I’ve been sinking through the drain of love

(Long post)

Last Wednesday after I finished teaching my last class of the day, I met up with TK for dinner. We kept exclaiming, “We’re on vacation!”

On Thursday TK, Twin, and I left for Myrtle Beach. From now on I’ll refer to TK’s fraternal twin as “Twin” and his fiancé as Irish. Irish couldn’t get Thursday off from work, so she planned on meeting us down there later that night.

Over the past few months, TK and I have been spending a lot of time with the two of them. TK and Twin are very close (naturally), and they’ve both been very pleased with the fact that Irish and I hit it off right off the bat. We’ve established a friendship outside the guys, and she even asked me to be one of her bridesmaids in their wedding next year. Since we’re one big happy foursome, Twin and Irish are quickly becoming one of my favorite couples to be around. I’ve said before that I’ve gained a lot of friends from dating TK, and I’ve become closest with the two of them. We passed a point where they’re not just TK’s family members or his friends. I definitely feel like they’re my friends too.

So when we started planning this trip down to Myrtle Beach, I was super excited. We were going down there for the wedding of one of TK’s and Twin’s oldest friends (they’ve known him 17 years). They were both groomsmen in the wedding, and Irish and I got to tag along.

TK was excited about going because it was his first chance to introduce me to a lot of his friends down there. He lived down there for three years after he graduated from college there before moving to this area, so he has a lot of roots there. I really hope that we can take another trip soon so that I can introduce him to my friends in New York and Boston.

Anyhow, the trip, as a whole, was fantastic. Unfortunately it rained nearly the whole time and we didn’t get in any beach time. But it was full of great food, good company, and quality couple time. Thursday night we spent the night at a friend’s house after a yummy dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Friday we checked into our hotel and did some outlet shopping.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn again, at my insistance. I just LOVE their beds. They are seriously the most comfortable things ever. Our hotel was right across the street from one of the larger outlets in the area. Irish and I were psyched and definitely in a shopping mood. TK and Twin graciously tagged along for a while. We started off in Perry Ellis where we got the two of them some snazzy new shirts. TK was actually willing to let me dress him up, for once! He’s regularly a t-shirt and jeans type of guy. The real coup was when I bought him some cologne – Perry Ellis Red. He suddenly discovered that some extra smell-good scent wins points with the gf!

After the damage we did in a few stores TK and Twin were quickly tiring of the shopping, and they had to head off for the rehearsal dinner anyway. So they left us to continue shopping. I went nuts with dress slacks, a sweater, and perfume for myself and a sexy pair of shoes from Nine West. Irish bought TWO purses and a wallet in the Coach Outlet store. The bags are nice, of course, but I’m so happy that I don’t have a purse habit. I can’t afford that, even at the reduced prices! I recommend it to others if Coach Purses are your thing though – Irish said they were almost half the regular price.

On Saturday the guys went off again (for haircuts and football) as Irish and I did some more shopping. This time we were looking at wedding gowns. I’ve already been out shopping with Irish for her dress, and she’s been out a few times with others, but she hadn’t yet found THE dress. There were a few places she wanted to check out in the area, so we went off to see what we could find. The first two places we checked were total duds. She didn’t even try a single dress on, but then we headed to the third place. It was an old house that had been converted to a store, so it already seemed unique. When we went inside I pulled two dresses close to her size so that she could try them on, but we had to wait almost thirty minutes before the one dressing room opened up. We were close to leaving so that we could get back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding we were going to that day, but finally the dressing room freed up.

The first dress was a total dud, but the second had real promise. The longer she stood there, the more I liked it. My face started to get red (she later told me), and I reached for a veil to see the full effect. She started crying, and I got goose bumps. We found it. It was so exciting. The dress is absolutely gorgeous, and even though it wasn’t the size she needed, we could tell that it was the one. She bought the veil that I had grabbed, because it, too, is perfect. We had such a successful shopping weekend!!

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I got to see TK in a tuxedo for the first time. I had been looking forward to it since he’s generally such a casual dresser. Also, one of the pictures from his Match profile that initially caught my eye was a picture of him in a tux the last time he was in someone’s wedding. One word: S-E-X-Y! ☺

The wedding itself was a decent time. It was probably one of the quickest ceremonies I’ve ever been to, and it was nice to meet a lot of the people TK has told me about. I had been super excited about being able to dance at the reception, because I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to dance with TK before. Unfortunately, the music at the reception left a lot to be desired. They played a few too many older songs, and there was no real structure to the reception. People started leaving just an hour or two into it, and by the time we had been there a little over two hours, half of the guests had left. We stayed a little longer and tried to dance some, but once they played the Electric Slide for the second time, we knew it was time to leave.

Irish and I were still in the mood to dance, so we convinced the boys to go out to a club. It was still relatively early, and neither one of us wanted to go back to the hotel yet. TK was reluctant at first because he was tired and still getting over a cold, but like a trooper, he agreed. After a quick change at the hotel we headed out to the clubs at Broadway at Beach. A lot of people were there in costume celebrating Halloween a little early. I’ve never seen so many scantily-clad women in my life. There was one girl with her butt cheeks hanging out, literally. Since when did Halloween become an excuse to barely be covered in public?

We didn’t stay out too late, but it was a lot of fun to go out dancing. We had been talking about dragging the boys out for some time. TK loves to car dance and goof off, but I wanted to see if he could keep up on an actual dance floor!

When we left Myrtle Beach on Sunday I was totally basking in the vacation glow. It was so great to get away and not think about school for a few days. I answered emails while I was gone, but I didn’t grade any papers. I had so much fun with TK and everyone else, and I didn’t want the trip to end. As we drove back to Raleigh I was smiling like a total goofball.

On Monday TK called me and said, “We should have stayed on vacation.”

I agree.