18 HOURS HERE, 18 HOURS THERE. AND A MOOSE IN BETWEEN.

Our travels began Saturday evening at 6:00pm. We left the state of South Carolina with me, myself, and I driving. After two hours I was ready to hand over the captains seat and take in the scenery that was around us...and thank goodness I did because I really could not take my eyes off of THIS.

I had never heard of the South of the Border before but when I saw and read the signs for it 50 miles before we even arrived to it, I knew I was in for a real highway oasis. Seriously! Of course we had to stop, of course! V wanted a magnet to add to our collection. Our goal was to find a bride and groom because 1. South of the Border is a great place to have a destination wedding(obviously) and 2. We wanted to send it to our family, just for giggles. ;) Once we found our fabulous obnoxious magnet for our future refrigerator we ventured out of the land of specialness and made our way further north. By this time it was getting close to dark and my eyes were beginning to take their detour south aka closed. I tried to stay awake as long as possible for V knowing that he was in a little bit of pain and wasn't in his right stature to be driving. Unfortunately, I could not hang. Cat naps here and there were necessary for my sanity. At around 3:15 we pulled off in Delaware(unaware that we had recently driven through DC AND Maryland....what the heck? where was I during all of this?....WOOPS!) Delaware was a perfect place for a quick nap for V and me. By 4:30 we were back on the road heading to New Jersey.

Ahhhhh New Jersey......now I've never been to this part of the country before but according to MTV and Jersey Shore...I could tell I was in for a trashy treat. ok ok ok, so New Jersey may not be all that bad(from what I hear) but from what I could see...WHOA. That turnpike looked just as trashy as those leather faced reality folks. It was disgusting. As we jumped from tollbooth to tollbooth we soon came upon....THE BIG APPLE! I have NEVER been to New York City before and even seeing it from a decent was soo awesome! It was about 7 in the morning so the morning fog was a bit of a problem but still, I could see the skyline and the outline of all the buildings! Very exciting!

Once we were out of the crazy New York traffica, we were finally in Connecticut. Um, all it took was crossing a bridge to cross into a completely different world(from what people have said)??? V kept telling me how beautiful the state was and finally I turned to him and said "where?" 3 minutes later he was pulling off the interstate which landed us into a very fancy neighborhood with massive homes.....on.....a.....private.....beach!! Private Beach? WHAT! Yes, we stopped! It was amazing, the fog was still coming off the water, old men were out fly fishing, birds were wading in the collldddd water, and we watched two horseshoe crabs get it on in the water(nice touch to the start of our day..) While at the beach, we changed, brushed our teeth, and climbed along the rocks for some sweet pictures! The neighborhood was something right out of a movie, the homes were incredible and the scenery..oh the scenery was perfect! After we pulled our bottom lips up from drooling we then hit the road to find some yummy Connecticut breakfast! We stopped at the Cromwell Diner in Cromwell, Connecticut where we shoveled down some yummy pancakes, eggs, an egg sandwich, sausage and were done with our people watching...we both decided that I should drive the rest of the way so that V could rest his back and could get some shut eye. The rest of the way was a piece of cake! We drove straight through Massachusetts, it was a bit small but very beautiful, unfortunately we did not have time to stop(sorry X). Once out of Massachusetts....we then were in......

from the words of our australian accent gps: "ARRIVING AT NORWICH UNIVERSITY IN NORTHFIELD, VERMONT!" hearing those words were relieving as well as sad, sad because our trip had come to an end and we would soon have to say our goodbyes...until next weekend...

VERMONT! Aka. Moose Country? One of the first road signs we saw in Vermont was MOOSE CROSSING! Moose Crossing? They have moose here? I'm still a little shocked by this, ignore me. But really, I would have LOVED to have seen a moose! As we drove up and down mountains, I was surprised at how gorgeous the state was, I had no idea this place was so green and so mountainy! As we finallllly pulled into Northfield, VT so V could check in with the school we wasted no time getting back on the road to Burlington so that I could hop onto a plane only to come back to Charleston. :( On the bright side: 1. spent 20 hours in a car with V and we still wanted to kiss afterwards and 2. I will be back in Vermont on Thursday! Only to drive back down to Charleston....another 18 hours in the car...making it a 36 hour trip all around. And I still think I'll keep him! :)

Hero Week!

My plans this weekend were to lay low and enjoy a Saturday with my hero(who just an hour ago donated bone marrow in Washington DC) before he jetted off to Vermont for his Masters week shenanigans. Fail. My brain starts to think and we all know when that happens some of the craziest ideas come forth. sidenote: For the past 2 weeks the whole world and I have been worried about the 18 hour travels he planned to undertake alone after a painful surgery. SO being that its "hero" week, I decided that I would drive the 18 hours with him only for him to put me on a plane once we get there. 18 hours for a one way ticket? yes please! In all honesty I am extremely nervous about the drive through the night but also excited to spend some quiet alone time with the boy. We will be hitting some of the major cities along the way such as DC and New York but unfortunately only from a distance. This will be my first trip North East and I'm anxious to see what it all looks like and most importantly ready to hear some crazy yankee accents! gag. So my dear friends, please pray. Pray that I live through Monday morning at work and pray that I don't bite anyones heads off. Also, lets not forget that I will be back on a plane for a one way trip to Vermont on Thursday night and driving down the following day. All in all.....36 hours in a vehicle within 7 days. I can handle this. I think. :)

I guess we do what we have to do for the people that we love. :)

Accomplishments

Well i'm back. The wedding festivities and trip home was a success! The weekend was full of crazy fun and tons of old memories. Friday night Me, V, and the Taylors went out to our high schools graduation to see a family friend graduate, it was good to be back in town and to see some familiar faces however I quickly came to realization that I have outgrown my small hometown. Growing up I always knew and wanted to end up back home having my own family but the dear Lord had something much more exciting for me, and boy did he! Being home made me appreciate all the places I've been and seen and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Saturday the crew all headed up to Nashville, TN for a family friends Scottish wedding. I was anxious to see how the city was recovering due to the flooding that had occured only weeks before and to my surprise everything was back to normal, tourists flooded the streets with their neon cowboy hats, fanny packs, mullets, and cut off jean shorts. It was actually a great sight to see regardless of what was roaming the streets. As we ventured down 2nd Ave we decided on lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory, one our all time favorites. While there, we ordered a few cocktails and reunited with their Mizithra cheese and angel hair pasta! YUMMM! I also was reunited with my favorite Nashvillian, Tianna! Tianna and I go all the way back to 2002 Fundamentals of Music class at MTSU where we became friends almost instantly. A couple of years later we let our friendship go to the next level and became roommates! Living in Middleborough Court with yearly block parties was the very best decision I could have made. Its hard to believe that all those times are long gone and its even harder to believe that we no longer live together or close enough to see each other but once a year. However, I know that no matter where we are I will always have such a dear best friend. It was so great to see her even if our visit was brief.
After lunch we all headed back to the hotel to change and to prep ourselves for what was about to happen that night. Once at the wedding I was greeted by so many familiar faces that I hadn't seen in years! The groom's father sat us in the "cousin" section so we could get a good view at Mr. Hannaway taking the plunge in his kilt! The wedding was gorgeous and probably one of the best weddings I've witnessed due to the Kilts and Bagpipes. After the wedding we all headed to the reception where we were greeted with an open bar. Yeah...that was a brilliant idea, good choice Hannaway's! The reception ran into the night and once the bride and groom had made their exit, we headed back to the hotel to see if my brother-in-law could get us kicked out by opening a champagne bottle of the indoor balcony. Fail. But not kicked out. Whew!
Sunday morning rolled around quite early and we all packed up and headed to breakfast followed by a day on the Tims Ford Lake with our family friends. Most of our Tennessee friends live on the lake so it was a perfect way to end an exciting weekend! After boating all day we grilled out and played Wii with our friends and caught up on all the families.
All in all, it was a great weekend to see so many familiar faces and friends. I'm also excited that V was able to get to meet all the important people that are so important to me. :)

Now, let me get you caught up on what the following weeks will consist of. V has been found as a bone marrow match for an 8 year old little girl with Leukemia living over seas. So this week he is being flown to D.C. where he will donate. I'm upset that I won't be able to go and help him get through this painful surgery but his sister has volunteered to go and lend a hand. This process is a very painful and I'm hoping that he recovers quickly for his Masters week in Vermont next week! He's definitely my hero and its made me fall in love with him even more...if that's even possible! Next week V is receiving his Masters and is required to be in attendance all week long. Praying hard that he keeps up with the pace after his surgery. Praying Praying Praying! Next week I will be flying up to watch him achieve such an awesome accomplishment and once again be incredibly proud of him. After the ceremony we are driving, yes driving the 18 hours back down to South Carolina. Movies, Laptop, Book, and Iphone are already packed no worries. It won't be our first rodeo so I think we can handle the long drive. I do best sleeping though, just sayin. I'm excited about the trip and looking forward to other extravaganzas in the near future!