i went to north carolina this weekend!

here is the first and only unhappy photo from my trip to north carolina.

it's aaron, the sweet, capable aaron, pulling over for the third time to check under his engine.

perhaps we almost did not make it back on sunday evening!

i sat calmly in the front

while aaron pulled over 1, 2, 3, 4 times to see why his 1995 honda civic was spazzing out.

we made it.

finally.

made it back to cincinnati, and passed out almost immediately.

granted,

i did not do any of the driving.

which was actually making me bonkers. :)

i was a passenger, incapable of driving a stick shift! how terrifying!

a learning lesson is indeed in order

but here is actually a very happy photo from this trip to north carolina.

the "No Caro" is a place I had never been before.

and over the thanksgiving weekend,

as in,

wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, return sunday

i visited it.

i met aaron's mom and daddo

and hilarious birds, marty and pava(sp?)

i slept in a guest room and on the couch

and aaron and his padre worked on aaron's car all weekend.

north carolina was quite uneventful.

other than

all the wonderful chatting that happened

we ended up going out to dinner with friends of his parents every night!

thursday: thanksgiving dinner with a close group

friday: italian dinner with a jovial two

saturday: fancypants dinner on the top floor of a private club in downtown charlotte (which, by the way, has incredible views and divine furnishings.)

and after dinner friday and saturday, aaron and i bopped out (the way "young people," do,) and met with old friends of his, which i found endlessly entertaining! i love childhood pasts!

who woulda thunk that sleeping, napping, and getting dressed for dinner would be so exhausting? :)

there's something to be said for spending five days getting to know everybody around you,

five days in a place pretty much on your own.

with aaron working on the car, i was left to myself to create meaningful connections, or suffer the consequences that come with self-imposed isolation.

thankfully, aaron's mom proved such a wonderful woman, and by day three i was immensely more conten than before.

hopefully next time i will get to see more of the fantastic charlotte, north carolina!

the very beginnings of it seemed absolutely divine. :)