The one where we went to a hot air balloon festival.

Goodness, I cannot remember the last time I actually sat down with the intention of writing an actual blog post. While the currently posts are short and sweet, I do miss actually sharing some stuff that's been happening in my life lately.
 On Friday, I had my wisdom teeth removed. The surgeon said this would be a super easy, non-invasive procedure because I waited so long to have them taken out. (True story. The orthodontist suggested it in 2008 when I got my braces off. Then the dentist suggested it again in 2010.) Quite honestly, I never experienced much pain from my wisdom teeth, other than random pain when I ate something cold. Anyway, the biggest issue with these bad boys is that they were moving my other teeth and basically canceling out what I wore braces for 4 years to correct. So, after many years of "I will do it this year!" and then coming up with a million excuses why not, I did it. SO, my teeth did not have to be "cut out", they had to only be extracted, so guess what? Lucky me, I didn't have to be put to sleep! I was awake the entire time, only a little numbed up. And for the first tooth, not sure I was numb enough. I felt like I was in the middle of a flipping horror movie...people surrounding me, yanking my teeth out, talking about me, and here I was. Helpless. Now, let me be honest. After the first tooth, it wasn't that painful. But the whole experience was terrifying. I cried on the way home and I think it was just out of fear. The recovery hasn't been terrible, but I have been binge watching Friends. Now does my post title make sense? Wow, that was a long rant about my minor surgery. I will get back to my original point NOW.
So, if you have ever wandered around my blog before, you might have noticed my 101 Things to do in 1001 Days list. One of the things on my list was to attend a hot air balloon festival. Well, it just so happens that Decatur, Alabama is home to one of the biggest festivals in the south: The Alabama Jubilee. I had been wanting to go for years but it finally worked out for me and my friend Sarah to go this time. This event takes place Memorial Day weekend and this is the first one I've had off from work in 3 years. So, we made a little weekend getaway out of it. We left Oxford on that Saturday morning and found a park in Decatur that was lovely, Delano Park. We had a picnic lunch there and then read a little bit in their rose garden. After that we located a Starbucks so I could contribute to my addiction of tiramisu frappucinos, and then we headed to the festival. The festival was sooo crowded, especially the vendor areas. I compared it to Main Street in Magic Kingdom after fireworks, although that may have been somewhat of a stretch.
The balloons were supposed to go up at 6:15, I believe, but the winds were too strong. I was afraid the balloons weren't going to happen at all, which would be my luck. But close to 8:00, the wind finally settled down enough to showcase the amazing (and much bigger than I realized) balloons!

After the balloons, a few tribute bands, and excessively large snow cones, Sarah and I walked 4 miles back to our car and went back to the hotel to call it a night. The next day, on our way home, we hit up the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, a place I enjoy because it is both beautiful AND free. Doesn't get much better than that, right?
 All in all, we had a really fun weekend AND I was able to cross something off my 101 list. I've still got several things to do in order to complete my list but some of those events are in the works. More details on them to come soon.

Do you guys have any bucket lists or anything?