Weekend with Amber

Yesterday, I announced the new blog that Mandy and I have started called The Things Girls Love.  From now on, all of my book reviews will be posted on that blog, and this one will be reserved for updates on my life. If you enjoy my book reviews, please start following us! I've just posted a review of Octavia Butler's Kindred.

So back to my life. I had such a fun weekend. And unintentionally, I had a LONG weekend. It was great. On Thursday, we attended the U2 Concert in Charlottesville. I left work about 3PM, and we hit the road right around 4:00. We had all decided to meet at Eric's to have dinner and drop off one of the cars. Everyone arrived at exactly the same time - 5:15 or so. We all had pizza, and amused ourselves by watching Connor. The kid is adorable, and actually quite funny. He gets that from both of his parents.

The concert was a lot of fun - its not every day you get to see Bono perform, so we really enjoyed it. I wasn't a fan of the opening act, Muse. Their music made my ears bleed. LOL. But we had so much fun, the weather was great (slightly chilly, being outside, but that's better than too hot). We got back to Richmond that night around 1AM, and Shane and Mandy had come back to stay the night. I decided when my alarm went off the next morning that I had no interest in going to work. Besides - I was driving to Durham that day, and needed my sleep.

I packed my bags and left town about 11:30AM on Friday. I had no idea Durham was so close by - it only took me 2 1/2 hours to get there, although I killed a half hour by stopping to eat. I checked into the room around 2:30 and Amber arrived right before 3:00. We decided to head to the Nasher Art Museum to check out the Picasso Art Exhibit (VERY cool), and another called "Beyond Beauty" which featured old photographs. We had dinner at the Magnolia Grill, then hit up another museum to see the "Water for Elephants" art exhibit by Brad Williams. When we got back to the hotel that night, I realized that I had a UTI. So at 1AM, Amber and I were out in Durham trying to find the 24 hr Walgreens that my doctor had called in a prescription to. It was quite the adventure, let me tell you. And my GPS was not cooperating.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, then went to the Farmer's Market and Craft Fair in downtown Durham to look around. We got back to the hotel and caught the shuttle to the football game. YAY! Duke's stadium is so small compared to Lane and Scott stadiums. It was like a highschool stadium, but the good news was that this meant we had GREAT seats. We were in Row N. NEVER would you get seats that good at a home game. The unfortunate part was that there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and 3-4 hours in the sun is not good for me, with my history of skin cancer. Amber was smart enough to bring sunblock, so that helped, but I still got burned on my face and hands. I ended up sitting out most of the 4th quarter just to be in the shade. But it doesn't matter. WE WON :-) Go Hokies!

After the game, we needed to relax, so we went back to the hotel for some downtime. We picked an italian place to have dinner (Pop's), but neither of us was too impressed with it. Then, after dinner, we went to the Durham Library for a book reading and book signing by Sue Monk Kidd, and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. It was so exciting! They first read passages from their new book, Traveling with Pomegranates, then answered questions. After that, they signed books - I had brought The Secret Life of Bees and the Mermaid Chair for them to sign, and I ended up buying Traveling with Pomegranates as well. It's next on my list of books to read :-).

On Sunday morning, Amber and I had breakfast at IHOP, then we both hit the road. We had a blast, and it was nice to just have a girls weekend. We both needed it.

Sunday night, Scott and I put up our Halloween decorations outside. That was fun! I love Halloween, and seeing all the kids in their costumes. I still need to get some spiderwebs for the bushes, and put up decorations inside. Maybe one night this week.