#132 He Loves His Family

Hubby's cousin, Jason, got married last weekend and gave us reason to take a few days off from work and head down to North Carolina for the festivities.

Thankfully, all of Hubby's long trips to LA have paid off, because we were able to book our hotel using his points.  Meaning, it didn't cost us one red cent.  This was probably the one and only perk to Hubby leaving me for LA twice so far this year.

I guess they were all out of regular rooms, because we ended up booking a suite.  I get dorkily excited over things like this, so please, graciously endure the next few photos and comments.

First of all, we had a kitchen.

A fully loaded kitchen at that.  Now, of course, there was no way I was cooking during this mini vacation, but it was nice to know that the luxuries were there should the need occur.

I may or may not have giggled giddily while opening the cabinets to see what kind of dishware and kitchen gadgets were included in our suite.

Despite my euphoric love for hotel rooms, I must tell you the truth about them.  They are deceiving.  Whenever I stay in a hotel I think, "Gosh it is so nice here.  It doesn't matter that the space is small, everything fits so nicely.  If set up like this, I could easily live in a studio apartment in my dream city, New York,"

Then reality hits when I realize just how much of my stuff I don't have with me.  

And just how much of it I really do miss after only a day or two.

This was pretty neat.  The 'wall'  that separated our living room from our bedroom had the TV in it.

And it turned!  If no one else on this earth is excited about that, please don't tell me.  It would crush my world.

Ordinarily my trips are filled with pictures of food, but this trip I had major cell phone issues and didn't have battery left by most of my meals.*  Our first meal was in Baltimore and so was our last.  We were in search of blue crabs and sadly, both places we went to ran out by the time we arrived.  I guess that means we'll just have to go there again.

Darn.

*Note: My battery was frequently dying because of all the gps'ing and mall searching I did.**

**Note to the note: There is no way I would ever, ever take my DSLR camera to a restaurant.  In fact, I didn't even bring it to the wedding but that is more of a fashion statement issue than a I-look-like-a-dork-using-this-camera-to-take-pictures-of-my-dinner thing.  

Therefore, please ignore the quality of the following photos.

Onto the main event...the wedding!

First, let me start with how much I love that they mixed guys and girls on either side.  At first my traditional spirit fluttered as I saw Jason's sister walk to his side, but then as the rest of the bridal party sorted themselves out I couldn't get over how incredibly sweet it was.  Jason got to have his friends, sisters, and brothers standing beside him, and his bride, Chandler, had her brother, sister, and friends beside her.  It was heartwarming.

The next thing I loved was the color choice.  How adorable is the way they mixed the blue and purple?  I'll tell you, absolutely stinking adorable.

Lastly, Jason and Chandler wrote their vows.  This is something that in a million years I would never do (weird considering that I actually like to write, I know), but they did it beautifully.  What touched me most was that in addition to telling Jason how much she loved him (and will continue to love him), Chandler also thanked him for loving her family and for bringing her into his family who she now loves as much as her own.  It was such a selfless and loving point to make on her wedding day, a day usually made to be all about the bride.  Yet, she stressed her love for him and the importance of their families and that they be interwoven beautifully for all of time to come.

The location of the wedding was filled with healthy greens and an open lake backdrop.

 

And who can help but let out an 'Awwwww' at the poof of the little flower girl's dress?  She was swimming in tulle, and couldn't have been happier.

Before we headed out on Sunday, we had a family breakfast for Mother's Day at Another Broken Egg Cafe.  

I don't want to brag or anything, but I think I picked the best meal on the menu: Cinnamon Roll French Toast.  Seriously, why didn't I think of it first?  It is naturally an obvious breakfast choice that should be made in homes spread out across this fine country.

I wrinkle my nose to bananas, so I told them to hold off on the Banana's Foster sauce.  Because of this, it could have used a little more of the cream cheese icing, but I made up for that with maple syrup.  This breakfast was to die for.  I'm not ashamed to admit either that Hubby and I started with one of their 'Apps for Sharing'*: Biscuit Beignets.  Hubby first ordered the Monster Cinnamon Roll and then the waitress and I both bugged our eyes out at him and reminded him that I had ordered the Cinnamon Roll French Toast.  She recommended the Beignets and I was so glad she did.  They reminded me of a crispier, less doughy zeppoli (and if you don't know what zeppolis are, Oh My Goodness!--I will share soon, I promise!). 

*Seriously, what breakfast place serves appetizers?  Answer: A fantabulous one.

We headed back home and made three stops for food and shopping.  Totaling five shopping stops for our whole trip and a bazillion stops for food.