April 11-16th

Wednesday  - Travel

Columbus > Charlotte

I am working this weekend in Charlotte, so I decided to go a few days early and make it into a little vaca.

Got in mid morning and had lunch with my long-time friend Donna.  She is part of the reason I am where I am today.  She took a chance and hired me all those years ago.  We had a great lunch at Firebirds and had fun catching up.

After that I stopped into the office and visited for a while.  The renovations had recently been completed so it was cool to see where everyone sat now and their new cubes.

In the evening, I went over to Shannon’s.  She made dinner and then we met up with some of her friends at a wine bar.

Once back at her place, we stayed up way too late watching TV.

Thursday

Charlotte

Went for a nice long walk this morning.

I had lunch with my friend Mark at Bad Daddy’s.

In the evening, we went over to Erin & Casy’s.  They were having a cookout because the NHRA crew is also in town this weekend.  It was fun and always nice to see people outside of work.

Friday

Charlotte

We went for another nice long walk this morning.

Eventually we got around and spent the day shopping. 

We had lunch at a place called CowFish in South Park.

www.thecowfish.com

It’s a Sushi Burger Bar.  Delish!

(and I don’t eat sushi)

In the evening,  I headed Uptown (which is really downtown Charlotte) to the hotel.  I knew if I stayed at Shannon’s that I would stay up too late.

Saturday

2012 Jordan Brand Classic

Walked the couple of blocks to work.  

The day went well and we had all sorts of visitors from the office which is always fun.

After the game, I went back to the hotel to drop my stuff and then head out for a night in Uptown.

At first I hung out at the hotel bar with various friends from the office.  Then we moved on to another bar. 

 Then a few of us went on to God knows where.  It was with my friends Steve & Dirk, along with Dirk’s girlfriend and her brother.

Around 2:30am we ended up at some pizza place and I realized I had lost my debit card.  Steve immediately started walking our path back thru all the places we had been.  About 30 minutes later I found the card in my bra.  Ooops!

They walked me back to the hotel and by the time I was on my floor, I was literally bouncing off the walls walking down the hall to my room.  I was in really bad shape.  

Sunday

Oh boy.  Not good.

The plan for today was to meet my uncle for a late breakfast around 10:30, see his new place and then go on over to my friend Mark’s house to have a cookout with the family.

Around 10, I texted my uncle explaining breakfast was gonna have to be lunch since I was having a rough start to the day.

Found his new place.  Got the tour and then we headed out for lunch.  

I thought for sure, more than once, I was going to fall off the stool.  (we were sitting at a high top table).

I force fed myself half of some sort of sandwich.  I am sure it was good.  My goal at the time was to just get something in me without puking.

We went back to his house and he suggested that perhaps I nap before going to Mark’s – but I bit the bullet and went.

It was awesome to spend time with Mark and his wife Lori, whom I worked with many years ago in Florida…  before she was Mark’s wife and before I had met Mark.  (small world)

It was also awesome to play with their adorable triplets.  Until they wanted to play with my hair - I politely explained that Nic had stayed up past her bed time last night and her head was hurting, so we couldn’t play with Nic’s hair.

What was I thinking?  It’s now like 4pm and I am still hung over.  What moron gets wasted the night before they are to spend time with time with triplets!  Oh, how I suck!

Had a great cookout and played all sorts of games with the kids.  They are awesome.  I wish I had felt better so I could have had even more fun!

Went back to Shannon’s in the evening.  We had a very low key evening of watching TV.

Monday

I went for walk this morning alone as Shannon went back to work today.

I had lunch with my friend Anne.  It was nice to see her and catch up.

In the evening, I headed to the airport.

Great week, too much alcohol for sure, but lots of fun!