Why Charleston?

We've had a few people ask why we went to Charleston for the weekend. The answer? Because we could!  Ryan's friend (and now mine!), Kristy, served with Ryan in Ukraine and is spending the summer with her sister in DC.  When we discovered she was so close it was decided that we must spend some time together! Ryan was a little doubtful though because when Kristy and I first met he was hesitant of our friendship. He was worried we would gang up on him.  He was right to be worried. I love Kristy! Ryan sacrificed a lot for this weekend.  His sanity, for one, and his study time.  It's finals week. :)

But he agreed and after a 5-ish hour drive, a night with the three of us in a King Size bed (me in the middle of course) we woke up and went to the Boone Hall Plantation.  You may recognize it as Ali's summer house from The Notebook (which by the way Ryan had not seen until we watched it 2 weeks ago!).  OR my family will recognize it from North and South.  The plantation has been around since the 1700's but this house wasn't built until the 1935 owners (I think?).  Someone still lives in it today even.  So weird to have people tour your house daily, but whatever.

The plantation is also famous for its "Avenue of Oaks" which were planted all the way back in 1743! I think there have been three hurricanes that have destroyed much of the plantation since then, but they held strong.

 South Carolina's mix of trees is so much fun.  I know it's on the coast, but I still think palm trees belong in California or Hawaii.  But South Carolina?  Palm Trees?  I wouldn't have guessed it.

Oh, remember that heat I mentioned? Well it was hot, hot, hot while we we there, for sure.  But at the plantation we were able to spend time in the house, in the shade or on a carriage around the property.  

We were also told it was a MUST to go on a carriage tour through historic Charleston. So we did!  

If we can let a horse take us around instead of walking - sign me up!

The homes were AMAZING.  And only a few million each.  No big deal.  

Some people use them as collector homes.  I wish.

That night we went to dinner with some of Kristy's friends and walked along the waterfront park.  

But it was dark, and not much for pictures.  We wanted to do a lot more in that day but at the same time, we didn't want to jam-pack our day and exhaust ourselves.  All-in-all I'm very happy with what we saw!

Day two was beach day.  Remember how Ryan was nervous to let Kristy and I be friends?  This is why:

We went shopping together for less than an hour and we came home with these.  We made sure to point out to Ryan the romper's we saw around town so that he would recognize the ridiculousness of our purchase once we finally surprised him.  He was just as unimpressed as we thought he'd be. :)  

We don't have any other pictures from the beach because we just enjoyed it.  

The water was so warm - warmer than I've ever felt it. Just perfect!

After the beach we made the trek home. 

However, it was impossible to pass by the gem that is, "South of the Border."

It was full of Pedro this and Pedro that - everything from sketchy carnival rides to restaurants to mini golf and tacky gift shops.  Gotta love it.

Ryan was also not pleased that Kristy also got me hooked on "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding." I spent my lunch break the next day Googling "Irish Travellers" and I think my next South Carolina destination is Murphy's Village (the largest U.S. settlement).  Who's with me??

"The Triangle"

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how confusing driving is in Durham.  I'm used to it now but I was reminded as I looked at a map today just how wonky the streets are!  There is a "triangle" between Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill and the streets all go between them making their own triangle(s).

Not to mention it's hard to find upcoming streets when the road you're driving on looks like this:

Yes, that is an old picture from our move.  Speaking of which, we hit our year mark in NC a few weeks ago. One down, one to go!

Heat Index, Anyone?

I'm leaving this:

For This:

Lower temperature and higher heat index can only mean one thing. MORE HUMIDITY.

Charleston, SC... here we come!!

Thank goodness we'll be getting some beach time.

And I just had to share this picture that Heather posted on her Facebook.  

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Fall is here?

If anyone has walked into a retail store in the past month or so I'm sure you noticed that summer is OVER! It is no different at A.C. Moore.  They've already brought out Back-To-School, Fall, and even Christmas (Christmas in July isn't even here yet!!).

 I haven't worked at A.C. Moore for over a month now but our florist and my beloved friend was in a car accident and has been out of work for the past few weeks.  With the new fall floral items they need to be put to good use so they called me up to make arrangements this week. I love it, I really do.  I never ever had any interest in floral but it's creative so of course I enjoy it.

I don't know the names of the flowers or anything technical but it's so much fun to combine the different colors and textures into something beautiful!  With fall's three-color palette it gets tricky to make things look unique but that's part of the challenge right?

I'm hoping now that I'm not a manager I'll get to do enjoyable things like this more often.

We are so blessed!

I've realized that I either put pictures on facebook or I put them on the blog.
So Boston, New York, and Chicago are on facebook.

We were able to go to an observation deck in each city so here is one photo from each!

Boston

New York

Chicago

We also went to Washington DC but we didn't get any pictures of the city.  

Actually, we were just in a suburb where we purchased this beauty:

I don't say any of this to brag about our life.  Ryan and I are so incredibly blessed and we know it.  We realize that most couples at our age and in our situation do not have many of the things or opportunities we have.  Believe me, we know this.  And we are so grateful for what we have.  But, unfortunately there had to be a sacrifice for all this to happen.  The sacrifice was the life is Ryan's birth mother when he was six-months-old.  I don't want this to be a sad post, I just want you all to understand how we have the things we have.  

But our happiness isn't about things or money.  It's about the people we love, which is each of you! 

For Ryan's big 30th birthday I (with the help of 40+ of Ryan's closest friends and family) reminded him just how much he is loved.  I got the idea from our friends Josh and Emily to put together a book of letters of admiration, inside jokes, stories, etc to Ryan from his family and friends.  

It was a total surprise and definitely the best gift ever.

So a big thank you to all of you who helped! He loves you right back. :)

My Idol

All it took was a day and I'm completely obsessed with this girl. 

I want to be her. 

Seriously. 

 She has great hair, great skin, great eyes, a great body, a great voice, great rapping skills and a GREAT personality!  

I downloaded her CD and I love listening to her music, but she is just so much fun to watch! Ryan and I spent an hour last night laying on our tummies like children staring at our laptops completely entranced with her.

And she's from Nebraska.  

And she went to Berklee school of music in Boston.  

And these two are engaged which makes it even more adorable.

BIG NEWS!

We're moving to California!!! 

Well, in two years hopefully.  

We've been praying and trying to figure out where to go when Ryan graduates and we finally got our answer.  We were playing around with the ideas of Colorado, California, Las Vegas, Nebraska, and even Hawaii or Australia.  While Ryan is a dreamer and loves talking about these things, I wanted decisions.  So we prayed and an answer came! (And quickly, thankfully.  I'm impatient).  Ryan has always wanted to move there so you can imagine his excitement. I'm still trying to get past the sticker shock on the cost of living out there.  We still don't know where in the state we want to live, and we're just hoping Ryan can get a job.  We may not end up with a very big place to live, but our door will be open to visitors!

Speaking of visitors, our door is open now!  Come visit us in North Carolina, friends!!!! 

You only have one more year left before we start leaving for clinicals so book those flights and escape the cold, Nebraska winter. :)