Weekend Review {11/05}

FRIDAY

Friday felt it would never arrive, but it finally did.

First was my CS class, and then I opted to skip my German class to go to work "early" since I was planning on taking a half day so I could drive to Raleigh.

Husband,
Reminder: I love you very much, but you only get the whole bed for 2 nights.  Love, Wife

I got on the road around 1:15 and had to stop for lunch because of poor life choices.  Of course, the McDonald's I stopped at was spontaneously crazy busy at 1:30 in the afternoon.  Why wouldn't it be?  With a cheeseburger and tea in hand, I made my way back to my car (since going in was going to be faster, or so I mistakenly thought) and headed to Raleigh. 

I made it Teh Advising Sister's house after 5:30 and I got the grand tour of her new house and then we headed out to dinner at an Italian place called Gravy (don't worry, you are not the only one who is confused by that). 

Some delicious fall apple cinnamon moscow mule type of drink.

raspberry limoncello martini

The only accidental photo I took of my entree.
It was really good, but I didn't realize it was a red sauce base, so that had my indigestion acting a fool.

As always, I saved room for dessert, but not much room and we had to take this sweet baby to go.

When we got back home, we hung out with a neighbor and did a few shots and hung out while watching The Matrix.  I started to fall asleep on the couch around 11, so by 12, we called it a night.

SATURDAY

Saturday was sleep in day.  When I finally got out of bed, after 30 minutes of reading Comments by Celebs, Teh Advising Sister was already up.  We had coffee and chatted and then we got ready to face the day.  Due to time constraints, we didn't manage to get breakfast/lunch, but it was ok.

I met up with Teh Running Bestie at our AirBnB to drop off her car so we could have adventures.  Our first stop was Smash Waffle.  Similar to Holy City Waffles, but a it different.  No stick, not as many flavor options, but equally delicious.

#BestWifeEver duties completed.
Stickers for the beer fridge acquired.

After waffles for lunch, we drove through NCSU's campus for a car tour, then we headed to the bookstore so I could look around and spend money.  Money spent, I gave Teh Running Bestie an abbreviated walking tour and we checked out the Wolf Ears.

The Wolf Ears are places 40 feet across from each other and when you sit inside them, you can whisper (or have a normal conversation) and you can hear each other.  It's a fun thing on campus and Teh Running Bestie loved them.

After our campus tour, we headed to the City of Oaks Marathon Expo to pick up our race thangs.  We happened upon the Charleston/Myrtle Beach Marathon table and they had the 2018 CHS Marathon towels that Teh Running Bestie had been super disappointed she didn't get.  I fixed it and bought her a towel since she had to defer her run last year because of being a broke ass (aka surgery recovery).

We also got to preview the medals for the 2019 race.  WOOOOT!

Me: Look how big it is!
Teh Running Bestie: IT'S PINK!!!!!!!

After the expo, which was smaller than we anticipated, we had some time to kill and nothing really to do.  I messaged the AirBnB hosts asking if we could check in before 4 since we were lacking entertainment.  While we waited on a response, we hit up a Pier 1 near the place to kill time.  By 3:20 they said we could check in early and we were in the house by 3:35 being lazy.

After some coordinating, we ended up having dinner at Bad Bob's Burgers, which was a SOLID life choice.  I might go so far as to say that Bad Bob's was better than Sesame (in Charleston), unfortunately, just as expensive.  Womp, womp.  While we were at Bad Bob's the NC State vs Florida State game started.  This weekend also happened to be homecoming weekend at NC State, which Teh Advising Sister had warned me of, but I had forgotten. 

We finished our dinner and headed home during the 3rd period and we I (someone fell asleep) finished watching listening to the game on my computer (since we couldn't get the damn game to stream via the Chromecast).  NC State hasn't been particularly good this season, or in the last couple of years, but we slaughtered FSU, which brought me immense joy.

As is tradition, when we win certain athletic events, the Bell Tower is lit up red instead the standard white.  I had told Teh Running Bestie that if we won, I wanted to walk to the Bell Tower and check it out, since I'd never seen it red, in person before.  She agreed and after putting on warm clothes, we headed to the Bell Tower, which was a 2 minute walk from where we were staying.

When we arrived, it was still white, so I plopped down on a bench to wait.  As I was debating how long I'd actually wait to see this thing turn red in the "cold" and Teh Running Bestie and I were chatting, it turned red!!!!!

We were so excited.
Like we've never been in my house before when the lights have changed colors. LOOOOOL.

After taking some pics, like I do, we headed back to the house for sleeps.  We were both exhausted from walking around all day and since we had to get up early, despite gaining an hour, the extra sleep was not a bad idea.

SUNDAY

Sunday, Teh Running Bestie let me sleep in until 0605.  We had agreed to be at the start line at 0630 since the race started at 0700.  No one was in the corral, so we were able to get a start line photo.  Teh Running Bestie's Sister met us at the start line to send us off and then went home for a bit and came back to greet us at the finish line.

 

This is a hill.
Fuck hills.
Specifically, fuck run/walking up hills.

I found a little library while Teh Running Bestie was taking care of some business.

We ran onto Meredith College's campus.

Saw this disgruntled hound around mile 11.5 and it made us laugh.

ANOTHER book store.

And a final library for my "hunt", Mr. D.H. Hill library, where I did NOT spend a lot of time at during my NCSU days.

WE REACHED THE END... almost!
Only 0.1 miles left!

MEDALS!!!!!!!

#RunningBesties
#TeamBrokeAsses
#WeRunThisState (all of them).

After the race, we grabbed a Krispy Kreme doughnut and some water and headed back to the house to stretch/roll and shower.  I also ran to the end of the street to grab my sweatshirt where I had dropped it off with a kind race traffic director.  They had already left, but they had left my sweatshirt on the corner for me.  YAY!  I was willing to part with the hoodie, but not having to made me happy.

We had agreed on The Flying Biscuit for brunch.  Our food took forever to be delivered and I was getting quite stabby about it.  By the time it came, I was fighting a headache and hangar and general disgruntledness since they were already out of the mexi-nacho special that I had wanted.

Southern eggs benedict:
Biscuit, pimento cheese, bacon, hollandaise sauce with grits.

After a millionty sweet teas, a trip to the bathroom, and paying for the checks, we were finally all headed our separate ways (Teh Running Bestie's Sister and Teh Advising Sister had joined us for brunch).  I had to make a stop at the bookstore to return some ill fitting sweatpants I had purchased, and had to deal with 2 closed off streets because of the race, which made me want to punch someone.  I finally managed to make my way across Hillsborough Street, had to search a million years for a parking spot and finally ended up in my "cubby" where I parked my sophomore year and huffed it to the bookstore.

Eventually, I did make it out of Raleigh and 10 miles after I hit I-95, I stopped for a nap because I was over everything.

When you take a nap in the back seat of your car because driving is too hard and the lure of your blanket and pillow being 5 feet away is irresistible.

After my 40 minute nap, I got back on the road, updated Teh German on my arrival time, and made my way down the highway.  I did have one tantrum and lost my shit when I got into a traffic tangle near Florence and everyone was stopping for NO REASON.  I pulled up Waze to see about avoiding it, and then Thomas (my Waze voice) started talking over Claire (I'm listening to an Outlander audiobook right now) and I completely lost my shit and started screaming at my radio console to "SHUT THE FUCCCCKKKK UPPPPP!!!!"  In fact, I screamed it twice because it happened twice and that was when I realized that I was NOT ok.  Additionally, Willow doesn't have a mute button on the steering wheel and that is something that Yurtle had that I miss... that and cooled seats (in case I hadn't mentioned it this week).

I did manage to get Waze turned off, after seeing there was no avoiding the traffic, AND realizing that we were stopping/slowing down for signs that said "right lane closed ahead" exxxxxcceeeppptttt, the right lane was NOT closed ahead and the signs had not been taken down.  If that's not an accurate analogy for South Carolina, I do not know what is.

The rest of the ride went smoothly.  I tried to figure out why I'd had a meltdown, but couldn't really figure it out (other than being exhausted from running over 13 miles earlier in the day and dealing with a headache and driving 4 hours home) and gave up.  Instead, I listened to my audiobook and opted not to turn on any GPS assistance for the rest of the drive.

Now that I'm paranoid about my gas mileage estimator, I stopped in Santee to get gas and got wallet raped since 1- none of the gas stations had prices posted for their unleaded gas, 2- There were cash/credit prices, which always makes me stabby, 3- Gas was $0.30 more in Santee than Charleston, and $0.20 more expensive than anywhere else I'd passed in SC.  For once, I didn't even bother to fill up the tank and only got $20 because fuck that.

Keepin' it classy, Santee.

The I-26 Charleston Bound Speedway was extra obnoxious after I got off of I-95.  More so than usual as it started raining about 5 minutes after I got onto 26.  Everyone was driving slower than the speed limit in the left lane and as soon as you'd get into the right lane to pass because you couldn't fucking take it anymore, the left lane would speed up. 

I eventually made it home, Teh German gave me a long, much needed, hug, and helped me carry my stuff inside.  I spent some time making up for lost time with the dogs.

After Meri had given me a sufficient sniff down and we played and I petted and she whored and I tossed her mousy, I headed to do adult things, like make the meal plan and grocery list for the week.  Teh German had turned on the TV to "whatever is on Fox" and after checking to see that he was, in fact, NOT watching TV, I told Alexa to turn off the TV. 

Probably during my tantrum/meltdown, I had lost the ability to handle noise.  The TV was just that and since Teh German wasn't assisting with the meal plan and actively trying to concentrate, I made the decision that was enough TV.  Additionally, I was confident that the TV had been on for whatever time that Teh German did not spend in the garage this weekend, so the TV probably needed a break since it's not use to that kind of activity.  The noise intolerance continues on, as I almost told all the loud people who came into the lab where I was working this morning to STFU.  I went to my class instead and had to turn around and tell the guys behind me that they were, in fact, sitting right beside each other and did not need to project quite so loudly before helping them understand a homework question.

With a halfass dinner plan created (all I want is super bland food that will not upset my delicate flower belly/indigestion problems), I lugged all my shit upstairs, unpacked, stretched and rolled again, took care of my pre-bedtime activities, and put myself to bed.

Teh German is participating in Movember, so he did some facial hair reorganization that made both of us keep simultaneously keep giggling and saying, "It's just sooo weird."  Maybe Friday's post will include some transition photos.  Side note: Teh German has never NOT had facial hair since I've known him.  Thus, I have recently learned that Teh German has very soft cheeks (and I don't mean his butt).

After all the adventures, it was finally past my bedtime.

______________________________________________

A very fantastic weekend in the books.  I got to hang out with Teh Advising Sister and Teh Running Bestie and her sister and we had such a good time.  I had more anxiety about the race than I needed to.  My gimp toes were hurting, but not unbearably so.  There were a LOT of hills that I wasn't really prepared for, but we handled that shit like the bosses we are.  Our time was over 3 hours, but our medals were awesome, and that's why we participate anyways.

It was nice to have a school-less weekend, but I'll be making up for it this week and next weekend, since there's another race weekend in 2 weeks and Thanksgiving break is coming, which means the last push before the last weeks of the semester after Thanksgiving break.  Praise Allah this semester will end in a matter of weeks.

Tomorrow is Chaos Day for this week.  There is no class, and I will be working from home since the HVAC company is coming to replace the drip/drain pan with the hole in it.  I have a massage scheduled for 0930 (post-run massage) and I will be voting tomorrow, after hopefully determining my candidates before the end of today.

The rest of the week should be quiet other than the regular chaos daily school-work schedule. 
Wish me luck.