a re-cap (a ceremony, 2 parties, and a train cake)

Hi.

It's been a busy week. Good week. But busy.

I told you that I got some antibiotics last Monday night. By Tuesday, they hadn't quite kicked in. By Wednesday, they were working a little bit. By Thursday I felt almost back to to normal. And, by Friday, I was in pretty good shape.

Me being happy that the evil death sickness was defeated.

I feel basically all better now, besides the fact that my left ear is still kind of clogged up. That's only annoying, so I'll live with it.

Anyway, as I was saying, it was a busy week, so it's a good thing I got medicine when I did!

Last Wednesday afternoon, we had the honor of attending the ceremony of my brother-in-law, Andrew. He is now the proud owner of a police badge. It is so very cool to see what a uniform and a badge does to a 21-year-old guy. He looks so grown up and important. We are insanely proud of him!

Having been sprawled out on the couch for a week, Thursday was used to catch up on many a chore around the house.

So that, on Friday, I could hit the road with some dear friends.

I packed my bag, left Aaron a pizza in the freezer, and got a bit fancied up.

This was all in order to celebrate my dear friend of almost ten years, Jessica.

Me and Jessica

Jess came to Wake Christian when I was in tenth grade. Renee (my best pal, maid of honor, and friend since I was 10) and I soon endeavored to claim Jessica for our little "group." 

We succeeded. And to this day, our little group of eight has endured through college and different states and travels and jobs.

Some of us have been together since the second grade. One joined us in fifth. One in seventh. And Jessica in tenth.

Six of us (we were minus one because Jessi lives in Ohio) piled into two cars on Friday and headed to Charlotte, NC to meet our seventh member, Carrie at her abode in Charlotte.

She acted as tour guide for the weekend and took us to several Charlotte hot spots as we celebrated the upcoming nuptials of beautiful Jessica.

We ate here for dinner. It was delicious. And, they are coming to Raleigh this spring.

Then, we ventured to Amelie's French Bakery. After much debate, I ended up with this chocolate mouse. I maybe could have eaten like ten. But of course, I didn't.

After returning back to Carrie's late on Friday night. We proceeded to Skype with Jessi in Ohio and talk for the next four hours into the night. We all know each other so well, that we could talk for hours and hours. I'm sure you can guess our main topic of conversation at this bachelorette weekend, so I'll spare you many details. Let's just say that five of us are married now. And we had much to impart on innocent Jessica.

After a few hours of sleep, we continued our tour of Charlotte the next morning.

Jessica and her gluten-free breakfast feast.

Me, Jessica, and Ashley

Walking around Charlotte

 It was such a fun time with dear friends. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

Carrie, Renee, Ashley, Jessica, Bethany, Whitney, Cari, and Jessi (not pictured)

The weekend wasn't over though.

Saturday afternoon, we pulled out of Charlotte around 1:15 to race back to Raleigh. You see, I had a very important date with one of my other best friends. It happened to be his birthday party, and I wasn't going to miss it for the world.

Yes, my sweet Bensen turned three! We had so much fun celebrating with him and his family.

Sherry, Bensen's mom, made this amazing train cake.

I love their faces.

Birthday boy

Oh how I miss snuggling sweet Keyen. 

Us with Bensen

Best buds

Well, congratulations if you made it through my week re-cap. It was either one long post or three short ones that would add up...was this the best choice?

Will the world ever know?