Friday, November 17, 2006
Despite my best efforts to get up early to head over to Mississippi, I ended up sleeping in until after 11. Alex called to check up on me and we decided to head out and get something to eat before we made it over to the Men’s Warehouse. I had called Mark’s mom who then transferred me to Jen’s mom who gave me directions to the mall.
Alex and I decided to head over to the Waffle House near the hotel. I had a strange feeling inside the restaurant. I had eaten at the Waffle House in Phoenix before without any strange vibes, but at the one here in Mobile I was definitely getting the “These guys are not from around here” vibe from the workers and the other patrons.
We then headed out to the Men’s Warehouse located in the Bel Air mall just off of Airport Blvd which is one of the main roads in town. We were surprised at the crowded parking lot, but we chalked it up to the fine residents getting a head start on their holiday shopping. As we pulled around the corner into a row we got to witness some fine quality holiday spirit. As car #1 and car #2 approached the same spot, car #1 decided to let #2 take the spot. Just as #2 was about to take the spot, car #3 zoomed in and took the spot. While #3 was trying to get into the spot they managed to hit the car in the spot next to them. Alex was squirming a bit in the passenger seat so we decided to park in a clear section of the lot.
Inside the Men’s Warehouse we saw Mark and his dad who were getting their tuxedos as well. The staff were all nice and we got our tuxedos without a hitch. I did notice a police officer wandering around the store. As we were leaving, we chatted with one of the workers and discovered that a short time before we arrived, someone had stolen a leather jacket.
She said that is why all of the workers were a bit on edge. Alex and I looked at each other and decided it was time to leave. We dropped off the tux stuff in the car and then decided to hit the mall and do some shopping for my replacement Febreze as well as a card for Mark and Jen. After picking up what we needed and Alex got one of his nails smoothed out (it is a long story) we headed back to the hotel to drop our stuff off and then head over to the Wedding Rehearsal at the Mobile Botanical gardens.
The Botanical Gardens were pretty nice and it was fairly cool out in the woods. Everything was mapped out and I met the bridesmaids and some of the other family members that were around for the weekend. During the rehearsal I discovered that there was a bit of a dress code for the restaurant we were heading to later for the rehearsal dinner. Once we were done, I decided to head back to the mall to use my $50 Gap gift card Mom had given me for my birthday to get some pants and a shirt. I figured I could get something for work and as a bonus it would work as something for the dinner. The folks at the Gap were kind enough to let me change clothes in the store and then we proceeded to the dinner.
At Pillars restaurant, we met up with Colleen who was in town from Georgia. She goes way back to high school with Alex, Mark, and I and it was good to see her again. Dinner was pretty darn good and I had a cosmo to finish the evening off. It was then time to head back to the hotel. It was just after 10pm and some people wanted to go out, but I opted for returning to the hotel since I only had one more attempt to go to Mississippi and I didn’t want to miss it.
