Girls Weekend with Stephany

This post is long overdue! My life has been a little crazy in the past week. I made my last presentation for school today, and I am trying to study for my final exam next Tuesday. I will probably be MIA from blog-land until next Tuesday, but wanted to share my fun weekend with all of you!!

Stephany came in to town. We hope she will be moving here in a few months! It was such a fun weekend. Here are some of the highlights...

Friday night was pretty quiet - we went to Bad Daddy's Burger Bar where I got the delicious black bean burger. We went to the Montford bars and made some new friends, but left pretty early because we were tired!

Saturday was a fun day, if you ignore the Banana Republic outlet mall incident. We went to brunch at Toast in Dilworth. So delicious. I had a Groupon (or living social deal) and we were able to use it for brunch!

We then went to Concord Mills for shopping. I wanted a refund for some stuff at Banana Republic, but they were excessively rude and would not help me. So, I will not be shopping there again for a long while. They owe me $30!

Then we napped, relaxed, and watched Grey's Anatomy. How crazy was last week's episode?! Then we got ready to go out! Stephany wanted to experience Uptown Charlotte, and so we did. Vida for dinner and then Mez for the party. Here is the night in pictures! After story time.

Favorite story of the night: there was a $10 charge to get in to Mez. The three of us were collectively too frugal to pay the cover charge. $10? WTF. So Stephany tried to negotiate with the bouncer. Fail. I tried to negotiate with the ticket girls. Fail. So we just stood around in the lobby... I think the bouncer felt bad for us, because somehow he gathered 3 tickets and handed them over to us and we got in for free! Looking needy works, I suppose?

Obligatory getting ready photo shoot

Practicing my sparkly skirt look for Vegas. 

Stephany's friend Graham, Stephany, Me - at Vida for Mexican food!

Chips, Salsa, and Guacamole. Hiding in the back is a mushroom and goat cheese quesadilla.

Marcelo and I - my friend from high school!

On Sunday, my friend Kristen offered us two tickets to the Panthers game! We had been talking all night about how we wanted to go. Our dreams were coming true for the small price of $30 per ticket. This is how we proceeded to come up with the cash. We managed to scrounge up $50 out of that pile.. I still owe Kristen the rest. We were cracking up (and not interested in walking to the bank, duh.)

Does this look like $50 to you?

Awesome view from our seats!!

I had such a fun weekend. I hope Stephany comes back to visit soon, so we can have a re-run. Now I am going to finish watching this week's Private Practice and get a good night's sleep. I took a vacation day tomorrow so that I could study. Countdown to final exam and Vegas: 5 days!

Weekend Adventures

Two of my oldest and most favorite best friends came to visit this weekend - Casey and Meredith! We always have so much fun together, and no matter how old we get, and how much time passes between our last visit, it feels just like the old days and like we had seen each other yesterday!

We had lots of weekend adventures. Adventures with food, malls, cabs, and bars.

We ate... and ate... and ate some more. Luckily we all have the same (diverse) taste in food so there was never any restaurant selection drama! Friday night, we went to 131 Main in Dilworth. Part of me doesn't want to announce this here, because I feel like it is a well-kept secret, but they are a BYO restaurant - this really kept our meal costs down! We brought in a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine. I also had a free appetizer coupon. Best pimento cheese in the whole world. The unique thing about 131 Main is that they do not have freezers; everything they make is super fresh! And super delicious I might add. We shared the dip platter (salsa, guacamole, and pimento cheese). We also shared the Ahi Tuna Salad and Shrimp and Grits. This goes down as one of my favorite meals ever.

We went out to the bars at Montfort that night and made new friends! It was fun. The most entertaining part of the night was the cab ride home. The cab driver had some specialty burned CD's that he decided to play for us. Weirdest. Music. Ever. I was so confused. He was really in to the music too... Well we all made it home in one piece only slightly emotionally scarred from that strange sound coming from the cab's speakers.

"Brunch" the next morning took place at the Midnight Diner.

We forgot to take pictures, but this was by far the unhealthiest meal we had. It surely was delicious though... Casey got Chicken and Waffles, Meredith got a slider and onion rings, and I got a hot dog and onion rings (they really have the best waffles). It was a delicious.. breakfast??? Afternoon laziness ensued. We watched Napoleon Dynamite and napped. Well, me and Casey napped. And Meredith took pictures.

We then got off of our behinds and went to the mall. I had to pick up a necklace that was getting repaired and my race bib for Saturday's 5K. We all had a successful shopping day and cute dresses to wear out that night at Francesca's. Look how cute we are! I will not bore all of you with the photo shoot that took place in my bathroom while getting ready... hey, we know how to have fun.

Dinner that night was at The Cowfish. If you haven't heard of The Cowfish, it is a combo sushi bar/boutique burger bar. The food is so delicious! My favorite part of The Cowfish is the Bento Box. You get the best of both worlds: thai cucumbers, sweet potato fries (I subbed for the pickle chips), edamame, sushi, and a slider!

We also had crab rangoon dip and I got a cucumber mojito! Nom nom!

We got back to my apartment and more laziness ensued. We were about 10 minutes away from not going out that night... but we got our act together and started playing drinking skip-bo, which is basically my favorite game.

After we each won a round, we again got our behinds in gear and began the getting ready process. And I lied... this wouldnt be a true recap of the weekend if I didn't include at least one picture of our bathroom photo shoot.

We went to Epicenter that night - Strike City is a bowling alley. I know what you all are thinking: Katie? Bowling? And no, I did not bowl. I stood there and looked pretty. It was fun. We met up with our new friends there, and went to some random bar - I still don't know what the name was but we had fun!!!

All in all, it was a successful girls weekend and I miss them!!!

Dear Casey and Meredith,

Come back soon! But, not too soon. This girl can only handle that much awesomeness every so often.

Love,
Katie

P.S. I will be in Raleigh in a few weeks so let's have part two then.

Until then, I get to look forward to this coming Saturday in Atlanta with more of my best friends! Including but not limited to Betsy, Matt, Sehar, and you know, TAYLOR SWIFT.

Betsy got us tickets in the suite at Phillips Arena. NBD. We are hoping if we tweet at her, we can get her to meet us at Taco Mac before the show. We'll be the girls dressed like cowgirls. I'll probably be eating popcorn and drinking beer. Betsy will be the one screaming like a crazy person. We won't be hard to find at ALL.

Come on, ride the train

I promise this will be my last Amtrak themed post (for the week). But, I have to say I was very pleased with my experience. Reasonable prices, ease of travel, efficient... I really don't have a bad thing to say!

You know, just casually waiting for the train on a Sunday afternoon

ChooChoo here comes the train in Cary!
The ride from Charlotte to Cary was easy - the train was not crowded and I had a seat all to myself! On the way back, the train was completely full. I had to walk through 3 cars before I could find a seat. The girl I sat with (super unfriendly), but she got off at Greensboro so I had half of the ride with a full seat to myself. Look at all this space! So comfy. I would pay a small premium any day to not have to drive 6 hours in one weekend. I was able to do a lot of reading and get some school work done as well.

Weekend at home was really good. I forgot to take pictures - I am looking in to investing in a (new) digital camera, and giving my phone a break. I always forget to take pictures. I wonder if I had an actual camera, if I would do it? Friday night we went to Abbey Road in Cary, NC - broke my no meat streak for good reason. They really do have the best burgers. And the beer and onion rings didn't hurt either.

Saturday was a lazy day. We napped, watched TV, and went to the first annual Apex Jazz Festival, where I ate my weight in bar snacks, popcorn, and tortilla chips. We then went to my favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner - La Rancherita. Did I eat too much? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Bean burrito, spinach enchilada, and cheese quesadilla. I sometimes wonder where I put it all... and then I remember - my ever expanding stomach. Speaking of minimizing the expanding stomach, I am still going on the jogging... I sort of conquered my parents' neighborhood on Saturday (although there were 2 points in time where I thought I might have died). Charlotte = relatively flat. Apex = super hilly. My legs and my lungs were not prepared for the hills, but it was definitely good practice.

Yesterday was an even better lazy day, and while I woke up with a stomach ache (thanks, La Rancherita) and a massive headache, it was a perfect excuse to curl up and watch the Teen Mom marathon. I got my mom hooked... she kept on watching even after my train was Westbound to Charlotte. Finale on Tuesday. Will Farrah move??? The suspense is killing me (not). Got back to Charlotte. Got in a (minor) argument with my cab driver from the train station. He totally overcharged me and I called him out on it. Whatever, that was not my first cab ride and I'm paying what I know it costs! He even said "I promise my meter's not fast!" and I said "uh huh." Don't pay Mr. Cabbie. This is why I like Yellow Cab - reliable and fair, not Joe Blow's cab service. He also turned on the meter while we were sitting in a gridlocked parking lot. I made him reset it. Argh. I'm feisty and I get my way. Deal. With. It.

On tonight's agenda - elliptical machine (I guess), Zumba, and TV time. Because I know I am not going to want to cook tonight, I have a Lean Cuisine reviewed today by 'Tactfully' Southern ready and waiting to be microwaved. This will be my first try of the Lean Cuisine bags - I am trying the Asiago Cheese Tortellini.

I know it is Monday but I am ready for the weekend because two of my best friends are coming to visit! We go all the way back to middle school and high school. They are also some of my favorite dance partners. Time to brainstorm activities and fun things to do!! Below is a picture of these two lovely ladies' last visit (to Atlanta) more than a year ago (my hair is so short and blonde!). It is about time for another Girls weekend 'o fun!

Casey, Meredith, Me