Day 3: To Athens and Charleston
Our third morning we woke up early and made the drive to Athens, GA to check out the first school. It was only an hour and a half to Athens, so the drive wasn't terrible. We pulled into Athens and were pretty surprised by the town, and not in a good way. It was really small, and honestly kind of dumpy, and we were debating whether or not to take the tour of University of Georgia still. In the end, we were there, so we decided to take the tour, and I'm glad we did! Their campus is beautiful, and huge. Half of our tour was by bus so that we could see more of campus than if we were just walking. After the tour we stopped and ate some lunch, and decided quickly that Athens isn't the place for us. It would be great for undergraduate students living on or near campus, but we are looking to grow away from college life, and expand our careers, and Athens just didn't seem to offer that.
We left Athens for the four hour drive to Charleston. We made it to Charleston around 7:00, checked into our hotel, and headed downtown for a few hours. Once we parked, we walked down King Street, which is the main street through downtown Charleston. We walked through Battery Park and went to the ocean for a little bit. It was starting to get dark, and we were pretty far away from where we had parked, plus we were both starving, so we turned around and walked back down King Street to find somewhere to eat. We ate at this place called Joe Pasta and it was (surprise) delicious. But the best part of that meal was how nice people were. Brandon asked our waiter what things we should do when we were in Charleston, since we were only there for a day, and after he told us a few things he went and asked his manager what other things there were to do (because he wasn't originally from Charleston). Then later, the manager came out and talked to us for a little bit and told us how he had recently been up to Utah. The night ended on a good note!
Day 4: Charleston
The next morning we got up bright and early to make our way back to Charleston (we stayed in North Charleston) to take a carriage tour. My grandma suggested that we take one and I am so glad we did! The tour was an hour long, but we got to see so many sites and learn so much about the history of Charleston. The houses there are beautiful, and I seriously cannot stress that enough. I have a serious weakness for houses with big porches, so basically all of Charleston was like Kryptonite to me (we have been watching too much Big Bang Theory, sorry for the nerd reference). But seriously the tour was so great. After the tour we hung out at the city market for a while and walked through a bunch of little shops on the same street. A few hours later we went to the Maritime Center and boarded a ship for a harbor cruise. The cruise took us out past Fort Sumter and out near Mount Pleasant, a little island off of Charleston. Mount Pleasant looked really nice from the boat, so we went over there after our tour and ate some lunch, then went down to the beach for a few hours. The beach was nowhere near as full of tourists as Charleston, so we stayed over there for a few hours, then went to Fort Moultrie and drove around looking at all the pretty beach houses.
That evening we went back into Charleston to meet Jennica and Rusty for dessert. Rusty had an internship with Boeing there, so they were in Charleston for the summer We hadn't seen them for quite a few months, and it was so much fun to not only see them again, but see them in a completely new place. It's so funny when we get together, because we pretty much just pair off and talk the entire time. Jennica and I talk while Rusty and Brandon talk, and our conversations rarely cross, which I think is a good thing. It's funny how similar Rusty and Brandon are, and Jennica and I will always just be us, and I love that. We hung out with them for a few hours, and after seeing a few palmetto bugs (ew) and basically running from the pineapple fountain to the market to get away from the bugs, we called it a night because Rusty had to work early in the morning, and we wanted to leave early in the morning. Our hotel was right down the street from their apartment though, so we still go to see them on the freeway until we had to go separate ways at the light.
Day 5: Myrtle Beach
The next morning we got up and drove to Myrtle Beach. We took the highway that goes right up the coast, but with all the trees we hardly got to see the water. The country we got to see on the drive was beautiful though. We really got down to our roots with the countryside and our country music on the radio. We took our time with the drive, stopping to look at the beach houses and pulling over to take pictures of all the crazy things we saw. Rather than heading right to the beach though, we were making our way to my Aunt Dar's houseboat in North Myrtle beach. We got to go to lunch with her and her long-time boyfriend, and ate at a little place they love right on the water. Dar has been living in South Carolina for quite a few years, so I haven't been able to see her all that often. Luckily she was able to make it to our wedding, and had already met Brandon. It was a fun little reunion, but we only got to see them for about two hours because we had reservations for parasailing that afternoon.
I called the parasailing company when we were leaving lunch and asked if we could push the reservation back an hour and they said that was no problem, but that it was supposed to storm that afternoon so we needed to get there as soon as possible. We finally got to the beach, but then couldn't find a place to park. Parking is way difficult in big, touristy areas; we learned that really quick on this trip. After we found a place to park, then we got lost. Once we finally got to the right spot, they got us out on the water really quick. They used a jet ski to pull us out on a big banana boat raft to the boat. The water was pretty choppy because of the storm that was coming in, and the driver of the jet ski was going really fast, and I thought I was going to have to let Brandon go up and parasail by himself. I am terrified of open water like that, but it was my decision to have us go parasailing, so I couldn't back out. We went out to the boat with two other girls and let them go up first. Halfway through the sail, the driver of the boat let them drop in the water for a second, then pulled them back up. When it was our turn, I asked if we could skip the part in the water, and he said that was fine. So we got up in the air, and it was pretty cool! We couldn't see much because the water was so murky from the storm, but it was neat to just be that high up over the water. We even saw a small shark! They started to slow down so I thought they were going to pull us back onto the boat, but we just kept going lower and lower and weren't getting any closer to the boat. Well, they forgot my request and dropped us in the water anyways. Luckily it wasn't for too long, but I was panicking. Once we got back up in the air, I got over it pretty quick (ya know, since I didn't die and all) and then we saw a sea turtle!! I am definitely glad we ended up going parasailing.
After parasailing we went and laid on the beach for a little bit, but it was kind of raining and it was windy and the sun wasn't out, so we only stayed there for like 45 minutes. At this point though, it was already almost 5:00, so we went to our hotel and got kind of dressed up, then went back down to the beach to hang out on the boardwalk and get some dinner. We ate at Moe Moon's, and each had a tasty burger/sandwich and a pina colada IN A PINEAPPLE. Holy moly it was the most delicious drink I have ever had in my entire life. Brandon promised me endless umbrella drinks on the beach during vacation, and this was my only one and it was amazing. I still can't stop thinking about it. I even bought some V8 juice that is pineapple coconut because that's how much I loved it.
After dinner we walked around the boardwalk for a while, then went and rode the Skywheel. It's a giant Ferris wheel right on the water. When you went over the top and started going toward the ocean it looked like we were going to roll right into it! After that we went in some shops and people-watched. Brandon was going to take me dancing, but we couldn't find a place to go, and by the time we had somewhat figured it out we were both too tired to even worry about it.
I will blog about the next few days tomorrow. Again, you can look at all our pictures here even if you do not have Facebook!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
I guess it's about time.
We have been back from vacation for two weeks now, and I guess it's finally time that I come to terms with it. I don't want to though. I'm longing for the warm days on the beach, eating seafood on the water in Southport, and endless days of dreaming what life will be like when we (someday) move over to that side of the country. We're quickly sliding back to school though, and before we know it our days will be filled with the monotony of work, school, and homework. Throw in grad school applications and it sounds like a winning semester to me! We are more than thrilled to be about done with school. In 16.5 weeks we will be officially done with our bachelor's degrees and done with Utah State. Praise all that is holy!
This semester is actually going to be pretty easy for me. I am doing an internship this semester at the high school Brandon went to, and that requires 20 hours a week. I will be in the counseling office! Besides that and working 25 hours a week, I have one class for 2.5 hours once a week, and another class that is all online, but only requires me to attend "artsy" events such as plays, concerts, the ballet, etc., and write an essay on each event. So this semester is going to be pretty easy for me. Brandon is taking five classes, but one of them doesn't start until October. The first 8 weeks of the semester will be pretty kind to him, and then the class that starts later is taught by the professor he is working for and has taken a class from before, and shouldn't be too challenging. We are just ready to be done!
Alright onto the trip. I will try and keep this concise, because I know my posts can get a little wordy (for example, see the two paragraphs above).
Flight to Atlanta:
Our flight departed at 3:05, and we got to Atlanta at about 8:00 their time. We had no layovers, and our flight ended up arriving early, so that was nice! And we just took carry-ons, so we didn't even have to wait for our luggage! We picked up our rental car, a cute little Chevy Spark that is similar in size to a golf cart. It was perfect though! Quite roomy for the two of us, and plenty of room for our luggage.
The hotel we stayed at in Georgia was actually about thirty minutes north of Atlanta in a town called Alpharetta. We drove from the airport, past Atlanta, towards Alpharetta without stopping in the city. I think Brandon and I decided not to tell anyone this, but I am going to tell you anyways. We did not even think about the fact that toll roads exist. Not even once. So there we are, driving along the freeway, and we reach a toll booth. And guess what? We didn't have any change. I think I had like two pennies. The nice lady said she would have paid for us, but she didn't have any change either. Not sure why they don't just catch up with the times and take cards, but whatever. They said they were going to send a bill for $25, but we have yet to receive that bill, and mostly I just think it's funny that they charge so much for not having two quarters.
Anyway, we got to hotel and checked in, and it was super nice. I am still very proud of myself for finding a nice hotel at a good price. Then we left the hotel and went to find some dinner. We ate at a place called Burger-Fi and it was delicious! We actually ate a ton of good food on our trip, but this was a great start.
Day 1 in Atlanta:
We made it a point to sleep in at least some mornings on our trip, and Atlanta was the place we slept in the most. We finally left the hotel at like 10:30 or 11:00, and first things first, went to a bank and got some change for the toll roads. Then we made our way downtown, found a parking garage near all the things we wanted to do, and guess what, they didn't take cards either, and the only cash we had on us was the $5 in quarters we got for the toll roads. The nice man let us in still, and told us just to come back with some cash at some point in the day. We decided that, since we had a lot of time in Atlanta, we would just walk to the nearest Wells Fargo and pull out cash for parking and such. The nearest Wells was about half a mile away, which isn't a terrible distance, but the GPS put us through some sketchy backroad to get there. When we left the bank though, we realized that there was a not-so-sketchy main road right in front of the bank. So we took that road back to the parking garage, and were so close to getting there when we witnessed a minor car accident. The driver of the car that got hit got out of her car so fast and started throwing swear words at the old lady that hit her, and I was scared. Old ladies aren't scary, but they are scary in Atlanta when they are swearing and the hooligans from the sketchy road you walked down previously come out to see what is going on. Luckily, everyone that was there (with the exception of the crazy swearing lady) was really kind and made sure everyone was okay. Brandon was the first person to call 911 so we waited around to make sure they didn't need us for anything.
After all the fiascoes that morning, we finally got to Coke World, our first real destination. We bought a CityPass for Atlanta, which cost about $80 a person, but got us into Coke World, the Aquarium, the Zoo, the CNN Studios, and a few museums. Coke World was neat! We got to learn the history of Coca Cola, see the bottling process, and try different sodas from all over the world. FYI: all the other sodas are gross. After Coke World we got some lunch then went next door to the aquarium. It was Saturday afternoon, and it was so dang busy. Our CityPasses came with a free ticket to the dolphin show, but by the time we got there all the tickets were sold out, so we couldn't redeem ours. The aquarium took about 3 hours to go through, and it was cool too, but there were so many people that it was almost hard to enjoy ourselves. We then walked through Centennial Olympic Park, which was big, but not as cool as I was hoping.
When we got back to our parking garage, a guy in a nice truck three spots down from us had had his truck broken into. Someone broke the window and stole something out of his car. Needless to say, this on top of all the other things so far in Atlanta had put kind of a bad taste in our mouths, so we decided to get out of downtown and go to a park. We found a really nice park about 15 minutes away with some botanical gardens and a lake, so we hung out there for about an hour, then decided we were hungry. We didn't want to drive back into downtown Atlanta for dinner, so we started to make our way back towards Alpharetta when Brandon realized that he didn't pack any swim trunks. So while we were hunting for a place to eat, we also stopped at every Ross, Marshall's, and T.J. Maxx's we could find. We didn't find any that night, but we did find a delicious Mexican restaurant with live (good) music!
Day 2 in Atlanta:
We both woke up feeling a little unsure about Atlanta because of our experience the day before. Because of this, we decided to take our time getting to our destinations. We stopped at a few places to look for trunks for Brandon, and finally found some at Target. Then we went to the zoo! The zoo was just a normal zoo, but it was still fun! It was in historic downtown Atlanta, so it was neat to see all the old houses and such. After the zoo we headed back downtown to take a tour of the CNN studios. The CNN building is huge. Our tour didn't start for a while after we got there, so we had fun just walking on the ground floor and going into the touristy shops. The tour was pretty cool. We took the world's largest free standing escalator up into a huge globe where our tour began. We go to see the different studios they broadcast from, and also the newsrooms where they piece the stories together.
After our tour we walked around the outside of the CNN building, and just behind the building is the Georgia Dome where the NFL Falcons play! Adrian loves the Falcons, so it was fun for me to have a little part of him there with us. There was a drumline competition going on inside, but it was a little pricey, so we just spent a few hours walking around outside, and also seeing the outside of the basketball arena where the Hawks (I think) play.
We had tickets for a Braves baseball game that night, but still had a few hours until the game started. Brandon wanted to go eat at a place called The Varsity, which is apparently super popular, but I was surprised at just how popular it was. We showed up, and I'm pretty sure every other person that was going to the Braves game that night was there too. We waited in line for 45 minutes, and they had probably about 20 registers open, I'm not even kidding. The food was good, but by the time we actually got our food, we had to hurry to make it to the game, so we basically just inhaled it. The roads to the game were busy, but luckily we had prepaid for parking, and had a perfect spot. We only paid $12 dollars a piece for our tickets, and were pretty sure that our seats weren't going to be very good, but they were perfect for the price! And no one even sat on either side of us. It was so much fun! We have grown to love baseball lately, and it was way fun to get to watch a professional team. We stayed up through the seventh inning, then decided to leave so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic getting out of there.
I'm about off work, so I will blog about the next few days tomorrow. You can look at all our pictures here even if you do not have Facebook!
This semester is actually going to be pretty easy for me. I am doing an internship this semester at the high school Brandon went to, and that requires 20 hours a week. I will be in the counseling office! Besides that and working 25 hours a week, I have one class for 2.5 hours once a week, and another class that is all online, but only requires me to attend "artsy" events such as plays, concerts, the ballet, etc., and write an essay on each event. So this semester is going to be pretty easy for me. Brandon is taking five classes, but one of them doesn't start until October. The first 8 weeks of the semester will be pretty kind to him, and then the class that starts later is taught by the professor he is working for and has taken a class from before, and shouldn't be too challenging. We are just ready to be done!
Alright onto the trip. I will try and keep this concise, because I know my posts can get a little wordy (for example, see the two paragraphs above).
Flight to Atlanta:
Our flight departed at 3:05, and we got to Atlanta at about 8:00 their time. We had no layovers, and our flight ended up arriving early, so that was nice! And we just took carry-ons, so we didn't even have to wait for our luggage! We picked up our rental car, a cute little Chevy Spark that is similar in size to a golf cart. It was perfect though! Quite roomy for the two of us, and plenty of room for our luggage.
The hotel we stayed at in Georgia was actually about thirty minutes north of Atlanta in a town called Alpharetta. We drove from the airport, past Atlanta, towards Alpharetta without stopping in the city. I think Brandon and I decided not to tell anyone this, but I am going to tell you anyways. We did not even think about the fact that toll roads exist. Not even once. So there we are, driving along the freeway, and we reach a toll booth. And guess what? We didn't have any change. I think I had like two pennies. The nice lady said she would have paid for us, but she didn't have any change either. Not sure why they don't just catch up with the times and take cards, but whatever. They said they were going to send a bill for $25, but we have yet to receive that bill, and mostly I just think it's funny that they charge so much for not having two quarters.
Anyway, we got to hotel and checked in, and it was super nice. I am still very proud of myself for finding a nice hotel at a good price. Then we left the hotel and went to find some dinner. We ate at a place called Burger-Fi and it was delicious! We actually ate a ton of good food on our trip, but this was a great start.
Day 1 in Atlanta:
We made it a point to sleep in at least some mornings on our trip, and Atlanta was the place we slept in the most. We finally left the hotel at like 10:30 or 11:00, and first things first, went to a bank and got some change for the toll roads. Then we made our way downtown, found a parking garage near all the things we wanted to do, and guess what, they didn't take cards either, and the only cash we had on us was the $5 in quarters we got for the toll roads. The nice man let us in still, and told us just to come back with some cash at some point in the day. We decided that, since we had a lot of time in Atlanta, we would just walk to the nearest Wells Fargo and pull out cash for parking and such. The nearest Wells was about half a mile away, which isn't a terrible distance, but the GPS put us through some sketchy backroad to get there. When we left the bank though, we realized that there was a not-so-sketchy main road right in front of the bank. So we took that road back to the parking garage, and were so close to getting there when we witnessed a minor car accident. The driver of the car that got hit got out of her car so fast and started throwing swear words at the old lady that hit her, and I was scared. Old ladies aren't scary, but they are scary in Atlanta when they are swearing and the hooligans from the sketchy road you walked down previously come out to see what is going on. Luckily, everyone that was there (with the exception of the crazy swearing lady) was really kind and made sure everyone was okay. Brandon was the first person to call 911 so we waited around to make sure they didn't need us for anything.
After all the fiascoes that morning, we finally got to Coke World, our first real destination. We bought a CityPass for Atlanta, which cost about $80 a person, but got us into Coke World, the Aquarium, the Zoo, the CNN Studios, and a few museums. Coke World was neat! We got to learn the history of Coca Cola, see the bottling process, and try different sodas from all over the world. FYI: all the other sodas are gross. After Coke World we got some lunch then went next door to the aquarium. It was Saturday afternoon, and it was so dang busy. Our CityPasses came with a free ticket to the dolphin show, but by the time we got there all the tickets were sold out, so we couldn't redeem ours. The aquarium took about 3 hours to go through, and it was cool too, but there were so many people that it was almost hard to enjoy ourselves. We then walked through Centennial Olympic Park, which was big, but not as cool as I was hoping.
When we got back to our parking garage, a guy in a nice truck three spots down from us had had his truck broken into. Someone broke the window and stole something out of his car. Needless to say, this on top of all the other things so far in Atlanta had put kind of a bad taste in our mouths, so we decided to get out of downtown and go to a park. We found a really nice park about 15 minutes away with some botanical gardens and a lake, so we hung out there for about an hour, then decided we were hungry. We didn't want to drive back into downtown Atlanta for dinner, so we started to make our way back towards Alpharetta when Brandon realized that he didn't pack any swim trunks. So while we were hunting for a place to eat, we also stopped at every Ross, Marshall's, and T.J. Maxx's we could find. We didn't find any that night, but we did find a delicious Mexican restaurant with live (good) music!
Day 2 in Atlanta:
We both woke up feeling a little unsure about Atlanta because of our experience the day before. Because of this, we decided to take our time getting to our destinations. We stopped at a few places to look for trunks for Brandon, and finally found some at Target. Then we went to the zoo! The zoo was just a normal zoo, but it was still fun! It was in historic downtown Atlanta, so it was neat to see all the old houses and such. After the zoo we headed back downtown to take a tour of the CNN studios. The CNN building is huge. Our tour didn't start for a while after we got there, so we had fun just walking on the ground floor and going into the touristy shops. The tour was pretty cool. We took the world's largest free standing escalator up into a huge globe where our tour began. We go to see the different studios they broadcast from, and also the newsrooms where they piece the stories together.
After our tour we walked around the outside of the CNN building, and just behind the building is the Georgia Dome where the NFL Falcons play! Adrian loves the Falcons, so it was fun for me to have a little part of him there with us. There was a drumline competition going on inside, but it was a little pricey, so we just spent a few hours walking around outside, and also seeing the outside of the basketball arena where the Hawks (I think) play.
We had tickets for a Braves baseball game that night, but still had a few hours until the game started. Brandon wanted to go eat at a place called The Varsity, which is apparently super popular, but I was surprised at just how popular it was. We showed up, and I'm pretty sure every other person that was going to the Braves game that night was there too. We waited in line for 45 minutes, and they had probably about 20 registers open, I'm not even kidding. The food was good, but by the time we actually got our food, we had to hurry to make it to the game, so we basically just inhaled it. The roads to the game were busy, but luckily we had prepaid for parking, and had a perfect spot. We only paid $12 dollars a piece for our tickets, and were pretty sure that our seats weren't going to be very good, but they were perfect for the price! And no one even sat on either side of us. It was so much fun! We have grown to love baseball lately, and it was way fun to get to watch a professional team. We stayed up through the seventh inning, then decided to leave so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic getting out of there.
I'm about off work, so I will blog about the next few days tomorrow. You can look at all our pictures here even if you do not have Facebook!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Not a very exciting post.
I honestly wouldn't blame you if you didn't read this entire thing. Mostly I'm just bored and slightly angry at the whole prospect of grad school. I took another practice GRE test today, and I did pretty well. The unfortunate part is that my scores are not really increasing at all. I have spent at least two hours everyday Monday through Friday studying, and my scores are staying the same and I just don't understand why. My verbal score is in the 64th percentile and my math is in the 68th, and to get into UNCC I need a combined score being in the 65th percentile, so I'm doing pretty well. To get into BSU I don't even technically have to take the GRE, so I'm being an overachiever on that front.
The thing is, I actually want to take the GRE, and I want to do really well. I don't want to settle for a school that doesn't require it or that only requires you to be in the 40th percentile (not that BSU isn't an option, but you'll see what I'm saying in a minute). I want to prove to myself and to other people that I am smart enough and good enough to get into schools that are actually recognized for their programs. I couldn't get into Harvard to Stanford or any place like that, and I know that, but what a cool feeling it would be to get accepted into the program at a school where it is actually competitive. I had planned to take the GRE for real on July 18th, but now I'm not so sure. We will see what happens I guess.
In other news, Brandon took a practice GMAT test today and got the highest score he has ever received, so his studying has definitely paid off!
Life is just the same old same around here. Still working forty hours a week, stuck inside instead of eating sno cones hourly and laying poolside. (Still studying for the GRE and not improving my score, not that I'm upset about it). The afternoons have gotten too hot to play outside, so we have started taking naps every day. It sounds way lazy, but we are way more productive at night if we sleep for an hour after work. Getting up at 5:30 am is super hard! After naps we make dinner, hang out and talk, then Brandon has his "GMAT class" which is just study time at home that he set in place himself. He has done a really great job of keeping up with it, surprisingly. He wanted his "class" to go from 7:00-8:30, but even when we have something else going on he always devotes at least 45 minutes to studying before we go to bed. It has been nice for him to use this time, because I just go upstairs and exercise for like an hour and a half, and then we go running when he is done. Much like my studying situation, I have been working out a ton, but am not seeing a change yet. However, the batteries in our scale have been dead for like two weeks and it is actually really nice to not base how I feel off numbers. That being said, we have to go to the store tonight, and will probably be buying batteries, if we don't forget...again...for like the tenth time.
We are pretty excited for this week! Not only is it the Fourth of July, which is probably my second favorite holiday, but we are taking off Wednesday through Friday and going to Idaho Falls to see my family! I love holidays in Idaho Falls. We used to go to I.F. for every Fourth and Thanksgiving, and I don't think we have been there for the Fourth in like five years or something. But mostly, I haven't seen my family in like two and a half months, and that's a really long time when you are used to going to see them once a month! Adrian has his driver's permit now, so that's a little weird, but it will be fun to experience his driving! Anthony has a ladyfriend of sorts, so I will probably spend a majority of our time questioning him about his love life.
Three weeks after the Fourth is our vacation and I am so excited! We finished booking all our hotel rooms, booked parasailing at Myrtle Beach, bought tickets for the Skywheel at Myrtle Beach, and bought our citypasses for Atlanta! Also I rewatched Safe Haven in preparation for our trip to Southport. I am hoping that the vacation is perfect. I am mostly excited for our days in Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Southport and Wilmington. Something about a road trip up the coast just sounds super great right now. Probably my disappointing GRE scores.
Anyways, that's about it for now. I had to work yesterday and today and it's just about time for me to get off work!
The thing is, I actually want to take the GRE, and I want to do really well. I don't want to settle for a school that doesn't require it or that only requires you to be in the 40th percentile (not that BSU isn't an option, but you'll see what I'm saying in a minute). I want to prove to myself and to other people that I am smart enough and good enough to get into schools that are actually recognized for their programs. I couldn't get into Harvard to Stanford or any place like that, and I know that, but what a cool feeling it would be to get accepted into the program at a school where it is actually competitive. I had planned to take the GRE for real on July 18th, but now I'm not so sure. We will see what happens I guess.
In other news, Brandon took a practice GMAT test today and got the highest score he has ever received, so his studying has definitely paid off!
Life is just the same old same around here. Still working forty hours a week, stuck inside instead of eating sno cones hourly and laying poolside. (Still studying for the GRE and not improving my score, not that I'm upset about it). The afternoons have gotten too hot to play outside, so we have started taking naps every day. It sounds way lazy, but we are way more productive at night if we sleep for an hour after work. Getting up at 5:30 am is super hard! After naps we make dinner, hang out and talk, then Brandon has his "GMAT class" which is just study time at home that he set in place himself. He has done a really great job of keeping up with it, surprisingly. He wanted his "class" to go from 7:00-8:30, but even when we have something else going on he always devotes at least 45 minutes to studying before we go to bed. It has been nice for him to use this time, because I just go upstairs and exercise for like an hour and a half, and then we go running when he is done. Much like my studying situation, I have been working out a ton, but am not seeing a change yet. However, the batteries in our scale have been dead for like two weeks and it is actually really nice to not base how I feel off numbers. That being said, we have to go to the store tonight, and will probably be buying batteries, if we don't forget...again...for like the tenth time.
We are pretty excited for this week! Not only is it the Fourth of July, which is probably my second favorite holiday, but we are taking off Wednesday through Friday and going to Idaho Falls to see my family! I love holidays in Idaho Falls. We used to go to I.F. for every Fourth and Thanksgiving, and I don't think we have been there for the Fourth in like five years or something. But mostly, I haven't seen my family in like two and a half months, and that's a really long time when you are used to going to see them once a month! Adrian has his driver's permit now, so that's a little weird, but it will be fun to experience his driving! Anthony has a ladyfriend of sorts, so I will probably spend a majority of our time questioning him about his love life.
Three weeks after the Fourth is our vacation and I am so excited! We finished booking all our hotel rooms, booked parasailing at Myrtle Beach, bought tickets for the Skywheel at Myrtle Beach, and bought our citypasses for Atlanta! Also I rewatched Safe Haven in preparation for our trip to Southport. I am hoping that the vacation is perfect. I am mostly excited for our days in Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Southport and Wilmington. Something about a road trip up the coast just sounds super great right now. Probably my disappointing GRE scores.
Anyways, that's about it for now. I had to work yesterday and today and it's just about time for me to get off work!
Monday, June 10, 2013
Sweet Summer Time
I've said it before and I'll say it again: this summer has been absolutely wonderful so far! Working from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm is the best schedule I could have asked for, besides working maybe two hours a week. Last summer I worked these same hours but Brandon had summer school in June and July so he always had to work later. It has been so nice to have us both get off at the same time. I leave work at three and he comes and picks me up somewhere below campus around 3:15, then we go get sno cones, do something fun, or just go home and play outside. It is supposed to be 93 degrees today so it is definitely a good day for sno cones!
Brandon's younger brother Austin got home from his mission almost two weeks ago, and it has been so fun having him home! He is just a year younger than me, and we worked together at the movie theater a few years ago. I actually met Austin a few weeks before I met Brandon, which was way before we started dating, so Austin and I had the opportunity to become friends before I started becoming a part of their family. I was really excited for him to come home because, even though I knew him before I left, I hadn't had the opportunity to get to know him as well as I have gotten to know the rest of his family over the past two years. Luckily though, we are making up for that time already! Brandon and I have hung out with Austin a lot, getting sno cones, looking at cars, and watching movies, and it has been a blast! It is nice to have a friend that actually wants to hang out with us, even though we are married. I feel like neither of us feel obligated to hang out because we are family, we just genuinely enjoy spending time together.
Brandon, Austin, Shawn and myself all rode down to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, which is becoming a weekly tradition for Brandon and me. The market is pretty small; you can walk through it in about fifteen minutes, but it is something to do and gets us out of bed before ten on Saturdays, which is nice. We also go to Costa Vida pretty much every Saturday, but I like it because we walk there and then eat outside. We also have been going climbing with James and Candis (Brandon's older brother and girlfriend) lately. Last time we went climbing I couldn't make it all the way up, so when we went this last weekend I had to redeem myself! It still took me two tries to get all the way up, but I finally found a quick burst of courage and just did it! The hardest part is just trusting myself, the rock, and the equipment. Brandon and James tell me and Candis to put our feet on a ledge of rock that sticks out like an eighth of an inch, and I just don't feel comfortable with that sometimes. Before these past few times, I hadn't been climbing since before we got married, and even before then I only went like five or six times. The very last time we went before we got married, I slipped and it scared me so bad that I didn't want to go again. I finally have started wanting to go again, but I am afraid that I am going to slip again and be more afraid, so I don't move up the rock until I feel completely comfortable. I feel like I am wasting everyone's time with how long it takes me sometimes, but I am determined to keep reaching the top!
Last week on Friday I had to get off work earlier than Brandon, so we put my bike in the trunk of the car so I could ride it home after work. On the way up to campus, Brandon was telling me to put the lock through the front tire and the triangle of the bike, then around whatever I was locking it to, because sometimes people will just steal the front tire. I double and triple checked my lock job, and compared it to the bikes next to mine even, just to make sure I was doing it right. I felt pretty confident that I locked it up correctly, and didn't think about it once the rest of the day. I was getting pretty excited to ride my bike home by the end of the day, and after seven and a half hours of work and stopping to grab Brandon a donut in honor of National Donut Day, I headed out the door to ride my bike home! Well bad news. My bike was gone. The front tire was still there, locked up, but the rest of the bike was gone. I couldn't believe it. This is the very first time I have ever brought a bike up to campus, and it got stolen. On top of that, it wasn't even my bike. Brandon's parents are letting us borrow a few of their old bikes, so I felt awful that it got stolen. And it definitely wasn't the nicest bike there. Also, I didn't have a way to get home. So I called Brandon and told him the bike got stolen and he said "Wait, what?" and I just started bawling. I was so upset. He told me to calm down and tell him what happened, and I told him that I thought I locked it up correctly but I guess I didn't because the bike was just gone. Well guess what, sometimes my husband is rude and likes to play tricks on me. He left work earlier than I got off, came and parked the car, unlocked the bike, took everything but the front tire, and went and put the bike back in the trunk. I was so mad. When he told me he had the bike, I thought maybe he had just moved it, or maybe he had followed me to work in the morning and taken the bike then, in which case I would have been more mad, because I sure as heck was not walking home, but luckily he was in the parking lot just north of the library. Needless to say, he did not get the entire donut to himself. And he did take me to a movie afterwards to make up for it, but I was still mad. It was funny, but rude.
There really isn't much else happening here. We are just loving summer! We have a few more things to do for our vacation, like booking one more hotel room, buying our Citypasses for Atlanta, and booking parasailing at Myrtle Beach, but we are getting pretty excited! I can't wait to get a change of scenery!
Brandon's younger brother Austin got home from his mission almost two weeks ago, and it has been so fun having him home! He is just a year younger than me, and we worked together at the movie theater a few years ago. I actually met Austin a few weeks before I met Brandon, which was way before we started dating, so Austin and I had the opportunity to become friends before I started becoming a part of their family. I was really excited for him to come home because, even though I knew him before I left, I hadn't had the opportunity to get to know him as well as I have gotten to know the rest of his family over the past two years. Luckily though, we are making up for that time already! Brandon and I have hung out with Austin a lot, getting sno cones, looking at cars, and watching movies, and it has been a blast! It is nice to have a friend that actually wants to hang out with us, even though we are married. I feel like neither of us feel obligated to hang out because we are family, we just genuinely enjoy spending time together.
Brandon, Austin, Shawn and myself all rode down to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, which is becoming a weekly tradition for Brandon and me. The market is pretty small; you can walk through it in about fifteen minutes, but it is something to do and gets us out of bed before ten on Saturdays, which is nice. We also go to Costa Vida pretty much every Saturday, but I like it because we walk there and then eat outside. We also have been going climbing with James and Candis (Brandon's older brother and girlfriend) lately. Last time we went climbing I couldn't make it all the way up, so when we went this last weekend I had to redeem myself! It still took me two tries to get all the way up, but I finally found a quick burst of courage and just did it! The hardest part is just trusting myself, the rock, and the equipment. Brandon and James tell me and Candis to put our feet on a ledge of rock that sticks out like an eighth of an inch, and I just don't feel comfortable with that sometimes. Before these past few times, I hadn't been climbing since before we got married, and even before then I only went like five or six times. The very last time we went before we got married, I slipped and it scared me so bad that I didn't want to go again. I finally have started wanting to go again, but I am afraid that I am going to slip again and be more afraid, so I don't move up the rock until I feel completely comfortable. I feel like I am wasting everyone's time with how long it takes me sometimes, but I am determined to keep reaching the top!
Last week on Friday I had to get off work earlier than Brandon, so we put my bike in the trunk of the car so I could ride it home after work. On the way up to campus, Brandon was telling me to put the lock through the front tire and the triangle of the bike, then around whatever I was locking it to, because sometimes people will just steal the front tire. I double and triple checked my lock job, and compared it to the bikes next to mine even, just to make sure I was doing it right. I felt pretty confident that I locked it up correctly, and didn't think about it once the rest of the day. I was getting pretty excited to ride my bike home by the end of the day, and after seven and a half hours of work and stopping to grab Brandon a donut in honor of National Donut Day, I headed out the door to ride my bike home! Well bad news. My bike was gone. The front tire was still there, locked up, but the rest of the bike was gone. I couldn't believe it. This is the very first time I have ever brought a bike up to campus, and it got stolen. On top of that, it wasn't even my bike. Brandon's parents are letting us borrow a few of their old bikes, so I felt awful that it got stolen. And it definitely wasn't the nicest bike there. Also, I didn't have a way to get home. So I called Brandon and told him the bike got stolen and he said "Wait, what?" and I just started bawling. I was so upset. He told me to calm down and tell him what happened, and I told him that I thought I locked it up correctly but I guess I didn't because the bike was just gone. Well guess what, sometimes my husband is rude and likes to play tricks on me. He left work earlier than I got off, came and parked the car, unlocked the bike, took everything but the front tire, and went and put the bike back in the trunk. I was so mad. When he told me he had the bike, I thought maybe he had just moved it, or maybe he had followed me to work in the morning and taken the bike then, in which case I would have been more mad, because I sure as heck was not walking home, but luckily he was in the parking lot just north of the library. Needless to say, he did not get the entire donut to himself. And he did take me to a movie afterwards to make up for it, but I was still mad. It was funny, but rude.
There really isn't much else happening here. We are just loving summer! We have a few more things to do for our vacation, like booking one more hotel room, buying our Citypasses for Atlanta, and booking parasailing at Myrtle Beach, but we are getting pretty excited! I can't wait to get a change of scenery!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Bloggy blog.
I haven't blogged for a while, and I had a request for details about our upcoming vacation, so I figured that was a good enough reason to blog! Summer has been amazing so far. Last week was our first week without classes but let me tell you, it was pure bliss. Brandon and I both worked from 7-3 every day, and had so much time to hang out after work every day. We went and got sno cones, watched movies, played outside, and basically just enjoyed each other's company. Friday we both got off work around 2:00 and went to Lowe's and bought patio chairs. That afternoon we sat outside and read for a while, then had his brother James and his girlfriend Candis over for a barbecue. That night it really felt like summer. They came over around 6:30 but we sat around and chatted while we waited for the burgers to cook, and it really was just a good time. The weather was so perfect, and has been ever since. It has been pretty warm in the mornings, so warm that I just want to play outside at six a.m., and around 9:00 at night it cools off and we go running! Yesterday we both got off work around 1:00 and took some lunch to a park, then went and got sno cones. When we got home we laid outside for two whole hours!
In those two hours (and yes, it took us a whole two hours) we booked our flight for our upcoming vacation! I know what you're thinking (especially you, Alycia) "But Caitlin, you and Brandon take so many vacations. Didn't you just take a vacation to Disneyland?" This trip is mostly academic. We are taking the trip to tour the University of Georgia and University of North Carolina at Charlotte to make sure we like the campus and the university itself. We also are planning to look at the surrounding areas so that when the time comes we can find an apartment in a nice area that we both like.
We will be flying into Atlanta on Friday July 26th, and spending Saturday and Sunday there. We will probably visit the zoo, the aquarium, Coke World, and we bought tickets for a Braves game yesterday! Monday morning we are going to drive to Athens, which is where University of Georgia is. We will spend the day touring the campus and playing around town, then that night we are driving to Charleston, South Carolina. We will spend the following day in Charleston, then drive to Myrtle Beach that night. We are going to spend the entire next day playing on the beach, and will spend the night in Myrtle Beach again. The next few days are my favorite. We will wake up the next morning and drive an hour and a half up the coast to Southport, North Carolina. For those of you who like Nicholas Sparks books/movies, this is where Safe Haven was filmed (and I love Julianne Hough so of course we have to go there). We will spend a few hours exploring the town and seeing the sights, then we are going to continue on to Wilmington, which is where we will spend the that night. Yesterday when I was looking around at vacation stuff I found this beach which is super popular, but since I don't live over there I had never heard of it. I found some pictures of it online though, and I absolutely cannot wait to go to it! It is called Wrightsville Beach and it is just 20 minutes away from Wilmington, so we will probably spend a lot of time there after we go to Southport.
They offer Harbor Cruises at the beach, and we might end up taking one! They have a sunset cruise that I think would be so much fun!
The next morning we will wake up and drive to Charlotte and spend the next two or three days there. I don't really know how many days we will be there because we just added our night in Wilmington yesterday. We will tour UNCC one day while we are there, and mostly just spend time exploring Charlotte to make sure we want to live there. Pretty much I know we will want to, but better safe than sorry right? I wanted to spend a night in Savannah after we toured UGA, but sometimes you just have to have some self control right? Plus we will need some places to explore when we move over there!
There are 72 days left until we leave and I don't think time will go fast enough. I told my mom yesterday that if I don't come back, she shouldn't be offended. It's not anything about my life that I don't like, but looking at those pictures I can bet you wouldn't want to come back either.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Blah Blah Blah
The title of this post pretty much sums up how I feel about school right now. I am so incredibly tired of having to sit through classes to learn material I don't care about and then having to write papers on other topics I don't care about. My motivation has tanked this past month. I had a 120% in one of my classes so I decided that I could skip class every Thursday, and while that might not have been the best for my grade, it sure kept me sane. Thursdays from about 3:00 to 4:45 have become my "me time" and when I get home I just play with Sophie, bake, clean, read, then go back up to campus to pick up Brandon. I have only skipped one other class twice (not including when we left for vacation), and one other one once. When you think about it the way I do it doesn't really sound so bad. Every week I attend class 16 times. Over the course of the semester, I attend about 230 classes. Skipping 10 classes really doesn't seem too terrible in comparison, right?
My weeks have settled down drastically. I had a busy few weeks for a while, but last week and this week have given me plenty of opportunities to relax. Unfortunately for Brandon, this week is a busy one for him. He had a presentation today, has two papers due this week, and has one final this week. Luckily though, he only has one final next week. I have four, but they won't be too bad. His birthday is next Saturday, so we invited some friends to go up to his parents cabin that Friday night for dinner, cake and ice cream, and to spend the night. So far not many people have responded as to whether or not they can go, but even if no one can, it will be a fun weekend! We will do that and probably go to dinner and a movie on his actual birthday.
Neither of us has heard back from the places we applied for internships, but we are hoping to hear back soon. I actually was just got a second job for the summer last week, so if the internships don't work out (which they probably won't, sadly) I won't be working forty hours a week at the library. Don't get me wrong, I love the library, but forty hours here with not much to do isn't as exhilarating as it might have initially sounded. My second job is at the Center for Persons with Disabilities working with the Up To 3 program. This program offers classes and resources to parents who have a child under the age of three with a developmental disability. My position will be watching siblings of the focus child, and sometimes the focus child, while these parents are in class. It is just ten hours a week, and will be a fun change!
This past weekend wasn't too exciting. We got to do a ton of relaxing, which was super nice. Friday night we went to Costa Vida, visited with some friends, made an appearance at a wedding reception, made air popped popcorn in our air popper that we had never used, watching Chasing Mavericks, and surprisingly stayed awake until about 11:30. Saturday we slept in which was absolutely wonderful. When we finally decided to get out of bed, we went to Sam's Club, went and saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, went to Costa Vida again, and then went home for a late, relaxing night. I watched Bride Wars while Brandon did homework, and once my movie was over I read until I fell asleep. Again, we were up until like 11:30! Sunday we went to church, I cleaned like a fiend, baked peanut butter bars, and prepped bbq chicken for dinner tonight.
I am on my fourth book since we bought our tablet a few weeks ago. I probably would have read more by now, but like I said earlier, I had a busy few weeks. I am loving it so much! But like four days after we bought it I started having second thoughts because, get this, I missed smelling the books I read. But I really do love Tabby (yes, we named her) so I went home that night and put my nose in an actual book for a good five minutes. Not to read or anything, just to smell. After I finish the book I am reading now Brandon and I are going to read The Great Gatsby in preparation for the movie. I am trying to talk his little brother into taking me as his date to the preview. Since Shawn still works there they get to watch the movie a few days early. And after The Great Gatsby I am reading Harry Potter again!! I love Harry Potter. I need my cousin Alyssa to come home so I can have someone to talk about it with again.
Sorry I write a novel every time I blog. I wish professors would just let me write about my life for papers. I could seriously fill so many more pages.
My weeks have settled down drastically. I had a busy few weeks for a while, but last week and this week have given me plenty of opportunities to relax. Unfortunately for Brandon, this week is a busy one for him. He had a presentation today, has two papers due this week, and has one final this week. Luckily though, he only has one final next week. I have four, but they won't be too bad. His birthday is next Saturday, so we invited some friends to go up to his parents cabin that Friday night for dinner, cake and ice cream, and to spend the night. So far not many people have responded as to whether or not they can go, but even if no one can, it will be a fun weekend! We will do that and probably go to dinner and a movie on his actual birthday.
Neither of us has heard back from the places we applied for internships, but we are hoping to hear back soon. I actually was just got a second job for the summer last week, so if the internships don't work out (which they probably won't, sadly) I won't be working forty hours a week at the library. Don't get me wrong, I love the library, but forty hours here with not much to do isn't as exhilarating as it might have initially sounded. My second job is at the Center for Persons with Disabilities working with the Up To 3 program. This program offers classes and resources to parents who have a child under the age of three with a developmental disability. My position will be watching siblings of the focus child, and sometimes the focus child, while these parents are in class. It is just ten hours a week, and will be a fun change!
This past weekend wasn't too exciting. We got to do a ton of relaxing, which was super nice. Friday night we went to Costa Vida, visited with some friends, made an appearance at a wedding reception, made air popped popcorn in our air popper that we had never used, watching Chasing Mavericks, and surprisingly stayed awake until about 11:30. Saturday we slept in which was absolutely wonderful. When we finally decided to get out of bed, we went to Sam's Club, went and saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, went to Costa Vida again, and then went home for a late, relaxing night. I watched Bride Wars while Brandon did homework, and once my movie was over I read until I fell asleep. Again, we were up until like 11:30! Sunday we went to church, I cleaned like a fiend, baked peanut butter bars, and prepped bbq chicken for dinner tonight.
I am on my fourth book since we bought our tablet a few weeks ago. I probably would have read more by now, but like I said earlier, I had a busy few weeks. I am loving it so much! But like four days after we bought it I started having second thoughts because, get this, I missed smelling the books I read. But I really do love Tabby (yes, we named her) so I went home that night and put my nose in an actual book for a good five minutes. Not to read or anything, just to smell. After I finish the book I am reading now Brandon and I are going to read The Great Gatsby in preparation for the movie. I am trying to talk his little brother into taking me as his date to the preview. Since Shawn still works there they get to watch the movie a few days early. And after The Great Gatsby I am reading Harry Potter again!! I love Harry Potter. I need my cousin Alyssa to come home so I can have someone to talk about it with again.
Sorry I write a novel every time I blog. I wish professors would just let me write about my life for papers. I could seriously fill so many more pages.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Easter Weekend
I have to say, this past weekend was a lot better than I was expecting it to be! This medicine I have been on is killing my mood, so by 5:00 on Friday I was ready for the weekend. I was kind of grumpy, but a quick trip to Costa Vida fixed that right away! Plus we got to walk there because it was so nice outside, so that helped too. After Costa we walked around Shopko, our favorite thing to do, then went home to watch some movies. We had rented two movies that night, but I fell asleep during the first one, and we never got a chance to watch the second one, but that's okay!
Saturday morning I had to work at 9:00, but my friend asked me to model for her that day, so I was up on campus at 8:00 that morning! Nobody should ever have to be on campus at 8 am on a Saturday. Or at any time on a Saturday for that matter. I didn't have time to eat breakfast before modeling, so I asked Brandon if he would bring me some cereal when he came back up at 9:00. Brandon got to the library a little after I did, and I saw him walking up the stairs with a white bag and thought it was just cereal, but as he got closer I realized it was a bag from Burger King! He brought me french toast sticks and hashbrowns for breakfast!! He told me this was my Easter gift and honestly it was way better than any basket of candy would have been! That day at work was kind of long, because it was so nice outside and neither of us wanted to do any homework, so we mostly lounged around and talked all morning.
After work we went up to this parents' house to borrow the big red truck. We got this old treadmill a few months ago and I had only used it twice so we decided to finally take it to the D.I. Well whenever we borrow the truck Brandon always leaves the car keys for his parents just in case they need to move the car, but we always forget to take the keys when we are going to need to get back in our apartment. This time was no exception. We got back to the apartment, realized we had left the keys, and almost went back to get them, but I decided to run around and check the back door first. Well, it was locked, but then we realized that we left the guest bedroom window cracked. There is a little roof covering over the front doors of the apartments, and it just so happens that if one were to stand on the roof covering, they could reach the guest bedroom window. So we backed the big red truck up so the tailgate was practically touching our neighbor's front door, stood in the bed, and I cheerleader-hoisted Brandon up onto the roof. He got up, took out the screen, and after struggling to keep Sophie inside was able to get inside the apartment. We loaded up the treadmill, grabbed extra keys, and were off! It was a pretty good adventure for the weekend, if I do say so.
We
took the treadmill to the D.I., got some Aggie ice cream for lunch,
then set up the hammock outside for a nap. Brandon fell asleep for a
little bit, but I wasn't very tired so I went inside and cleaned up the
apartment. I took down our winter curtains, cleaned the windows, took
out the trash and even changed the air filter in Brandon's car! Then I
made these peanut butter banana oatmeal bars, but I think I used too
much banana because they are pretty mushy. We just kind of hung out the
rest of the day until about 8:00, then we went to dinner with Brandon's
family at the new Mongolian restaurant in town. It definitely wasn't as
good as the Mongolian in Boise, but it was tasty nonetheless! After that
we stopped to buy groceries for our Easter dinner, and by the time we
got home it was 11:00 and we were tired!
Sunday morning we woke up early and just hung out until I had to go to work. When I went downstairs after I got out of the shower I noticed our Easter gifts were sitting on the table, but all the plastic eggs were gone. I asked Brandon if he hid the eggs, and he had! So I got to go on a little Easter egg hunt of my own that morning and it was so great! He is seriously the best. We got the ham put in the crock pot and hoped that it wouldn't overcook by the time we got home. Luckily my six hour shift that day went much faster than the 4.5 hour shift the day before. I got more homework done, and I think Brandon did too, so that was nice. When we got home we made some potatoes, heated up the green beans and cherries, and sat down to the first Easter dinner either of us have ever cooked by ourselves! It was a lot of fun! Being able to cook the ham in the crockpot was super convenient, because we were all finished cooking, eating, and cleaning up by about 7:15 or so. After dinner I made peach cobbler, and Shawn came over to have some dessert with us. We watched a few episodes of the office, folded the laundry, then went to bed.
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