One Word: Epic.

It might be Thursday, but I’m still catching my breath from this weekend.
This is a long one, but I promise it’s worth it if you stick around til the end.

You all remember my friend Amber, right?  The one with the heart of gold who loved me when I wasn’t very lovable?  Well, our roles have reversed some.  Her boyfriend is gearing up for a long deployment, and that means a lot of his time is spent in training.  He’s away.  A lot.

So when my sister-in-law Dannie (Amber’s BFF) called and said that Devin was sending Amber to Charlotte for a girls’ weekend because he was going to be out training in the middle of the ocean, I didn’t think anything of it.  He’s the kind of guy to do that sort of thing.  The only thing is, Amber wasn’t allowed to know.  When she finally found out that a plane ticket had been bought–the questioning started.

The thing is, homegirl was flying across the country.  There’s very little that would actually stop me from seeing her, and she knows that.  So I had to lie.  I had to lie my pants off.  I told her J and I would be in GA for the weekend.  Meanwhile, I booked a train ticket and off I went!

I was the first to arrive at the hotel (thanks, Uber for getting me everywhere quickly and safely).  And oooooooh my was it swanky!  Devin booked us at the Omni Hotel in uptown Charlotte.  Upon arrival, my friendly Uber driver let me know that it was Taste Of Charlotte!  The entire event was set up just outside our hotel doors!

The surprises kept coming.  Once I got into the room, a woman came and set up The Romance Package.  Devin had us hooked up to the max!  I couldn’t wait for my sister (dropping the in law) to arrive and later, Amber!

Amber wasn’t getting in until close to midnight, so Dannie and I hit the streets for Taste!  It’s so rare that she and I get any actual sister time–so we were soaking it up!  Both exhausted, we decided to take our food up to the hotel room where we could watch (and hear) the concert happening just outside!  Finally, it was time to head to the airport!

This might be one of my favorite memories right here.  We of course got there stupid early (we factored in the non-existent traffic).  So Dannie and I circled the airport like 7 times.  On the last go round we decided I should hide.  So I climbed into the back seat and hid underneath a pile of coats.  When Amber arrived, Dannie jumped out, helped her with her bags and then the two girls got back in the car.

As we started to pull away, I popped up out of the back seat and asked “can y’all turn up the radio?”  Amber squealed and jumped backwards towards the door!  She had to take a double take and then the excitement settled in!  It was so much fun!

If y’all have hung around here a while, you know my husband took his dear sweet time proposing to me.  Amber was in that phase of “I know it’s happening but when?”  And because of that, every little thing has her mind turning.  I didn’t want the weekend to go by with her disappointed, so I just made sure to tell her that the weekend wasn’t about that.  Devin just wanted to do something nice for her–he wasn’t there (before you all think I’m a lying little snot…I had NO IDEA about anything. I just figured if it WAS happening, I’d know).  No sooner were the words out of my mouth when her phone rang.  It was Devin, and she could hardly hear him.  When she hung up, you could see her deflation.  He’s really not here she said.  I could hear the boat.


Well.  At least the disappointment was out of the way and we could move on.  I didn’t know exactly what we were doing for the weekend, but I knew Devin had some tricks up his sleeve.  He was sending perfectly timed emails to Amber’s phone with riddles (he did the same for her birthday).

Saturday morning was brunch.  But not before we surprised Amber again!  While she was in the shower, her twin sister arrived!  Brunch was amazing.  Just as we ate our last bite, another email came in with more instructions.  We had some free time before a driver would pick us up and take us to a vineyard!!

Since we had some time we found a nail salon.  Amber just kept asking is this my life right now?  Devin is sure to always spoil her to death, and it’s exactly what she deserves.

Later, the driver arrives (there’s a story there in and of itself, but this post will be a million years long if I get into that now), and an hour and a half later, we arrived at the Vineyard!  It was absolutely gorgeous!

We check in.  Turns out we’re not just having a normal wine tasting.  We’re having a wine tasting in the gorgeous gazebo out in the middle of the vines overlooking the sunset (how many bonus points are we up to now for Devin?  I’ve lost count)!

Not to discredit the wine, which was amazing, but we couldn’t get over the view or the fact that all of this was for us!  From the beginning, Amber was fretting about seeing her family.  They live about an hour an a half from Charlotte.  She knew she couldn’t fly clear across the country and not see them.  We just kept telling her not to worry about it (little did she know Devin had that all worked out too)!

In the middle of our tasting, a golf cart arrives.  All Amber hears is Aunt Amber?  Her little nephew comes running towards her followed by the rest of her family.  She just broke down.

We were all having so much fun visiting with each other, she almost didn’t notice when another golf cart arrived a little while later.  On it were Devin’s parents….