so, i’m going to forget everything about this trip over time if i don’t attempt to document it in some format. i’ve chosen “blog entry.” let’s go through this vacation and its prequel by location!
tuesday, aug 12: mattapoisett
it was my wonderful karen walker’s very special twenty-first birthday this day, and i obviously could not keep myself from the festivities. i caught a commuter train to middleboro where mama grenon picked me up. we caught up (goddamn she’s fabulous) and then got to the restaurant where caitlin swift, casey lee, and the lady of the hour were already well into appetizers.
fast forward to the swift residence where surprise guest stars of the evening waited to surprise kasey, and after the consumption of a couple glasses of champagne we headed out on the town (well, as much as you can do that in new bedford). we went to my first, yes first, “straight” bar. it was an experience, to say the least, involving shots, a piss poor dirty martini, and some trashy dancing to some music we should all be ashamed to know the lyrics to.
on the positive, though, catching up with some people i haven’t seen in far too long made the evening totally worth it.
the evening drew to a close at about 3am, i fell asleep in the swift guest bed with amber voner and woke up three hours later for caitlin’s sainted brother to bring me to the commuter train to get back home. i got to boston at 8:15am, my apartment at 9am to take a LONG ass shower and wash everything i don’t want to remember about the previous evening off, and work around 10am. with a smile and a gigantic coffee. and sunglasses to hide the dark circles (i was SO carrie in the part of the SatC movie where she sleeps for 8 days straight in mexico).
thursday, aug 14: boston
took this day off to start packing (you know, for my flight at 6:30pm the same day). got a lot done, loved the mitchi lots, and headed to the airport. we stepped outside, it began to downpour. so we called a cab, which came an hour afterward. the rain stopped after 20 minutes. we were pissed.
we made our flight, thankfully, despite too much carry on luggage on the parts of the rest of the plane and pissy flight attendants.
we landed in charlotte and jeremy’s sister jennifer greeted us at the airport. we picked up our luggage and headed out in search of food, as none of us had eaten since about 1pm and it was now nearly 10:30pm. we finally settled on a bar jennifer and her friends frequent (my second straight bar in one week — wow). this one included smoking, drunk guys hitting on drunk girls, karaoke, and the olympics. it was SUCH a winner. very fun, nonetheless.
shitty dirty martini though.
friday, aug 15: hilton head island
we set out early in the morning for hilton head island, sc. jeremy’s parents, pat and kathy, are disney vacation club members and we stayed the weekend at disney’s hilton head resort. it was dope. first day there we went to the beach club and beached (it was so amazing and the water was WARM!) and then to a delightful dinner at the oyster factory, a restaurant that was originally an oyster factory (hence the incredibly original title). great food, and a surprisingly nice wine (we let jeremy decide and he ordered a white — we all like reds).
the next day we slept in a little while jennifer and pat went golfing, had breakfast and decided what to do with our day. pat and jennifer came back, jennifer napped while the rest of us four headed out to do some shopping. we then lunched and shopped some more, then headed to the shuffleboard court for some fabulous shuffleboard. then it came time to head out to the yacht for the sunset dinner cruise…
…which was cancelled due to weather conditions. RAAR. so we walked around the docks and shopped a bit until we finally decided to have dinner at a WONDERFUL restaurant with a WONDERFUL red wine and steak (i had had QUITE enough of seafood for the weekend at this point).
we came back and then decided we wanted to experience the hustle and bustle of the nightlife on hilton head. jennifer heard about a piano bar on the south side of the island and, as piano bar connoisseurs, jeremy and i clearly obliged. when we got to the electric piano (yep. that’s right.) a man with a handlebar mustache carded us and asked us for a cover charge. that should have been our first sign to run the fuck away. we paid and walked into a crowded, small bar with an electric piano (surprise!) inside a painted console that looked like a baby grand being played by a man with a half unbuttoned shirt, backward baseball cap and gold chain.
it was too late to run though, as we all just paid a cover charge. as we settled in and ordered cocktails, we realized the piano performer was actually singing along to a karaoke track being controlled by the laptop next to him and playing chords along with it when he felt like it. bad news bears. also, nothing but country was in his repertoire. needless to say, it was quite a disappointment. after about an hour of nursing our drinks, we peaced out.
shitty dirty martinis.
sunday, aug 17: savannah
on our way to simpsonville, sc from hilton head island, we made a jaunt about the beautiful city of savannah, ga. we saw my almost-college choice savannah college of art and design (which was pretty cool), the childhood home of the founder of the girl scouts, the park where forrest gump ate his box of chocolates, the “midnight in the garden of good and evil” house, some amazingly beautiful architecture, savannah’s famous squares, and lots of friendly people and ARTS. i require a return visit.
while we were walking about the savannah market, i happened upon a gallery of local artists and walked out with two prints from a fabulous savannah artist named james dean (i’m truly my father’s son in this respect). he began a series called “pete the cat” when he adopted his cat, pete. they’re awesome crude watercolors depicting pete in various situations. i fell in love with the idea of pete the cat and couldn’t leave without owning one. then, after not being able to decide which ONE, i decided two wasn’t an awful number, either.1
monday, aug 18: atlanta
we arrived in atlanta around noon on this day, and after purchasing our citypass booklets, jeremy and i headed over to luckie’s lounge to meet my amazingly fabulous cousin alissa for lunch. i had not seen alissa in almost two years before seeing her today and it was just WONDERFUL to catch up and gossip about everything from vacations to family drama.
then it was time for the NEW world of coca cola! it may sound ridiculously lame, but i promise you it was anything but. there were awesome galleries of advertising and marketing through the years that were incredibly interesting to see what a marketing machine this company is. also, free taste testing of over 60 international coca cola products! that part was freaking sweet.
after coke, we took a quick walk through the park to CNN, where we did the inside CNN tour. not nearly as impressive as i had hoped, and anderson cooper wasn’t there asking me to make out. a tad disappointing.2
then dinner, then check into our hotel (which was also disappointing — and no dvd player!).
next morning, checked out of the hotel and headed into the city for the georgia aquarium. VERY COOL! it’s apparently the largest aquarium in the world, and it took us about three hours to hit everything inside! there were some beautiful exhibits, my favorite being the sea otters being lazy. i envied them so!
then, after lunch, we spent some quality time having art experiences at the high museum. there were some absolutely beautiful works in this place and i feel so lucky to have seen them. if you’re in atlanta ever get your ass over to this place.
wednesday, aug 20: simpsonville
we made it back to simpsonville late tuesday evening, and for the first morning all vacation, i SLEPT IN! it felt so good, kids! wednesday was a work day, and jeremy and i were very productive for our too fabulous for words clients! and then jeremy’s dad made steaks for dinner. they were tasty.
today (thursday) we went on a shopping extravaganza with jeremy’s mom while his dad was at work. i bought some fabulous shoes (which will be making a guest appearance in the office sometime next week), shirts, a pair of jeans and a pair of awesome khakis. thank goodness we stopped when we did.
tomorrow will be another work day and saturday night is the big night and reason for this trip, jeremy’s ten-year high school reunion! i’m a little nervous but very excited for jeremy. i think he’ll be the guy everyone else is jealous of. i mean, he’s got the most attractive plus one.
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1 check out petethecat.com for more info and to see some work!
2 my boyfriend’s cuter, anyway.
you think i don’t know how cute i am, but you’d be wrong.
my daddies are making lots of noise with the vacuum cleaner sitoo gave them, so i’m hiding under the work table in their office on daddy kyle’s chair.
we’re going to have spa day when they’re done.
