Savannah / Hilton Head

What an amazing weekend! We got off to a late start but everything was worth it!

Around Friday late afternoon, Adam and I drove 7 hours down to Hilton Head to stay with my dear friend Sean and everyone else that traveled and invaded his house. Ian and Kelly were the reason everyone came together. They just recently got engaged and Savannah is their ideal wedding destination...thus, we were all helping shop for a venue. Ian and Sean's parents were there too, which is always a good time.

Saturday: Ian, Kelly, Adam, Mom Middlemas, and I toured some under-impressive wedding venue in Savannah and spent the rest of the morning sight seeing. We went to their favorite wine shop (MOF on River St, a GREAT place for sweet, southern wines) and walked around before we decided we were hungry. We went to Wiley's BBQ for lunch which is ALWAYS a treat. Virginia has TERRIBLE BBQ so this delicious smoked meat was, essentially, manna from heaven. We went home and relaxed and planned to meet Sean for dinner after e got off work. Apparently everyone had been scheming because they surprised Adam and I with a sunset dolphin sail (my favorite part of the whole trip!!) I was able to see a few dolphins but the real fun was drinking wine while being able to watch the gorgeous island sunset with Adam and my amazing friends. Best surprise I've had in a long time! Then we went to the Skull Creek Boathouse and had incredible seafood an listened to the 80s music blasting outside on their deck. Then we went back "home" and had a little fire pit before bed. What a great day!

Sunday: After waking up and meandering the house for a while, everyone decided they were hungry. (If you think eating and drinking are our only motivators, you're correct!) We started a trolley tour (so cool, btw! Savannah is full of rich, detailed history) and then remembered why we left the house. Oh yeh, food! We split up, half of us eating at Wild Wing and the other half exploring. We finished some of the trolley tour but then more inspiration struck. Time for drinks!! We visited Wet Willies on River Street, a great place for alcoholic frozen beverages. We split up again since Kelly had to be at her next venue tour at 3 and Sean, Adam and I wanted drinks and Mom and Dad Middlemas wanted the trolley. Eventually we met up at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum and Scarborough Gardens (with Kelly's parents too)...around 3. The gardens were beautiful and after touring/deliberating, Kelly and Ian decided to pick it as the venue. SO EXCITING!! Naturally we had to celebrate this momentous occasion with more alcohol so...onward to the square! We drank and danced to live music. I even had a guy make me a flower hat (which, actually, made me look like a helicopter) Dinner that night was at Mi Tierras and then it was back home to pass out from exhaustion.

Monday: The day for goodbyes. The whole clan had a giant brunch at Cracker Barrel before everyone went their separate ways. Naturally I made Adam stop by Publix for a sub and a sweet tea to throw in our cooler for dinner on the road. And it was delish! Mmm.

Now we're home and I'm getting ready to start a 7 day work week to make up for my vacation-weekend. I want to thank the Middlemi for being so welcoming and accommodating, as always. We're so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful friends like you! Thank you for everything!!! Congratulations again to Ian and Kelly. The wedding is going to be incredible and I can't wait to help you in any way possible.

**Feel free to check out more of the pictures from our trip on my Facebook page!**

Belated Earth Day

I know I'm a little off but Happy Belated Earth day, everyone!

Last week, Adam got a long, skinny package in the mail. I was excited when I found out it was our Pecan Tree that we ordered from Georgia! It's a special type of Pecan Tree that's been designed to grow well in the cooler Virginia temperatures. We planted it in the backyard and surrounded it with some hostas we uprooted from another area of the yard.

Since then, the weather in Hampton Roads has grown chilly (again) and our yard work had ceased.






Adam and I will be taking a small trip this weekend. I will keep you updated! :)

Nightmares

My dreams lately have been a little less sunshine and flowers and a lot more dark and weird.

A few nights ago, I dreamt that Adam and I lived in a giant, old, abandoned Toys R Us on the edge of a jungle that had been turned into a refugee camp/prison. It was run by militant guerrilla-hyenas that looked and acted like drill instructors. They found out Adam and I were married and decided to kill us...? So Adam dies and the guerrilla-hyenas start after me. Eventually I escape through a high window and find out that the "jungle" outside is just a thing layer of trees separating us from the actual world. I woke up scared and sad.

A couple nights later, my dream was set in a post-appocolyptic world where everyone sort of fended for themselves. I lived with a few friends (whom I've never met in real life) in a bed and breakfast on a swamp. Only, the bed and breakfast had seen better days. It was overrun with animals and there were trees growing through it. The Alligator lived on the first floor in a bedroom everyone knew to avoid. The Alligator wasn't anthropomorphic like the guerrilla-hyenas but he was equally terrifying. Every night at 6, The Alligator would wake and go out on the town to find a human and make a meal of them. Everyone in town knew to hide except for some reason, my friends and I were caught walking around the house when The Alligator woke up one night. We climbed the tree to hide from him and watched as a boy, who walked in trying to save us, was brutally eaten. I woke up scared.

I've never really had dreams like this. I mean, I've had weird dreams/nightmares but most of the time when I wake up, I'm able to connect the dream to a real life event that sparked it. Sometimes it's a movie or a conversation or a picture but I can almost always explain my dreams. Those two I cannot.

I swear I'm not on drugs.

Separately...but maybe somehow connected, I've gone to CrossFit twice.

Spring!!

At the risk of jinxing the entire Hampton Roads area...SPRING IS HERE!!!

I'm even writing this as the pups and I eat our breakfast on the back porch. There are all kinds of birds digging for earthworms, bumble bees discovering the newly flowering trees, strawberry plants budding, even humming birds dancing around the fence line. There's still a slight chill when the wind blows in the shadows but it seems all of Chesapeake has finally decided it's Spring.

Of course, I feel a disclaimer is necessary. I'm not staring out over a fresh green lawn full of flower beds. Just the opposite, actually; if it weren't for weeds, we'd have NO green whatsoever. Our backyard, although leaps and bounds better than it was this time last year, has quite the journey left. Rocks have to be dug up, cement from the old decks have to be removed from the ground, the hard clay/dirt from the old above ground pool has to be tilled and hauled off, weed killer and grass seed need to be introduced, etc. The list goes on and on.

Adam had been the saving grace for the outside of our house. He has pressure washed and cleaned and planted while my black thumb and I watch, intrigued. Adam has patiently helped me learn how NOT to kill every plant I touch. The first step in my black thumb rehab was allowing me to create my own mini garden around the mailbox. He took me to Lowes and let me pick out my own flowers and everything! After three days, the flowers are still going strong!

Our creatures are loving Spring time just as much as we are. Piper loves exploring the new smells and Luca could play fetch all day. Soon, they'll be getting summer cuts so they can enjoy the weather even more.

Now's a gorgeous time for family to come visit...wink wink!
:)

Earthquakes or Ghosts

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I KNOW! It makes me sound crazy but I've felt it at least 4-6 other times.

It always starts as I'm lying in bed; time is irrelevant. The dogs are sound asleep beside me and then the bed starts to shake. Not a violent shaking...more of a timid tremor. The movement is NEVER the dogs, although I almost always blame them at first. No, they're snoozing right next to me.

Most of the time the shaking lasts between 20-40 seconds but this morning it went on for well over a minute. I realize this is not a long time but in the scheme of unidentifiable quivers, it's a prolonged mystery.

There are no train tracks close enough to matter and even if there was, I've grown up around train tracks and know it doesn't feel like this. Helicopters that pass over on occasion also don't produce that sort of commotion.

I realize this makes me sound certifiable but Adam has witnessed it once, too. Lying in bed one night, he felt the same muted shaking!

If this wasn't an earthquake this morning, it only leaves one option: my house is haunted. And not fly-on-my-wall-haunted.

Naturally, your theories are welcome.








Sidenotes: The 2nd Annual McDonald Easter Extravaganza was lovely, albeit FULL of children. (More than I'm used to.)

Also, Adam and I have decided to take an anniversary trip this year since we never got a wedding OR a honeymoon. Location TBD.