Another One of Those Typical Weekends

At the beginning of Friday, I thought this was going to be a really crappy weekend. I thought I was going to have to work at AE on both Friday and Saturday night. But I got a phone call from my manager in the afternoon telling me that I wouldn't be needed either night. So, I decided to make dinner plans with Kelly and drive to Auburn. So as soon as I got off work, I picked up an early birthday and 'thank you for rescuing me' present for Drue and headed their way. Kelly and I went to get pedicures and do girly stuff before dinner. So, I'm sitting there in the big massaging chair with my feet soaking in the little spa, reading a two-year-old issue of Cosmo and feeling pretty relaxed. And suddenly I hear "blooop" and something has hit the water. I hesitate for a moment and think, "Hmmm, what was that?" And then I realized that my cell phone is no longer lying in my lap beneath the magazine. I scramble to dig my phone out of the foot water but the damage is already done. Its full of water. Me and Kelly took the battery out and set it under the nail drying lamps the rest of the time we are there. By some miracle, my phone STILL WORKS!

So, we get back to the house and meet up with everyone else. Jennifer and Wes, Kelly and Drue, and me and Scott all go to dinner at Outback. Wes proposed to Jennifer at dinner so lots of drinks and celebration was in order! CONGRATS JENN AND WES! We all had a good time and for once, got good service.

Saturday morning Drue had to work, so me, Kelly and Scott go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and my karma returns. It took us 15 minutes to wait in line to get a table, 15-20 more minutes for our waitress to come out and take even our drink order. Then we are still waiting for our food to come out when we hear the sound of crashing dishes. It wasn't close to us at all so I say jokingly "I hope that wasn't our food." Scott and I had our backs to the sound, but I could see Kelly watching closely and she says "Oh no. Our waitress is over there." A moment later she comes to our table and she is carrying plates. She gives us all plates but Scott is missing his main entrée. She says to him "Your French toast is on the floor." I was fully expecting whatever hit the floor to be mine, and so at this point I die laughing. The waitress apologizes and explains how she is having a terrible day and woke up late and didn't even have time to take a shower (which is way more than I think any of us wanted to know). She comes back out in just a few minutes with a plate piled high with French toast covered with strawberries and whip cream. She makes a point to tell Scott that she took her time and fixed it for him herself. I leaned over and whispered "…says the waitress who just told you she didn't take a bath today." I couldn't resist and the look on his face assured me that he appreciated me pointing out that fact while he had his first bite in his mouth.

After breakfast I head back to Montgomery. On the drive, I start thinking what am I going to do tonight since I don't have to work? And then I remember hearing that there is a birthday celebration going on at the StrongFold show this weekend for Nikki and Anthony, but I can't remember where they are playing. I get home and call Dave and find out they are playing in Pascagoula, MS and not in Mobile like I had hoped. I was disappointed for a minute but he assures me that Pascagoula is not too much farther than Mobile. I hesitate for just a moment… and call Scott and say "Would you think I was crazy if I asked you to drive to Pascagoula, Mississippi with me tonight?" (I know what you are thinking, he probably already knows I'm crazy). I hear a little hesitation in his voice and tell him to think about it and call me back. I give him StrongFold's website and a rundown of what kind of music they play since I know he and I share taste for their kind of music. In the long run, we decide to go and hit the road!

This is the first time that Scott and I have ever done anything alone together so I was a little nervous about the long drive. But once we got on the road, we started telling stories and joking and having a really good time. The next thing we know, its almost midnight, we haven't been paying attention to the road… and we really aren't sure where we are. The next sign we see says "New Orleans 52 miles." And I of course say no way, that a 1 must have fallen off the front of that. So the next exit we come to is a rest area and we decide to stop and look at a map and see exactly where we are. As we coast off the exit, we see a sign that says "Welcome to Mississippi" and I'm thinking that's odd because I know we have been in MS for a long time. We walk up to the building and there is a big sign that says "Restrooms open 24 hours" and just beneath that, a sign that says "Restrooms Closed." How ironic.

But we found a map and realized that yes, you guessed it, this is the welcome center for people entering Mississippi from Louisiana!! We drove 75 miles past our exit. Yes, I know. I don't know how it happened either and we probably should be ashamed of ourselves. But I can only say that we were so engrossed in conversation that we lost track of time and stopped paying attention to the road. We did finally make it to the show in time to hear the last five or so songs. But we had a great time hanging out with the StrongFold boys, just like I always do. We got to the hotel as the sun was coming up. I barely remember setting the alarm to make sure we wake up in time for checkout.The next thing I know, Scott is waking me up and the clock says its after noon… an hour past checkout time. Oops.

So, we decide to drive over to Foley and eat at Lambert's and catch some rolls. Then we drive down to Gulf Shores and swim in the ocean for hours. The time spent in the ocean completely made up for the whole driving ordeal… for me at least anyway. It was a perfect day for the beach. Beautiful weather. Calm water. Perfect. And we were kept thoroughly entertained by the Mexican men trying to get on floats out in the ocean. I don't know which was funnier, watching them flip and slide and fall off the floats, or listening to them laugh and make fun of each other as they did it. They noticed us laughing at them too and one of them says pointing to his friend (and sounds just like Speedy Gonzales I must add) "He's crazy, man! He's too fat!" I about lost it!

We got every bit of sunlight we could and decided to start heading back when it started to get dark. We tell more stories and call people to tell the story of our crazy weekend. Before we know it, its pretty late and since its Sunday night there is no where open to get dinner. We swing through a drive-through and then go to a gas station to use the bathroom before getting back on the interstate. The ladies room was occupied so I stood in the hallway while Scott went in the men's room. After a minute or two, I hear Scott's door clicking and banging and I can't help but start laughing at him. And he can hear me laughing and starts laughing too. He did finally get it open. But wouldn't it been the topper to the weekend if we'd had to call a locksmith to get Scott out of a gas station bathroom?

Scott dropped me off about 12:30am so I am pretty worn out today. But poor Scott had another hour drive to get home after dropping me off, and he's on Eastern time so he lost an hour on the way. I can't even imagine how tired he must be today! Bet he'll think twice before he accepts an invitation from me again!