Friday, October 18, 2013

something to celebrate.

i love celebrating. birthdays, anniversaries, parties, weddings, or the fact that it’s Friday (which is applicable for today) – you name it and i’m there.
usually i try to have a weekend recap earlier in the week, but between work and cooking and putting together a craft i’m making for lee’s birthday (blog to follow; it’s pretty awesome so far!), i haven’t had much time.
last friday, we got to celebrate a birthday of one of lee’s friends – cory. cory is a little younger than we are as he turned 23, but the kid likes to party and party he must. i grabbed a bottle of wine, shocker i know, and we went over to his place to pre-game with some friends; some i knew and some i met. after running barefoot on the pavement to scurry together all THREE cabs to transport everyone out, we were on our way to a cool little bar in the heart of uptown called phil’s. phil’s is different because it has one thing most bars uptown does not – NO COVER. guys love this. the night got a little sideways and cory had a blast. happy birthday cory!
{lee; me; cory}
{always silly}
{girls}
saturday lee and i had the honor of attending one of my best friend’s, danielle, sister’s wedding. i’ve known morgan for years and is just like her sister – she’s happy, thoughtful, caring, and has a beautiful heart. morgan met caleb maybe 2 or 2 and a half years ago? i have always said that they are the most in love couple. you can just tell their love for each other so it was my pleasure to watch the two of them start their forever.
{invitation}
{at the reception}
the reception was beautiful. playing off of the fall season, the tables were over flowing with pumpkin centerpieces layered with a pop of color with different flower arrangements. i also loved that every table was something different. some tables had different types of glass vases with flowers and others had an empty wooden picture frame enclosing the centerpiece. i wish i had snagged a picture of that! someone had been on pinterest.
the food was phenomenal. it was held at catawba country club and i believe was catered by them. i had dined there before with danielle years ago, but this time it was completely transformed for the mr. & mrs. poplin wedding. the bride and groom entered and shared their first dance to ‘god gave me you.’ hellllllo water works!
{mr & mrs poplin}
if there’s one thing i know about danielle is her love for morgan. seeing her baby sister get married brought a flood of emotions and this only carried when she made her speech. the silly girl forgot her notes downstairs, but still killed it off the top of her head. no surprise there.

however, when joe, the father of the bride, took the microphone and read this poem he had written for morgan, there were no dry eyes in the room. i think lee even teared up! don’t tell him i said that.

{speeches}
we spent the rest of the night with glasses of wine and getting down on the dance floor. i’m so thankful i was able to be a part of this evening and to see people i love very much.
{danielle; me}
{morgan; me; danielle}
on sunday, we decided to switch up the scene/ further celebrate cory’s birthday/halloween and head out to scarowinds! about 8 miles south of the city of charlotte is an amusement park, carowinds. i’m a rollercoaster junkie, so this was a perfect way to end a great weekend. scarowinds is seasonal and only open from 7pm-midnight on the weekends near halloween as tons of zombies come out to haunt the guests. whoever came up with that name is a genius.
{cory; me; lee}
{entry}
some of these rides at scarowinds are no joke. we started with night hawk which is a coaster that will scare the $#!+ out of you. you load the coaster sitting upright at first, then hydraulics (maybe) lower you so you climb the never ending hill on your back. once you reach the top, you flip over and ride the coaster as if you’re flying. terrifying-ly awesome!
{starting upright}
{laying down}
next up was (s)carowinds' newest attraction – the windseeker which is  basically the “swings” on steroids.  flying high at 301 feet in the air, you get a great aerial view of the park and can even see the city of charlotte!
{wind seeker}
next up was cobra – a smaller coaster that drags you up the hill, releases you as you fly through loops and up the other side where the track literally ENDS. this kinda sketched me out. lee tried to calm me with ‘amanda they have brakes on the coaster’ but it was something about the track just ending that i couldn’t wrap my head around. however, we survived.
{beginning & end of track}
{loop on cobra}
after a few more coasters and a couple scary haunt walk through mazes later, the boys were over the scary. we found a couple of my girlfriends, allyson & megan, and decided to ride my absolute favorite coaster – the intimidator. it’s dale earnhardt themed and hands down the best in the park. with nothing but a lap bar, you soar through the sky and literally come out of your seat.
{#3}
{#3}
if you’re ever in the area for scarowinds or even the day time carowinds, i suggest you go. it was the perfect ending to my weekend!


side note: you can recreate the ‘a walk to remember’ scene were shane west is all cute to mandy moore and makes her ‘to be at two places at once’ wish on a state line. carowinds sits nicely between the north carolina and south carolina state line. 

{state line}
all sappy, hopeless romantics like me unite!
xo,
-A