karaspeak

Friday we were off to Modern Salon & Spa, my little slice of heaven I always visit when in Charlotte, for my cut and color with the infamous Lyndsay, and Aiden's first little haircut! After he did his thing and played will all the toys on the desk, Lyndsay expertly trimmed his little locks. He looked like a little boy, which is what he is...I just mean, not so much a baby anymore. Well, needless to say, the travel and hair cut tuckered him out, so he took a nice little nap on Daddy's chest for the remainder of our visit at Modern. He won over most of the staff, if not all, and we all left feeling like a million bucks!

Next, it was off to visit Marye Pat, my former manager at Wachovia. She had a sweet little gift for Aiden and we got to see her beautiful new home. I miss working with her so much as we were like peanut butter and jelly and were able to pick up right where the other left off on just about everything. She is such a great manager and friend and will at least be a friend for life even if not my manager! We had a great time visiting and Aiden enjoyed seeing all the breakable things in her house and the tissue paper from his gift. Curious George, indeed!

He just looks like he did something wrong already!

Us posing with MPK.

Next it was back to the house for afternoon naps. Don't you miss those? It's one great thing about a mini-vacation. Naps. Then Nathan and I headed to Red Rocks for a late dinner after putting Aiden to bed. I seriously love Red Rocks. They have the best appetizer, the queso-spinach dip served hot in a fresh bread bowl with tons of tri-colored salty chips. It's the perfect beginning to any meal, and most often is my entire meal. In addition, they are one of the few places in Charlotte that carries and organic chicken meal. This meal, we could sing praises over. Organic Bar-B-Que chicken, wild rice, and fresh steamed veggies. And if you're feeling like you'd rather be "bad" than good, you can swap the rice for some killer skinny fries. To top every meal off, their dessert tray is out of this world, and though we planned to save room, we rarely do, so we didn't imbibe, but did find ourselves lusting over the key lime pie and oreo cheesecake. Another day, another diet. Not today.

Saturday we had planned all head to Raleigh so I could attend Christy's baby shower and the boys could hang out with Nathan's grandparents who live in Cary, but work ended up getting in the way of our travel plans and I couldn't find a ride at the last minute, so we found ourselves in Charlotte for that day as well. I was really disappointed in not being able to be a part of her special day, especially since we live far apart, but plan to go and visit shortly after the birth to help her and the baby out. That might even be more fun! The best part about being in Charlotte is the super duper YMCA system they have. I do miss this. There was one in the building I worked in downtown that I frequented daily either for lunch or dinner and it was always a grand experience. Since the Tabler's live right down the street from the Harris YMCA, I got to go to a morning Spin class and get my workout on. There is pretty much one every hour on the hour at this Y on Saturday mornings, so it makes it hard to come up with an excuse NOT to go. And boy, am I glad I went. Before class, we were chatting outside the room and were discussing clips vs. tennis shoes on the bike. I was telling how I'd not yet "thrown down" on a pair of cycle shoes since I haven't joined the Y in TN and was thinking about getting a bike for the house. "When I do that, I'll get shoes," I spouted. So fast forward to the end of class and one of the folks who'd been chatting (a 70+ year old gentleman) came running out of the Y after me as I was getting my purse out of the trunk. As much as I should have been a little frightened, I wasn't. Odd.

But he just said, "I promise I'm not trying to hit on you or anything, I want to buy you a pair of shoes."

I said, "What?! What do you mean?"

"I just want you to have some of those shoes. They are awesome. So, go to ProCycle sometime today and there will be money waiting for you to get a pair. Do you know where that is?"
So I named the street and he confirmed...and I said, "But you don't even know my name."

"I don't need to," he replied, "I'll just tell them a cute girl with brunette hair will come in to pick them up. And if you don't go, the money will just sit there."

Shocked, stunned, and not sure what to do, I got in my car and proceeded home still curious about what had just happened. I told Nathan and his family and they all thought it was crazy as well, but amazed at what someone was willing to do. To make my long story short, I called a few places around town only to find that he had indeed come into the store near our old condo and put a gift card at the front desk for me to buy a pair of shoes. Anna Jane went with me and we picked them out, clips and all. It cost me $10 to get a really nice pair of shoes. Pretty stinking cool. The funny part is the store wasn't called ProCycle, it was called Bike Source, but back in the day they had a sign on their door that read that way, so the person who sole me the shoes said, "Wow, that guy must be old to remember that!"

We spent the rest of the day with Nathan's family and enjoyed a quick trip to the mall and by our favorite Harris Teeter in the world, Morrocroft. It's like the mother ship of all Harris Teeters. Love that place and can't wait till the one is open in Westhaven. I see it every time I leave the neighborhood and get more and more excited to see those florescent lights aglow.

Since his family cannot come to Aiden's birthday party in July, they had a few gifts for him and he really enjoyed tearing the paper off the packages...I am pretty sure more than any gift that was inside! :) Oh the joy of being One.

Sunday it was off to Elevation Church for the early service, then to lunch at Acropolis, another of my Charlotte favorites. After another quick nap, it was tails down to the airport for the longest lines I have ever seen. Literally out the door. All the doors. And the security lines were completely insane and not even possible to navigate in the short time we had to board. Lucky for us, we have a super cute kid and even though our flight didn't have First Class, we got pushed just a little closer to the front, allowing us to make it just in time! Afater another great flight home, and a proposal to join a nice pilot on a trip to Paris, we arrived safe and sound in Nashville and had a super night's rest in our own comfy beds. Great trip, but man, were we tired. I have a feeling a long week awaits us.

Aiden with his Grandma CeCe

And riding on the rocking horse...not so sure about this thing.

So we tried again. Still not too sure.