Saturday night, after I recovered from the car trip at my mom’s house for a bit, I headed to Lindsey’s to get ready for our big night out!  It was so fun to get ready over at her place – it felt like the old days when we lived together for so many years.  We blared the new Lady Gaga cd that Lindsey scored before it was released (love!), shared makeup, complained about how we looked – all the usual stuff.  Then we headed out to meet my mom at Bankok Bistro for her birthday dinner!

I was starving from being on the road all day without much food, so I ordered a giant plate of vegetable and tofu thai spicy brown sauce with brown rice – delicious!  This plate was too large even for my giant appetite though, and I took the rest home to enjoy later.  After dinner, Linds and I were off to Mt. Adams!

Over a month ago, we got a Facebook message from our good friend Leah’s sister, telling us that her husband was planning a SURPRISE 29th birthday party for Leah!!  Imagine my excitement when I realized I could actually come home for this, and be there for all the fun!!  Hearing about the party solidified my plan to head home early to Cincinnati, and I told Sarah and Greg that I would be a surprise long distance guest!

Linds and I were running late from dinner, so we raced to Tavern on the Hill in Mt. Adams and luckily got there in time to beat the big surprise!  We were soooo nervous once we got the text that they were on their way…

Leah was TOTALLY surprised and in shock!  It was so much fun to be there and be part of such a fun celebration.  At first she was kind of nervous and not sure what to do, since she had planned on going home and watching a movie, and was suddenly surrounded by tons of friends from work, high school, college – all sorts of people that were ready to help her celebrate the big two-nine.

Her sister Sarah brought delicious mini cupcakes (mine was peanut butter – YUM!), and for the first hour or two we just talked and caught up and had a good time relaxing and enjoying our drinks (club soda with lime – yum!). 

The next thing we knew there was a DJ setting up on a tiny stage next to us, which could only mean that one thing – dance party time!  Now keep in mind that this place was basically a restaurant, not a bar.  Never to be stopped though, Leah’s friend Meghan immediately enlisted the DJ to help her start moving tables out of the way, literally creating a dance floor in the middle of this restaurant.  Classic.

Not only did we take over the place and create a dance floor, we also had a personal private DJ since this place had about 20 people in it total.  The birthday girl could hear any song she wanted, which resulted in a lot of fun and a lot of dancing.  Linds and Leah discussed what songs they would want to hear next, and Lindsey went with her favorite – a line dance of course – the Cupid Shuffle…

I love dancing, but the line dance is just not my thing.  So I cackled with laughter and took pictures from the side :)  At one point Leah asked the DJ to play songs from when we were in college, so he started playing things like Ja Rule, Old Dirty Bastard, and Ludacris – so ridiculous, yet so fun.  As the night went on, lots of shots were taken, the music requests got worse, and the dancing got completely out of control.

It was such a fun and unexpected night of dancing with my friends.  I had no idea going into it that it would turn into such a wild scene, and I loved every minute of it.  We were really sad that Liz had the flu and couldn’t make it, because she loves a dance party with a DJ more than anyone!  I would have been so bummed if I had heard about the surprise party from far away in Charlotte, and I was soooo happy to have been able to be a part of it.  Leah and I have been friends since high school (over 12 years!) and she is one of those people I know I’ll be friends with for life.  

Around 2am, I was literally dead tired from driving 8 hours to Cincinnati, racing around to get ready, and then dancing all night at the bar.  We hugged the birthday girl goodbye, and headed back to Lindsey’s place for an old school roommate sleepover. 

Sunday morning I got up and went for a short 5 mile run around my old neighborhood.  I love running here so much!  The rest of the day was spent catching up with my family, eating at my favorite places, and running various shopping errands with Lindsey.  Tonight is one last super special shopping mission, and a ladies dinner at my favorite veggie place!  I’ll be back with recaps tonight…

Friday night we were lucky enough to get to have a fabulous dinner at Cantina with Casey’s cousin Haley,who was in town for ht weekend!  Except that Cantina had an hour long wait, so we actually had dinner at 131 Main!  We had never been there, and it was delicious, so in the end it worked out for the best.  We loved seeing Haley and catching up, so we stayed and talked for a while, but then of course when we got home I was kicking myself for how late it was.  And of course, I was leaving the next morning for an entire WEEK, and hadn’t packed a thing.

One of the great benefits of being a student again – the return of Thanksgiving break!  Many months ago when I planned out our overlapping student calendars, breaks, classes, work schedules, etc. – I realized that I would have this whole next week off, but poor Casey had class until Tuesday.  But at the same time, he could hang at home with the dogs, and I could go do something exciting…  So I decided to take advantage of my extra time off, and head to the one place I miss most – HOME!!!

I stayed up super late packing, so I slept in an extra hour so that I wouldn’t be a sleepy mess on the road.  Before I left I dug through our embarrassingly disorganized box of all our miscellaneous music and CDs, trying to find some new tunes for the road.  I found a few old gems of my own, and spent at least ten minutes weeping with laughter when I found a KEITH SWEAT cd in Casey’s old cd book.  He tried to claim it wasn’t his, but I wasn’t hearing one word of it.

I kissed Casey and the pups goodbye, and at 8am, I backed the Murano out of the driveway and headed to Cincinnati!  And since I was all by my lonesome for 8 hours on the road, I documented the journey for the blog:)

It was a beautiful day for driving.  Goodbye, Charlotte!  Don’t worry, I will be back.

Before I knew it, Virginia was welcoming me!  I had exhausted all of my good new music (new Carrie and Miranda CDs!) on my trip to Jacksonville, so I made myself a good old school mix CD for the road, complete with songs from GLEE (!!!), Lady Antebellum, and Sara Bareilles.  It made my first few hours fly by – I played it on repeat and sang at the TOP of my lungs!  

I was also armed with all of these goodies.  I had to use an old-school Google Maps printout instead of relying on my trusty Garmin.  There was a huge rockslide at the North Carolina border a few weeks ago, which Casey unfortunately discovered on a 7 hour drive to Nashville that quickly became a 10 hour detour.  So he planned a new route for me that only added one extra hour to my drive, and I ignored the Garmin for most of the way.  I also had a half-sandwich that I took home from work on Friday, a few honey crisps for when boredom hit, and my favorite “this fig walks into a bar” snacks from Trader Joe’s – yum!  (Oh, and I don’t like driving with shoes on…)

Being used to following the Garmin, I missed a turn at one point and realized it when I saw the sign pointing me to…Charlotte?  Time to turn around!

I’ve made a new resolution to Casey that I won’t talk on the phone or text when I’m driving (does taking pictures count?), so I stuck to it and just enjoyed the amazing scenery on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Seriously, one of the most beautiful parts of the country by far.  I was so happy to be heading home that I kept finding myself getting teary thinking about how long it had been since I’d been there.

The hours flew by and I made it into West Virginia.  Linds, I had to really make efforts to get this picture, but I had to get it for you – Sam’s Hot Dog Stand!!  :)

Around noon I was both hungry and bored, so I deemed it lunch time.   I work at a really great little place called Blynk Organics in uptown Charlotte, and since I work on Frid
ays (and we’re closed on weekends), leftovers are up for grabs at the end of the day – score!  I snacked on a half Thai Sky wrap – ginger peanut tofu, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers, and a sweet chili sauce in a chili wrap – and all organic! 

Around this time I decided I needed some new music, so I busted out some of my old school mix CDs that I had brought along for the ride.  I found one of my best compilations ever – Emily’s Breakup CD – wow.  Girls are so freaking weird, right?  I made this CD after what I thought was a tragic breakup after college.  Being happy and married and totally unable to relate to this music doesn’t stop me now though.  I have a sickening love for some of the most depressing music ever written.  There were some great old songs on this that I hadn’t heard in years, and I sang and cried all the way to Kentucky!

The beautiful horse farms and rolling hills welcomed me with lots of sunshine.  I stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere for my third and final stop!  The last hour reaaaally dragged, and I was so ready for it to be over.  Eight hours of driving all alone, and then finally, there she was in all her glory…

Home sweet beautiful, home!  They say you never know how much you love something until it’s gone, and I have certainly felt that these last few months.  I love this city so much!  I rolled into my old neighborhood literally squealing behind the wheel.  I couldn’t believe how many things looked different or new in just four months!

Waiting at my mom’s house were my mom and fabulous little sister!  After lots of hugs and love, I collapsed onto the couch and we caught up for a while.  Lindsey came over and joined the party too!  But we couldn’t relax for too long.  Linds and I were taking my mom out for a one-day-belated birthday dinner, Sarah was heading to work, and we had a very special surprise planned for that evening.  But I did take a little time to catch up with all of the many other family members at my mom’s house.  Oh, did I not mention she is a crazy cat woman?

First up, and the guy that runs the whole pet scene at the Holcombe house, is Bosley.  He is a precious 2.5 year old Corgi, and the love of my sister’s life.

Next is Toby, my first true love.  I got him in college and he had a horrible neck-breaking accident that left his front two paws numb.  He walks really funny and has a disabled kitty bad attitude because of it, but I think he is the most precious thing in the world.  Oh, and he has the most beautiful big eyes ever.  When Casey and I moved in together, we tried to introduce Toby to the dogs, and it became instantly obvious that it would never work.  Hunting dogs and cats don’t mix:(  It was a very sad day and decision for me, but Toby is happily now living among the million other cats at my mom’s house. 

This is Pretzel.  She is very shy.  I actually gave her to my mom, which she constantly points out when I tell her that she has too many cats.  Lindsey and I went running about two years ago and found her as a tiny baby kitten wandering out in front of an apartment building on a busy road.  We waited for about ten minutes to see if someone was coming back for her, and wandered around for a while looking for an owner.  It was such a busy street – we couldn’t put her back!  So I showed up on my mom’s porch with my hands behind my back and a sheepish grin, and she couldn’t say no…

Believe it or not, these are two different cats.  Kitty on the left (lamest name ever?)and Max on the right.  Kitty was the most recent addition, a stray that my mom insisted was pregnant, and she therefore justified bringing inside.  It’s been a year and we’ve seen no kittens so…  And Max my mom got from an ex-boyfriend of hers that I hated, so sadly for Max, I don’t like him by default.  Although he’s grown on my in the last few years – very silky!  I am sort of indifferent to both of them.  To be honest there are just too many cats here to become obsessed with them all, and 99% of my kitty-loving heart belongs to Toby.

It is so so so fun to be home!  Tales of last night’s surprise adventures continue in the morning…