TRUFFLE ALERT!

YUM! Lindt Dark Chocolate Orange Truffle!!

Wine Fest, Greg's Birthday, and friends' visit

Wine Fest was a blast. My friends Melanie and Benji arrived Friday afternoon and we hit the road for Hilton Head shortly after they got to Charlotte. We got to HHI (Hilton Head Island) that evening and went to a Wine Bar with my parents (where else?!) to kick off the festivities. Several lovely glasses of wine and much excellent fancy salad and flatbread was consumed by all. Saturday morning the weather was glorious and we all excitedly made our way to the festival to enjoy the WINE.

So many great vineyards were there. Melanie and I were drinking partners and would each get tastes of something different then have part of the taste and switch. This was meant to help us pace ourselves better. There were so many delicious wines! One called LOST, was only $4 a bottle- and it was great! I tried an almond flavored champagne that was really yummy.

I even had coffee and chocolate infused wine that was interesting and better than I thought it would be! There were too many good Pinot Noirs, Cabernets, Pinot Grigios and Reislings to count- it was heavenly. As a rule of thumb (which I learned from my parents), anything Russian River Valley or Paso Robles (both are regions in California) are usually excellent. There were quite a few Paso Robles wines there. Some were even special reserves like the ones at J.Lohr. Yum!

I had a blast and thought I did pretty good pacing myself, until I got home and crashed! I had a three hour nap (which is a lot for me, considering I never nap!). What a great day though :)
Sunday, Mom, Melanie, and I got up and went to the Westin Spa for massages I had booked for us while Benji and my dad played golf. The massages were great and we did a quick walk on the beach after. It was pretty cold, so we didn't stay out on the beach that long. We all met up at my parents' house after and then had a seafood lunch on the island before Benji, Melanie, and I headed back to Charlotte to see Greg and Clyde and celebrate Greg's birthday before he left town. I made Greg a birthday cake when we got back and we had some Donato's pizza and a salad for dinner. I always make Greg the same cake every year: Chocolate Cake with chocolate pudding between the layers, then frost the cake with Cool Whip and sprinkle crushed Heath Bar pieces on top. It's easy and so good! Melanie and Benji had a good time playing with Clyde. They fell in love with him just like everyone does :)
Yesterday we saw Greg off at the airport as he headed off to Memphis for training with his new airline. I got very teary since we don't know when we'll see each other next. I'm hoping visits will work out while he's gone, but we kind of don't know how his schedule will be while he's in training yet.
I was glad my friends were visiting to distract me from being sad after he left. We went to World Market to browse, then to The Flying Saucer which is this very cool bar and restaurant with like 200 different kinds of beer. Benji was in heaven. If you register with the bar you can try to eventually try every beer they have there and once you do you get a saucer with your name on it on the wall. This is something I would never attempt! The saucers all have quotes on them too. I saw a good one, "Don't tell my mom I'm a pilot. She thinks I play the piano at a whorehouse"! Haha! Love that!
We finished our visit with a trip through Ikea. I made it out with two items for Clyde- a dog tent and flamingo toy, some green cocktail napkins, and a new flour sifter since mine has not worked right in quite some time. Good finds and not too much damage done. It was a great weekend and I hated for it to end. The only bad part was that Greg didn't come to HHI with us, but I think he was glad he stayed behind to finish up all the stuff he wanted to do before he left for Memphis.
I miss him already :(

Sniffle Sniffle

Ughhhhh, I've been stricken with a bad cold. I rarely get sick, and I attribute that to the fact that I wash my hands A LOT (borderline OCD on that!), eat fairly healthy stuff, drink lots of green tea, and I think I'm just lucky and have a good immune system. I actually can't remember the last time I was sick, so I was due for a cold. I think it hasn't helped that the temperature in Charlotte has been fluctuating between 30s and 60s for the last couple weeks, and life has been busy- constantly putting my body into fight mode. I got a second to relax this weekend, and the cold seeped in. Friday night I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D with my friends, which was actually really good. After the movie we hiked it over to a Mexican place for a nice pitcher of margaritas. When I woke up Saturday morning with a scratchy/sore throat at first I thought it was just the after effects of the tequila and salty popcorn. As the day went on, it was apparent that the sore throat was real and not going away. I succumbed to the cold. The cold pretty much dominated my weekend, forcing me to miss a party Saturday night and hang out in pajamas all day Sunday. I even took a sick day Monday since I still wasn't feeling right. I'm slowly getting back to normal, but still feel pretty phlegmmy (if that's even a word), and congested. FUN STUFF!
I'm just going to keep on popping vitamin C, multi-vitamins, and drink more green tea and try to kick this crappy cold. I need to be primed and ready for wine fest this weekend!

Greg's last week before training

Greg is leaving on Monday for his new job training. That means we have less than a week before he's out of here for probably at least two months, maybe more. That's kind of unclear based on what info we have. I think the initial training will probably be at least two months, and then he'll go somewhere else for 2-3 more weeks of simulator training. We got a "package" in the mail the other day with some information about the training, but it wasn't all that informative other than to give the location of the hotel and a list of some items that he will need to bring to training. Greg went online to get more details and found some posting from current/past people that have gone through the training. Turns out we think he's going to have two months of Monday thru Saturday training (this was not mentioned in the package of info, but was posted online), with little possibility of him being able to come home at any point at all. We had hoped he'd be able to come home at least once or twice. It was also recommended that family not go there either, as the training is supposed to be intense and time consuming. We will play that by ear. I told Greg that he if he wants me to I will come out some Saturday and then after he gets out of class we can spend that evening and Sunday together before I head back to CLT. So we'll see if he feels like that's possible or not once he knows more. I figure once he has a syllabus or more of a schedule he might see a weekend in there somewhere that might work out for a visit. Who knows. In the other training he's been to, he went to Miami and Houston for 2-3 months, and with both of those, I was able to come for a visit somewhere in the middle.
Greg is very distraught at the prospect of not seeing Clyde for that long, and even if it works out for me to visit, I don't know that I can/will be able to bring Clyde. I can tell he's gotten so attached (like I have)to Clyde and is upset that he'll have to go so long without seeing him, but I don't know if there's anything we can really do about it. I think we might try using Skype, but I kind of fear seeing us and not being able to BE with us will be as/more upsetting than not seeing us at all, so I'm not sure how that will be.
Also, as it turns out Greg will most likely be SHARING a hotel room with another person, which is lovely... I noticed right away on the info the company sent that it said "double occupancy" hotel room, but it didn't spell out for sure that he would have a roommate (Greg initially thought it was just a room with two beds). The info he found online seemed to support that he will have a roommate though. He's not very psyched about that.
This week is all about cramming last minute stuff in before Greg leaves. He's been working on our taxes, paying bills, went to get new sunglasses, going to Home Depot, and getting as much stuff done as he can before he takes off.
We have that wine festival this weekend, which our friends are coming out from Indiana for. This plan was in the works long before we knew that Greg would get this job and have to leave the Monday after the festival, so we decided to go ahead and still keep our plans, but the timing definitely sucks. We are all staying at my parents' house, which is really great of them to accommodate all of us, except my mom is not a big dog person and asked that we not bring Clyde, which has upset Greg even more since he has less than a week to spend time with him. My mom really doesn't like dogs. I'm not really sure why, probably for the same reasons I wasn't that into dogs before we got Clyde. The smell, the generally erratic nature of them, the poo, the noise etc... I definitely get where she's coming from, but I think she might like Clyde if she gave him a chance, he's a pretty good dog, doesn't smell, never barks, and is very likable. I had an awkward conversation with her about him this morning trying to convince her to let us bring him just for one night, but she again made it clear she was not into the idea, so it looks like Clyde will be spending the night with my friend Kerrie, much to Greg's dismay.
I think we'll have to have my mom come to our house and see how she likes him before she'll agree for him to be at their house.

Third-Wheeling

I hate to whine in the face of good news, because I am truly happy and excited that Greg got this job, but sometimes I get tired of doing 95% of my social activities solo. I'm friends with a good amount of both single and attached people, but half the time I come to our activities, be it group outings or hanging out with a couple, ALONE. I know, I know, it's what I signed up for. Greg's not even back in the air yet, but all the jobs he's had involve crappy schedules and limited time off when other people are off. He's been on mostly evening shifts and has worked lots of weekends at the hotel. Truck driving was just as bad. Obviously flying is/will be bad. I am not mad at him for it. I do understand he can't really control that. I've worked shift work, and night shift, and had crappy schedules too. It's unpleasant for the person doing it, but also unpleasant for the significant other that ends up alone so often. I actually don't mind the alone time at home, it's more the stuff out with other people ALONE that I mind, if that makes sense. I just sometimes get tired of being a third-wheel (or whatever wheel I am depending on the # of people) when I am ACTUALLY married and COULD have a date to something, but don't. I've gone dateless to weddings, countless nights out with friends, movies, you name it. Last weekend I had that night out with a whole bunch of friends, two of which were couples. Tonight a group of us are going to the movies, again, two of which are couples. I just want him there with me.
Usually I'm fine with it. It's easy to have a girls night out anytime, because Greg's usually working (or away when he's flying). Luckily my friends seem to completely understand about him not being able to come to things.
The one time I do get ticked off about it is when Greg has time off and still doesn't want to do ANYTHING social. It's like- throw me a bone, I spend a loooooooooooot of time doing these activities solo. It'd be nice to have my other half there once in a while. He's kinda bad about it in that way. Mr. Homebody.
Greg put in his two-weeks notice at the hotel as soon as he found out he got the new job. I've been planning a weekend away for a wine festival for a while now and our friends from Indiana are coming out for it. It's next weekend, which is the weekend before he leaves for his training. I had hoped that he would say that his last day at the hotel was Friday, so that he could join us that weekend, but he refused to. He didn't want it to be less than two weeks notice (it already would have been either way). I understand that he's trying to do the right thing, but at the same time, he's known for a while that the weekend is important to me and our friends are coming for it, and I very well might be "third-wheeling" with them, sans Greg, because he wouldn't leave the stupid job (that he HATES and complains about all the time) two days early. It kind of pisses me off. I feel like his boss at the hotel would have understood if he'd said that he just wanted a couple days to regroup in between jobs. Anyway.
I know that it'll basically always be this way. It's basically been this way the whole 8 years I've been with him. I know the schedules suck and I expect lots of time alone. I know it'll be even more annoying when we have kids someday and he can't be there for Daddy stuff either. It just sometimes gets annoying, you know? I can live with it, but it bothers me sometimes.

BIG NEWS!!

So Greg got the JOB!!! He's going to actually fly airplanes again for the first time in a year and a half! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of him! It's the happiest I've seen him in a while. I know it's a huge weight lifted off his shoulders and he's really looking forward to getting back in the air. He's going to Memphis for training later in the month.
I'll write more later, but just wanted to post/share our exciting news! :)

Events of the weekend

I'm behind in updating the bliggity blog this week.
Let me back up a little and recap on some of the weekend highlights.
Saturday I got my haircut. I have been going to the same girl since I moved to Charlotte back in fall of 2006 and I really like her, but at the same time, I felt like I wanted to give someone else a try and see what they would do with my hair. Four people in my office go to this one stylist and I really like the haircuts a few of them have. So I figured I'd give this other stylist a whirl (yes, I CHEATED on my stylist- GASP!). A little background on my hair. I'm not actually that picky about my hair. I can usually make do with most haircuts even if I'm less than thrilled about them. I like trusting the "experts" and letting them do what they think will look best on me most of the time. That being said, I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to make my hair more even and less layered. The problem with that is that every time I go to get my hair cut, the first thing the stylist says is "I think you need a lot more layering" NOOOOOO! But some how I always get talked in to it. "It'll take some of the weight out" and crafty phrases like that are said, and I always seem to think it makes sense and give in. Same deal on Saturday. Ok, if I thought my old trusty 3+ year stylist was layering my hair too much, than this was a whole new off the charts level of layering! My longest hair is about shoulder length and I have pieces on top that are like 3 inches long now. So anyway, the mission to visit another stylist and try something new was kind of FAIL. I think I'm going to end up going back to my old one for my next cut. The grass is not always greener...
After my weed-whacker incident, I mean haircut, I rushed home to let Clyde out before heading out with some friends for the evening. You will see why I'm telling this part of the story later. I then put Clyde in his crate and LATCHED the door to the crate shut. Then out I went.
I met up with 6 friends (Greg was working and didn't come) at this restaurant called The Common House in our running neighborhood- Plaza Midwood. The place has mainly homey type food. I had a Fried Green Tomato BLT and Greek side salad. YUM! After dinner we went up the street to a newish wine bar/gallery called 22. That was supposed to be the main part of our plan, but ended up being the place we stayed the least amount of time. There was some kind of family engagement/wedding-type event going on in there and the place was smallish, so we felt awkward, like wedding crashers. Our friend Tim did score a nice big hunk of cake though :)
We hopped over to our next spot, which was the Thomas Street Tavern. More food and spirits were consumed before some of us called it a night around 11pm. I'm old now, I don't do those crazy late nights anymore!
I headed home and happened to pull in to the driveway literally right behind Greg as he was getting home from work. We walked into the house together and low and behold, our puppy crate sat abandoned on the laundry room floor! Oh where oh where did Clyde go??? We both scrambled in and called out to him, only to find him sitting at the top of the stairs, tail wagging, as if to say, "Hi Mom and Dad!!" I swore up and down that I properly secured him in the crate and Greg kept giving me this skeptical look. We checked around and found minimal damage, just a couple "presents" he had left- one in Greg's office and one on Greg's side of the bed on the floor (Hmmm, who is he mad at???). Turns out our little Houdini had escaped through the top of his crate. You see back the first week we got him, he had made a poo in the crate and Greg had come up with this idea to flip the crate upside down and put it over a tray. The mesh formerly on top was then on the bottom and if he were to poo again the theory was that it would fall through the mesh floor, but he wouldn't be stepping in it. Luckily it's been a non-issue because he hasn't had any accidents in the crate since that first day. The problem with flipping it over is that the formerly bottom side, now on top, has larger mesh- like 4x4 inch squares, which are actually big enough that Houdini the wonder pup can fit through there, and thus he climbed out the top of his crate into FREEDOM on Saturday night. Home Alone, doggy style. We were quite amused.