Too Tired to Party

Today is the first day in a while that I am super thankful to  not  have a job. Why, you might ask. Because I'm exhausted. I feel like a tornado blew through my weekend. What happened, you ask. A bachelorette party plus a baby's first birthday party. Here's how my weekend kicked off:

My loooonnnnnggggg time friend is finally (sorry girl) getting married to the love of her life. I thought Sam took his sweet time… But it is all working out beautifully for them. They will graduate in June with super respectable degrees on opposite ends of the country… she'll be a Physician's Assistant and he'll have a PhD in nanometals (something super smarty pants). I met Emily in the third grade when I moved to a new school system. In the fourth grade we were in the same class and we've been friends ever since. She's the kind of friend who I can go months with out talking to, but when we talk it's like nothing's changed.

Back to this weekend. She's in PA school at Wake Forest in Winston Salem, NC, so Friday I set out for what should have been about a 4.5 hour trip north. And this is where the drama begins. I was cruising along quite nicely until I reached North Carolina. Apparently Charlotte equates itself with Atlanta because that is seriously what the traffic was like. It took me an hour to get from one side of Charlotte to the other… bluh. I was starting to panic that I was going to be late. I began running possible scenarios through my head. I decided if I was late, I'd skip going to her house to freshen up and simply meet up at the bar. I'd be slumming, but maybe I could at least fix my makeup in the bathroom. Traffic opened up and Apple Maps informed me that I could expect to be there 5 minutes late. Not too bad. I figured I could make up 5 minutes. Just as I was reaching maximum cruising speed, I crested a hill to see gridlock. I slammed on my breaks to prevent one of those 2 bazillion car accidents you always hear about. At this time it was 4:45. I'd already been in the car for 4 hours. I should have been just outside of Winston Salem, but I was still 50 miles away. Long story short, Interstate 85 was closed. It took me over an hour to go from one exit to the next at which point I finally learned of the closed status and bailed. I backtracked, found another route, and managed to arrive about 8 o'clock.

I never drive. Never. I've been with Sam forever and since practically day one, he insisted on driving. So I was already really nervous about driving all the way to Winston Salem by myself. I fall asleep in the car in about 30 minutes on road trips. I knew it was going to be a long day. In addition, I am terrible at directions. I get lost in my hometown all the time. I learn one way to get somewhere. If I'm on the wrong side of town from my starting point, I've been known to drive all the way to the start of my "starting point" to get to my destination rather than risk getting lost by finding a new way. The detour added another layer of stress entirely. The whole time I kept thinking "what the heck did people do before iPhones and GPS?" How awful.

Regardless, I made it. And right as the girls were ordering dinner too. Score. I was starving and I hadn't stopped to pee since Clemson, 5 hours and a diet coke ago. Dinner was lovely. All of Emily's bridesmaids are super nice and I met a score of her PA friends as well. Slightly overwhelming for this introvert, but I managed. And I of course didn't take a single picture the entire weekend, so I'm stealing a couple from Facebook as evidence that I was in fact there. We ate at a really cute restaurant with pretty tasty food called Jeffrey Adams on Fourth downtown.

Emily and I along with Kristi,
another bridesmaid who traversed and survived I-85

My favorite moment of the evening was when our waiter delivered a brownie sundae to Emily with congratulations and well wishes. His comment was "it's kind of like the opposite of your birthday". Huh? So getting married is kind of like death? Thanks for the encouragement mister waiter man. Good news, the third anniversary is approaching for me, and well, I'm still alive.

Emily and her Deathday Treat

Sadly, my bachelorette weekend had to come to a close early as I had a special little person's birthday to get back for. Saturday morning I enjoyed a scrumptious brunch prepared by Emily's PA friends and then I headed back down I-85 for home. Luckily, this time I made it in 4 hours and 15 minutes, with a stop for gas and refreshments. Uneventful and lovely… my kind of road trip. 

Heads up friends, if you're not in the mood to deal with lots of photos 

of a 1 year old in all of her glory, jump ship now.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to a special little girl who turned one one Saturday, my niece Alexis. We had lots of friends and family over to celebrate her special day. She decided to sleep through most of it. She takes after her aunt, she's not too much of a party girl. But she eventually woke up and enjoyed opening a few presents and smashing some cake.

It's my party, and I'll sleep if I want to

Post nap happy face

Sweet family- she's really good at opening presents

she loved her bear from her great-grandmother

Time to smash some cake

So ladylike

"Why's everybody staring at me?"

Pretty tasty

So sweet… she just wants to share with mommy

The aftermath

Post bath and after everyone went home,
she was up for a few more pictures

A little milk after all that cake

Needless to say, after two parties, in two separate states, I'm a little beat. Add to that the whole daylight savings mess and well, I'm in need of a day to recuperate. But I'm thrilled to have been a part of both parties. Emily, I'm honored to stand beside you on your wedding day and I can't wait to see you walk down the aisle. Alexis, Aunt Amanda loves you sweet girl. Someday you'll love me too and be willing to document these special days with a picture with your auntie. Stop growing sweet girl, you're getting too big.