Happy (Early) Birthday.....to ME!

Although my actual birthday is about six weeks away, I celebrated in a BIG way this past weekend with Glenn's family. We arrived at Nordstrom's shoe department on Saturday to meet his dad and Belinda. She had told me at the gala last week when/where to meet and that she had a room reserved for us as a special birthday treat. But, in all honesty, I had no idea how special of a treat I was in for!

From here we headed upstairs where her personal stylist (stylist extrordinaire, I might add...she was awesome), Selma, was waiting. Sight unseen and knowing nothing more than my age, size and that I was Glenn's girlfriend, Selma had filled a dressing room with clothes, as well as a rack outside! Everything she picked (even the didn't works were amazing). She had treats set up for us in the dressing room sitting area and she and two of her co-workers seranaded me with "Happy Birthday" while I started trying on clothes. I think I tried things on for about two hours, organizing into yes-n0-maybe stacks and with all of us choosing our favorites. Selma was fabulous and patient...bringing extra sizes, new options and even Spanxx when I tried on a few fitted dresses. Once things were narrowed down to the ones liked most we headed to BCBG to look at a couple of dresses that Glenn's dad had seen and thought I would like (he was right and I was glad it gave me something new to wear to dinner....see photos below!). Glenn and I headed off through the mall for a while on our own before meeting them for lunch at McCormick and Schmick's. After lunch it was back to Nordstrom's to say good-bye to Selma and have her package up the clothes. (They are being shipped back to Columbia so I will have them shortly!)


Glenn and I then headed back around the mall to pick up a few things for him ( and he bought me a pair of aqua blue Tommy Bahama flip flops!!) before heading to the hotel. We all stayed at the Hampton Inn in Phillips Plaza and it was fabulous! My favorite part --- the HUGE garden tub and TV in the bathroom mirror --- love that!


Our evening ended with Del Frisco's for dinner. Oh. My. Goodness. That meal was incredible. I started with a seafood soup and for main course ( I was the only non-steaker at the table) sauteed sea scallops with a spinach, arugula cheese and watermelon salad, asparagus and spinach. My taste buds did back flips over this meal!


Sunday we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel (with a lot of eager race-goers) before a morning walk around Phillips Plaza and a stop at Dean and DeLucca's. After another trip back to Southpark, where Glenn bought some shorts and shirts and I bought shoes, we headed back home to Columbia.


I was definitely surprised by this birthday celebration and had a wonderful time!! Be sure to watch future posts for a glimpse of my new wardrobe additions! :)







Pictures: me and Glenn; me and Belinda (outside Del Frisco's); the mirror TV (isn't that wonderful??); the fountain in front of the hotel; Hampton Inn, Phillips Place (yes, I took that picture -- I've already been asked if it was taken from their website!)

Great Sales and Crawfish!!

I've needed a few clothing items and as luck would have it last weekend saw some very good sales at Coplon's, Pink Sorbet and online. Some of the sale prices were unreal and I ended up seriously boosting my wardrobe for not a lot of $$! Here goes: I got a great pair of black slacks and a black skirt--staples of any closet, a wonderful summer Lilly Pulitzer dress, a pair of Nicole Miller jeans (these were the most unbelievable price of all), a pair of pink Theory sandals and I've ordered a dress for an upcoming gala from Neiman-Marcus that I'm hoping will turn out to be a perfect fit! (A BIG thank you to Ben for being my shopping wingman and offering his, typically VERY good, opinions on what to wear and what not to wear...he picked out the Lilly dress, by the way!)

On Saturday, after lunch at LaBrasca's, Glenn, Ben and I headed to the Rosewood Crawfish Festival for an afternoon of fun and music (but no crawfish for us...although I had a shrimp po' boy at Doc's later in the evening...YUM). We met up with the Montgomery family so that Ben and Tripp could have fun together, while we also go to hang out with our friends. We saw so many friends and had a blast! We ended the day by stopping at our friend Hiram's house to see his new dog and Ben was excited to be invited to spend the night with Tripp.

Ben had fun at the karate "lesson"! And, riding the whirly-thing and slide with Tripp and Andi.We saw real crawfish at the Crawdaddy race (I love the look on Ben's face in this picture!) and the Crawfish mascot!

On Sunday Glenn and I had volunteered to help with the Cinco de Mayo fundraiser (for the new sound system) lunch at church. Van made his homemade tacos and we all ate soooo good! Unfortunately, there are no pictures as I left my camera at Hiram's house!

Another GREAT weekend!

Sunday

I used to dislike Sundays. It meant a new work week starting and the end of the fun, relaxing weekend. It was a day to get laundry done, lessons planned, errands run. But, lately, I've found that Sunday is one of my favorite days. I try to get everything done by Saturday evening so that, on the whole, I can utilize Sunday for what it was created for -- rest. Today was a definite testament to how wonderfully restful and relaxing Sunday can be.

This was the first Sunday of Lent and our first member class at church. It was also the men's spaghetti lunch, Haiti fundraiser. After lunch we decided to spend the afternoon exploring and enjoying Columbia and the beautiful, spring-like weather. The third Sunday of every month is "open house" at the arboreteum in Glenn's neighborhood. We always forget about it and today we remembered! We headed there to check it out and it was so great. We can't wait to go back throughout the spring to see how the trees and flowers change and bloom. I took a ton of pictures, we got some great excercise and we learned that the neighborhood was (many, many, many years ago) at one time part of the Atlantic Ocean!!

This is the drop off where part of the Atlantic at one time came to!

Yes!! It really was 70 degrees!! Beautiful!!

From there we walked to Rosewood Dairy Bar for milkshakes before walking through Shandon to the church and down some streets we don't usually explore. It was a terrific walk!! We ended this beautiful Sunday by making dinner --- marinated porterhouse, tomato-feta stuffed chicken breasts, and green beans --- and eating outside on the deck. I can't think of a better way to spend Sunday!!

Saturday Snow Fun

On Saturday Columbia was a beautiful winter wonderland! Glenn had already seen his Valentine's present, so he asked if he could have it early to play with in the snow. We took it down the street and watched it climb "snow banks". Unfortunately, by mid afternoon the majority of the snow had melted away...but it was gorgeous while it lasted!

Weekend Fun!!

Ben was here last weekend and it was such a busy, but fun time! He got here on Friday afternoon and we ran a few errands before dinner and movie. We had to rest up because Saturday was going to be such a HUGE day of fall fun!

On Saturday morning we headed to Van and Elsie's church, Wesley United Methodist Church, for their annual pumpkin patch Pumpkin Festival. Ben was excited about seeing their son, Tripp again. The boys had a good time jumping in the bouncy houses and running around being boys. We picked out a pumpkin for each of us while we were there!

Tripp, his friend and Ben at the Pumpkin festival

Van and Glenn

Glenn and me and the first pumpkin we picked out!

Us and our pumpkins!

Ben was staying with Tripp for the afternoon and spending the night, so Glenn and I decided to go down to 5 Points for the Group Therapy Chilli Cook Off for Camp Kemo. There we saw some friends, including Cocky and ate some yummy chillis!

We ended Saturday by attending Project Pet's FurBall, a formal fundraiser for the animal rescue, with Glenn's grandmother and Mr. Rick. We had a blast! There was terrific food, silent and live auctions and a great band. I danced with Richard --- remember the salsa dance instructor??---and really learned that I have two left feet!

All dressed up! They had all these specialty sweet teas...yummy!

Christina is a Phi Mu from Upstate and I ran into her at FurBall. Her date (he has been on "As the World Turns"!) was one of the special guests!

Weekend!

The last weekend before school starting turned out to be a great one! Kristie's birthday was on Thursday so she was coming down to celebrate on Friday night and then attend the Jaycees pool party on Saturday. I invited some friends over for Friday night and as it turned out, Kristie wasn't able to get here until around 10, but we enjoyed dinner while we waited on her.

On Saturday we got up and I headed to Chuck's to help get ready for the party, while she took the boys (Levi was here on this trip!) to a bowling party sponsored by the company that one of Ben's friend's dad works for....they had a blast! After taking the boys home, Kristie joined us at the pool for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, as always, the weekend went by way to fast and soon Sunday rolled around and she and Levi had to return home (too bad I can't convince them to just make Columbia home...hint, hint!)

Weekend Away!

This past weekend I was able to head out of town as soon as I left school on Friday and it was GREAT! (the only down-side was that I didn't take many pictures...Kristie took most of them on her camera!)

I arrived in Spartanburg a little after 5 and met my parents and Ben (who had been staying with them) at Wade's for dinner. While there we ran into my Aunt Diane and Uncle Clay, my grandmother and George and my great-aunt Helen and great-uncle Leonard. It was so good to get to see everyone!

After dinner I headed to Kristie's for Friday night. We took her golf cart out riding for a while; even going over to the boat landing and "cruising" it. Then, her friend Deacon came over and we went out with him for a bit. It was so good to spend time with Kristie, Deacon and Laura, who met us in downtown Spartanburg. (You might remember her from the boat cruise earlier in the summer.)

On Saturday I got up and headed to The Beacon for lunch with my sorority little sister, Stacey, and her son, Drew. I haven't seen Stacey in years and we recently re-connected on Facebook so it was awesome to catch up with her. After lunch I headed to Greenville to meet up with Elizabeth, Rhe and Brett for the remainder of the Jaycees Quarterly Convention.

Kristie came back over to meet us for at Mimi's Diner which was YUMMY!! She stayed for the awards ceremony, went to the reception sponsored by Noel that we were invited to (it was an awards thing so she went as "Trever" since he wasn't there) and the dance. As always, it was a good time.

Sunday rolled around and Elizabeth and I packed my car and Rhe's car before we all hit the road back home. I stopped back in Spartanburg to visit with my parents for a short while and to pick up Ben. Needless to say, I was tired when I got home, but thrilled with a wonderful weekend away. Sometimes, its just nice to get a new change of scenery! :)