Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Thursday, April 11, 2013

a postcard from paris


Perhaps it's because we're almost two weeks away from passing our first milestone as a married couple {woohoo one year anniversary!}, but I couldn't help but think back to the way our little relationship started. 

See back in the day, husmate & I would hang out with a ginormous group of friends over at a lovely place called the Purple House on a regular basis. This group of friends was so large that it would take over the living room {sofa, loveseats, floor, stools, etc.} and it was pretty hard to actually know everyone really well {to the point that husmate & I pretty much knew each other's names}. In this group, husmate was sort of in the inner circle and I, being a semi-newbie, pretty much existed on the fringe {hello Peanut Gallery co-member, Kelsey!}. So yeah, basically he was the cool nice guy & I was the sassy & sarcastic know-it-all.

But as coincidence would have it, one day {about this time three years ago} the Peanut Gallery got to be too much to handle for everyone else {picture us as a funnier version of the old men commentators on the Muppets except that we laughed... A LOT}, and Kelsey & I were told we had to separate ourselves. Sad face emoticon. But that coincidence forced me to sit next to {you guessed it} the cool nice guy. 

So the cool nice guy, being nice {duh, it's in his personality}, leaned over & tried to start a conversation so that me & my blushing cheeks would stop being so ridiculously red {I get embarrassed easily folks- one of the things that husmate loves to this day}. He really was very sweet, and somehow it came up that he was traveling to Paris that summer. Well, lo and behold, that is a subject in which my nerd status comes out. Come to find out, this kid was going with no clue of ANYTHING about Paris: history, museums, churches, Versailles, anything. So I took it upon myself to help him out a little {because holy croissant he was going in blind!} & proposed that I would create him an itinerary of sorts to help him & his friend out on their journey. 

That little itinerary turned into eight pages single-spaced of nerd adoration of Paris & everything that this envious know-it-all had ever dreamed of seeing there. eight pages, you guys. You can bet that those cheeks were on Super Blush Mode when I sent it to him, too- SO EMBARRASSED. But because he was the cool nice guy, he didn't make fun of me in a mean way, but was instead appreciative & amused that I would take so much effort on something for a guy I barely knew. I, myself, was equally amused with this behavior & thought that was that.

Except it wasn't. And when he sent me a postcard from Paris that summer {in French, mind you}, I got a few butterflies. So I guess my nerd moment had its consequences {just like his did when he recited pi that day}. 

I did marry him after all. 


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

dreaming of a hot summer's day

I never thought I would get to a point that I would admit to wanting to see & experience the sun so much that I even miss its hot summer days. If you know me, you know that I am a fair-skinned freckled girl, my make-up is one color hue off from white (aka porcelain, ivory, or 01), & I don't tan, I burn. That being said, even I am sick of this cold, dreary, & wet winter and would rather worry about dehydration than wearing enough layers to shake off the constant shivering (I'm from the South, can't help it that I'm a wimp).

This weather makes me long for the weekend husband & I spent in NYC last summer. So here goes a trip down memory lane to help remind me of what sun looks like:


Summary:
+ It's a good thing I don't live in NYC as I would probably spend all my time eating at Chelsea Market, as evidenced by a fourth of these pictures showing its yummy food. I wish I could say those were the only pictures of food I took there, but I can't lie either. Womp womp...

+ I wish that we had had time to walk the whole Central Park. My nerdy self tells me that it would revel in all the beauty of Frederick Law Olmsted's design (which also makes me want to reread The Devil in the White City. Nerd alert). My cabin fever tells me it just wants to see grass and trees and flowers and warmth. Either way the desire to trek all over that park right now is pretty great.

+ I really miss being able to throw my chacos on & wear them with anything in my summer wardrobe, dresses/skirts included. No shame, only fame guys. Now that I'm married, I can partially blame it on my adventurous husband (but it's not really his fault).

+ That Highline Park is pretty dang neat. Totally suggest walking on it the next time you're in NYC.

+ We walked the Brooklyn Bridge (because who doesn't love a bridge merrily designed in gothic architecture?), but as the majority of the bridge was covered in scaffolding along the whole walk, there wasn't much to take a picture of...

+ Even DC was shining beautifully in the sun that weekend. We took that picture as we walked back from Union Station after our horrifically long trip back in a Megabus (New Jersey turnpike, anyone? Yuck). 

Ah, sun... get back in my life.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

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! 

Friday, October 12, 2012

VA to KY: football, fall leaves, and good food

 
 

Husband and I took advantage of the long weekend last week and packed our bags for a road trip to Kentucky to see Mississippi State play (and beat) UK in Lexington. We left after husband got off work on Friday and drove all the way to Charleston, West Virginia that night before waking up way too early on a Saturday to make it to the game. We saw a beautiful sunset on Friday before everything got dark, and we literally climbed a few mountains before reaching our halfway point. I had never before seen signs warning me of 9 and 10 degree descents, and needless to say we were both very glad that husband was driving during that portion.

Being displaced bulldogs, it was quite a treat to see our team play in person rather than on tv, and we're only hoping their good fortune of winning continues this weekend against Tennessee! I will say that even though we knew that UK was a basketball school, never have either us seen such an empty stadium at kickoff (and we were there for the rebuilding years at MSU). It was a little sad, but maybe that's what happens when the team is 1-5 and there are horse races around to entertain you otherwise on a Saturday afternoon...

In regards to the super cheesy picture with the broom, let me say two words: Harry Potter. That's right. That is in fact a broom from the filming of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and yes I realize that I have a major Cheshire Cat smile going on there. But eeeeek it was from the movie!! And some cool people totally used it!! Let me explain: husband and I visited our good friend, Leigh Holland (see awesome friend below), in Wilmore, KY, home of Asbury University and Asbury Seminary. And who knew, but Asbury has an incredible media communications program there, and a lot of their alumni have gone on to work on some pretty notable projects (like the Olympics). All over their building are movie props, posters, awards, and cameras donated from alumni and their projects, and I totally geeked out on seeing most of them... No shame. 

And side note, they made my heart even happier when I saw a sign for Welton Academy from the film Dead Poets Society... favorite. movie. ever.

 
 

On a whim, Leigh's suggestion for dinner that night took us to the Windy Corner, this neat market/restaurant, in the middle of nowhere horse farms. We might have thought that we were majorly lost for at least ten minutes, but the confusion was well worth it for this sweet little cafe. It was truly a unique and delightful experience, and oh, the food was divine! We knew we couldn't go wrong with some of their homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (it is fall after all), and they definitely did not disappoint. If you're ever in Lexington for a game, you should try out this wonderful little nook!

 
 

And other than the last one, the pictures above were of the scenery on our drive back through West Virginia. That state may have nothing but small towns and cities, but it certainly has some beautiful countryside. It also didn't hurt that our first impression of our western neighbor occurred during the beginning stages of the leaves changing color. The last picture was taken during our drive through Middleburg, VA. This little town has a main street of stone and brick buildings, and its outlying areas are full of rolling hills and beautiful farms. In short, it's gorgeous and totally worth a drive to see. 

So recap: football. harry potter. friend reunion. food. fall. Yep, a wonderful weekend for the books.