It was an odd weekend.  We are both creatures of habit and routine, so nearly every Saturday starts with us running errands to BJ's wholesale club, eating lunch out somewhere, then going to Publix for our weekly grocery run.  This Saturday, however, we had to take my car to the dealership to replace a missing trim piece.  They couldn't do it when I last had my car in for service because they paint it specially, so that it matches your particular automobile.  The part came in earlier in the week but I made the appointment for Saturday since I've missed so much work between dental and medical appointments lately.

Which by the way - I don't know about a million-dollar smile, but I can show you what a $15,000.00 one looks like...

Hmmm - does my smile look crooked?  I never thought my smile looked crooked but this looks like you can see more of my bottom left teeth than my right (picture is inverted).  Anyway, that's how my teefs look, many monies and much pain later.

Okay, so we had to take my car to the dealership which is 35 miles from my house.  There is one much closer, but it's in Buckhead (if you're familiar with Atlanta) and we can truly get more quickly and easily to the farther one than fight traffic into and out of Buckhead.  So off we go Saturday morning and I didn't get my lazy morning lie-in, grrrr.  We get there, check in and sit around having snacks and sodas (free at my dealer, YAY!) while I play games on my iPhone and Alan studies on his iPad, in between me interrupting him for requests for assistance on my game.  I was playing "Logo Quiz", which is very fun and addictive.  After about an hour, Service Advisor Rick comes up to us.  I was pleasantly surprised, thinking, "Wow, they're done already!" - but no.  This is ME, remember?

They couldn't find my part.  The guys had been ransacking the parts room all that time but my trim piece was nowhere to be found.  I wasn't mad - stuff happens, after all, and they cleaned my car inside, out and engine for no charge, and there was no point in being a bitch about it -  but we'd gone all that way and will have to make a second return trip to fix my car.

Since we knew beforehand that we'd be about 90% of the way there, we'd planned to have lunch at one of the restaurants around Mall Of Georgia as a treat, preferably one that we didn't have nearby, then hit the World Market - there used to be a World Market 2 miles from our house but that one closed years ago and boy, do I miss it! - and visit the big Barnes & Noble at the mall.  You who know us personally know that Alan and I love bookstores more than almost anything.  Except puppies.

We went ahead with that plan, browsed World Market and bought some goodies, went to PF Chang's for lunch and then the bookstore.  I hadn't been to a PF Chang's before; I know some people look down on chain restaurants but the food was quite good and the service impeccable.  The only problem I had was that I ordered an Ahi Tuna appetizer (I've been on quite the Ahi Tuna kick lately) and it was HUGE.  The lunch portions were nicely sized and just right, but this appetizer consisted of five sand-dollar-sized flattened wontons with about two inches of Ahi and avocado piled on them.  I mean, that's hardly a complaint:  you brought me too much delectable, delicious food! but if I'd known I probably would have ordered just the appetizer and a cup of soup.

The bookstore was a little disappointing.  I found some things I wanted, to which I'm looking forward to reading, so no worries there, but from the outside this looked like the hugest Barnes and Noble EVAH, and I was certain that Alan would have to put, if not a spending cap, at least a weight limit on my purchases.  Inside, though, it turned out that most of the space was taken up by a two-story atrium and size- and selection-wise, it was about like your standard mall bookstore.

When we got back onto the interstate to return home, traffic was deadlocked.  We listened to the radio long enough to learn where the wreck was, which had closed several lanes, and when possible got off the interstate to take back roads homeward.  I was texting with my friend Tammy and she invited us to stop by their house for a visit literally right as we were at the turn that would take us off Highway 124 to their place.  So that's what we did, hung out for hours and wound up going out for dinner at a new Mexican place near their house.  Much fun - we hadn't seen them in a while, good food, good conversation, some laughs - so then Sunday was devoted to Saturday errands and that's totally thrown me off.  Two funnies about Sunday errands to follow!