I Am The Luckiest

I’m not sure how to start this.  I know I have a variety of readers who may not know what went down this past weekend.  So let’s start with a stapled bulleted list for a fly by of background information needed.

1. I have the best friends in the world.  Remember my Girlfriends post? Yeah…they make my heart swell even more.
2. My friends and husband are sneaky.
3. One of my best friends is someone I have never met in real life. Only online, video chats and texts….until Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon I was wrapping up my work to get home to my boys and a Friday off doing projects for this blog and around the house. Laura has planned a baby shower GNO for me Friday night and I am getting pumped. Typing away with my status updates and killing some defects, I get a text from Laura: “Can you call me at home?”

Sure. So I pick up the phone and give her a call. She then asks if I can 3-way call on my office phone. After troubleshooting for like 5 minutes, I finally determine that I can (yes I have worked here for 7 years and have no idea how my phone works). She says we need to call Alicia. Funny enough, because of international rates and such, I have never actually called her on a phone. Strange…I know. So I call her up too.

They then proceed to tell me that Alicia is my baby gift. She is on her way to the Detroit airport and will be here at 11 tonight. She was supposed to just show up at my doorstep at 9:30 but the flight got delayed and I would need to come pick her up from the airport. (To read her account of it…go here.)

::record stops:: Wait what?

Yup. Since I didn’t need a real baby gift this go round, my friends chipped in and paid to fly my BiFF to me. HOLY SHIT BALLS PEOPLE!

Kevin was in on it. Arranging things. He called my boss and got the day off and worked with Laura to make it all happen. I texted him “OMFG ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?” and he called to hear me cry big happy tears. He had been at home all day with a sick LT and had cleaned everything and the house was ready. He was at my disposal for whatever we wanted to do all weekend. ICING ON THE CAKE!

I wrapped up my work and then cried the whole way home. No one surprises me. I don’t take pride in that but I am pretty perceptive butI had NO CLUE. I know some thought I had figured it out but I assure you, not a damn clue.

So at 11:30 on Thursday night I got to meet my internet soul mate. For reals. We text and chat from the time we wake to the time we go to sleep. We know WAY more about each other than most. We vent about our kids/husbands together and then send photos of them doing sweet things. We banter with each other’s husbands and make each other laugh constantly. To meet her in real life was everything I could have imagined and more. It wasn’t awkward. I mean how many internet “strangers” would you sleep in the bed with hours after meeting them? Not weird at all.

So the minute I found out, my Type A brain was coming up with lists of things to do. What I found is the South is WAY to food heavy. When you ask Twitter what to do, it is all food. No joke. Here were a few suggestions:

Bojangles ( Saturday brunch) – Boberry and Cheddar Bo biscuits
Goodberry’s (Friday night)
Chick Fila (Friday morning)
NCSU Homemade Ice Cream
BBQ ( Smithfield’s Friday lunch)
Sweet Tea & Sweet Tea Vodka ( Friday AND Saturday lunch)
Pimento Cheese
Pork Rinds
Moonshine (duh!) (Saturday night WITH Chick Fila Lemonade)
Banana pudding (Smithfield’s…didn’t do it justice. Need to send a recipe)
Hushpuppies (Smithfield’s Friday lunch)
Grits (Saturday brunch) – Then went on to buy some before heading to the airport to take home

Good thing I am pregnant and can pass off all this stuff and A has the metabolism of a 12 year old. We then had to decide how to spend non-eating hours. So I needed to run an errand at Southpoint Mall, so we visited some stores out there and then headed to Laura’s for a little photoshoot. Can I say I LOVE having a photography friend? Really…it is just awesome all the time. Here are some takes from our sweet photo session:

Then we enjoyed some NC sunshine and mooched off Laura’s pool. Alicia sipped some beer and we just chilled out. Very nice. We then headed home for a GNO (orchestrated by Laura once again) with a group of women I met via the internet…for the most part. I realized it while I was sitting there. My life if made SO much better with all my tweeps. I have playdates, lunch dates, GNOs and a family of ladies who love to DO for others. It is truly amazing. So thanks to my dinner mates Laura, Beth Anne, Sarah, Beth, Shannon and of course Alicia 🙂

Saturday we decided Alicia needed to see a coast…or close to it.  We packed up with no showers and headed to the river for a day trip. She could experience one of our loves of NC and our family. It was just us 5 with a drop in by cousin Aly. Kevin pulled Alicia on the tube, we explored the local creeks on the Sea Doo and found sunken boats and tons of Pelicans! Lando even joined in by taking his first Sea Doo ride with Dad (photos tomorrow…prepare your uterus). While L napped, we sat in the shade and just talked. Like we had been doing it for years. Enjoying the tiny bit of breeze and a half gallon of sweet tea :). It really was perfect. Thanks Mother Nature for keeping the river calm so ol’ preggo could ride along. We settled for a quiet night at home with take out Pei Wei and some Game of Thrones reruns before we passed out.

Sunday we had a homemade breakfast and then headed to the spa for a fundraiser event I was already going to…I just added Alicia in. I enjoyed a mani/pedi and she got a massage. Perfection. We topped that off with a trip to Trader Joes to stuff her suitcase with and then TARGET. CLOTHES! PLATES! DOLLAR SECTION! CANDY AISLE! We filled a cart pretty easily and headed home to hang out for a bit before it was time for her to jump on a plane to return to her loving husband and gaggle of ladies. She left with a little of my heart and even a secret stash of moonshine. Sorry border police.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend where my cheeks still hurt from smiling so much. We are already trying to figure out when she can bring Ryan and the girls down. We are planning to meet our 3rd BiFF Brandee in the near future as well.

It was everything I imagined and more.  Thank you to my friends who helped make this happen. You truly know how to give kick ass gifts.  Thanks to Jodi for setting me up on a blind friend date with Laura over a year ago. Nothing says a solid friendship like running 9 miles on your first meeting and at some point talking about your vagina.  True friends forever. In short, I am the luckiest.

For more accounts of this awesome event…here ya go:

Surprise Y’all

Biffs

Another Blogger Meet Up

Summer!