This weekend was my birthday weekend! I think maybe I will just extend the birthday festivities to the end of August making the whole month a celebration. So everyone, eat a cupcake this month in honor of me.
yum.
On my actual birthday day, Justin and I met up with our friends Hunter and Holly and ate at one of my favorite restaurants- Surin in downtown Tuscaloosa. I love Surin because of the sushi, and Justin loves the Indian food, and we’ve both been about three times since we’ve moved here- it may be our favorite.
Please look past my crazy eyes.
Since we didn’t have any plans this weekend, we decided to drive over to Hoover to do some shopping and spend the weekend with Justin’s Aunt Mary Anna and Uncle Stuart. Mary Anna and Stuart are the two closest family members we have to Tuscaloosa, and we have grown very close to them and love the times when we all get to hang out! Mary Anna and Stuart also have two cute yorkies, Allie and Quinn, and Mary Anna has been wanting all of our pups to meet and have a play date. Despite Gatsby and Fitzgerald having horrible car sickness when they were younger, we decided to load the pups up on Saturday morning and drive to Hoover.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Gatsby started to drool (a LOT), which is usually the first sign that he is about to hurl. Luckily, I thought ahead and spread a towel in my lap to avoid disaster. He started heaving approximately three minutes into our trip. I know the poor thing was miserable, but we were sure that he would be fine once we got on the interstate and weren’t making so many stops. Unfortunately, we were horribly, horribly wrong. Gatsby threw up a total of four times, and Fitz added another three to the total. It was awful. By the grace of God, I managed to avoid being thrown up on for the entire trip, thanks to my handy JC Penney towel. Mary Anna offered to meet us near the Galleria exit to take the pups back to her house herself, and we QUICKLY said yes! We met her and she put on their harnesses, buckled them into a plush dog seat, and they were on their merry way. I definitely felt like a negligent mother! And of COURSE they were totally fine on the ride to her house. Of course.
With the pups in good hands, we decided to brave the Galleria. I was pretty excited about getting to go to two of my favorite stores- Forever 21 and Francesca’s. To say that the Galleria was a madhouse would be an enormous understatement. This weekend was Tax-Free Weekend in Alabama, and everyone and their mother and cousin decided to go to the mall. We could barely walk without running into someone, and Forever 21 was RIDICULOUS. I also know that shopping is not one of Justin’s favorite things, and I constantly worry about taking too long or if he’s happy. I usually go shopping by myself so I can go in a store and look around without worrying about anyone else. BUT, Justin graciously decided to follow me around through the crowds of people, and I was frustrated that I could barely see any of the clothes. I soon decided, what am I doing at Forever 21?? I need clothes that are work-appropriate! AND I’m not 21 anymore. I think I may be going through a mild quarter-life crisis, but that is a blog post for another time.
After about an hour and only one purchase of a Diet Dr. Pepper, we decided that we had enough of screaming babies, weird teenagers, and the mall in general. We got to the car and headed out of the parking garage. We were both feeling kind of pooped after dealing with the puppy fiasco and crazy mall folks, so we were at a loss of where to go next because we had two hours to kill before our dinner date with Aunt Mary Anna and Uncle Stuart. Then, much like a lighthouse in the distance, there was hope. And that hope is called WORLD MARKET.
I come from a long line of World Market lovers. My whole family loves that store, and it is definitely at the top of our list of places to visit whenever we go on vacation. My stepdad’s mother is from England, and we always like to stock up on English candy bars for him. Kate and Mom love to get different baking mixes and things to cook. I just like stuff- random things like throw pillows, lights on a string, a case of root beer, and candles. I basically love everything. I knew that World Market would be a place that Justin would like, too, since he has an appreciation for cool stuff as well. We ended up spending two hours at World Market, and left with an oriental lantern, a present for Kate (I always end up getting her a present), a six-pack of different foreign beer for Justin, reusable ice cube ball things, a sushi mat, and these cute stackable mugs, which was my birthday present to myself :)
We even joined the World Market Explorers Program for coupons and whatnot. We felt pretty official. After we spent too much money, we met up for dinner at Pacific Rim, an awesome sushi restaurant close by. The sushi was AWESOME, as was the Japanese ice cream we had for dessert! We finished the night loving on some puppies and playing Trivial Pursuit.
The next morning, we took the pups for a walk with Aunt Mary Anna, and she told us that she needed to make a run to Whole Foods after church. We promptly freaked out and asked if we could go with. Mary Anna has gotten us groceries from Whole Foods in the past, and now that Justin is gluten-free and we are trying to eat organic, unprocessed foods as much as possible, we definitely wanted to make a trip to Whole Foods ourselves.
After church as we entered the store, I was overwhelmed with excitement, much like a child on Christmas morning. Justin made a beeline for the vegetables (his favorite), and I immediately went to the flower section. In grocery stores, I am usually a wanderer, and end up getting lost and having to call Justin to meet back up. The trip to Whole Foods was not much different, except this time, no phone call was made! I headed over to the granola bar section and stocked up on a couple of boxes of no-preservative, gluten-free granola bars and chips that Justin likes. I even got a jar of my favorite peanut butter and a loaf of gluten-free bread to try. Justin’s favorite purchases were his live oysters, which he promptly cracked, ate, and spilled all over himself when we got back to the house.
In the future (when we have gas), I think we’re going to try to make more trips over to Hoover. Whole Foods makes it really simple for us to find.. well.. whole foods! I never had any intention of being a “granola girl” or picky about what I eat, but I have spent A LOT of time in my life eating things only based on calorie content, not on actual nutrition! Both Justin and I feel much better after becoming more conscious about the food we put into our bodies and being knowledgeable about the best options for our health!
This weekend, I will be helping move my baby sister into college! Kate, if you’re reading this, stop growing up. You are making me feel old.
