Where's Waldo?

At my house in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina that's where! So Shelby and Nicky came to celebrate my birthday with me. And since my birthday fell on a Monday this year, they came on Friday and we had the whole weekend together to celebrate. Yay!

On Friday night we went to dinner then came back to the house to have a couple drinks and just hang out. Well poor Nicky was completely exhausted from her long afternoon of traveling to North Carolina all the way from Baltimore. She sat on a grueling 1 hour long flight and then rode shotgun while Shelby drove the daunting 2 hour trek from Raleigh to Sneads Ferry. No wonder she fell asleep on my couch with her beer still in her hand! Our friend Bob was over and took it upon himself to start calling Nicky "Waldo" because the sweatshirt she was wearing had pink and white stripes. Yes I know, Waldo wears red and white... but when you are as drunk as Bob was, pink and red are pretty much the same color. So Nicky would doze off and Bob would yell, "Waldo- wake up!" She would come to for a few minutes then be passed out again, and Bob would yell, "Hey Waldo!" And she would wake up again for a few minutes. This continued for the rest of the night to mine, Shelby, and Brent's amusement, and then the nickname just kind of stuck for the rest of the weekend. Bob however, did not remember any of it. Weird. One tired Waldo

Saturday the three of us girls went down to Wilmington where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and a fun afternoon of shopping. Now when I say we went shopping, I really mean Nicky went shopping- and Shelby and I just watched. But that's why we love her, she shops for us when we cannot. We headed back home to have dinner and cake, and then a few (or more than a few) strawberry daiquiris. I can't believe we even had room for daiquiris after everything else we had consumed that day. Another favorite activity when the three of us get together, aside from the shopping and drinking, is eating our favorite foods. I had made us a taco dip, and then, better yet- my mom overnighted us our favorite pizza from home! One Chick's pizza coming up! It was delicious. Now throw in breakfast sandwiches, lunch, ice cream, pizza, chicken speedies for dinner, cake, taco dip, and daiquiris... all that Saturday- I think I gained 10 lbs.!

Shopping in Wilmington

Nicky surprised me with some special candles for my cake

Mmmmmmmm daiquiris I can make a daiquiri and drink one at the same time- my parents are very proud One small Chick's pizza: $8

Shipping to overnight a pizza from NY to NC: $27

Enjoying a little piece of home with your best friends: priceless

And that 10 lbs. we gained on Saturday came on just in time for Sunday- our day at the beach. We packed a cooler with lunch, threw some sunscreen in a bag and we were on our way. The only thing we were not prepared for were the ginormous waves that happened to be rolling in on that fine day. I go to that beach almost every weekend and have never seen waves that size. Well we weren't going to let some silly waves stop us from enjoying the water, or so we thought. It was easily above 90 degrees that day and a dip in the ocean was required every half an hour or so. Our first trip in, piece of cake, nice and cool and refreshing. Our second trip- not so nice. We could not make it past where the waves were breaking to save our lives. One hit me pretty good, I came up choking on water, I had half a boob hanging out the bottom of my bikini top, and my leg had gotten all scraped up on the bottom. The sea was angry that day my friends. Still, we pressed on. Then we all got knocked over, coming up gasping for air and disoriented. We decided we better get out before we drowned. Luckily, the waves came and went, and we were able to brave the water again.

Those Baywatch girls have nothing on us!

The beach was followed by dinner at Carrabba's, more cake, and more daiquiris. Our friends Bob and Chapman joined us and were entertained by our stories of our high school soccer and track days. Or at least we were entertaining ourselves. Ahhhh those were the days...

All dressed up for dinner

Monday we visited base to tackle the rock wall at the gym I work at, do some tax-free shopping, and check out some tanks. We got to the tank ramp just in time because a couple of the guys were cleaning them and getting them ready for the following day's Change of Command ceremony. So Nicky and Shelby got a tour from the experts. Nicky was a little less than impressed with the smell inside the tank, but other than that they both had fun. And now they can say they were inside an M1A1 battle tank. One more lunch and the girls were on the road. I was so glad they came to stay and only wish the trip could have been longer.

We almost look like we belong on top of a tank