adventures of a kraftsingle: I MUSTACHE you, how do we look? Part 1

This past wkd I escaped from the city for a country wkd family celebration. After working Wednesday night I had breakfast with a few friends, finished packing, and squeezed in a last minute mani before heading to the airport. Unfortunately my plane was delayed on the runway and I got into Louisville a little later than planned, and I have difficulty sleeping in public places so by the time my sister picked me up I'd been awake for 24 hrs and sometimes the lack of sleep just makes me a little more outgoing than usual. While pulling away from the airport Em saw a worship leader from her church and next thing you know, I'm yelling out my window "Hey Mike, love ya man! Every Sunday! Great!" and he's blankly waving at me. I like to shake up these church people every once in awhile :) We made a quick stop at the Scarlet Hope House where my sister volunteers to meet some of the girls (former strip club dancers), and then met up with my dear friend Cassie. I met Cassie in nursing school, then we moved to Raleigh at the same time, and attended the same church, and I'm so excited that she's moved closer to her home and family in KY so that I can now visit her when I come to see my sister! We had some great Mediterranean food at Shiraz, then topped it off with some really yummy ice cream at The Comfy Cow. By this point I was blanking out and had been awake way too long! Em kindly took me home and put me to bed while she stayed awake to finish some crafts/props for our Aunt's surprise party.

the photobooth Em made!

Me 'n Cassie

On Friday the sister and I roadtripped it to WV, about a 6 hour drive to our aunt's house. Along the way she was getting emails and text msgs about tornado precautions, we were glad to be escaping the bad weather in L'ville, and made a pit stop in Huntington to catch up with some college buddies of mine.

old LU friends, Steve, me, & Joe

We hit the road again and made it to our Aunt's house just before she got home from going to see a movie. Em, Charity & Rachael (my cousins) and I hid in her bathroom to surprise her! She definitely wasn't expecting us...but even better, she wasn't expecting my parents to show up later that evening...or my grandparents and additional aunts/uncles/cousins the next morning! On Saturday all the girls headed to Lewisburg, voted coolest small town of 2011 by MSNBC, to dine at Stardust Cafe---so yummy and definitely the place to be! All of our food was so good & locally sourced, the "tap" water is actually spring water, and I'm now addicted to putting granola on my salad inspired by their Trust Me Salad. Before getting back in the car we grabbed some coffee at The Wild Bean, definitely another "must stop" if you ever pass through. I got some of their flavored coffee but my cousin got their Swiftkick (espresso+brown sugar) and not I'm kicking myself for not getting it ;)

Charity & Em waiting on our food

Birthday girl and her party planner daughter, Rach

Next stop was the Greenbrier Resort, a 4 star resort that's housed 26 Presidents and also hides a Presidential bunker from the Cold War days. Aside from the great historical qualities this place is just gorgeous! It's free to tour and we definitely enjoyed walking around the lower level filled with high end shops, then exploring the second level filled with dining areas, ballrooms, and various sitting areas. The colors, patterns, and textures were phenomenal! So many things mix-matched, yet it worked together. We just happened to be there in time for a complimentary afternoon tea & desserts (again, SO yummmy!) which as quite a formal affair. While I was busy exploring and taking silly pictures (and going into places I probably shouldn't) my sister asked a Greenbrier staff member to prank me and the woman came over, straight faced, asked what I was doing and informed me that room was closed. It got awkward really fast, we all froze, my aunt started to defend me, and Em couldn't take it so she blurted out that it was a joke! She didn't make me sweat it very long, but it was definitely funny. I'm the one who is usually pranking someone so it was good to get a dose of my own medicine.