Weekend Review {2/26}

FRIDAY

Teh German encouraged me to go run on Friday morning and I got about a quarter mile in before I was like, "yep, fuck this," and decided to do the 1 mile dog trek we usually take.  A headache was really holding me down.  I survived Photoshop class and since computer science was cancelled, I went by my calc professor's office and asked if we were covering anything new and explained that  I had a headache and was going to go home if we weren't.  He said it was a review day and I said, "Adios."  I skipped Calc and German to lay in bed with Nurse Meri.  I tried napping, but my phone wouldn't STFU and Teh German arrived home about 30 minutes after I set it to silent mode. 

When Teh German came home at lunch time, he showered and did his pre-event grooming (nail cutting, beard trimming/shaving, etc) (why is this a thing?  Why not the night before? I don't overly care, but it's just such a strange phenomenon to me). 

Eventually, I rolled out of bed and finished up my packing.  Teh German finished up his packing and we headed downstairs for lunch.  Lunch accomplished, I gave my work email one last check and had some separation anxiety as I closed my laptop and didn't pack it in my bag.  We loaded the dive gear and suitcase in the truck and headed to Charleston Dive Locker in Mt. Pleasant to get a start on our weekend dive adventure.

We met our dive adventure companions and loaded up the vehicles, then we loaded up and got on the road towards Florida.  We spent ~7+ hours in a church van and I read and chatted with dive buddies and passed the time in general.  This was essentially our dive buddies immersion into "Megan" and I almost felt bad for them.

We stopped for dinner before 7, as I had requested (staving off hangar is serious business), and once we checked into our hotel, we headed back out to Winn Dixie (that would be a grocery store) to pick up some beer for the evening.

When we got back to the hotel, we had everyone over to our room to hang out on the patio outside our room.  At 10 till midnight, I checked my watch and told everyone Cinderella was about hit her curfew and by midnight, everyone was back at their rooms.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning, most of us met up at 0800 to head out for breakfast nearby.  We had passed a place called Grannie's on our way in and Yelp said it had pretty good reviews so we went there for breakfast.  I was not disappointed.

Strawberry covered biscuit, egg, and bacon.
An older lady was eating the strawberry biscuit when we were sat beside her and I knew I needed it in my life.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel for post-breakfast naps.  We headed to the dive shop where our dives had been arranged wayyy too early and we ended up waiting around for way longer than I liked.

Eventually, we finally loaded up and headed out for our drift dive down Rainbow River.  This was Teh German's first non-pool dive and he was super pumped.

I realized I had forgotten a bikini top, so I ended up wearing a bra as a top.
It was more coverage and support than a bikini top would have offered.
This is also the 2nd time that my blue bra has been spotted in public.
The 1st time was the Princess 10k when I wore it on my head as Superhero Stitch.

Dive pictures:

I had never done a drift dive before and it was fun, but difficult.  Since the bottom of the riverbed wasn't flat, we had to keep going up and down which is exhausting.  Additionally, the current was extremely strong, so if you fought the current, you could stay in place, but not go against it.

We did see some cool features of the bottom where the springs caused the sand on the bottom to bubble.  Apparently, there was a gator somewhere that I missed.  BUTT, I did end up finding someone's lost snorkel and mask that is now a backup for us.

After our dive, we headed back to our hotel to clean up and head to dinner.  Getting to the correct restaurant was a process and then we ended up waiting over an hour for our food and I was ready to hangar-smash everything in the restaurant. 

We were all so tired after our extended dinner that we all went back to our rooms for bed instead of hanging out.

SUNDAY

Sunday, we checked out of the hotel by 0800 to pick up the breakfast of champions at Hardees and then to the dive shop again to be escorted to our dive site, the Blue Grotto.  It's essentially a fresh water cavern that is ~100 feet deep. 

This was Teh German's first deep dive and he was pretty anxious, but he didn't show it.  I know this because he told me after the fact.  We went deep and turned out all the lights to see how dark it was, Teh German played with a shapes toy (a diving exercise to show how your abilities are impaired at deeper depths), except that Teh German did better at 80ft deep than at 15ft deep!  During our decompression stop, Virgil the Turtle (the resident soft-shelled turtle) decided we were to be besties, which meant I got some awesome photos of him.

Teh German ended up doing a 2nd dive, but I opted out to instead take a leisurely shower instead of being rushed.  After the gang was cleaned up, several of us were ready to leave, but most of our group was being held hostage by a conversation with some other divers.. soooo I went full-Megan and told the leader of the group that I was hungry... by pulling up my shirt to expose my belly and use my hand to pretend my stomach had a mouth saying, "Me sooo hunnnnggrrryyy."

We left within 10 minutes.  #notsorry

I found a mexican place in Gainsville on Yelp to stop at for lunch and everyone commended my wise life choices.  After lunch, we headed back to Charleston.  I ended up finishing a book, taking a nap, and chatting with the leader of the group about Navy things since he is retired.

We made it back to Mount Pleasant by 8pm.  After we got everything unloaded we headed out.  We made it home to Meri and Pax by 9pm.  They were super excited to see us, as if they hadn't seen us in a week instead of just 2 days.  We unpacked and got things ready for Monday and it was bedtime.

MONDAY

Monday was rough for me because I'm exhausted.  I'm more than ready for spring break and a weekend of nothing.  I feel like we've been going nonstop for a month.... because we have.

I took the opportunity in my photoshop class to work on the dive photos, so I could actually use them for the project I'm working on.. #likeaboss

Since Monday was Teh German's birthday, he took the day off of work, but was crazy productive at home!  He brought my birthday watch to get sized, he gave Meri and Pax baths, and accomplished some other tasks he'd wanted to do.

I had asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted to do as a dinner celebration but he couldn't really think of anything.  After some discussion with workmates what I should do, I checked to see if Charleston Grill (that super expensive place we went to 2 years ago for our combined birthday celebration) had any open reservations.  They did, at 6 and 6:15, so I called Teh German to ask if he had anything in mind and he said Italian and I said ok and confirmed the reservation at Charleston Grill, who don't really specialize in pasta, but I didn't care.

Teh German picked me up at work and we headed downtown.  He figured out where we were going after we parked and headed towards the upscale end of King Street.  Woman of Mystery, I am not.  Nonetheless, Teh German was not disappointed.  I told him that we were not only celebrating his birthday, but also the fact that he was officially an open water diver now!

I only took a selfie after I saw 2 other older couples across from us taking selfies.

I didn't take photos of the food, but we ordered a rib-eye to split and a pasta dish and potatoes gratin.

Special chef's dessert:
LEMON PANNA COTTA WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE.
I seriously wanted to stand around and steal all these little bowls from anyone they were delivered to.
IT WAS SO DERICHIOUSSSSSSSSS.

Teh German ordered Key Lime Cheesecake for dessert.
The toasted marshmallow was my favorite part.

They also delivered a small tray of special birthday desserts.

As expected, we walked out stuffffffffeeeedddd.  I forgot my credit card, but thankfully, the restaurant called while we were still walking to the parking garage.  If you follow me on snapchat, you got to see the awesome puppy in the window of the Louis Vuitton shop. 

After I fetched my card, Teh German picked me up and we picked up Yurtle, I stopped and (finally) got gas, then headed home.  After prepping for the morning, I headed upstairs to write out Teh German's birthday card (which I had accidentally left at home that morning).  His birthday gift hadn't arrived, UGH, but I promised that it was coming (which I know since I ordered it on Jan 5th).  For this birthday, I got him a 6 month beer of the month subscription. 

Despite being earlier than normal, I felt exhausted.  I took care of pre-bedtime prep and changed dog bed blankets (since they had gotten a bath) and sorted out the laundry so I wouldn't have to do it on Tuesday morning before school) and went to bed.

______________________________________________

Our first dive adventure together was AWESOME and we are both excited to do it again.  Teh German needs to do another dive before our honeymoon to complete the 4 tasks left for his advanced open water certification.

This post is on Tuesday since yesterday was Teh German's birthday and he was my priority.  #notsorry

This week includes Cool Kid birthday cake and tests in Calculus, Bio, and German.
This weekend I'm planning on sleeping in, going on a run, doing whatever homework I can to get ahead, skyping with Teh Running Bestie, maybe buying some plane tickets for our run-cations planned in July and November, paying off Bagheera, and generally being lazy as fuck because I deserve it.

Happy (practically) March, Gentle Readers!

Riverbank Zoo (Photos)

Zoos and Gardens are totally some of my fave places to be a "real" photographer.  So many things to take pics of!

Also, a shout out to Teh Dental Hygienist for putting up with me and "all my pictures".

Weekend Review {2/19}

FRIDAY

Work and school on Friday.  Bagheera and I had a date and it was delightful.  I worked outside for most of the afternoon until it was time to leave and meet Teh PT Family and Husband at Holy City for dinner.

When we got home from dinner, I worked on a new puzzle and listened to Outlander 6.  Teh German had went to Teh PT House for cigars and after he came home, we went to bed.

SATURDAY

Saturday was the beer thing in Columbia that I kept censoring on my calendar.  I was able to get 4.6 miles in before we had to leave.  Woot.  I'm finally getting back into the running and it's deeeelightful.

Teh Dental Hygienist and I were the designated drivers for the beer event, so while everyone was getting wasteeeeeeddd, we went and had lunch at Eggs Up Grill (after our initial brunch choice had an hour and a half long wait, which we were not interested in) and then we headed to Riverfront Zoo in Columbia to be the only child-free/less adults at the zoo.  I'll just let you imagine my reaction to that situation.

Teh Dental Hygienist captured me in my element.

I warned Teh Dental Hygienist that if I found silly hats we would be taking selfies.

Moments later, I got poked in the face with an elephant trunk.. it was dirty.

Almost like Phil!

This would be a perfect Turxi (turtle+taxi).

The beer event ended at 4, which was convenient since that's about the time we finished up walking through the zoo.  We picked up our drunk ass friends and headed to Mellow Mushroom, per their demand.

Shenanigans ensued at Mellow Mushroom.. to include:

• Teh German decided he worked there and tried to steal/distribute pizza that was waiting to go to a table.
• This was the climax of the dinner and what initiated everything else that happened. 
• Lots of use of "fuck" and "mother fucker" and "goddamn" and inappropriate volumes.
• The manager came to us to ask us to maybe stop yelling "fuck" so loudly... if at all.
• This was while I was trying to get the situation under control and I wanted to punch that MF in the mouth.
• I was almost certain Teh German was going to get into a fight with another drunk ass who claimed to be the owner of the restaurant.
• Someone puked in the bathroom.
• Everyone was taking their time and I was the most embarrassed I've ever been with a group of my friends and all I wanted to do was leave.

Eventually, we all paid up and it was time to leave.

There was no photographic evidence because we were all shocked and cackling, but we got a full moon going down I-26 from the dude in blue in the above photo.  Like, pretty sure I saw scrotum and we confirmed that his butthole is pink.

Teh German was the first to "fall asleep" (pass out) on the way home.  At least in our car.  I assume first of the group because he slept through the entire mooning debacle.  When we got home shortly after 7, everyone unloaded and Teh German headed straight to bed. 

With another evening to myself, I continued to puzzle and listen to Outlander 6.  I ended up staying up wayyyy late to finish it.  It took me almost a month of consistent listening to finish it.  While I actually enjoyed this one, I was ready for it to be over just because I'd been listening to it for soooooooo loooooonnnngggg. 

Goodreads says it's 980 pages.
Audible says 57h, 46 mins. 
I listen to audiobooks when I'm driving and my commute time usually is
45 (home to school)
+15 (school to work)
+30 (work to home)
---------
1.5 hrs of listening time, per day on average + other times when I listened, like puzzle time.

By 0100, I was in the bed.  My brain was on high from the situation at Mellow Mushroom and/or I drank too much sweet tea, so I ended up taking some extra medication to finally get to sleep. 

SUNDAY

Sunday was a home day.. and then it wasn't.  We were able to sleep in.  When I finally woke up (after getting up to feed the dogs earlier in the morning), I went over the prior afternoon with Teh German who couldn't remember most of it.  He did remember trying to serve the pizza and said he had a dream we got kicked out of Mellow Mushroom (which I feel like we probably would have if our table combined hadn't been worth more than the collective tables we were pissing off (to include the table with the guy who yelled at us, "COULD YOU STOP YELLING THE F-WORD?!", which of course only served to make a table of drunk people yell more).

When we finally got out of the bed around 10, I had a weird motivational streak and made the week's menu and grocery list and threw on some gym pants and went to Walmart.  When I got back home, Teh German had fixed Suzi and left to meet his biker gang for a brewery visit/ride.

Beasts.

I had some homework I needed to accomplish, but I prioritized puzzle and Still Me over homework. #notsorry

After not accomplishing much homework, I decided I was cold and took a bath to get warmed up.

Those are not fart bubbles.
I think.

Teh German came home right as I was getting out of the bath.  He tried to start dinner, but realized we didn't have enough of the ingredients that we needed, which was super unfortunate for me.  I had to put on a bra and my gym pants and go back out to the store to pick up milk and flour.  Ugh.

When I got home, we set about making homemade Spätzle, which went poorly since it was our first time making it and we were both moderately hangary.  After eating, I cleaned up (since Teh German had done most of the cooking) and Teh German hit the couch, while I worked on homework at the island.

After my code was written, I made dog breakfast and headed upstairs to do more laundry and then it was time for reading in bed until Teh German came to bed.

And just like that.. the weekend was over.  :(

______________________________________________

I woke up tired this morning and it's hard not to nap at my desk today.

This week includes getting super ahead on homework since we're going out of town (again) this weekend.  This time, we're headed to FL to go on Teh German's first open water dive.  It will be my first open water dive since GTMO, so it's definitely going to be interesting.

Otherwise, it should be a quiet week.
Time will tell.

PS.  After January dragged on and on and on.. I'm glad that February is skipping through with a moderate quickness.