Such a Nice Saturday

Today was such a nice Saturday with Justin.

The weather here is finally getting cooler, and the trees are looking mighty beautiful!  Last night, Justin and I stayed up pretty late, til almost 3 a.m.  I of course had to take a nap in order to do this, but for Justin it comes naturally.  He stayed up playing and finishing The Witcher, and I just looked around the Internet.

This morning we slept in.  I got up around 11 a.m., and Justin slept in til around 1 p.m.  I got up and read some Green Mile before Justin woke up.  After Justin got up, we got ready and headed out for some lunch.  I had some coupons for A.C. Moore, which is near a few other shopping centers, where a Starbucks and a Best Buy are housed.  There is also a Red Robin, and I originally suggested we go there because the whole point of the trip was to go to A.C. Moore to get something with the coupon.  Justin wanted a good burger,but apparently wasn't really in the mood for Red Robin.  We decided to go to Piper's Deli, a little mom-and-pop place down the street from all the shopping centers we were going to.  I'm not a huge fan of Piper's, and we've only been twice or three times.  But Justin really loves their burgers (which are called "Reallys" for some reason), and so we went.

The food was okay for me, but of course Justin thought it was heavenly.  We left there and headed over to the shopping center with A.C. Moore in it.  On the way there, we took "the long way," and passed these amazing homes that have just come into being.  (I'm sure we passed them before while they were still dirt and because we don't live on that side of town anymore, forgot all about them.)  They were townhomes, which I'm really big on, and they were so pretty.  There were only about 8 of them, all in one little row, next to the road.  As we drove past, I asked Justin to remind me to take the long way home so that we could see them again.

There is a PetSmart down the strip from A.C. Moore, and today was Adoption Day, and Justin and I couldn't resist going in there and seeing the animals up for adoption.  Sadly, there were only cats available for adopting, which we both found weird because usually adoptions are more dog-specific at PetSmart since cats are available for adoption/purchase there all year long.  Justin and I have been discussing getting a dog for a long time, but never really looked into it in a realistic way.

After the Adoption Day was a bust, I asked him to look up the animal shelters that were close, and perhaps we could go look, and today would be the day we actually got a pet.  He looked it up on his phone as we went into Total Wine next door and bought some seasonal Halloween beer singles.  Turns out, the closest one to where we were was in Chapel Hill, and it was only about 15 minutes away.  We put the beer in the car and walked to A.C. Moore, and of course found nothing to buy.  (Doesn't that always happen?  No?  Just me?  All right, then.)

After I browsed A.C. Moore for a little bit, we headed to the animal shelter.  We got there and found a few furry friends that we may would have liked to take home, but nobody fit the bill enough to actually go through with it.  There was one dog, a little beagle named Winnie, who was just perfect for us.  And of course she was already adopted.  We spent about an hour there, and were willing to go to another one, but the one in Durham closes at 2 on Saturdays, and the only other one was in Raleigh, and I'd just about rather take a beating than drive to/through Raleigh.  We may go tomorrow, but we'll see.  We believe that we just weren't meant to have a dog today.  So, we left and I was so disappointed that Winnie was taken.  Justin promised that we would find another perfect dog, and they would be our Winnie.  You'd almost think we'd lost a child or something the way he comforted me.  It was so sweet.

So we headed back to Durham, because I had a hankering for a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, and Justin mentioned he wouldn't mind looking around Best Buy.  We were turning into Starbucks, when Justin remembered this place in Chapel Hill called Caribou Coffee.  He had coffee there before with one of his friends and was really impressed by it, and wanted me to have some of their coffee as well.  I reminded him that we were literally about a mile from Chapel Hill at that point and that we could just turn around.  He thought about it briefly and agreed, so we turned around and headed back up 15-501 into Chapel Hill.  We found Caribou Coffee, but took the wrong split initially.  As we were driving to correct our mistake, we had to pass through one of the wonderful shopping centers Chapel Hill has to offer (I have a thing for Chapel Hill, and I can't wait til we live there!).  In the center was a shop called Womancraft Gifts.  The name caught my eye and I really wanted to go in there.  But we continued to Caribou and went inside and ordered some drinks.  Justin got a Turtle Mocha with dark chocolate, and I got a Vanilla White Chocolate Mocha.  They were both really good, but I didn't like Justin's just because it was so dark chocolatey.

Way back earlier in the day when we went into Total Wine, Justin's allergies reacted to something pretty badly, and he still had a terrible headache all these hours later.  Justin agreed to go back to the gift shop with me, and right next  to it was a CVS.  I suggested he go buy some medicine for his headache, and he thought that was a good idea so he did.  I went into the store and was kind of disappointed because even though the store had nice things in it, mostly local or local artist stuff, it was pretty expensive for a budget such as mine.  I did find one thing I liked, though.  I found a "condiment dish" with a dragonfly painted on the bottom.  I'm not going to use it as a condiment dish, of course, but I don't really know what its purpose is yet, either.  I just know that I liked it when I saw it and that it only cost $8.

After the gift shop, we headed back home.  I almost forgot to go back by the gorgeous houses, and Justin reminded me.  We took the long route home to see them one more time, and Justin said he remembered seeing an Agent on Duty sign in front.  We turned into the small development, and even though there was an Open House and a Model House sign, we checked both of them out and they were already closed for the day.  We looked in through the window, though, and were left breathless.  These places were absolutely beautiful on the inside.  When we got back home, we were on a house hunting kick, so I looked up these houses on the website.  While they are incredible, the prices fit the bill.  They are expensive!  Not only that, they are bought and not rented, something we can't do right now.  I was kind of sad to learn that, but it just means that something better will come along!

My stomach began to get really queasy once we got home, and I blame it on Piper's.  I think the burger really upset my stomach.  I didn't think it tasted that good when I ate it, but I wrote that up to not eating there often and not being accustomed to the taste, plus Justin's stomach was fine.  But, I popped some Pepto, and now I feel better.

Now, Justin is playing Arkham City, and I really like watching him play.  It's currently 11:46 p.m., and the day is almost over.  I think soon, we are going to go to Wendy's for some crispy chicken sandwiches.  There is laundry going, and the windows are up with no A/C or heat on.  It's a lovely night.  And the ending to a lovely Saturday.