It's Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. the phone rings & Marcus informs me that his work balanced out and he will make it on time to pick me up for the concert in Birmingham with Eric & Mindy. With a smile, I quickly change into a more appropriate 'country' dress for the evening. He swings in and off we go heading to exit 97 to pick up the duo. As we all pile into my car and get on the road the discussion is loose & optimistic to the evenings activities.
We arrive at the ampitheater and find that it will be a beautiful night for an outdoor concert. The opening act "the Outlaws" are playing as we sit down, the men with their beers & us girls just watching the scenery. We quickly notice that the scenery is overcome with figure hugging black tank tops & black hotpant style shorts on some beautiful young girls. It appears that Hooters is a big sponsor for these events. Mindy & I realize they are giving out free paraphernalia, now given we are girls, we like 'stuff' it is easy to assume we want some. They appear to be giving out bead necklace and those glow in the dark neon-scary-weird-flourescent bands that can be a crown, necklace, bracelet, etc. all in one. Now mind you their presence has not been overlooked by Marcus & Eric, though I must say no oggling or any thing like that occurred. With our desire for the free stuff we send Eric to get us whatever they have, yes you read correctly WE SENT ERIC TO CHASE DOWN A HOOTERS GIRL. Crazy, I know, my husband immediately wondered how he got jipped on that transaction (simple, Eric is tall enough to step OVER rows - Marcus isn't therefore, Eric could possibly reach one more quickly & easily :) ). We watched him approach an attractive Brunette. She hands over the items, we notice she speaks to him, it does not appear to just be a "have a good time, your welcome" thing more like a mini-conversation if you will. He returns with our bands & beads laughing.
Mindy & I begin to transform ourselves into super heroes (i.e. the glow in the dark is on our wrists much like She-Ra's wrist protectors). Anyway, the Brunette. When asked by Eric "May I have four of the glow in the dark necklaces? her response: "What do I get?" Well the armbands immediately do not protect the universe they now are to be used to thwart off and disspell all Hooters Girls!!! MINDY & COURTNEY UNITE!!!!
The evening progresses and the concert is very nice - give or take the following: Mindy & I enjoy 'yard' margaritas & daiquiris in huge plastic cup-things, Guy directly beside Marcus scream WOO HOO every 25 seconds (no exaggeration, he did it 136 times
So what do you do after a concert??? WAFFLE HOUSE. I know, I know, sometimes they are really gross, though for some reason you cannot deny the food is normally very good. (might kill you, but you smile while it does). So here we are looking for a Waffle House that is a bit away from the concert area so that we can actually get in and eat. Mindy & I are still rigged out in our 'Hooters' necklaces & "She-Ra"-esque arm bands. The boys are STARVING!! Amid good conversation and good food we dine. We head home afterwards and truly had an enjoyable evening, not that I expected any less.
Saturday morning, we wake up, the young woman who cleans our house arrives & begins to clean. She does an amazing job. We only have her come every couple of weeks, but it sure does help out during the in between times. She deep cleans so that I can scratch the surface during the week or so I can focus on other household chores during the weeks. We are moving around well Saturday, late showers taken after working outside, we have a reception to go to in town for a sweet girl that works for Marcus. We need a gift though, so I pull up her registries, find she has one at Dillards & now Dillards is on the agenda. Though I must say that there is one other hitch: the night before Rob had called Marcus and told us that Regan had her first dance recital in Calera on Saturday and could we come. Well Marcus told him we were so sorry, we had already committed to the reception; we wish we would have known sooner. With that now said, I stated "why don't we go up to Bham AFTER the reception & meet Rob, Regina, Regan & Riley for dinner after the reception. We agree that would be nice, so now we have a full night's agenda.
The reception goes wonderfully. Everything was perfect for Ashley & Matthew. So afterwards we head to Birmingham. Now mind you we are heading up there at about 7:20 p.m. We get to Calera at 8:30. EVERYONE is there: The Terrys, MaryAnn, James & Kristen. Wow, they have thankfully already eaten, we would have been mortified had they had to wait on us. We order, join the conversations & then head off for ice cream. Marcus invites his niece (Kristen) to spend the night (she is 13 - a lot of fun and the daughter of divorced parents. She definitely gets the shaft every now & then). So we take her to the house & play the Wii until 2:30 in the morning. FUN & CRAZY I know.
Sunday arrives and we expect laziness, Shrek the Third & getting Kristen back to her grandparents & dad. Well.... not so much in "spur of the moment Barr-land". While we are cleaing up the basement we get a phone call around 9 a.m. it is my dad. "have you spoken to your sister?" he asks. My quick no turns into a question "why, what's up?" (BACKGROUND INFO: My sister's husband's company is closing its doors & he has until around the middle of July, they found all this out on the 14th. So he is trying very hard to find a position that is not only worth their while, but quickly. I have sent resumes out to a slew of people & he, of course, is working very hard. While they live in D.C. relocation is at the forefront. We would LOVE to have them in the Southeast again, so of course we are trying to find some interviews in Georgia, Alabama, & Florida. Also on his side of the family an Aunt passed away on Thursday - the Aunt lived outside of Smith Station, Ala.)
Okay, my question came with a response of: " well, I guess you don't know that Nina & Keith will be spending the night with you tonight."-Dad
"Umm NO I did not know that, what happened, did they decide to go ahead and have the funeral?"-Me
"Yep, viewing on Monday, funeral on Tuesday. Nina will fly back to DC on Wed., Anna's (my niece's) birthday is Thursday. Keith does not have a return flight yet, he is trying to get as many interviews as possible while he is down." -Dad
"okay, sounds good, I will give her a call now." - Me
The phone calls flow quickly between me, my sister, my parents (they are of course driving up so they can see Nina & Keith for a few hours), my brother Jeremy (sunday was his birthday), Eric (he & Mindy would be in the area that evening & love to see Nina & Keith once they fly in and get to my house) & MaryAnn (we have to get Kristen back to Camden -Marcus is to meet Mary Ann in Brent to do so). Needless to say, I then quickly switch to make-sure-the-guest-room-is-ready-for-guest-mode. We get the room straightened up, we take Kristen to see Shrek the Third, run by the grocery store, order Dreamland ribs, get home, & sit for about 20 seconds. Marcus leaves to take Kristen, my parents arrive & mom & I start working on side dishes for supper. WHEW!!!
The night wears on & Marcus returns, Nina & Keith arrive, Eric, Mindy, & Hannah (Mindy's little girl) arrive, we eat and talk. The night is actually quite nice. We enjoyed getting to see everyone, I hate that Jeremy & Leann did not drive up as well, but maybe they will sometime soon. Everyone extra leaves late & Keith/Marcus went on to bed. Nina & myself sit up talk, go through my closets for clothes for her, look at some magazines, drank a few martinis, & then went to sleep.
Well that was my weekend.... we will have to see what the upcoming days have scheduled.... you just never know!!
You are so fabulous! I miss you terribly and am so thankful for your wonderful words of kindness. You always know how to perfectly state whatever it is you are saying and in the process make someones day!
ReplyDeleteThank you for being there for me through the wonderful invention of Internet! I can't wait to see you this summer/fall when we come down. I wish the distances did not separate us so but then it makes reunions so much better!!!