Spent in many ways....

Home sweet home.
We have returned after a 5 day out of town work/pleasure adventure.

Between Philip and I we covered Charleston, Greenville, Columbia and Atlanta.
Philip really did the majority of the traveling while I worked in Altanta at a Users Conference for the week.

Philip visited a handful of clients throughout South Carolina and even got a chance to meet up with our cousin Paige, Aunt Janice and Uncle Craig at USC. Paige was moving into college and Philip wanted to bring her the "must-have" college basket of goodies. I loved his thoughtful idea and we got busy filling up a large basket for her. We included a USC t-shirt, white board, tin foil, food, pens, pencils, notebooks etc to prepare her for college life. Philip said she loved it and I was so impressed that he had thought of the idea all by himself.

While in Atlanta I went to the Braves vs Cubs game at Turner. They played a double header and the Cubbies won both games. Although the food and drinks were ridiculously pricey we (my co-workers and I) had a great time. My conference went well and I realized how much I missed interacting with people in the field . Definitely some food for thought in that area.

I also concluded that I am very different than my co-workers which should make for a very interesting experience in three weeks when I head to the Bahamas for 4 days with my company. Planning how many nights to get drunk is not my idea of a mature adult vacation... catch my drift. I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach and the great dinners....not getting wasted every night.

Friday the fun began. We stayed with our good friend's Ben and Lisa. Philip and Ben grew up together like brother's in Charlotte. Lisa is Ben's girlfriend and we could not be anymore alike. She and I headed to the pool after she picked me up from my conference and the guys went to see a movie and play basketball. We met back up in time for dinner at Nava in Buckhead. We enjoyed prickly pear margaritas and fantastic fine mexican cuisine on the patio. Saturday we hit up the Perimeter mall for some shopping, played Putt-Putt (I won!) and took naps. Saturday night we went to Taverna Plaka a Greek restaurant with family style food, belly dancer's, hooka's and great company. Jill and Jason (Kaplan) announced that they were expecting their first child and we met Sam's new girlfriend Natalie. The belly dancer's were quite entertaining...dancing on tables and tossing handful of napkins as they shouted OPA! Philip thorougly enjoyed this dinner as you can see...We met up with Darren and Allison at Fado a 3 story bar in the Buckhead area after dinner for drinks. Quite a late night for us home bodies but definitely work all the fun!

We have missed our little Bella Bean so much this past week and are ready to head home, get back to our gym schedules (after a 5 day hiatus) and sleep in our own beds. Thank you to everyone for such a fantastic weekend. We already miss you and can't wait to hear more great news from everyone in charlote...cough cough....ENGAGEMENTS!

Olympic notations...I was fortunate enough to be able to watch all 8 of Michael Phelps World Record breaking gold medals (both individual and team: 7 world records). Last night I had goose bumps as I watchted the US team swim their final relay that broke the world record for the team and for Phelps. The guy is truly inspirational and amazing...What a way to represent the U.S.A!

signing off...we are spent... empty pockets and tired bodies.