LIVE! LAUGH! LOVE!: April 2007

Britt and I decided to go to Asheville Satuday to celebrate my birthday. The day started off kind of rough. As soon as we arrived in Asheville we drove around the downtown area to try to find a hotel for the night. As we were riding we were cracking up at the wide variety of people that we saw. I love to just people watch, and Asheville was a great place to see some different people. That's for sure! We went to the Renaissance first, but after we heard the room rate for the night - almost $200/night - we opted to go across the street to the Best Western. Not my first choice of places to stay, but for one night in downtown Asheville and in walking distance to everything, it would be fine. I'm not what you would call a germ-a-phobe, but I do not like staying at hotels in the first place. I inspect every inch of the bed to make sure that it has been cleaned properly. When I turned down the comforter there were 2 huge brownish/yellow stains on it. YUCK!!!! I literally had a melt-down. I no longer cared to stay in this hotel, but I didn't want to call the front desk and ask for a refund. I do not want people to think that I'm a b****! I mean, overall the room was clean. It was just the comforter that bothered me and set me off. I don't sleep with those nasty comforters anyways. Who knows how often they wash those things! I don't even like thinking about it. YUCK! So I was in a jam.......I didn't want to stay, but I didn't want to call and complain. Britt wouldn't do it. He told me that if I had an issue with the room I needed to call myself. After about an hour I finally pulled myself together and we left the room and headed to the Biltmore house. I knew that if I had a few glasses of wine to calm my nerves I would feel better. LOL! Nothing that a little alcohol can't help. =)
So off we headed to the Biltmore Estate. I absolutely LOVE touring this home. It is simply magnificent! Britt had NEVER been there before!?!?!? Can you believe that? He was in awe over how amazingly large and stunning the home and property appear. We went to the winery there and did some wine tasting. It started out as a beautiful day, but as we finished our tour the rain began to really come down. We headed back to the downtown area for dinner. We went to Cafe on Main. All I can say is YUM!!! It was a little on the pricey side, but it was DELICIOUS! It's ok to splurge every now and then. After dinner we did a little shopping. Ashlyn stayed with Nana Joyce while we were away. We told her that if she was good we would bring her home a surprise. So we went to the Mast General Store in Asheville and picked up a doggie with a very fashionable carrying bag. She loved it! We went back to the hotel a little later and freshened up. I laid on the bed and didn't want to get back up. Britt literally had to drag me out of bed to go out for my birthday. I would have been fine going to bed at 10:00. =) That definitely shows how old I'm becoming. We walked down the street to a bar called Magnolias. They had a cover-band playing. It seemed like a nice bar. We found an available table and took a seat. We were there for at least 15 minutes and no one had came to take our order yet. The waitresses were going to every other table around us, but dodging ours. So Britt finally went over to the bar to order us a drink. He came back to the table and gave me my captain and coke. For a beer and a captain and coke it was $10!?!?!? I took a sip of my drink and I swear I could not even taste a hint of Captain Morgan in the drink. Britt tasted it and he didn't taste anything. If I'm paying $7 for a drink I better be able to taste the alcohol in it! He took it back to the bar and politely told the bartender that the drink did not taste like it had anything in it. She was extremely rude and told him that they put liquor in all of their drinks and she would not put anymore in my drink since it already had some in it! The manager came over to our table and asked what the problem was. I told him and he picked the drink up, stuck his nose in it and smelled it, and said - "well.....I can smell the alcohol in this drink. Our bartenders are great here, and I KNOW that they put the correct amount in every drink that they pour." I NEVER complain about anything! I hate to. I don't enjoy being rude, but when you pay that much, you ought to get what you paid for. He was very adamant that he would not add anymore alcohol to my drink. UGGGHHHHH! Needless to say we were not impressed with this place. We left after Britt finished his beer and went to a Martini bar called Tressa's. It was a quaint little bar with a nice band playing and a great atmosphere. Plus the staff was very friendly. We had the best time there!
Sunday morning we woke up to some sad news. Britt's Grandma Cody had passed away a little after midnight. She had been battling cancer for a couple of years. We knew on Friday that it would probably be sometime during the weekend. We visited her Friday evening. It's definitely a bitter sweet. She was suffering terribly the past month. At least now she is out of pain and in a much better place. She was the most caring lady that you would ever have met. Sunday we stayed over at her house with the family part of the afternoon and evening. This evening is the receiving and tomorrow her funeral will be held. All of the great-grandchildren, I believe there were 14 in all, will release balloons at her grave-site. I know that she's home now, and she's loving it!