Asheville, NC

Thursday:
Last weekend I took a trip down memory lane visiting Asheville for a long weekend. I flew in Thursday for my bff's wedding. Once I got my rental car, I drove straight to meet her and fiance (also known as Megan and Chad) to watch some March Madness. Megan is a hug WVU fan and after that game UNCA was playing Pitt. What? UNCA? Yes that's right. We made it into March Madness! We ended up losing, but we put up a pretty good fight. First half anyways. From there, we went to El Chaps. If you know Megan and me, you know that this was one of our favorite things to do in college. Hard Dr. Miller test? Senior comps? Why not go to El Chaps afterwards and eat some queso with a pitcher of margaritas! Next, Bier Garden. It wouldn't be a trip to AVL without hitting up the Bier Garden.

This is where we started to celebrate Megan's Bachelorette party, so some details will be left out. But while finishing up here and deciding where to go next, someone mentioned the Arcade Bar which apparently had two NES systems at the bar to play. Megan and I knew we HAD to go there IMMEDIATELY. We talked over and as soon as we stepped into the bar we knew it was awesome. All we could say over and over again was, "WHY WASN'T THIS HERE WHEN WE WENT TO SCHOOL???" So naturally, we played! Megan started pulling all her Mario keychains out and I was yelling I NAMED MY DOG GOOMBA! I guess we needed everyone to know how much we deserved to play.

This is where I felt old for the first time (besides being able to rent a car). I saw a kid with a Boston hat next to us so I thought I'd make conversation. which is weird because we all know how socially awkward I am. This was our conversation:
Me: Hey! I'm from the Boston area!
Kid: Yeah? Do you go to school here?
Me: No. I graduated.
Kid: When?
Me: Three years ago.
Kid (with a sour look on his face and tone in his voice): What are you doing here?
Me: My best friend is getting married this weekend!!!

Then him and his friend left and Megan and I took their seats. THREE years ago. I graduated THREE years ago and this kid was giving me a hard time for being in town waiting to play nintendo at a bar. Whatever. Moving on...

I finally went to bed at 2 and got a text at 5 am....

Friday:
"My car broke down on route 4. I'm waiting for a tow truck. I tried." I was devastated! Adam was supposed to come to AVL and go to the wedding with me. I was so excited to show him where I spent 4 years of my life, meet my friends, and go to my bff's wedding. I tried really hard to be understanding because we knew he was having car problems earlier in the week and the airport is over an hour away so it's not like he can just call a taxi. Adam, I know it wasn't your fault and it's over now - but you are 0 for 2...you're going to have to meet one of my friends eventually!!

Since I no longer had to go to the airport to pick him up, I spent the morning walking around downtown. It was AMAZING! The weather was GORGEOUS! We couldn't have asked for better weather. I wondered the streets of downtown in my tshirt (which I had to dig out before packing) and my sunglasses. Downtown has really stepped it up. Chocolate Fetish has doubled in size! I got some chocolates to bring back since Adam couldn't be there. I also picked up some treats for Goomba since I felt guilty for leaving him.

Later all the girls were meeting to get our nails done. This was my first time meeting Megan's sisters. It was slightly overwhelming. Luckily, they were all awesome and welcomed me into the group like I was one of them. They were so sweet. Afterwards, on to rehearsal! This was kind of weird because there was another wedding at 7 so we didn't really have a lot of time. Why would the hotel do that? We walked in and out and talked a little about who does what when. It was quickly over and we were on our way to dinner. Dinner was fun. I saw with the other ATMSers and we all talked about what we've been up to these days. My plate came out, we laughed at how small it was, then Terry's food came out and we laughed even harder.

Mine was supposedly 4 oz and Terry's was supposedly 8 oz. the surprising part is he finished his BEFORE me. But this is a Monroe, maybe it isn't so surprising? We well went to our hotels after dinner since we were tired and had to wake up early for the festivities!

Saturday:
THE WEDDING! Separate blog to come later. 


Sunday:
Before I trip I bought tickets to see the Biltmore. Adam is a photographer so I thought he'd enjoy this, and I get a discount if I buy them ahead of time. Without Adam, I didn't really care to go by myself, but I already had the ticket and a lot of time to kill (my flight wasn't until 6:30 PM) so I went anyways (but you can tell from the photo I'm not sure if I want to be there).

I don't know why I wanted to see the gardens so badly, obviously in March there was really nothing there. Although I did find a greenhouse type thing with a bunch of flowers and there was one room I walked in and there was just a TON of orchards. It was beautiful. (For anyone reading this, orchards are not my favorite flower but they are a very close second.)

As I was leaving I got a text from the newlyweds saying they were bored. hahaha. So I headed over to UNCA to meet up with them. My oh my how the met lab has changed! It looks so much bigger! Almost like there's no way it could be the same room. We got some lunch, then I said by to them for the second time as they headed to the airport. Then I just drove around AVL some more until it was time for me too to go to the airport. I got there and guess who I saw! None other than The Hutchins'. There was no room on their flight, so I said goodbye yet again and sat in the airport waiting for my turn. If you read my facebook at all, you know that my flight was delayed. Delayed enough to make me miss my connecting flight. With only one flight from ATL to Manchester a day, they wouldn't be able to get me home until Monday late in the day. Well this sucks. I have to pay an extra day to board Goomba, another day of parking, and miss another day of work. I was not a happy camper. But wait, what's this. The plane taking me from Atlanta to Manchester is flying into Atlanta from SC, and seems to be delayed?? Maybe there is hope!! After several hours, I landed in ATL at 8:30 (when my original flight was supposed to leave) and my connecting flight was delayed until 9:30. OMG! I'M GOING TO MAKE IT HOME TONIGHT AFTER ALL!! This is GREAT news!

The girl I sat next to on the plane got to her seat and said, "Oh good you're reading too so I won't feel bad for turning my light on." Then I continued to read the entire flight (luckily I had such a good book to keep me entertained and distract me from what a long day it was) while she read 5 minutes then quit, got out her computer, and was on twitter the whole rest of the flight. Weird. After all of this, I landed in Manchester around 12:30 and drove home. I finally made it home around 2:30 am, went to sleep, and woke up for work the next day. It was a long journey home, but overall, it was a fantastic trip and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

High:
I got my Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, and Yuengling fix.

Low:
My wedding date didn't make it.

On Deck:
I'm not sure. either my sister visiting me or Kelly's Wedding in VA Beach at the end of May.