a whirlwind weekend of spontaneity & surprises

This past weekend, husmate and I basically became one with the car. Last Wednesday rolled around and the idea popped into our minds that "hey! let's road trip down to Oxford (must it be there?) to see our good friends, Emily & Josh, get married." So we did. We Berry's decided to be all spontaneous and make a weekend of it.

Seven states. Four days. Lotsa miles. Lotsa hours in a car. Lotsa Avett Brothers. We experienced many different forms of weather from sun to clouds, rain to snow. We drove the flat plains of Mississippi and the mountains of North Carolina. We saw it all, folks.

Highlights of the trip:

+ Surprising everyone by showing up to Emily & Josh's wedding unannounced. And when I say everyone, I mean it. We didn't tell anyone that we were coming, so there were a lot of double takes and second glances in the foyer of the Ole Miss Paris-Yates Chapel. Yes, guys, it is us! And oh, it was such fun! It truly lightened our hearts to see all of husmate's high school friends, even if for a short time (and a 14 hour road trip). I don't think we've laughed so freely as we did around all of those wonderful people, and we can't wait to see those faces again! Lucky for us, Emily & Josh are actually living 3 metro stops away from us, so we'll be seeing them again quite soon ;)

+ Having the opportunity to spend some time with my brother, his wife, their sweet little Tyler, & Tyler's loving and furry older sister, Stella. Tyler's at the ripe age of 15 months and already learning the wonder of T-ball and bubbles and how funny the sound is that elephants make. Watching him walk around in his footy pajamas like an old man sticking out his cute little belly really warmed my heart. 

+ Realizing that we thought driving to the South would mean warmer temperatures but instead we brought the snow with us... in Virginia and Tennessee and Alabama and Mississippi. Man, we really know how to bring the cheer.

+ Grabbing a quick lunch at Jackson's in Homewood with Mom & Dad who made the drive just for us. I mean who can say no to Jackson's anyway?

+ Husmate surprising me for both a late Valentine's day and 2 year anniversary of sorts (our engagement) by getting us a room at fancy schmancy bed & breakfast in Asheville for a night. It was so nice we didn't even know what to do. Ha! But we now know what it feels like to stay in a home filled with nothing but antiques and what B&B people really are like (super chatty at breakfast by the way... which for this night owl isn't quite what I'm used to). But by golly did we ever learn about the workings of the CDC in Atlanta! There were two couples who made the connection that all four of them worked there and after that, the conversation was nothing but things CDC-related. Fun fact: did you know they have their own sort of rush week/hell week? I knew that fraternity stuff would carry over into real life somehow... (chi omega chi chi omega... c h i o m e g a... chi chi omega- it's stuck on repeat in my head. make. it. stop.) Needless to say, I think we'll revisit the B&B life when we're a lot older. Neat experience, but need to be older.

+ The many conversations we had in the car to fill the ever ticking travel time. When you travel a total of 32 hours over the course of four days, there's gonna be a lot of talking. Serious topics, joking topics, random topics, memory lane topics, & daydream topics. All of those range between full senses, delirium, & annoyances at still being in the car. You catch my drift. I think some of my favorites were recounting the days of learning sports with our families (Blake, remember that time I lost the baseball in the sun and caught the pop fly with my ear? I think we learned that day that baseball/softball wasn't my thing), the awkward/serious conversations we've had in the past that could only happen while being trapped in a car (birds and the bees people, and avoiding eye contact with said parent for several hours), chats about our future and what we think will happen (where we'll live, when we'll have kids, our careers/future schooling, how we'll parent, running a B&B in Alexandria one day (ha! kidding... sorta)), and plans for the spring/summer (hiking! sunlight! travels around our neck of the woods! fingers crossed, the beach!).

+ Getting desperate to spend even a minute outside of the car, spurring on the impulsive rest stops for Chick-fil-a cookies and milkshakes. Sanity is key, people. 

But in the end, we made it back to our little condo and had a wonderful weekend seeing/talking (face-to-face!) with some familiar faces. Here's to the next 30+ hour road trip in our (hopefully not too near) future!