The Aunts Invade Charlotte

Thank goodness my coworkers and I went to Target the day before because there was a full-blown nerf battle in my row Friday after lunch that was mostly made possible by the artillery we picked up the day before. With only one casualty, I left work a little early to go home and get the last minute things together for my trip with my aunts. They were en route to Charlotte as of 7:30 that morning but a “quick” stop at my grandparent’s house delayed them a few hours as my grandmother has a way of keeping you three times as long as you planned.

They made it to my place around 5:30 and we unloaded the furniture that they brought for me. Well, most of the furniture. Because they had taken out all of the car seats to bring me said furniture and no one was interested in taking my car, we were short a seat in the van. In true Beverly Hillbilly fashion, we left the arm chair and ottoman in the car and took off for Cherokee, NC.

Our pimped out ride.

 The whole reason we were going to Cherokee was because one of my favorite groups was singing there. The group is Straight No Chaser and they’re an a cappella group based of out of Indiana University (look them up, they’re amazing.) I saw them once about a year ago and they are equally as good live as they are on any CD. We got to Cherokee about 9:30 and the concert started at 9. We were a tad bit late. Normally, poor planning doesn’t end well, especially for me but we got in the door halfway through a song and opted to wait until they were finished so we wouldn’t disturb anyone. While we were waiting, the usher offered to seat us on the floor as opposed to the risers that we had tickets for. We said okay and she promptly placed us dead center of the floor, three rows back. If one of them had fallen off the stage, they would have landed right on us.

View of Straight No Chaser from our seats :)

After an epic concert experience and SNC being amazing again, it was time to hit the casino. I came with no money, but seeing as not gambling wasn’t an option, my aunts slipped me a little cash to get me started. I tripled my initial $20 in the slots and then headed to scope out the black jack and craps tables on the other side. I tend to prefer the tables because you lose your money slower and it makes for more entertainment. I settled on a craps table and Aunt Ellen joined me later. After teaching her the basics and with a little help from Preston and Kenny (the employees), she was hooked and there was no stopping her at this point.

We continued for a few hours, ordering drinks occasionally and getting excited about our turn to roll. I came out on top, happy about my progress but definitely starting to feel the less than two hours of sleep the night before and the three hour drive up there. We moved onto to “Let It Ride” where my aunt hit it big on her first (and last) hand. I was tired to say the least and I had been standing for a while. My feet hurt, I was cranky, and the alcohol stopped at 2am. I was ready to be done. My aunts on the other hand, put me to shame with their stamina and prowess. I am honored to say I have them as my role models because miraculously they kept me going until about 6:30.

We decided that would be a good time to “check-in” to the hotel we had booked across the street. We got to the front desk and told them that we wouldn’t need the room but would still like to eat the continental breakfast. We still paid for the room and when you think about it, that means our breakfast cost about $130. During that time, we decided it would be in our best interest to go back to the casino for another hour or two before heading back to Charlotte.

At this point, we still had not been to sleep and it was taking every ounce of power I had not to fall asleep at the slot machine. I ended up playing craps again but with no luck and decided to call it quits and watch my aunts. In that time, Aunt Anne had managed to turn $100 into significantly more and we called it a night(day?) with all three of us being up overall on the weekend.

A quick stop at the Paula Deen gift shop and we were on our way back to Charlotte. I almost immediately passed out in the Captain’s chair in the back and woke up about 20 minutes outside of Statesville. We made arrangements to pick up Ron from Mike and Whitney’s and then headed to my apartment. After an early dinner and quick trip to Target to get some things from my apartment, we rearranged my living room to accommodate all my new furniture. We played a dice game for a few rounds and I was in no shape to object to a 9:30 bed time.

Since Ron hates sleeping in for some reason, I was up at 8:30 and made breakfast for my aunts before loading up the car and saying good bye. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I went back to sleep for a solid 5 hours after I got them safely on their way. They left me with a few parting gifts, most notably a Paula Deen cookbook and a new nativity set to kick off the Christmas season.

To say I had a blast this weekend is an understatement. It’s always a good time with those two and hopefully next time my other aunt will be able to make the trip. The highlight of the weekend is a toss-up between the ghetto-chair in the car, 3^rd row seats at SNC, and all three of us coming out on top in the casino. I don’t think we could have packed any more good karma into the weekend.

A last (but certainly not least) cap on the weekend was that my little sister got engaged to one of the most awesome guys I know. He’s been around for a while and has been a part of my family for quite some time but I speak for all of us when I say we’re glad to make it official. Bring on the wedding planning!