Weekend Review {03/11}

If you didn't see it: this post has a prequel.

THURSDAY

It was Meri's 5th Gotcha Day.

She got a new "mousies"

We snuggled.

She was adorable.

And hilarious.

Pax also got a new toy.

And snuggles because my dogs are jealous AF of each other when the other is getting attention.

I took my midterm.

I did my homework.

I went to class.

When we got out of class early at 3:50, I was Spring Break bound!

Came home to a "happy tail" murder scene/art, courtesy of Meri.

THE GREEN CARD ARRIVED.

So, Teh German and I opted to go to Lewis Barbeque for dinner to start the celebration for the scholarship and the green card and the start of Spring Break.

Initially, for our celebration of all the things, we had considered going to the airport and picking a destination and being there for the weekend then coming back, but I had some serious reservations about this plan. Mainly, the limited number of destinations from Charleston and the fact that we only had a weekend.  I explained these things to Teh German on our way to dinner Thursday night and we agreed on a Charleston treat yo'self staycation instead.

Of course, despite Teh German having taken the planning of this adventure upon himself, I had already done some research because I am a control freak.  Which I openly admitted to Teh German and he agreed with me, but also appreciated my dedication.  I had found 2 places downtown with availability and we had booked them Thursday night.  We planned for ghost tours on Friday and Saturday night and we planned fancy dinner Friday night and fancy lunch on Saturday. 

After we got home from dinner, since we didn't have an early start on Friday, we stayed up later than normal and watched a few episodes of The Office.

FRIDAY

After some arranging on Wednesday, Teh German and I took PTO on Friday so we could start our staycation relaxed.  We woke up around 8, fed the beasts, then headed to the gym to get our workout out of the way.  We also stopped by CVS so I could pick up my hot flashes birth control (BC) and cash for Cold Hands, our dog sitter.

I ended up paying ~80 for 3 months worth of my BC with the Lo Loestrin coupon I found on the internet.  My insurance deductible would have been around $350.  For real, fuck the US healthcare/insurance system.  After taking care of errands, we headed home, showered, packed, and then lounged on the couch.  I ended up taking a nap, which I'm not sorry about, especially considering we had a ghost tour scheduled that night.  Around 3:30, we headed downtown since we could check into our first hotel at 4.

The Wentworth Mansion was beyond my expectations.  From the moment we pulled into the parking lot and were greeted by a bellhop, we felt fancy AF.  The bellhop carried our luggage in for us!  We got checked in, we received a short tour of the common area (sitting room, garden/tea room, cognac/port enclave, the elevator that would lead us to the cupola), then we were led to our rooms where the bellhop showed us where everything was, to include showing us how to turn off the classical music that was playing, the robes, iron, hair dryer, fridge with water, etc.

We had our own umbrella!

We had reservations at 5:30 at Peninsula Grill, so we sat in the fancy armchairs on our phones, just chillin' and taking in the fanciness, until it was time to leave to walk to dinner.

I grabbed one of the antelope mushroom tarts for the walk.
Zero regrets.

The best part about staying downtown is that everything is within walking distance.  It was nice not having to worry about parking for the car or feeding the meter.

Crab cake with caviar in little onions as an appetizer.

I joked that the value of this sweet grass basket to be around $600.
That was probably extreme, but I can see having to pay at least $100 for a basket that tall.
It just held a delightful roll of bread.

Tilefish special entree with carrots and some green stuff.

Duck with pesto and oyster mushrooms and some other less important veggies.

Their speciality: coconut cake.
I personally found it a bit dry and I don't overly love flaked coconut, but Teh German really enjoyed it.

Tiny espresso!

After dinner, we had some time, so we headed to a bar for drinks.  We had a hell of a time trying to find the bar, until we realized it was inside the hotel we'd passed multiple times.  *facepalm*

We chatted with the older man sitting beside us, who was originally from Raleigh.  He explained there was a special lawyer convention in town, specifically an elite group of lawyers who worked on cases for disabled and special needs persons.  The 2 guys next to him were part of the group and they also chatted with us.

Eventually, it was time to walk back to the hotel.  When we got back, we found the sheets turned down, truffles and a paper with the next day's weather on it, and a bottle of chilled champagne and a card congratulating us on our recent achievements (they had asked if we were celebrating anything when we checked in and I said a green card and scholarship).

After changing into walking shoes, we headed to Willow, then to the USS Yorktown for our ghost tour.  Teh German had said that he'd always wanted to do it, I didn't even know the Yorktown had a ghost tour.  Nonetheless, it was pretty cool.

Ghost or shadow???

Dat Bridge.
(PS. I'll be running that beyoch in a month with Teh Running Bestie and Teh PT Wife!)

After our tour, we headed back to the Mansion to enjoy our champagne (valued at $12 per Googly) and truffles and classical music (that we'd left playing since we walked in the room). 

After the CD repeated, it was time to call it a night.  It was after midnight when we finally crawled into bed. 

SATURDAY

We woke up around 8ish on Saturday.  First up on the agenda was bath time in that big ass tub.  After a soak, we showered in the 2 person fancy ass shower, and then we headed to breakfast at Circa 1886, a restaurant I've wanted to go to for a long time.  Granted, breakfast isn't the same as dinner, but breakfast was delicious and it was no issue to personalize the entrees, so we both ended up with pancakes and eggs (no pics because: starving).  Pastries and fruit were the appetizers.

After breakfast, we went back across the street to the hotel and went into the cupola to check out the city view.

Up.

Holy City for all the church spires.

"It's bright but let's take a selfie anyways."

Down.

The garden/tea room.
Afternoon tea was served daily, but we skipped it since we had dinner and we checked out too early.

The port/cognac/fancy dessert beverage station.

The bathroom stuff included a legit sewing kit, loofah, and makeup wipes, cotton balls, and q-tips, plus the standard soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

We checked out of the hotel after breakfast.  On the way to the Yorktown the night before, we'd seen a sign about a reef/saltwater tank expo, and Teh German and I agreed that we'd check it out on Saturday.  We stopped at Metto first, then headed to the Omar Shrine for the expo.

There were so many pretty corals I wanted, but Teh German (and other vendors) said that because our tank is still "cycling" (aka establishing itself), anything I put in the tank would die.  Except for that damn shrimp that is currently rotting inside the tank.  I wish that smell would die.

So, since we couldn't buy coral ($$ saved), I instead went on a sticker mission for the beer fridge.  I also enabled Teh German to purchase this automated system/tracker thing.  Another vendor had talked about it, after I asked what he did with his tanks when he went on travel and he said he had this system.  I am very concerned about what will happen with the tank while we are in Germany in May/June, specifically, after Teh German leaves for Germany.  See?  I DO care about the tank!  HA!

Since we couldn't buy coral, there wasn't really much else to look at, at the event.  So we headed out around 1:15 to our lunch destination: Hall's Chophouse.

Received this achievement when I checked in on Yelp, after checking into Wentworth Mansion, Peninsula Grill, and then Hall's.  #TreatYoSelf

Hall's gave us free champagne since we were celebrating.
I did not drink mine since I'd gotten a hangover from the champagne the night before and because it was gross.

The bison steak with truffle butter that I'd been dreaming about for quite a while was everything I'd dreamed it would be.

After lunch, we enjoyed our beverages at the table, then eventually headed out to do some "window shopping" on King Street.  There were a millionty people (because it was Saturday), no less than 15 different bachelorette groups with flocks of females just straggling down the street and on their phones and clucking away, and it was hot (~80°F) and I was dressed in long sleeves because I don't know how to dress unless it's cold.

There was some intestinal distress that caused a hijinx in the planned activities, but no one was hurt (i.e. I didn't kill Teh German for taking out his distress on me when we couldn't find a public bathroom).  After 2 pit stops, we agreed to head to the next hotel: 1837 Bed & Breakfast.

Not a mansion, but still cute.  It was cozy where the mansion was luxury.  It was run by a couple who were super friendly.  They also served afternoon tea, but instead of going down to tea, we stayed in the room, relaxing (i.e., me napping, Teh German scrolling, then napping).  We had purchased tickets for a walking ghost tour that included the dungeon for 7:00, so around 6:30, we roused ourselves and headed towards the meeting point for the tour.

The old dungeon is in the lowest level of this building.

The ghost tour was interesting.  Again, we didn't see anything, but we learned some history, which is always fun.  Since we were close, I wanted Kilwin's for dessert.  While we were walking down Market, I noticed a shop that had patents printed on pieces of wood, similar to what Teh Running Bestie had gotten Teh German for his birthday, except his is on metal.

The other thing this shop offered is the letter photos so you can spell words.  For years and years, I've talked about taking the photos to create one of these frames.  So, I gave up on that dream and we purchased the frame and letters to make our name as a Celebratory Treat Yo'Self Weekend Memorabilia.

While we don't actually do projects well together,
we SLAY at making decisions together.
We decided on these letters, mat color, and frame color in less than 10 minutes.
#BoomBitches

Finally, Kilwin's!

We found a place to perch to eat our ice cream, then we walked back to the B&B.  We had some screen time and eventually, it was bedtime, especially since we were losing an hour that night.  Blech.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, breakfast was served at the B&B.  A delicious quiche that had ham and some veggies and homemade breadcrumbs.  There was also fruit, a homemade bundt cake, and tea/coffee.  We chatted with the owners some about Codfather and how much they loved the place.  After we finished with breakfast, we headed back upstairs to gather our stuff and check out.

We agreed to stop at Metto and then Waterfront Memorial Park in Mount Pleasant before we headed home.

We reminisced about the first time we held hands, at the place we first held hands.

The sun wasn't bearing down on us, so I was kinda chilly since the breeze was.. brisk.  After about 15 minutes of people/bird watching and drinking our coffees, we decided to head home.

Since it was "nice" out (hot if you ask me), I changed when we got home and we took the dogs on a walk.  We ran into Teh Dental Hygienist, Teh AF Maintainer, Baby, and pups, who we chatted with for a while.  We also saw Roux's Humom walking Gracie.  As we approached our house, our across the street neighbors were out with the kids and we chatted with them for a bit.  Cold Hands had come back from church and he was loading his car, so we finally went home and chatted with him for a bit before he headed home.

Meri couldn't decide if she wanted to snuggle or window gaze.

She went with both.

Before I laid down to take a nap, I prepped dinner.  Hoisin chicken in the crockpot.

While I napped, Teh German had screen time.  Eventually, he headed out for a motorcycle ride/beer meet up with some friends.  He was back around 5, since I'd told him that's when dinner would be.  I woke up around the time Teh German left.  I planned the menu for the week (easy peasy since I am not here for most of the week) and talked with Teh Dad and made a grocery order and scooped poop.  When Teh German came home, I was finishing up dinner.

It was weird not being harassed by the dogs at 5:30, but I pointed out to Teh German that in their world, it was still 4:30 and it wasn't their dinner time yet.  I held out until 6:15 on feeding them, just because the longer we feed at 5:30, the more likely it is that we will be harassed before 5:30.

After dinner, we prepped lunch, cleaned up, and then plopped down in front of the TV for episodes of The Office.  At 9:30 we headed upstairs, but my brain was not ready.  I didn't sleep well because fucking time change and because it's hot as balls.  To the point that I set the AC to 72 for the night and turned the fan up.  I still woke up in a damp spot of sweat.  Blech.

______________________________________________

An overwhelmingly good weekend, a much needed staycation/celebration/Husband-Wife weekend.  It was nice getting out of our comfort zone and doing things we've talked about doing one day.  It was also nice celebrating US and the awesomeness that we've achieved and done up to this point.  We also considered this kind of a birthday celebration since we hadn't done anything just us to celebrate OUR birthdays (we usually go out to a fancy dinner and we didn't even do that this year).

Our next adventure will be in June, something European, but it is currently unplanned.  We do have an anniversary party to attend at the beginning of the month, but otherwise, our schedule is clear.

This week is also an adventure:
-I'm headed to Baltimore today for an extended, multi-location slumber party with Teh Running Bestie.  I'll be in Baltimore tonight with Teh Running Bestie and Teh Chief Smartass and the beasties. 
-Wednesday, Teh Running Bestie and I are driving to Pittsburgh.
-Thursday, we see Mumford & Sons.
-Friday, we part ways and I return to Charleston.
-Saturday, I'm running the Rugged Maniac 5k with a gym/school mate.
-Sunday, we have a date with Auntie P.
-Monday, Spring Break is officially over.

At some point, during all that, I need to accomplish homework that is due the week we return from Spring Break, bleh.  In good news, only a little over one month until the Spring 2019 semester ends, after we return from Spring Break!  I'd say the end is near, but I'll spend all of May "in school", June will be travelling/vacation, July is chemistry class, August starts my FINAL YEAR of undergraduate anything.  For forever.  Definitely.  Hard stop.  Period.  EVER.