“Whew, it’s Monday.” That’s all I could think while sleep walking into the office after a long weekend. Unlike most of my Monday mornings, I wasn’t hungover from boozing it up all weekend. Instead, I was simply exhausted.
Friday, the last official day of the work week, started as any other — filled with excitement and wanderlust for the weekend. In good spirits, I made my way from the light rail to my office on South Tryon in Uptown. I was pleasantly surprised when the roads were blocked off thanks to yet another festival — Taste of Charlotte — on our busy street.
While I can understand how frustrating it may be for those driving to deal with the changing traffic patterns Uptown on event weekends, I personally love the fact that I can walk right out of my office at lunch and be welcomed by the exciting sights and sounds of hundreds of Charlotteans, warm sunshine, live music, food and, of course, wine.
For those who didn’t head Uptown this weekend, Taste of Charlotte happens once a year during the summer. The popular festival features local restaurants and businesses in the area and spans six blocks from Stonewall Street to 5th Street, across Tryon Street. There is no entry fee, but you have to purchase coins in order to take advantage of activities and buy food.
While I would have loved to partake in the festivities, my bank account and anxiety about finishing up the work day early took precedence. Not to mention, one of my closest friends at work was celebrating his last day with our company and we were on a mission to find hot dogs.
The usual mobile vendors strategically placed along Tryon Street were nowhere to be found due to the festival. We got lucky, however, when we found out that one of the mobile vendors, Green’s Lunch, had a storefront just a couple blocks away at the corner of W. 4th Street and S. Poplar Street. We grabbed a hot dog, chips and a drink for $4.23 (talk about cheap) and went back to the office to finish up work so we could prepare for yet another night out in the Queen City.
After getting off semi-early, I hopped on the light rail to Pineville, grabbed my car and scooped my ex-coworker for his goodbye/see you later celebration at All American Pub in South End. A lot of our friends were meeting us so we were excited to see a few faces we hadn’t seen outside of the office in a while. And I was extra antsy to get the night started since I knew my boyfriend and I were going to be babysitting all day Saturday, which meant we were going to miss out on a premier party night.
We were actually early for once, so the three of us stuffed our faces before everyone started showing up — the Philly cheesesteak with honey mustard is my jam. And before you know it our table was spilling onto the patio, filled with RBVs, empty shot glasses and beer. Just when things were starting to heat up and the drinks were flowing, my group announced they were planning a move to The Gin Mill South End, another popular spot around the corner. This made for the perfect Irish exit — departure without telling any friends — for my boyfriend and I.
Saturday at 9 a.m. we pulled up at my boyfriend’s sister’s house. She has two beautiful bundles of joy, a two-year-old and a three month old. We spent a decent amount of time brainstorming ideas for child-appropriate fun beforehand, but once the door closed and we were left alone staring at two active boys, we decided house arrest was best.
Around five baby naps, one toddler nap, two adult boyfriend naps, seven dirty diapers, five bottles, three episodes of
The Octonauts and two episodes of “Maya the Bee” later, we were exhausted. I think it’s safe to say the best birth control in the world is actually having to take care of kids. By the time 1 a.m. rolled around and his mom showed up to take over, we barely wanted to look at each other, let alone end the night grabbing a drink at a nearby bar, so we called it quits.
It wasn’t until some friends and I hit up Lake Wylie for Sunday Funday that I realized how tired and sore — from holding a baby pretty much all day (yeah, I know, I should be working out) — I really was. Needless to say, hitting the sack after getting some work done later on that night was a dream come true.
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