Written by Kim
Easter is quite a special holiday for me obviously since it’s the most important holiday in the Christian faith. Easter always was filled with family and food. When I was a kid my grandmother would put on an Italian feast. Once she passed my aunt carried on the tradition and I would go make pizzagaina, ricotta pie and wheat pies. We would eat for hours and catch up with our cousins. I have great memories of that. Times have changed. My aunt is unable to do it anymore and we both have moved. I still love Easter dinner but was late organizing things and it would have been just Alex and I. I was a bit in a funk over things especially when my trip to NJ was cancelled last week and I didn’t get to see family or go to church in Wayne. So….Alex saw that there was a show in the theater in Charlotte so planned a little getaway.
We drove up to Charlotte after golf on Saturday. It’s a little over 3 hours from us. We booked the Drury Inn and Suites Arrowood which is about 10 minutes from downtown and a lot cheaper than staying downtown. If you’ve never stayed in a Drury give it a try. The property was a bit older and dated but very clean. The staff is the friendliest I’ve ever seen. They do a 5:30 kickback, similar to Embassy, with 2 free drinks and a buffet but you could make dinner out of the buffet and it’s free so if you have a few kids could really save some money. The kickback had meatballs, mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, hotdogs, nachos, and a few other things. We planned to go to dinner so just had drinks and a few snacks. They also have a full breakfast with real scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, sausage and lots more.
Alex watches a guy, Nik Metcalf (no relation to Pastor Ninabeth 😘) on reels that does food reviews so we wanted to check out a bbq place he loved, Jim & Nick’s, which is a chain but was awesome.
Everything was delicious but it was a lot of food. We couldn’t finish it all. Here’s Nik’s review if you’re interested.
https://youtu.be/9MCdMoPJPAw?si=ui9VuzPzcVCz-Uy8
I joined church in Wayne on Zoom before we headed out to the show. We had tickets for Mamma Mia at the Blumenthal Performing Arts in downtown Charlotte. I didn’t realize until I was researching to write our blog that 2025 was the 25th anniversary of Mamma Mia.
The show was fabulous. There was a limited run on Broadway for the anniversary from August 2025 – February 2026. After the Broadway run closed, much of the Broadway cast moved to this National tour which runs in various cities till November of this year. About half of the cast is from the Broadway show so the talent was amazing! We caught a gem. It’s in Philly in October for my friends up North. I highly recommend checking it out. We couldn’t take any pictures of the show.
The Blumenthal theater seats about 2,100 and is a great find for us that’s not too far from our house. It’s a bit smaller than the NJ PAC in Newark, NJ and a bit larger than State Theater in Newark Brunswick. I love the theater so gives us an overnight option for. a show.
After the show we planned to do a city walking tour on Voice Map that we started last time we were in Charlotte but the weather was lousy with light rain so we dropped into an Irish pub across the street, Connelly’s, to grab a few beers and watch UCLA pummel SC.
We had dinner reservations at Rooster’s. The food was pricey but amazing. It was a special treat. Heck it was Easter if I cooked it would have cost more for our feast.
I learned a few things this weekend. I need to be ok with changes to traditions. I need to work harder to find a local church because I miss face to face worship but can still join Wayne online. I am very fortunate to have an awesome husband who knows just how to get me out of a funk and show me adventure. Now home to make my Easter ricotta pie which was delayed because I couldn’t find pignoli nuts but now have them. Happy Easter!
We don’t have any trips planned right now. The world is so crazy so we won’t be traveling overseas until things settle down. We have lots of family time planned so look for pics on FB. We are heading to see mom in TN next weekend, Ryan (Alex’s son) is coming down to remodel our guest bathroom, then young Alex and his clan are coming in June and my 2 kids, 5 grands and mom are coming in July. We are so blessed and I’ll have plenty of chances to cook some big meals and make memories.
