Girls' night out followed by burgers and naps

Saturday oozed girliness with shopping, a mani/pedi (sorry, Amanda!) and a girls' night out with a smattering of new and old Charlotte friends, family (Lisa's cousin) and one of my high school girlfriends. One of the new girls we met at dinner is a Funky Fit workout aficionado, and we came this close to a cardio class dance off between Lisa and her.

Jen insisted that the three of us wear falsies (lashes, not boobs), but her aunt has always put them on for us, so getting them to stay was interesting (not intriguing...inside joke). Lisa, bless her heart, glued one of my eyelids together when she was applying mine. FYI, on this trip we learned that "bless her heart" is a popular, misleading Southern intro to an insult. My eyelids were a hot mess for a moment, but easily fixed. To Lisa's credit, neither she or Jen trusted me to put their lashes on since I can barely apply my own eye shadow.

Jen hosted a wine and cheese reception at her place before we all shuttled off downtown to M5, a restaurant that reminded us a lot of Fahrenheit in Tremont with a Mediterranean/fusion menu. Last night marked day two of pear salad (this time with poached pears) and moscato. Dinner was to die for. Zone and I swapped portions of our meals since we both were torn between two dishes. She scored with a short rib version of beef stroganoff with porcino mushrooms (P.S. Phil is Husband of the Year and surprised me with short ribs and halushki when I got home tonight). My aromatic rock shrimp and butternut squash risotto sent me to heaven. I have to mention that I'm becoming a big fan of bread dipping dishes designed like mini paint trays (Table 45 at the InterContinental has these too). Got to get me some soon.

M5 had a genius dessert menu that featured dessert tapas, three for $11. It's a crime that we didn't sample any. Had I not completely stuffed myself, I would have opted for the orange sugar shortbread, chocolate cake and pomegranate-cranberry ice. Next time.

Uptown at Cosmos, we met out one of my girlfriends from high school and Lisa's cousin. Lisa defended Jazzercise's honor when a Rob Lowe lookalike said it was for old ladies. In her defense, Jen brought it up to every guy we tried to fix her up with. Thus, the phrase of the weekend became: "OMG, this is a Jazzercise song." (to the tune of 30+ times). After Cosmos, we walked to Cans for some serious dance floor action. Definitely a night to remember.

After last night's antics, it's only fitting that we had lunch today on a college campus at Davidson's Soda Shop. I loved the Pink Elephant soda (strawberry Sprite!), and the burgers were juicy and delicious. Also had my first introduction to cottage fries. I'm in love. Then we napped while watching reruns of America's Next Top Model. Not a lot of action today.

Unfortunately, we left 60+ degrees today and sunshine to go back to Cleveland blah weather. Side note: Charlotte airport bathrooms have attendants with mouthwash and gum that try handing you one-ply paper towels like you're at House of Blues. Super weird.

Can't wait for Cleveland weather to catch up. My toes look pretty and need some more flip flop action. (Note: Ladies, Amanda at LaBarberia in Little Italy rules. And, they serve wine during mani/pedis! Hook yourself up.)