A control freak's guide to a fabulous birthday celebration!
Hello...
My name is Connie...
And I am a control freak...
About a year and a half ago I moved to Charlotte, NC. A friend in my old city wanted to throw me a going away party, but I refused. lol. The truth is, I am such a control freak that I like to handle everything associated with me. It isn't that I doubt the abilities of anyone else, no not at all. I am just so used to doing a lot dolo solo. I'm working on that more and more though... It's one of those negative Capricorn traits...lol
Speaking of being a Capricorn (no matter what that new orichiou-scion-ries thing-a-ma-jig zodiac says)...I celebrated my birthday this past weekend!
It was fantastic! Fun times were had by all! There were a few hiccups (see, I should have let someone help me with this...) like my evites not reaching everyone, the gap in time between events, and the cold weather (well I couldn't do anything about that!)
I am known for doing TOO MUCH... So of course my birthday reflected that :)
Day 1
On Friday (my actual birthday) I spent the evening with my parents. Mama and I went shopping and then Daddy (we do call our dads daddy in the south) took us to dinner! But before we got our evening underway, I got stuck in an icy spot, and my dad had to come to the rescue! lol
My mama helps feed my love of shopping and helped me pick out a couple of things that I debuted at my first birthday celebration spot! (An orange argyle sweater with brown, gold and cream accents; gold brown and cream fan earrings, with a brown faux leather jacket).
So Mr. and Mrs. Daddy and Mama did very well!
Day 2: Girlfriends spa getaway
Everything went well on my actual birthday. Then I had to drive to Charlotte from my parents' home and check in to a fantastic hotel! Forbes gives The Ballantyne Hotel and Resort four stars (they also have a five star golf course), I personally give them FIVE stars and a thousand thank yous and a million smiles!!
My friend/college roommate met me at the hotel for a girls weekend spa retreat! We were able to check in before noon, and check out at four the following day! (You should really check out their spa/hotel packages! They are fantastic and affordable.)
I loved the look of the hotel. They also have a lodge and cottage where you can reserve a relaxing stay.
Our room was similar to this one. I didn't think to take a picture of it. The hotel (http://twitter.com/BallantyneHotel) actually follows me on Twitter, and offered us a great deal on the getaway. As a country girl, I absolutely loved the southern hominess of the room! And that bed!!! OMG! That bed...mmm mmmm mmmm I almost didn't leave!!!
The room we stayed in was the grand deluxe overlooking their five star golf course! It was a beautiful scene, that I'm sure is more lovely during the spring time. (It is winter after all...)
Here are a couple more pics from the hotel:
The afternoon of Day 2: Bowling party
A couple of my coworkers and some friends gathered at Strike City at the Epicentre in Uptown for a bowling party. It was so much fun! We started off struggling. No one could knock down even a fifth of the pins! Ha! (especially me...what can I say? I'm not a bowler LOL).
The best part for me was having friends from all phases of my life there to celebrate with me. My oldest friend there goes way back to middle school! LOL
Now, things almost went left when strangers started eating the food set up for our party. It was set up as a buffet behind our section. (This guy calls me over and is like...yo..see those people right there...they are eating your food. Now, I say to myself, self...please don't cut a fool on your birthday...but then...when I asked them if they were... they lied...while chewing, and I went off! But I pulled myself back together. "One monkey don't stop no show!"-LauriAnne, Making the Band.)
That's one thing you should know. If you don't want to be intruded upon, rent one of the three rooms they have available. (See...once again, I should have let someone help me!!! lol...but my homie did come through to help on the food! Thanks, bruh!)
The food was fantastic!! (Someone went back for seconds and thirds...maybe even fourths! Yeah... I saw you! LOL) And the event planner, Sarah Staroba, helped make the day seamless for the most part. The only small issue (outside of the food thieves) we had, was the young lady at the shoe rental counter. I mean I don't know. She was nice to me, but not so nice to a couple of my guests.
Our waitress was top knotch though! Very nice and appropriately attentive.
The Evening of Day 2: Guys with Ties in the Pearl Room
So my group mosies on down to Black Finn for a private party with the networking group Guys with Ties. (I want to especially thank Courtney, the event planner for Black Finn, who set this and my b-day dinner up! She was terrific!) They held a pregame party for the Bobcats game. It gave me an opportunity to do some networking (I told you, I'm always doing too much.) And watch the Steelers game in a private room.
Now THIS was kinda funny. We all roll upstairs and we're stopped along the way to pay a cover. I'm like huh? Say what? Apparently in the larger room there was a very packed bar crawl poppin off...who knew? (But I probably would have known, had I not done all the planning!!! See a theme here?)
We made it through the crowd, with our money still in our pockets, and found the Guys with Ties in the back. So the head Guy, Blake and I chatted about linking up to do some events. (They use their networking socials as a way to give back to the community! I love it!). Now we're watching the game and having what? You guessed it...more food! Which was cool because more folks had joined who didn't come to the bowling event.
Day 2 still hasn't ended: Dinner at Black Finn
Ok, there was about a thirty minute gap between the Guys with Ties event and dinner. So we had to find a way to kill time. We made our way back downstairs to the pub area, to finish watching the game.
Despite the aching feet of my girls who had on heels, the drained battery of another pal, and realizing that one of my guests had missed the bowling party due tosome miscommunicaiton, it wasn't so terrible. A few more friends had joined the party at that point, and a couple had departed.
Truth be told, I was stuffed...and the brownie was crunchy! So I nibbled and ate the icecream.
I think the best part of dinner was all the chattering and laughing. I talked so much my cheeks hurt.
Day 3: A relaxing end to the weekend
As you can see, I did too much all weekend! LOL. But Sunday was a day of relaxation. My homegirl and I were back at the hotel/spa. We spent Saturday night chatting like we did back in college. Only this time we were reminiscing about school days, catching up on work days, and of course dishing on the men in our lives. (and sometimes lack thereof!!)
But because I had a slight allergic reaction, I had taken some benadryl and ended up falling asleep mid-sentence apparently. LMBO!
We woke up late Sunday and ran up the street to IHOP for some AMAZING cinnamon pancakes (my favorite!!), then headed back to the hotel for our spa treatments!
There was a slight glitch in our services, apparently a miscommunication had us waiting in the wings instead of being attended to. But my homegirl handled that and due to the glitch we were surprised with some sweet gifts from the spa! (Now that's what I call customer service!!)
We both had facials that were accompanied by mini-massages. It was so relaxing that I fell asleep! But strangely I was conscious of everything going on. I guess it was more like being hypnotized! That's how good it was! LOL. So yes, I will be going back! OMG! You really must try this place out. Everything about the spa was delicious from the fruit infused water and cinnamon spice tea to the actual services themselves. I loved it!
My celebration culminated with the birthday cake up top! Needless to say this was one of THE BEST birthdays I've had in a long time. Maybe even THE BEST! Mostly because I was able to share it with such great people!
So thank you to my hometown friend, college friends, law school friends, work friends, and twitter friends (cltgeechie, blitzandglam, carameldds) (some of you span categories) for making the birthday weekend of a control freak very relaxing and a ton of fun!
Also thank you to all of the venues for being so fantastic, professional, and extremely accommodating! A special thanks to Keith at The Ballantyne Hotel for putting up with my slight confusion :)!
 |
| Birthday cake provided by The Ballantyne Hotel! |
Hello...
My name is Connie...
And I am a control freak...
About a year and a half ago I moved to Charlotte, NC. A friend in my old city wanted to throw me a going away party, but I refused. lol. The truth is, I am such a control freak that I like to handle everything associated with me. It isn't that I doubt the abilities of anyone else, no not at all. I am just so used to doing a lot dolo solo. I'm working on that more and more though... It's one of those negative Capricorn traits...lol
Speaking of being a Capricorn (no matter what that new orichiou-scion-ries thing-a-ma-jig zodiac says)...I celebrated my birthday this past weekend!
It was fantastic! Fun times were had by all! There were a few hiccups (see, I should have let someone help me with this...) like my evites not reaching everyone, the gap in time between events, and the cold weather (well I couldn't do anything about that!)
I am known for doing TOO MUCH... So of course my birthday reflected that :)
Day 1
 |
| Good food is extremely important for any celebration! |
My mama helps feed my love of shopping and helped me pick out a couple of things that I debuted at my first birthday celebration spot! (An orange argyle sweater with brown, gold and cream accents; gold brown and cream fan earrings, with a brown faux leather jacket).
So Mr. and Mrs. Daddy and Mama did very well!
Day 2: Girlfriends spa getaway
Everything went well on my actual birthday. Then I had to drive to Charlotte from my parents' home and check in to a fantastic hotel! Forbes gives The Ballantyne Hotel and Resort four stars (they also have a five star golf course), I personally give them FIVE stars and a thousand thank yous and a million smiles!!
 |
| The Ballantyne Hotel 10000 Ballantyne Commons Parkway Charlotte, North Carolina |
 |
| Lobby of the Ballantyne Hotel |
Upon checking in, we were met by the best hotel staff I have ever come into contact with! They were so warm and inviting. The accent of one of the staff members infused an "out of the country" flavor into the experience. So I felt like I was on vacation instead of a few miles away from home!
I loved the look of the hotel. They also have a lodge and cottage where you can reserve a relaxing stay.
The room we stayed in was the grand deluxe overlooking their five star golf course! It was a beautiful scene, that I'm sure is more lovely during the spring time. (It is winter after all...)
Here are a couple more pics from the hotel:
 |
| Golf course view |
 |
| Ballantyne hotel hallway |
 |
| Strike City. Epicentre 210 E. Trade Street Charlotte, NC |
The best part for me was having friends from all phases of my life there to celebrate with me. My oldest friend there goes way back to middle school! LOL
 |
| Private room at Strike City |
That's one thing you should know. If you don't want to be intruded upon, rent one of the three rooms they have available. (See...once again, I should have let someone help me!!! lol...but my homie did come through to help on the food! Thanks, bruh!)
The food was fantastic!! (Someone went back for seconds and thirds...maybe even fourths! Yeah... I saw you! LOL) And the event planner, Sarah Staroba, helped make the day seamless for the most part. The only small issue (outside of the food thieves) we had, was the young lady at the shoe rental counter. I mean I don't know. She was nice to me, but not so nice to a couple of my guests.
Our waitress was top knotch though! Very nice and appropriately attentive.
The Evening of Day 2: Guys with Ties in the Pearl Room
So my group mosies on down to Black Finn for a private party with the networking group Guys with Ties. (I want to especially thank Courtney, the event planner for Black Finn, who set this and my b-day dinner up! She was terrific!) They held a pregame party for the Bobcats game. It gave me an opportunity to do some networking (I told you, I'm always doing too much.) And watch the Steelers game in a private room.
Now THIS was kinda funny. We all roll upstairs and we're stopped along the way to pay a cover. I'm like huh? Say what? Apparently in the larger room there was a very packed bar crawl poppin off...who knew? (But I probably would have known, had I not done all the planning!!! See a theme here?)
We made it through the crowd, with our money still in our pockets, and found the Guys with Ties in the back. So the head Guy, Blake and I chatted about linking up to do some events. (They use their networking socials as a way to give back to the community! I love it!). Now we're watching the game and having what? You guessed it...more food! Which was cool because more folks had joined who didn't come to the bowling event.
Day 2 still hasn't ended: Dinner at Black Finn
Ok, there was about a thirty minute gap between the Guys with Ties event and dinner. So we had to find a way to kill time. We made our way back downstairs to the pub area, to finish watching the game.
 |
| It was sooo crowded in Black Finn |
 |
| The brownie treat courtesy of Black Finn |
We all enjoyed a good meal, one of my girls only had dessert! LOL (We'd only been eating all day!! hahaha). I had my favorite...the wedge salad with grilled chicken. I mean it is so simple, yet sooooo delicious! Then they brought me a special birthday treat!
Truth be told, I was stuffed...and the brownie was crunchy! So I nibbled and ate the icecream.
I think the best part of dinner was all the chattering and laughing. I talked so much my cheeks hurt.
Day 3: A relaxing end to the weekend
As you can see, I did too much all weekend! LOL. But Sunday was a day of relaxation. My homegirl and I were back at the hotel/spa. We spent Saturday night chatting like we did back in college. Only this time we were reminiscing about school days, catching up on work days, and of course dishing on the men in our lives. (and sometimes lack thereof!!)
But because I had a slight allergic reaction, I had taken some benadryl and ended up falling asleep mid-sentence apparently. LMBO!
 |
| The gift from Ballantayne spa that made me smile! |
There was a slight glitch in our services, apparently a miscommunication had us waiting in the wings instead of being attended to. But my homegirl handled that and due to the glitch we were surprised with some sweet gifts from the spa! (Now that's what I call customer service!!)
We both had facials that were accompanied by mini-massages. It was so relaxing that I fell asleep! But strangely I was conscious of everything going on. I guess it was more like being hypnotized! That's how good it was! LOL. So yes, I will be going back! OMG! You really must try this place out. Everything about the spa was delicious from the fruit infused water and cinnamon spice tea to the actual services themselves. I loved it!
My celebration culminated with the birthday cake up top! Needless to say this was one of THE BEST birthdays I've had in a long time. Maybe even THE BEST! Mostly because I was able to share it with such great people!
So thank you to my hometown friend, college friends, law school friends, work friends, and twitter friends (cltgeechie, blitzandglam, carameldds) (some of you span categories) for making the birthday weekend of a control freak very relaxing and a ton of fun!
Also thank you to all of the venues for being so fantastic, professional, and extremely accommodating! A special thanks to Keith at The Ballantyne Hotel for putting up with my slight confusion :)!
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