Tuesday, January 19, 2010

31 Years Something

It's true. I'm 31 now. I'm not sure if I'm 31 years old or 31 years young or just plain 31. Kerri hit this mark before I did and it hasn't killed her so I'll keep going. Regardless all is well and I actually enjoyed this birthday more than any I can remember in a long time. I turned it into a birthday week, much to the annoyance of those who follow me on Twitter I am sure. However, it was fun. And since it was so much fun let's recap.

Day 1: I met up with Mer and her other half for breakfast at Okra Grill. Then I met up with a coworker friend and one of my favorite project people from our current acquisition for dinner at Coast. This is one of my favorite Charleston locations to take people who come in from out of town. It's tucked back in an alley out of sight and has one of the best menus for making sure everyone will be happy. And they did not fail. The mixed grill included tuna and the jalapeno bacon wrapped shrimp. Throw in some mahi-mahi and blue cheese mashed potatoes and I was one very happy girl.

Day 2: Girls Night Out with Mel and Ang. We scheduled our monthly girls night out for this night and managed to score Poogan's Porch during the week they do their throw back prices. Once a year this restaurant changes up their menu and slices the prices in half. A nice meal out in downtown Chucktown for around $10 is not a bad deal.

Day 3: Bunco! I've never played before and don't know a lot of my neighbors so when one of the girls suggested we have a neighborhood Bunco group I was all in. I need to get out more and decided this would be a great way to a) not work away my evening and b) be a little more social. It was a great time and I had fun meeting some of the people whom I could throw rocks at their houses live near.

Day 4: Dinner out with my work BFF, Megs. Let's be honest, if it weren't for this girl, I'd lose my mind 5 days out of 5. We went to the Old Village Post House which is also another favorite here in the Low Country. It's not in downtown (thought its sister restaurants are), but in my opinion it is much better than any of its relatives.

Day 5: Dinner in with Mel and her boyfriend. I have mentioned before I participate in a vegetable share, so I picked up the veggies and headed over so Mel could cook me a nice meal. She's a health nut so she knows what to do with all these weird green things that come in my box each week. We then balanced out the healthy by heading to Marble Slab where her boyfriend and I celebrated with ice cream (his birthday is 1 week before mine.)

Day 6: I had actually planned on staying in this day (shocker, I know.) However, a friend called and asked me to meet her downtown to walk. It was gorgeous here and so we walked about 3 miles around the Battery and the old residential section of Charleston. I had actually never ventured out to some of those streets so it was quite the treat. Then I met Mel and her boyfriend at Sesame for a burger, sweet potato fries, and key lime pie. Yummo!

Day 7: The big day! I started the day by walking over to Park Circle and cheering on Mel, Ang, their significant others and another friend as they ran in the inaugural Charleston River Run. It was great fun to be able to walk to the race and then cheer them on. Then it was off to brunch at Hominy Grill with my coworker friend from Day 1. I ended the day with a nice dinner at Bocci with several of the people mentioned above.

All in all my friends were great about allowing me a whole week to celebrate. I feel like lately my life has been so out of control that it was nice to be able to plan and somewhat control one of my favorite holidays of the year. I think the low point was when I realized that this is the first year that I have not had a phone call from my grandparents or a great aunt. I know that in the past few years none of them have remembered on their own, but someone usually called for them. I know I am blessed to have received 30 phone calls from them in the past, but I think the realization I got nothing this year was hard.

So, that's that. I have lots more to share and a big adventure coming up that you all will have to learn about after the fact. Here's hoping to lots of adventures as I start this 32nd trip around the sun.

2 comments:

Kerri said...

Wow! What a fun week! I think I gained ten pounds just reading about all the yummy food you ate! 31 and still surviving here... hope the first week as a 31 year old is going well for you!

Jesse and Leslie said...

Happy Belated Carrie! Hope you have the best year yet!!!