Cheryl's conjugal visit

This weekend was awesome because Cheryl got to visit. We had to sweat it out though—it almost didn't happen. One of the parents in Cheryl's class offered her a standby ticket and, being that it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, open seats on flights were hard to come by. She got shut out on Thursday night and then three times Friday morning before catching a mid-day flight that allowed her to get here just before midnight. Neither of us cared because we were both just so excited that she was able to make it out at all.

On Saturday morning we had grand plans to head to Raleigh for a Christmas parade featuring Josh Hamilton, but we woke up too late. So we just chilled out for a little bit and then went for an early lunch at the Q Shack. Cheryl liked it a lot more this time around, since she listened to my suggestion on the beef brisket and the hush puppies didn't taste like onion rings. I love that place.



After lunch, we drove around Durham. I gave her the Duke tour that I hadn't yet discovered when she was out here the first time and then we hit up Locopos for some dessert. J.P, the guy that always works on the weekends, cracked up when I walked in because I'm always brining new people there. Cheryl got cookies n' cream and I tried chocolate pumpkin.

After that, we headed back home to chill out for a bit. Someone was supposed to come see the house (a potential roommate), but they never showed. At about 5, we headed to the mall for dinner and a movie. We walked around the mall for a bit and then headed across the street to P.F. Chang's for dinner. Buuuuut it was like a two-hour wait, so we made reservations for Sunday night instead and headed back to the mall...where we waited (only) and hour and a half to eat at the Cheesecake Factory.

We killed some time by walking hanging out in Barnes and Noble, where we looked at books, magazine and had some holiday-themed drinks from Starbucks. Cheryl had peppermint hot chocolate and I had an egg nog latte. Two funny things happened while we were waiting to eat. One, we saw an interesting old guy. He was decked out in UNC gear, which isn't weird in and of itself, but he had pajama pants pulled up under his moobs and he was wearing Tarheel slippers and, oh yeah, did I mention he also had earrings, two purses and maybe lipstick? The picture doesn't do it justice, but take a look for yourself...



I thought about putting his picture on a Duke message board, but that's just too mean.

Cheryl and I also were flipping through one of those books that lists 1000 things to do before you die. I just opened it to a random page and was taken back. One of the things to do before you die is apparently...

*69 someone

...which led to this conversation:
Me: Cher, check this out!
Cheryl: Oh my gosh, that's crazy! What does the star mean?
Me: OOOOH! Hahahaha! STAR 69 someone!
Cheryl: Oh my gosh, that is so funny!

Now, you can say that dirty minds think alike, but in our defense, that's a pretty crappy thing to make the book. This wasn't some dusty book we found on the shelf, this was a book out on one of their display tables, giving me the impression that it's a newer book. Who uses star 69 anymore? What else should I make sure I do before I die? Send a telegram?

After we got bored at Barnes and Noble, we headed back over to the Cheesecake Factory and by the time we were finally seated, we were both starving. Thankfully, the food was quick, tasted great and Cheryl said she hadn't been there in like three years. Then we saw Role Models. This weekend was pretty similar to the one I had the weekend before with Megan. The movie was just as good the second time and Cheryl loved it too.

After the movie, we hit up the grocery store so that we could make root beer floats. Then we went home, enjoyed those and watched SNL.

On Sunday, we woke up and headed over to Chapel Hill where we walked around Franklin Street for lunch and...you guessed it...more Locopops! I got chocolate brownie and Cheryl got peanut butter chocolate chip. If you can't tell, I freaking love Locopops. I think I actually told Cheryl while we were at the Chapel Hill Locopops that it's my favorite place in the world.

I love it so much, in fact, that we went to the Durham location before dinner. Appetizers I guess. We had to go early because they close at 6 in the winter now, remember? And this was hilarious. We showed up at about 5:30 and as we walked up, we could see through the window that J.P. (the guy that works there) was sound asleep. We walked in quietly and were giggling watching him sleep. A woman and a kid walked in just after us and they told us to wake him up. So I started by quietly saying his name...which turned into almost yelling his name. That wasn't working. I wasn't worried because I could see him breathing, but I knew that just speaking loudly wasn't doing the trick, so I stepped behind the counter and walked over to him. I had to shake his knee for like 20 seconds before he woke up. Heavy sleeper! Even though we assured him that it wasn't a big deal, he was really embarrassed and gave us free popsicles.



Cheryl and I then went to our dinner at P.F. Chang's and it was the bomb...really hit the spot. Unfortunately, we somehow forgot to take our leftovers with us when we headed home to watch some movies. Cheryl brought our latest Netflix movies out with her and we watched an awesome Zach Galifianakis standup DVD and the movie Charlie Bartlett before hitting the sack.

It was a great weekend, filled with laughter and love. I'm so glad Cheryl was able to make it out here. She's absolutely my favorite person in the world and I can't wait to see her again in 23 days!