The Best Christmas Present Ever

This past Christmas my Dad planned a Girl's only trip for my mom, my sister, and myself this past weekend. Before making reservations he checked with Curt and Lori's husband to make sure they were okay with it (they were.) So Friday morning the three of us set off for Greenville, SC and I left Lucas for an entire weekend for the first time. The reason we went to Greenville, SC of all places was because my Dad had gotten us tickets to the Extraordinary Women's Conference.

On the car ride up Lori and I sang to songs on my iPod while my mom napped in the backseat. When we got to Greenville we checked into our hotel. I was very excited to see that we were staying in a nice hotel because it isn't like I get to do that much. We even valeted the car and had a bellman take our bags to the room. I have never taken advantage of those services before and even though it sounds a little silly I found it very exciting.

After getting settled in the hotel we decided to grab a quick dinner and explore the city on our way to the conference center. We ended up finding this great little place called Two Chefs. I had a chicken pita quesadilla and it was delicious. For desert we split a rice krispy treat that had peanut butter in the middle and it was heavenly. If this little place was in Savannah I would go there all the time!

We headed to the Bi-Lo center with full bellies. It was nice to be able to walk from our hotel, to dinner, to the conference center. I wish more things were in walking distance from where we live! We squeezed in with 9,000 other women to listen to comedienne Chonda Pierce. I chuckled a few times listening to her but I'm sure if I was about 20 years older I would have enjoyed all the Minnie Pearl references more and thought she was hilarious. My favorite part of the conference Friday night was the concents that ended the night. The first performer was Mandisa. I had never heard of her before but she was a finalist on the 5th Season of American Idol.

At first I wanted to skip the concerts and head back to the hotel because I would rather go to bed then listen to some AI reject. I'm glad I stayed though because she was AMAZING! First, Mandisa sang a few of her gospel songs then she sang a few songs by other artists and she sounded JUST like them. She had tons of energy and got the crowd pumped. I've already downloaded a few of her songs to my iPod.

I was so excited to see that the next performer was Richie McDonald, the former singer of Lonestar (he has retired to spend more time with his kids.) I am a big Lonestar fan and it is so much fun to be at a concert where I knew all the words (and who's music has been in my iPod for quite a while!)

People actually walked out of the concert early in order to get in line to meet Richie after the concert. We didn't wait because the line was really long and we were really tired by the time it got over (after 10) and just wanted to go to sleep. The next day however, I ended up seeing him and he was just a few feet away and I know I could have gotten a picture with him or an autograph or at least said hi but I was WAY too chicken.

The second day of the conference started SUPER early do we were a little late. Thank goodness for our in-room Starbucks coffee (the breakfast of champions.) Saturday was more of a listen to speakers day and all the speakers told little anecdotes from their marriage or from child rearing. I really enjoyed hearing Lisa Whelchel share stories about her children and about her mom friends that she has made over the years. You might recognize her as Blair from the Facts of Life.

There was one concert on Saturday as well from Mark Schultz. I've heard a few of his songs before and he was pretty good. The neatest thing though was seeing everyone wave their cellphones around (I guess they are less of a fire hazard than lighters.)

After the conference was over we decided to get dinner. We passed a few restaurants that we didn't go in because they either sounded gross or smelled gross to my knocked up sister (which I can understand because I remember those days all too well.) We ended up finding a great little place called Trio. Since Curt hates cream sauce and I rarely get to eat it I ended up getting fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp and it was pretty decent. They also brought this wonderful bread to dip in red pepper infused olive oil and cheese while you waited for your food. Even though we were all full after dinner we ended up getting dessert (which were HUGE enough to be a meal all of their own.) I got the cappuccino brownie cake, my mom got creme brulee, and my sister got pound cake (one of the few things without coffee or liquor in it.)

With full bellies we ended up going back up to the room. I think my mom wanted to explore the city a little bit more but Lori and I were cold and tired so we opted for a nap instead. When we woke up we watched Juno in the room. The movie was cute but not as good as I expected it to be with all the Oscar buzz it had. After the movie I did one of the things I had been waiting forward to for months... I took a bath...without having someone bang on the door saying "mommy" or "honey." I lite a candle, got the water temperature just right, dropped in a bath fizzy, slathered on a facial mask. and then soaked in the tub until my toes were wrinkled and my fingers were pruney. Then I got out of the tub, dried off, brushed my teeth, lotioned up, put on PJs and hopped in bed. I slept all night long without someone stealing the covers or touching my feet... and as if that wasn't good enough I slept in until I woke up... On.... My... Own. That must be what heaven is like.

When I got up this morning my mom made me coffee before I even got out of bed. I got up, got dressed and packed up my stuff and my stuff alone (I haven't been able to do that on a vacation in almost 7 years!) and we checked out of the hotel. Before we left Greenville we found this great little coffee place that serves breakfast all day (which was great since it was 11 AM.) I ended up getting this really yummy omelet in a bowl. I think it was basically a few eggs mixed up with tomatoes, bacon, and cheese and then microwaved in a bowl but it was still tasty. Plus it gives me a few new ideas for making breakfast at home since I HATE cooking eggs because the cleanup is always a pain!

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Thanks Dad!