Feeling Lucky

Chad and I have lived on our own for over 2 years now. We've learned how to manage our bills, and keep a home on our own. Since I was old enough to to put on my mom's dress, I kept my own house. I cooked, cleaned, and wore high-healed shoes. Well, maybe I wasn't old enough quite yet, but I thought I was doing a good job keeping up my make-believe home. I can't say that Chad and I have struggled because we have done pretty well paying our bills and still having the few things we want. Now.... we don't go out and but cd's every weekend, we live without cable, and we only go out to eat every other weekend, so we are pretty good about saving our money. More recently we have tightened up even more since the "idea" is to get married in Vegas, in June, 2010. But this weekend was different than any other weekend in our past 2 years living on our own. It was like the stars aligned just right, or like we played a game of poker, and not only won, we had a full house.

I don't know if any of you have ever had a weekend that worked out like ours' has but let me say, our weekend was unreal! First, on Thursday a huge dream of mine came true, I finally went out and bought a DSLR. All of the photos in this blog are from my new camera. I went with the Nikon instead of the Canon. The man at Wolf Camera said it was all about how it felt and how I wanted the controls to be. Well, lets just say the Nikon ruled over for me which was weird because I have always wanted a Canon. I bought the camera on Thursday but never got around to playing with it, Thursday or Friday. This is where our next bit of news comes in. Chad came home from work on Wednesday asking if we wanted free PSL seats at a Panther's Pre-season game. I had never been before so of course we accepted. He came home on Friday with Row 1A seats, front row! Perfect chance to play with my new camera. After we got settled on Friday night we went out on a date to Texas Land and Cattle, I had a few Texan Margaritas, Chad had a few Texas beers, we had fried jalapenos and an awesome dinner. Perfect way to start our weekend, because we had a long one.

We have not had great time with beds. Well, I have always had a nice mattress to sleep on so when I first met Chad's mattress, I learned that all mattresses aren't nice and soft like mine. I had a premium top of the line $900 Original Mattress and Chad had a 30 year old one that probably didn't have a working spring in it. He slept on it every night but he didn't know any better, that's all he had and he wasn't going to ask his parents to go out and buy him one. Chad's not one to complain. So guess what, we moved the mattress with us. I learned to sleep on it as well, but I dreamed of the mattress we would have in the future. My cousin moved in with my parents about 17 months ago and didn't have anywhere to store his mattress. My parents said they would buy us a new bed frame if we agreed to get rid of the antique mattress so we could keep Daniel's. So we did, and his was a step up but it had a huge dip in it from him sleeping in the middle, and it couldn't be flipped. About a week or so ago Daniel moved out, so you'll never guess? We had a bed frame without a mattress, so we pulled out our aero-bed and slept on it for a week and a half. I was really missing my bed now. But Saturday came, and we went looking for a mattress. We went three places, and who would have thought it would have been like buying a car? This guy was going to pay my sales tax, and this guy was going to give me 2 free serta sheep, and the third guy was going to give us free delivery. Well, I got the BMW of mattresses, free sales tax, free delivery and a free sheep. Who says I can't wheel and deal?

I was definitely in heaven now, Panther's game that afternoon and free delivery on our mattress. We chose a Serta mattress but it's a new line by Vera Wang. It's comparable to my other mattress at my parents house. Chad didn't know how to act sleeping on a new mattress. But he didn't because guess what, he bought a Play Station 3. Starting to see my weekend? Yeah I don't know? The stars must have aligned like I said. But, guess what else? It still doesn't end! Since I got such a good deal on our mattress I went ahead and bought a new bedspread. I went to Belk's and they had a bunch of red-dot clearance items plus you get an extra 50% off the red-dot merchandise. I found a Biltmore bedspread set that was originally almost $400 marked down plus I got an extra 50% so it only cost me $75, A BILTMORE SET! What are the chances? After I got the bed made it was time to leave for the Panther's game. I had to pry Chad from his PS3. I was looking forward to just coming home to sleep in my new bed.

The Panther's game was fun but people weren't as up-beat like we're used to at college football games. I wasn't going to complain because we had the best seats and they were free. We were very grateful because how often does that happen? We had never been to an NFL game either. They were row 1A in the front row right where the players come out onto the field. Perfect seats for first-timers. Not anything to obstruct our view. We also met some people beside us that live less than a mile from where Chad's parents live and they went to Piedmont high school. Small world. We had so much fun that night. Drinks, Friends, and a football game. We tailgated for a couple of hours with some guys Chad works with. We were also able to see the Westin hotel downtown because a few of them were staying there. It's a pretty hotel. We would definitely go again if we were offered seats. I would recommend it for any other local Charlotteans. Something so close to home, and a little out of the ordinary. I was so ready to get home to my new bed. We got home around midnight, not too bad. I went to bed after a much needed shower and Chad, well you all know what Chad did, he played video games until 3 am. I had to get some much needed rest because our weekend was still not over. I had to leave for Columbia at 7am to get our next surprise!

7am rolled around and it was time to get up, well time for me to get up. Chad stayed behind to prepare our living room for our new couch. This couch was actually given to us by some Gamecock tail-gating buddies. I went to Brueggar's for breakfast at 6:45 and I was contemplating Coke or Mr. Pibb and when I spoke I said "could I please have a Mr.Coke?" You could tell I was sleepy. But, never-the-less I trucked on to go get our much needed couch. We have been living with a futon that we bought from Wal-mart 2 years ago, it was falling apart and uncomfortable. Now we have a very nice sectional that really makes the room much more homey. It is in very good shape, it almost looks like it was never used. You kind of sink into it when you sit down. Perfect for afternoon naps, just what I have been waiting for. And... it was free!

And so ends our wonderful "lucky" weekend. And just so you know we didn't really spend that much money, the stars just lined up for us. Everything worked out perfectly, and we finally received some much needed/wanted "accessories."

"Good things come to those who wait..." Abraham Lincoln