End of Summer Celebrations!

What an awesome, fun weekend it was!

Friday night when the clock struck 5 PM, I was off of work to start my normal routine; gym. I did cardio followed by yoga, then went home. Marquis arrived shortly after me and told me to get changed because he was taking me downtown for dinner, drinks, and live music - my favorite! We live in a suburb of south Charlotte called Waxhaw, and it is so beautiful. It's rapidly growing, safe, very classy, and upscale, and I just love it. The "downtown" area reminds me of an old western town. It's very small, but packed with local restaurants and pubs, shopping, ice-cream, hardware stores, and more. Downtown was even having horse and carriage rides.

We stared at this little hole in the wall, listened to bluegrass, and drank Fireballs. 

After being there for a while we went into Charlotte at a pool hall that Marquis worked security for a long time ago. More live music, drinks, karaoke, and good food there. And um, Marquis got pretty drunk! It was very entertaining!

We went to bed around 2 on Saturday morning and ended up waking up at 9:30. That's late for us, we are usually up around 8:30. Not to my surprise, Marquis felt horrible. From enduring 14 hours of training in the gym in 4 days, then a night of drinking, he was exhausted. We spent most of the day just hanging out around the house and relaxing.

So did Marty.

Finally later in the afternoon he was feeling better. We got creative in the kitchen and baked from scratch his mother's fruited oatmeal cookies for the "End of Summer" luau. They were amazing!

We then showered and made ourselves presentable and it was off the luau. The cookies were a total hit. I will admit, Marquis did most of the baking. I handed him ingredients and cleaned, but he did all of the good stuff. At the luau we had the most delicious BBQ and drinks. As always, it was such a fun night.

Sunday we woke up and had breakfast outside on the porch and enjoyed the beautiful morning. We then took the dogs to the dog park. I had to snap this picture of Dottie trying to get a lizard from a tree and Charlie watching. Typical.

We took the dogs back then had to get some errands done. One of our stops was Old Navy. I was able to get 2 PJ sets, a pair of work out pants, an adorable pair of flip flops, and Marq a pair of flip flops all for $52. I love a good deal.

Since Marquis felt so good about the cookies and how well they turned out, he wanted to bake AGAIN. So it was back for round two! This time he made (I helped some!) a cherry pie, all from scratch. Another one of his mother's recipes (She passed in 2008). And I believe this one will be another hit. We are giving it to friends since we can't really have any right now. Want a slice?

The rest of the evening was spent making a delicious squash dinner and watching "Bar Rescue". And now another Monday is upon us, let's make it count!