Quality Family Time

Being away from my family sucks but so far, they’ve all tried really hard to make it easier. My sister came to visit before the beach, my older sister and parents send pics of my nieces and nephew and I try to talk to my grandma at least once a week. Though it was hard to find a weekend that worked for all of us, I was more than grateful that my dad, step-mom and grandma could work a weekend in Charlotte into their busy schedules.

It was weird to show them around my new "home." It's equally as weird to call a place home when it’s that far away from the people that mean the most to me. But regardless, I've fallen in love with Charlotte almost as quickly as I fell in love with Harrisonburg and was glad they were able to see the city I keep talking about.

I took them down and drove them through the actual city, being sure to stay on the roads I was familiar with to give the allusion that I knew where I was going. My grandmother was impressed that I’ve learned my way around so quickly and while I definitely know it better than an outsider, there’s still a long way to go.

We spent most of Saturday with a planned outing to Ikea and they surprised me by showing up to my apartment with Bo-berry biscuits from Bojangles. (Seriously the best breakfast I've and probably ever will have). We trekked through the Ikea showroom where I somehow convinced my grandmother to buy me a couch, a coffee table and end table for my otherwise empty living room. Maybe now I can actually invite people over to my house. I didn't figure out until about 10:00 Sunday night that I had picked up the wrong cover for my couch and have to make another trip back to warehouse to get the right one.

We all agreed on an afternoon nap followed by dinner at 131 Main. I wanted to take them somewhere they couldn't eat at home. Not only was this place suggested to me by one of my friends but also way too expensive for me to ever consider going on my own. (Good thing they were picking up the tab.) We ended the evening with a rousing game of Apples to Apples and while my initial plan was to go meet up with some friends afterwards, I was secretly grateful when they called and cancelled.

Sunday morning they snuck me into their hotel for continental breakfast and to my surprise, my dad did not protest. He’s usually against anything that breaks the rules but I guess the risk was too small to put up a fight. 

I promptly went home and went back to bed upon their departure only getting up to meet some friends and watch the Panther’s game and a later trip to the doggie park. I expect my Sunday’s will look pretty much the same until after the Super Bowl.

For the rest of year, I have random weekends filled with visiting friends and family members and could not by happier. My evil master plan is to slowly convince ALL of them to move down here so I can have all my favorite people in my new favorite city. A girl can dream.