Which is why, when months ago, one of the Bootie's mother's (Carala!) got in touch with me to make a super special 40th birthday weekend blowout for her precious baby, Meredith. We hashed it out, and Carala made some reservations, and after some super secret footwork on Carala's part, Meredith was sent out of her home last Friday night by her mother with a suitcase and promises that her twin daughters would be fine in her care for the weekend. She was sent with a map, and when she arrived, the front desk made a phone call and....
Carala set us up for a weekend stay in Asheville very near the Biltmore House. We had a wonderful time, eating, getting pampered, touring Biltmore - but mostly catching up with each other, hugging through the hard conversations, listening with joy at the triumphs we celebrate, and learning more about each other and the lives we currently lead.
Carala had bought out Costco and sent it with Merri on the trip. There was wine, and wine, and some food and some more wine and really good cheese and wine, and some sweets, and fruit and shrimp salad and croissants. I didn't eat these, however.
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| fish eat fish food, not humans. |
She also sent some flowers, which I had no idea what to do with. There were no vases in the condo, and the glasses weren't big enough for the bouquet. Which is why, when we went to bed, Merri yelled at me from her room, "Bootie, are my flowers in a blender?" to which I replied, "I couldn't find a vase!" I polled friend Sharon recuperating from ACL surgery at home via text to see if that was weird or not, and she assured me that putting flowers in a blender was a very resourceful and creative solution.
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| it works |
Our first night, we went for a quick dinner at a local restaurant that I can't remember the name and kept saying it was "Ralalalala-something." It was very delicious! Rachel raved about the brussel sprouts to which I replied with a hearty "YUCK."
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| laughing after dinner. both booties insisted i change out of yoga pants and wear makeup to dinner so i decided to one them up with a hairdo. they called me megan kardashian the rest of the night. |
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| i'll have three of everything please. |
Then, off to tour the Biltmore Estate.
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| on the back porch |
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| with the house at a distance |
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| at the front door. please note that everyone always takes their pictures in the same order - me, merri, rachel. this allegedly gets everyone's 'good' side. that's what they tell me anyway.... |
After a late lunch, we went back to the condo to visit and it came as no surprise when no one wanted to go put on real clothes and go out to a restaurant. We ordered take-out instead and ate in our PJs.
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| rachel had to fight me to put a skirt on over my kitty pjs before going out for takeout. pjs in public is my milleau. |
We had brunch the next morning, and then we went on our respective ways. We have all promised a Knoxville visit over the Easter holiday! Much fun, much laughter, many stories retold and made over the weekend. Thank you Lutz Family for including us in Merri's 40th birthday surprise plans!
But speaking of friends, the weekend started with a visit to poor Sharon to entertain her briefly while she recuperates from surgery. Ya'll? Getting well is BORING. Check out the string of text messages she sent me from bed the other evening:
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| and again the next morning - GOOD MORNING creepy kitty! |
But Sharon's doing well - she only fell with her dog once this morning while walking her, and was only two minutes late to catch her bus!
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| sharon, heal thyself. |
In other news, I ran across this in storage the other day.
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| the hell? what is this? is it real? |
And that's all the news I got for today. Over and OUT!
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