Busy Weekend - and Beau Rivage, Here We Come!

Another weekend has passed quickly. I went an entire week without posting this time. This past week was pretty hectic.. I traveled for work two days, and spent the rest of the time trying to get caught up before leaving on my trip tomorrow. That's the worst thing about taking a vacation - you have to run yourself ragged before you leave, catching up on work and getting ready to go.

Friday night we joined friends up at Capital City Club for dinner - we opened several bottles of wine among the eight of us - and had a terrific time! Saturday we did some yard work and I cleaned the outdoor furniture on the deck.. then Dennis and I headed out later in the afternoon to the other side of town for some tax-free shopping at Columbiana Center and dinner. I love the tax-free holiday - there were some awesome sales going on to start with - and with no taxes, it was a great time to get a few things!

Today I attended the district meeting for the woman's clubs in South Carolina.. it was a great meeting, and it was great to see several friends from around the state that I had not seen since our April convention. After the meeting, we headed out to dinner, then I came home to pack for my trip to Biloxi!

Early tomorrow morning, my mom and I roll out for our second annual trip to the Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, MS.. we are planning to rent a car on Tuesday and drive over to New Orleans and Slidell too - we used to live in Slidell, about 31 years ago, and I have not seen it since I was 10 years old.. I have been back to New Orleans, but not Slidell. There's a tropical storm brewing in the gulf of Mexico as we speak - so I hope we do NOT run into that!

Anyway, I know my mom and I will have a wonderful time - this is her birthday trip so we are going to celebrate her birthday - and hopefully win a little money on the slots! haha! This will be quite a week - we return Thursday night from Biloxi, then I have to go to Charlotte on Friday for some work-related stuff, then we head to Abbeville on Saturday, which is my mom's ACTUAL birthday - we are all going there, to have lunch at the famous Yoder's and see a matinee at the opera house - can't wait!

Too short of a weekend!!!

Well, I must say.. this weekend was WAY too short... Friday night I headed out with Tammy, Cindy, Angie, Elizabeth and Chris to Bar Louie @ the Village at Sandhill.. we enjoyed cocktails and appetizers.. then we headed over to the movie theater to see Mamma Mia - only to find out that the movie was SOLD OUT! Arghhhhhh! Undaunted by this turn of events, we headed back in to Bar Louie for a few minutes, then strolled on down to the grassy circle and headed in to Wild Wings, where we got drinks at the bar and went outside to a table to listen to the last bit of the concert going on and hung out for quite awhile. Dennis and Kevin were there already, since they had plans to get together that evening, so we crashed their "male bonding" time - but I think they rather enjoyed hanging out with six women! Needless to say, I still did not see Mamma Mia - so I hope to try AGAIN another night! A fun time was had by all though so it kinda worked out great!

On Saturday we just did yard work and I worked some on some work for my office, then we headed out for yummy BBQ at Little Pigs for dinner, with my mom and stepdad.. then it was over to Home Depot to buy some flowers for Dennis to plant today!

Today, Sunday, we went to church this morning, then just spent a quiet afternoon... cooking Mexican at home for dinner tonight! I'm taking a little break right now from working some, so I thought I'd catch up on posting some pics - several are pics of our three "children" - our three dogs, Gracie, Prissy and Chase.... I found another pic from my installation as President of JWC, so I've also posted that, and some pics from our recent cruise with friends from Capital City Club aboard the Southern Patriot.

Still have to get pics of the new car - that will be next!

Busy Week, Charlotte, Etc.!!!

This has been a pretty busy week for me workwise... on Monday, I had depositions all day, then spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Charlotte for a class and exam - my mom went with me and we made an "overnight getaway" out of it... we did manage to hit two of our favorite restaurants in the world, Cheesecake Factory for lunch and PF Chang's for dinner.. YUM! Got a little shopping time at two Charlotte malls in too! My class went well and I passed my exam! Sweet!

Came home Wed. night and then had to get up this morning to head to Sumter for a morning depo at Tuomey Regional Med Center, then back to Columbia for an afternoon depo here in town. Then back home to my office to do more work. Thankfully, I'm off on Friday and heading out with several girlfriends to see Mamma Mia while Dennis heads to the ball game! busy week - but looking forward to the weekend!

Busy Weekend!

Wow, a busy weekend this weekend... the other night, we got together with our friends Christina and Glenn, which I forgot to post the other day... Glenn has a 2-year contract in Saudi, so he's home every other month for a month.. fortunately, we were able to get together with them and do some catching up! Friday night, we went to a wine tasting at Gourmet Shop in Five Points - haven't been there for awhile! Our friend Tammy joined us. We tasted several wines, then headed to Yesterday's for a bite to eat and a couple drinks while catching up with Tammy.

Saturday night we went to my friend Charlene's engagement party. We enjoyed some delicious BBQ and a couple glasses of wine.. a very nice evening... I'm so happy for Charlene and Brian. I think engagement really agrees with her - she looks wonderful! Congrats, Charlene!

Dennis had usher duties at church this morning, and I had lay reading duties.. afterward, we hit the thicket for breakfast, then did some shopping this afternoon at Lowe's and Wal Mart before heading to dinner and then home to relax for a bit. Pretty busy weekend - but it went by wayyyyy too fast. I've got to get ready for my little overnight trip to Charlotte Tuesday/Wednesday. I've got to go there Tuesday to take a work-related class that ends with a test on Wednesday. But hopefully I'll manage to hit two of my favorite restaurants while I'm there, Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's! Yum!

Enough for tonight - time to turn in!

International Days!

I seem to be making the "ethnic rounds" the last couple of days...last night, I got together with the Girls' Night Out gang -known affectionately as GNO - we gathered at Sumo's for happy hour and dinner and had a blast! I think Sumo's has the best Japanese food in town. That was the first time I've been in there since they burned down about a year ago.. I have eagerly been looking forward to going back now that it's reopened. And I was very happy to see that they built it back just like it was before - same layout and all! We had a rather flirtatious cook - I think he enjoyed cooking for a dozen women!

Tonight I had dinner with Joan at San Jose, so I did the Mexican thing. It was great catching up with her - haven't seen her a whole lot lately. We enjoyed a nice cold beer, some nachos and some catching up time! Afterward I went and met up with Dennis at Richland Mall - he was getting his hair cut so I had to wait for him - but entertained myself trying on clothes for awhile! Of course, one of my favorite pasttimes!

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday - it seems like it's been a long week. It promises to be a busy weekend though - a wine tasting on Friday night, a service and reception at church Sat night for our pastor who is leaving, and then we have to leave that to attend an engagement party. No rest for the weary!

CATCHING UP!

Wow, I can't believe it's been four days since I posted on the blog - that's the longest I've gone since I started it! Just had an incredibly busy weekend and Monday, I guess. After a long work day on Friday, I headed up to Capital City Club for a committee meeting - I'm on the club's events committee, and our meeting was at 4:30 on Friday afternoon. Afterward, I headed back toward home, out to the NE, and met Dennis and some other friends of ours at Vino 100 for a wine tasting. We enjoyed tasting a few wines, then the six of us headed over to Carrabba's for dinner - we took two bottles of wine in with us - and finished both! An incredibly fun evening was had by all!

Saturday, after getting up and spending the day on yard work and various projects around the house all day, we knocked off early and got ready and headed up to the lake to enjoy an evening cruise on the Southern Patriot with the gang from Capital City Club.. we enjoyed some great food and cocktails - and a beautiful evening! The weather was perfect - very nice evening and NO stormy weather for a change! We sat on the upper deck with our friends and enjoyed some great Jimmy Buffett music and a wonderful time! I will post a couple pics from that soon, when I get them from Dennis.

On Sunday, I was bad - and lazy - instead of getting up and going to church, I slept in and let Dennis go without me. He had ushering duties, so he had to go - I felt so wiped out, I just got another hour and a half or so of sleep, then got up and did some work. Vacation bible school started Sunday night @ church but we opted to not go to the first night because we were just too tired! Tonight, though (Monday) we did go - enjoyed dinner and fellowship and an interesting program.. every night this week, they are doing a different program of some interest for the adults while the kids do their own thing in the other building. Tonight's program was presented by a guy who used to work for SLED in the forensic toxicology area - about crime scene investigation. Now when I watch Law & Order, I'll know a thing or two! (maybe!) Anyway, it was a VERY interesting program.

Got home tonight and booked my hotel room for Charlotte next week - I have to go up to take a class to get my NC notary.. it's SO easy here in SC - you just fill out paper work and you've got it.. in NC, you have to sit through an all-day class and then take a test at the end of the day. I'm going up next Tuesday and Wednesday - the class is Wednesday, but I'm going up Tuesday. My mom is going with me, and we're going to hit the mall of course, and probably Cheesecake Factory for dinner! She'll relax while I'm in class on Wednesday, then after it's over, around 3:00, we'll hit the mall again for a short while before heading to our OTHER fave restaurant in Charlotte, PF Chang's, for dinner, before coming home - not really looking forward to an all-day boring class - but I am looking forward to the restaurants and the mall - I always love going to Charlotte!

Time to turn in for tonight! Glad I could find a few minutes to catch up this blog!

ANOTHER NEW LUNCH SPOT!

I have another new lunch spot to go to now... today I had lunch with my friend Kelly at Zoe's - the place on Forest Drive that used to be Fran's. I had not been to Fran's in years, and recently drove by and saw that it had reopened as Zoe's. Kelly suggested Zoe's, and I wanted to try it, so we went there! Had an excellent chicken salad wrap and fruit on the side.. it was yummy! We had a great time catching up! Afterward I ran a couple errands and headed home. Need to get some more WORK done - that W word again!

My stepdad had laser eye surgery this morning to correct a detached retina. He discovered the problem on the 4th of July and went to the doctor again on Monday to follow up, and they scheduled the surgery for this morning. When they started doing it, they discovered the retina had detached in TWO places - so it took longer than they expected.. but it went well, and he's now at home recuperating, so fortunately, that went fine! He shouldn't be out of commission too long, a few days or so.

Last night we went up to Capital City Club for happy hour - caught up with several friends up there and enjoyed cocktails and a fun time hanging out.. we ended up deciding to stay for dinner and had a great dinner. Dennis got his b-day dinner free since he just had a birthday. We saw quite a lightning show out the windows of the main dining room. We even got the bartender last night to create a new drink for us with our name on it - it's ALMOST Long Island Iced Tea, but since it lacked the tequila, it wasn't exactly - so we called it the Stanley Special! So now we have our own drink at Capital City Club! Yay!

Tonight, we are making dinner at home, and just hanging out here.. nice for a change! Glad to have a night at home - doesn't seem to happen too often lately!