let the good times roll

It was such a good weekend. Truly, I feel a little sad and wistful that it will never get to be last weekend again. Boo.

On Friday night we went to a new restaurant. It was good, but I'm not sure if it's going to be around long...not if our waiter has anything to do with it. So first off, he tells us the drink specials. They sound great, so we each order a beverage. Then he comes back and informs us that he was mistaken, those were actually just Monday through Thursday, and it was Friday, but no biggie- his manager said we could have that price just today, since that's what he had told us. Cool. That sounds reasonable. Thanks, man. So we have a total of three drinks.

Now, we had a coupon-- that's why we even tried the place. The coupon is valid for either lunch or dinner, for these certain combination plates, which have a "lunch" price and a "dinner" price, despite being the same thing. That's cool, whatever. We each order a dinner combination plate. The coupon is BOGO.


So the food is good, and we dine on the porch where the weather is superb, and we're ready for our bill. He brings it out and the total is $7.02. I mean...what?? Now, we did have a coupon, and we did supposedly get a better drinks price than we should have, but...$7?? The combination platter (one of them) alone should have been $6.50! So we examine the bill. He charged us for two LUNCH combo (significantly cheaper than the dinner), and then still deducted the amount of the DINNER combo (meaning we were making a profit on one plate). Then he only charges us (the reduced, Mon-Thurs rate) for two drinks. And...a $7 total it is!


So being the overly honest people we are, we call him over. "Hey, um...we really got 3 drinks..." and he nods and winks, 'yeah, yeah, I know, wink wink'...."wow, thanks...but also, it's dinner but you charged us for--" more winking and nodding and a bro-like pat on the back for Matt. "Do you need any change?" Well...no, I guess not...here's your over-100% tip because I have a guilt complex and also have this idea that your manager might realize what you've done and make you pay it back out of your own tip money and I want there to be money there for that scenario...


Anyway. Weird. It was like...too many freebies. I could have been on board with the free drink-- hey, that's a good way to get someone to come back. But then...the rest of it was just too much. Not sure if we'll be going back, although we do have another coupon...


So Saturday started off with our Royal Wedding Viewing and Brunch. I must be honest and admit that I caved in multiple times on Friday and looked at pictures and videos online. I have no self-control when it comes to things like royal weddings. (Things like royal weddings? What other things are like that?) So I was full of spoilers, but I think it made me anticipate Saturday morning even MORE! I spent Friday night (after the strange restaurant experience) pre-gaming: sampling sausage balls and twirling around in my wedding dress.

 The food was SO GOOD. I am a sucker for brunch. Please note (from top, L-R) the doughnuts, sausage balls, muffins, sweet potato biscuits, cinnamon-chip scones, frittata, and BAKED FRENCH TOAST with a monkey-bread twist. Um...I die a little inside, knowing I will never have the same spread before me again.

 Then there was the coffee punch. I first had this delicacy at my sister's bridal brunch. I have been craving it ever since. So I made it. And then Kristin brought Irish Cream to mix in. YUM!! This punch is like a big vat of frappuccinos. With ice cream. And now Irish Cream. So, yeah, it was good.

 There was also tea (on/with Mollyanne's china!) because we were striving for that authentic British vibe...not that I drank any. I was more into the coffee punch. Like ten times.
 

 We spent several hours ogling each others' wedding albums (and watching the actual wedding coverage on TV, duh), and then a few of us capped off the day by prancing around in our actual wedding dresses. WAY FUN! If it was fun being the bride way back then...well, it's super fun being a bride with a few of your favorite friends ALSO being brides!! Also, I do not personally feel like I am normally that mammothly tall, but Mollyanne (who is obviously the only one of the two who would be remotely in my same height-neighborhood) was barefoot and I was wearing (my wedding) heels. I like how Holly and I had very similar dresses...come to find out we had the same designer! Props to Casablanca Bridal: your dresses rock.

Now that I've written all this and reflected on what fun I had dressing up (even when I was by myself in the dressing up, Friday)...I think I lose all of my credibility in claiming I am not a girly-girl. The last few weeks have been insanely girly. I think I forgot to blog about the massage at the spa I had last week. And getting my nails done (at a salon, not by myself as per usual) the week before. I think I am a certifiable girly-girl now. Oh well. Not gonna lie-- it's fun!

Now normally, I would have been sad to leave the Brunch on Saturday...because the rest of the day is gonna be pretty downhill, you know? It's like the feeling after all the presents are opened on Christmas. Happy, but slightly sad that it's over. Ooh, it's also the same feeling I experience about 15 minutes into a massage. Enjoying it, but super sad that it will inevitably come to an end and then I won't have anything else to look forward to. Interesting.

Anyway...I had nothing to fear, because my day was not at all about to get worse. It was about to be equally fun!! Our friends Andrew and Lori came to visit us!! Andrew was a good friend of mine and Matt's from our Wesley days...Matt and he were roommates, and Andrew and I co-led a mission trip together. Lori is his beautiful wife, and we were SUPER excited to get to spend time with them on Saturday!! We have a tradition (if it happens twice, it's a tradition) of going fruit-picking when they come to Athens. Last time it was blueberries. This weekend we went with strawberries. I LOVE strawberry picking. And strawberries. And thinking that every couple looks like Jack and Jill with their little pails.

 In addition to strawberry-picking, we drank Coffee Punch (had to use up the rest of the ingredients!!), spent lots of time talking, and ate at Cali-n-Tito's. It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon...I really wish Andrew and Lori lived closer so that it could happen more often!! They just (and I mean just...as in Friday) bought a new-OLD house. It was built in the 1920s! So they have lots of fun fixer-uppin' to do, and I am going to unleash some of my experience (and by experience, I mean I read Young House Love) on them...so hopefully we will see them again soon.

 
So there's my good-time-rollin' weekend. Sunday was good, albeit busy, and today I had a field trip to the park which resulted in a full-on allergy coma which resulted in me leaving work two hours early (because I couldn't see through my swollen-shut eyes) (so I drove myself home-- SAFE!!) which resulted in me sleeping for three hours which has resulted in this really long blog and will probably also result in me not sleeping tonight. Awesome.

On the plus side, Matt has been cooking dinner (grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, and wild rice) while I enjoy my 'sick time' on the couch...so I almost hate to bring this blog to an end...for then I will be faced with feeling really selfish if I don't go help in the kitchen. Oh the conundrum...