Luluroe things, I shopped at the fruit/veggie market that was close by.  We ended up with a few delicious things.  Life skills to add to my list: Picking out the perfect melons.

Food shopping complete, we headed to Rite Aid so I could pick up some sudafed, which was unsuccessful because something was going on with the pharmacy register.  Dejected, we left and headed to the Mexican restaurant next door for dinner.  Our food seemed to take forever to arrive, probably because I was starving since I couldn't really eat those garbage eggs.

Eventually, our dinner arrived, we ate, and we decided to head back to the meadow where the Games were held for the evening concert.  We were able to park right outside of the gates, which was perfect.

The Saturday night concert is the Celtic Jam, which is music that is more traditional.  There is also a Friday night concert called Celtic Rock, which is probably more modern music with Scottish instruments.  I like the more traditional music, until it all starts sounding the same.  The bands from the Celtic Jam were all very good.  Towards the end, the final act called all the other artists up on the stage and they were all singing and playing together.  It was good fun until it started to sound like the same tune for 10 minutes.  We were also cold so we finally just decided to head home.

We dropped of Teh WJL at her car and then Teh German slung Baloo and I down the mountain.  He was enjoying a drive with curves a wee bit.  It was bedtime when we got down the mountain.

SUNDAY

Sunday was a lazy day.  Teh German and I slept in, then after Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom got back from church, we headed out to get Japanese for lunch.  I ate wayyyyy too much and I was irritable, so when we got home, I took a nap.  I was supposed to meet up with Teh BFF, but it didn't end up working out.  When I got up, I read for a little while.  I got some serious reading accomplished this weekend.  Take that, Reading Challenge!  I found Teh German outside on the porch scrolling through endless social media feeds and smoking a cigar.  We didn't really chat much and I sat there reading until I got frustrated with my Kindle and started window shopping for a new, smaller, Kindle.  The Fire 10 is really just too big.  Prime Day (ugh, /rolleyes) is coming, so I'm on the look out for a good deal.  While shopping, I discovered free books for Prime subscribers (me, me!) and I might have downloaded a few books I've been intending to read. 

Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom came home from church right before we left to head to Teh Granny's.  We agreed on pizza for dinner and I told them we'd be back before 9:30.  We were back at 8:30 since Teh Granny forgot she was supposed to meet us at her house.  Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom went out to pick up pizza.  After we ate, we played 2 more rounds of Organ Attack and then it was bedtime.

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Overall, a very excellent weekend.  Another first time for Teh German and I! 

This week, I'm going to head back to the office and work 1/2 days to ease myself back into the game.  We'll see what the doc says on Friday, but my goal is to be back at work next Monday, like normal.  #lifegoals #imgoingtomissteleworking

Happy July, Gentle Readers!