A holiday hangover...

No... We didn't drink too much, or eat too much (well, not as much as we could have...) -- but I'm sure that Mom and I could both use a few days to get over our busy weekend!

Let's see... Where did we leave off? Oh yes. We went to Wilmington on Friday, but you knew that already I guess! Saturday we set out as planned to the Duplin Winery. Got a tour of the facility, which was a little unimpressive since it was the weekend and not in operation. But the lack of activity was more than made up for with the wine tasting that followed... Which, by the way... was all free... and in the words of TMB... Excellent.

Now, I'm not a wine critic by far. I do know a few things, but mostly, I drink what I like and don't really pay much attention to all the details. I prefer sweeter wine to dry... Which is just what Duplin produces... Lots of sweet wine made from muscadine grapes. Yum yum. We tried twelve different wines, and some wine mixes (a hot cider and a slush), and it was hard to pick which I liked more. The shop was cute, too... with lots of "stuff" with the wine/grape theme. And it was all dressed up for Christmas, which fit in with the homey feel. We ate dinner at their bistro -- good food at a decent price. I will definitely go there again... Once I come up with excuses. Anyone want to visit?

After we sobered up and left the winery, we decided to go back to Wilmington to shop, instead of Fayetteville, because we didn't want to waste the time (and gas) to back-track. And I don't need another excuse to get closer to the coast. We did a little shopping and got back later in the evening, tired from our day but in good spirits! We saw some of the meteor showers throughout the day... Something we thought was pretty cool. We thought about finding a dark area away from the lights to park so we could see more, but we were too tired and just wanted to put on our jammies and kick back.

Sunday came a little early, but I couldn't sleep very late despite trying to go past 7:30 am. Ibeth came over again and we all headed north this time... First to Smithfield and a really, really big outlet mall, and then to Raleigh and more retail fare. The outlet mall was sprawling and impressive, but I wasn't in the mood to break the bank. I guess the excitement weekend was catching up with me. Ibeth was really struck by the deals, and I told her I'd come back with her after Christmas and and spend a whole day there.

We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory -- a popular franchise but one I haven't been to since arriving down here. We decided to opt out of the entrees, snack on appetizers instead and save ourselves for dessert. Maybe we should have forgone the meal and just gotten dessert alone. It was so good. :o)

Dropped Mom off at her hotel with a big hug and a the hope that the next three weeks will go by quickly. It was a busy, yet comforting weekend -- very much needed. I can't wait for the next visit from home.

So now I'm beat, and want a solid 8-hours tonight. Pretty please?