Good Lawd it's Been a Long Minute!

A long minute since I wrote....

We recently went to the Outerbanks of North Carolina, Nags Head, specifically and just had this amazing, spectacular weekend with our really close friends.  Like, second family friends.  People who know you better than you know yourself and can tell more funny stories about themselves of you than you can imagine. We were there to watch one of my close friends, J. get married to M (such a sweetheart, wish I had more time to get to know her better!)., his fiance.  If I could ever recreate a magical moment that I witnessed in time it would be that one.  It was outdoors at the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo. Completely amazing, a beautiful, a softly playing guitar and little boys I love and hold dear to my heart watching their Uncle getting married all while gaining a new Aunt and one sweet, darling little flower girl.  Blissful emotions ran rampant and I don't think there was one person there who didn't shed a tear of joy for this newly married couple.

The reception was fun, fun, fun!  A perfect venue with gorgeous hand made decorations by the bride.  Food was amazing, and the groom made sure to tell me he planned the menu when I complimented the choices we had to nom on, which were:  shrimp and grits (MY FAVE!), mac and cheese, broccolini, pastas with marinara or fresh pesto and each setting had their own box of two chocolate truffles.  YUM.

The party was a bit slow to warm up to dancing and that was okay because there was a lot of fun mingling.  After people got a few glasses of wine in them, watch out now!!

This should tell you how fun it was.  I danced.  A LOT.  They played "YMCA" and had props!  BONUS!!  So yeah, I was a construction worker.  It's a wonder that damn hat fit over my head.  Turns out, I got low, low, low, low and ker-plunk, fell right on my caboose.  It was all good.  I couldn't stop laughing even though I had half a dozen people trying to help me up.   No harm, no foul, but a funny memory I will never forget.  For the record, I was not the only person who fell dancing that night.  ;)

The next morning I was lucky enough to spend the whole day at this amazing on the beach house the wedding party had rented.  I'd say we were out on the beach from 11-4 pm when the winds really picked up and it got really chilly!  Plus, we were getting sandblasted.  After that some of us went to a 0.10 cent shrimp, 0.25 cent wing, or if you're JP, $1 taco restaurant.  It was a blast.  They had a musician in there playing good old classic country/drunk music.  That evening was filled with laughter, lots and lots of stories and a sad goodbye.  It was really something to talk and talk and talk to some of my friends I had not seen in over a year and just realize and feel how much more mature we all are, how happy we all are and just how proud I felt of every single one of those friends.  The this group of friends I have in NC is a rarity.  I am so lucky to be a part of this extended family and it's really something I never ever dreamed of when I moved to NC 8 years ago.  Friends like this, which I also have in Oklahoma, are always there for you, will always have your back and be loyal and no matter how much time has passed since you last spoke.  You just pick right back up where you left off with no awkwardness or silence.

My hubby and I had to fly out of RDU the next afternoon on Saturday and it's a 4 hour drive from the Outerbanks to Raleigh.  My brother in law and sister in law were kind enough to be our transportation for the vacation.  Thanks, guys!!

We kind of had a messed up flight home.  Long story story, we were supposed to depart at 3:45pm and arrive in Tulsa (Tulsa because my Mom watched the kids for us) at 8:50pm but it turned into departing at 5:30pm, missing our connecting flight in DFW and ending up arriving in Tulsa at 11pm.  Then the next morning we packed up for a VERY LONG DRIVE HOME to Saint Louis.  Man, road trips just suck with kids.  Honestly.  This time, the DVD player was not even cutting it for the kids.  That's okay though, we knew what to expect and we're just now, today on Thursday, all unpacked and caught up house work wise.

That's the story of best mini-vacay 2012, J&M's wedding.