whew

::blows dust off of blog::

Well, that was an extended break, wasn't it?  Yes.  Yes, it was.  And that is all I have to say about that.

This weekend, I got to help my BFF (of 30 years) celebrate her birthday here in Charlotte at the Ballantyne Resort.  Her husband, Joe, planned the entire weekend and enlisted my help through a flurry of frantic texts and one phone call.  Oh, we had so much fun!  Meredith arrived on Friday evening after a few delays due to some crazy thunderstorms here in the Charlotte area but I picked her up at the airport and off we went for our weekend of luxury.  David told me at some point before I left, "I think you might be too white trash for the Ballantyne resort."  I told him I had already thought of that.  Eh, whatever.  Not 10 minutes after we got to our room (overlooking the golf course with a balcony), there was a knock at the door and a woman announced "in room dining."  I was sure they had made a mistake because we hadn't even been there long enough to get a glass of water, much less order a steak dinner.  But nay, Joe had come through again with a bottle of wine and 4 chocolate covered strawberries!

You may also notice the 2 bottles of Fiji water sitting back there that were "thoughtfully provided" by the hotel.  They would be replaced as needed at a cost of $6.50 a bottle.  OMG.  We did not drink them. I got changed out of my shorts and t shirt (see, white trash) and we headed down to the bar for dinner.  David was appalled that I had 2 caipirinhas with my dinner (BEFORE RUNNING!) but whatever.  They were delish.  We split a bunch of tapas size plates and talked and laughed and caught up.  Very fun.  I found my old diaries from late elementary, middle and high school as well as college, in my closet, so I brought those along for some entertainment.  We hit the hay relatively early since we had to get up at the crack of dawn to run a 5k.

Even turning my white noise app on my phone up as loud as it would go didn't drown out the screechy, laughing women in the hall but we managed to finally fall asleep.  In the morning, I was vaguely aware of some muffled music and I mentally composed a scathing letter to the resort in my head about how it wasn't so luxury after all if I could hear MUSIC through the WALLS in the early morning hours.  Then I realized it was our alarm clock that had somehow gotten turned way down.  Oops.  We bypassed the $6.50 bottles of water and snitched 2 from a rack outside the hotel that also held towels and jogging routes.  Hee.  We got downtown and I do not care how unathletic you may be, the mood before a race is so much fun!  People are stretching and jogging all over the place and waiting in line for the porta jons and laughing.  Plus, you feel a little bit like a bad ass with your number pinned on your shirt and your timing chip on your shoe.  Everyone should do it at least one time.  It was very, VERY humid outside but the temperature was okay.  We started out pretty strong and David and Maggie were waiting for us at the 1 mile mark!

Obviously, Meredith is a much more seasoned runner than I as 

I was struggling to hold myself upright, much less put my hands over my head.

 I must comment on the forearm muscle definition here.  

If you could see the uncropped version of this picture, 

you would know why I am fixating on my arms.  

My legs....don't look like I've been running 2 miles a day for the past however long.  Ugh.

 Meredith thinks I was pretending not to know her, but no, 

just slogging on and trying not to gasp too loudly.

I seriously thought I was going to die here.  This hill went on and on and ON.  

Also, mini Cooper in the background!

We finished with a time of 41 minutes which I thought was pretty respectable for me.  Probably kind of slow for Meredith but she stuck it out and ran with me the entire time and for that, I am thankful.  I probably would have walked over half the race if I hadn't had a partner with whom to run.  It really was fun, though.  I will be running another race in October.

We went back to the hotel and got cleaned up and went down to the restaurant and I had some of the best French toast I've ever had in my LIFE.  Someone on trip advisor described it as life changing, and yes, I might say that I agree.  Afterwards, I took Meredith for some Fine Shopping at Target, Ulta and a closing down Borders.  I was sucked in by all the florescent signs screaming 25% off all books and thought I was getting a good deal, but I don't think I saved that much money upon looking back at it.  Oh well.  Books are always a good purchase.  After lunch, the next item on our agenda was 80 minute holistic massages with hot stone therapy, scalp massage and aromatherapy.  Holy CRAP, that was maybe the best 80 minutes of my entire life.  I had never had a hot stone massage before but I would highly recommend it.  At first, I kind of wanted to scream because the stones were so hot but then it felt so good on my sore muscles.  The table was heated and I think I fell asleep for part of the back massage. When the masseuse woke me up had me flip over, I was suddenly extremely hot and thirsty.  I sort of wanted to rip the blanket off of me because I was so warm.  At the end, Meredith and I met up in the hallway and compared our awesome hair and then sat in a dazed state in the "recovery room."  I think it was actually called the "relaxation room," we were definitely in a state of recovery.  We then decided that sitting in the sauna would be a wise next move, so we baked in there for a while and then showered off and headed for the pool.  The pool was sooo nice and it had to have been heated because it wasn't cold at all.  Maybe it was just that hot that day.  About 5 minutes after we got in, it started thundering like CRAZY so we had to get out.  ::sad trombone::  After a rather large flash of lightning and crash of thunder, we beat a trail back to our room.  The indoor pool was just a bit too chlorine-y.  We opened the bottle of wine and sat on the balcony and enjoyed watching the rain pour down and listening to the thunder.

 Our view

Wine and old diaries=thumbs up!

Here is what I learned about myself upon re-reading my old diaries:  I was INTENSELY jealous of pretty much everyone on the planet because I was sure their lives were more fun/cooler/more exciting than mine.  I loathed every single thing about myself and spent a lot of time listing all of the things I despised.  I wanted to "get even" with everyone who I thought had a better life than me.  Ugh.  It sort of pains me to read that stuff because I wish I had known that things were going to get better.  Also, I really could have used a good anti-depressant.

This weekend was absolutely fabulous and I had the best time.  It is always fun to get together with Meredith and our families but there is nothing like spending time together without any distractions.  I can't imagine a better way to spend a weekend and I am thankful she was able to come visit.  A toast to our friendship of THIRTY years!!!!!