What a lovely weekend we had! It's only now coming to an end because Alan and I both took a vacation day today.

Saturday morning early, we left for Augusta which is the town about 140 miles east where his parents and younger brother live, after first dropping off Sprocket Rocket Hero Pup at my parents' house. Sprocket, a ferocious Shih-Tzu, quickly subdued my parents' dogs (a Golden Retriever and a mixed breed sorta-schnauzer) and, once everyone understood who was Alpha Dog, all was well.

While in Augusta we stayed at The Partridge Inn, a lovely old hotel where Alan worked as sous chef back in the early 90's. It is a beautiful place and I've wanted to stay there since they showed it to me over a year ago. Our weekend there was a Christmas present from Alan's parents and it was SO WONDERFUL. The inn was built in 1892; however, constant renovations and remodeling keep it still old-school gorgeous, but modern functional - like updated plumbing and smoothly operating elevators paired with huge, romantic balconies and antique furniture, Aubusson rugs strewn over original turn-of-the-century brickwork.

We had lunch at the Partridge Inn restaurant, the Veranda Grille. Back when Alan worked there, the restaurant was called The Pear Tree - get it? I had crab cakes and he had a sirloin sandwich - yum! The crab cakes were served in a delectable tomato-based sauce along with corn and fresh green beans. Delicious! Afterward, we went to his parents' house, to hang out and visit with them and his brother Christopher for a while. Eventually they took us to dinner at this cool tavern called the Roadrunner. It was a fun place which looked like a typical pub but had fabulous food, everything from giant rib-eye steaks to crab legs and shrimp.

After hanging out with the family a bit more, we returned to the hotel and visited their blues/jazz bar, The Bamboo Room. The band, Mellow-D, was about to take a break as we arrived so we heard only one song, "Mustang Sally", which they did very well. We hung out for a while talking to the bartender, an Augusta native who attended the same high school as Alan, only several years before him. When the band came back from break, they did "Chain of Fools" and another song that I didn't know. Not many people have the cajones to do an Aretha song, and of those, few should. But this lady had some serious pipes on her and did a darned good job. We would have liked to stay and hear more but were very tired after a long day plus the drive, so we headed for our room and a very comfortable bed with a cushy pillowtop.

On Sunday, after a lovely Partridge Inn breakfast, we headed back to Alan's parents' house to assist with Christmas party set-up, the party being the reason we were in town this particular weekend. His mother had TONS of delectable party food. I think she and Mary Jo (next-door neighbor) must have used a dozen crock-pots between them - I'm not kidding - for all the hot treats and there was another table laden with still more nibbles and desserts. I truly enjoy being with his family; I totally struck gold in the in-law department (or more accurately, Nancy struck gold for me).

We hung out with his family after the party was over, doing a bit of clean-up. I wasn't much help because I didn't know where much of anything went or what his mom planned to do with stuff (throw out versus save) but I helped her drink a post-party mimosa. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. When Alan and I returned to the Partridge Inn, we hung out in the bar a while watching the Saints-Cowboys game, talking to the bartender and having beverages (Coke for him, Ketel One and tonic for me). Lots of fun conversation and another great day all round.

After another restful sleep on the comfy bed in our lovely room, we reluctantly packed and left the hotel. We hung out with Mr. & Mrs. Bowman and Christopher most of the day, snacking on party leftovers and chatting before heading back to the A-T-L. After a short detour to pick up SprocketMan, we were home.

We had to make a quick grocery run and once that was done, I could relax, load photos and blog. It was a wonderful weekend of which I enjoyed every single moment, from the bustling activity at the Bowmans' party to hanging out with just the immediate family, from the band at the blues club to the quiet moments on our balcony. I'm pretty tired but what a fabulous weekend! I'm very happy at the moment.