Last week while talking to the roomie, she asked if I wanted to come visit for the weekend?! She had a long weekend off from flight attendant training, a rarity. UM, YES! Luckily, getting there would only take a couple of hours! Did my schedule allow me to leave town for a few days? Not really. Would my list of to-dos hate me when I got back? Probably. Did I care? Absolutley, not! I jumped at the chance, and found myself driving down the ol' highway on Sunday morning headed for the lovely ATL and some much needed roomie/best friend time! Seriously people...3 weeks is like months in roomie time! I disapprove.
When Bri and I reunited...we hit the town running! Obviously, we started at Target. (Did anyone really wonder?) Bri needed her weekly grocery "I have to live in a hotel and can only use food I can cook in a microwave" trip, and I just needed my weekly Target fix.
We then headed off for a beauty fix! I felt like Elle Woods searching for the nearest nail salon! Ha, we found one! French Manicure for Bri, Essie Tangerine for me. Enjoyed this little treat for sure!
We had a bit of time before church, so we headed to one of my favorite stores in the world and a new store that became a favorite!
First up...TRADER JOE'S! It deserves the all caps. Having now been, I understand why people talk about it! If I had to describe it, I'd say whole foods meets a gourmet boutique shop. Little did we know, there is special treatment for first time customers! Seeing as I don't want to spoil things, I will not tell you what exactly goes on. (Just know that if you're easily embarrassed or dislike fairly loud noise...you may want to refrain.)
I then introduced her to this place... No introduction or explanation needed.
From here we headed for what we hoped would be a great night of worship! Bri hasn't been able to join up with church community on Sunday's while at training and I had heard about a church in the area, so we decided to check it out. We attended the evening service of a well-known church in the area. Expecting to be immersed in worship and time in the word, we were sorely disappointed and our spirits were a little deflated. We didn't get preaching, we got fluff. The gist of our, I call it a "talk", was to find our passions in life. Find what God has gifted us with and do really great at it. We need to do good at what we do, and be good people. Our purpose is to use those passions we've been gifted with. Etc. Etc.
STOP RIGHT THERE. As a believer, your "purpose" is to spread the gospel among all nations for the glory of God. Anything and everything we do should aim to be a refection of his character. In no way should we just "find our passions", do good, and be happy with that. To live for Christ and to glorify him, we need to be faithfully seeking him, soaking in his word, and sharing our faith with lost souls. Little to say, we left a bit early and were burdened for all of those people who were there with us. It's sad to think that we all essentially got a "pep talk" for the week that was supported by name-dropping, personal and irrelevant stories, and maybe three very brief references to scripture. Nothing about the sinfulness of man, our insufficiency or God's character. My prayer is that that community is saturated with the gospel in days to come.
We drove to dinner afterwards, hoping to somewhat erase the experience that we had just had. A co-worker at DC told me about a burger place that had gluten-free options, and it sounded phenomenal! Farm Burger did not disappoint!
Build your own burger and go for the fancy fries. Parmesean, Garlic, Herb-y awesomeness!
Shut up! To cap off dinner we had the BEST HOMEMADE MILKSHAKES! I could'nt resisted the Salted Caramel and Bri had the Chocolate Peanut Butter. Ironically enough, these are each of our favorite sweet flavors.
We had a great day of fun and new memories!
Monday morning, after a restful evening of blog surfing and Duck Dynasty reruns, we got a few much needed extra hours of sleep and drove to the mother land! Okay, maybe you would know it better as Ikea. It was a short trip, but I was prepared with a list and a plan! It all worked out.
Sadly, this was our last adventure together for the weekend! Roomie needed return to the crazy life of FA training and I had to get back to my crazy life in Bham. Good news is that Bri will be done in just a few weeks, and I can't wait to see her again at her graduation!
The brief excursion and escape from reality was just the right thing at the right time for both of us!
What an extraordinary time for the both of you! Bri is still talking about it! So filled with joy that you were able to go. Hope this is the first of many "trips" with our lil fly-girl! Oui? :o)
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