our kentucky wedding weekend

so it's been a busy weekend and i've finally gotten a chance to catch up a bit around the house and at work. we had a lot going on and i didn't want to rush through writing about it, so bear with me.

we left for our trip on thursday after work and made it to winston-salem, where we got a chance to socialize with matt and patrice and enjoy some delicious desserts! in the morning, as we were getting ready and eating breakfast, patrice shared with us their exciting news--she's about two months pregnant! we were thrilled and i can't wait to go back up and take another set of pregnancy pictures in the winter. we will be praying for them and their growing family, as well as the job opportunities that are out there for patrice.

we continued on i-40, stopping a little ways past asheville to eat lunch (never pass up the opportunity to eat before heading deep into the mountains. you have to drive a ways to find decent food.) we lucked out in finding sherry's apple crate cafe in waynesville, where we enjoyed some western nc barbeque and unique apple-themed atmosphere. we had a few more stops in sevierville, tn, to check out the russell stover outlet and other tacky touristy stores, and then drove about 11 miles into kentucky to the little highway stop that is williamsburg.

as soon as we walked in the lobby, we saw why jon and carrie wanted to get married there. it was beautifully designed, with a grand double staircase and huge chandeliers. there are tons of pictures up on flickr if you want some more details (i couldn't add them all here!) by the way, i've noticed that for whatever reason, my pictures that i post here are not the best quality--quite pixilated and fuzzy. by clicking on them or going to flickr, though, you can see them in full resolution.

so... the cumberland inn.


the unity candle stand from the rehearsal---and justin got the best groomsman gift--a monogrammed grill set!
after the rehearsal and dinner and driving around williamsburg and visiting one of the few places that was open late--the wal-mart--we got some sleep so we could get up fairly early the next morning. on saturday, we drove to the cumberland falls state park and ate an awesome breakfast at the lodge there by the river. then we walked down to the falls and several of the overlooks, taking full photo advantage of such a beautiful morning!

the falls and the mist rainbow
us in front of the falls. it was simply gorgeous!
but we couldn't stay for too long or hike any of the trails cause it was time to get ready for the wedding! we got back to the hotel and got cleaned up, and justin joined the groomsmen to get ready with jon, the groom. i took my time, grabbing some lunch and getting dressed before going down to the lobby to join the rest of the wedding party as they took pictures. carrie and jon chose to do all the pictures beforehand (like we did) and it made a huge difference considering the reception was on-site. i tried to stay out of the way of the photographer and didn't use my flash in most instances because of that, but there are (of course) additional photos on flickr.

johnnie (getting married in october to my co-worker heather--you might recognize him from their engagement photos i did), jon, and justin. they've been friends for many many years!
the lobby decorated for the wedding. the bridal party had to walk down the stairs! pretty, but made me nervous for them. (bridesmaids dress was the one i wore for maggie's wedding, but in red--apple, of course--instead of black. it's crazy how you start to recognize the david's bridal line immediately!)so after the wedding, it was time for the reception in a banquet room right down the hall. one of the hits was the pee dee pirate groom's cake. the string quartet played jimi hendrix's "purple haze" when they went to cut it!

and after the cake cutting and eating and dancing, it was time to for the groomsman duties of loading up the presents and--decorating the car. when we were in wal-mart the previous night, i asked justin if he had anything to decorate the car. after the horrible sliced cheese incident of alan's wedding, i've learned that leaving groomsman left to their own devices unfortunately does not turn out well. so we tracked down some glass chalk, had the tp ready to go, and the boys quickly went to work. they needed some help with the "girly" stuff, though, so i jumped in. then it became a plan of staging photos so it looked like i did it all....
and it got quite a reaction...
but it was all in good fun.

so then they drove off into the sunset, and we changed into more comfortable clothes and did the rest of our touristy kentucky stuff, like...

visiting the original sander's cafe and kentucky fried chicken museum!

and trying out a krystal burger--definitely a tasty treat!the next morning, we went back to sevierville, so justin could check out the beef jerky outlet, which boasted over 200 flavors of jerky. they had jerky made out of about every animal possible.
(i also got a new "life is good" shirt at one of the all LIG stores. love finding those!)

then it was back to the highway and onwards towards boone. we had to drive some very curvy mountain roads to get there, but it was worth it for these views of lake watauga and the surrounding mountain ranges.


that evening, my great-uncle and aunt, pete and mary, took us out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant near the base of grandfather mountain called artisinal. similar to our dinner at bonterra in charlotte after alan and rachel's wedding, we were encouraged to order a selection for each of the courses and tried a taste of everyone's plate. it was DELICIOUS...some of the best food we've ever had, and we enjoyed catching up with pete and mary.

after dinner, we went on out to their river house near the tiny town of todd, nc. justin and i were able to spend the night there and loved waking up to the sounds of birds and the river and little else. it is a gorgeous area, and we hope to spend more time there in the future! we finished out the trip with a visit to downtown boone and lunch at "our daily bread." there were pieces of boone that came back to me--parts that i recognized and some parts that i clearly said, "that wasn't here before." i always joke that if i had ended up at appalachian, as i almost did, i could have easily embraced the more natural lifestyle. hippy clothing, hiking and kayaking, granola and the whole deal. that part is in me somewhere, but it's just buried deep and only comes out during camp cheerio week or mountain vacations. i still love the mountains in the summer--the temperatures easily stayed in the 70's for most of our visit and only went over into the lower 80's a few times. everything is green and the air is clear and fresh and it just feels so comfortable. i wouldn't be able to drive anywhere (as justin constantly reminded me when i attempted to drive in the mountains) but i could definitely appreciate some long visits, even if i couldn't make it through the winters.

and then it was back to real life. traffic around raleigh, unpacking at home, and craziness at work. sigh... but it was a great vacation, especially for a long weekend. looking forward to the next one as soon as we can swing it!

until the next post...

photos are up on flickr! check 'em out!

we're back!

safe and sound.

jon and carrie are married.

we've visited with friends and family across three states.

driven about 1,200 miles of highway and curvy mountain roads.

and i promise a real post with tons of pictures in about two or three days (which is when i'll be caught up with laundry, household chores, reflector jobs and work.)

back to watching our recording of the olympic opening ceremonies--so awesome!

i need to start packing...

but... here's our plan for the weekend!



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a weekend without a camera

so i was a doof and left my camera(s) at home this weekend. i think that after squeezing out four boys and girls club shoots for reflector and still editing the 700+ photos from the wedding on the previous weekend, my subconscious was telling me that i needed a break. so we left for the beach on saturday morning with alan and rachel and no camera in tow.

we headed down to atlantic beach for the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon. this was my first trip to the beach since the beginning of the summer, and i had missed it so much. after having summers off for the past three years and at least one (sometimes two) beach vacations for a week with family, it was somewhat sad that we hadn't been to the beach yet this year. we blame it on the weddings. the fact that we had a weekend free where i didn't have to be in, attend or photograph a wedding was such a positive thing! at any rate, after i was lathered up with sunscreen and had my little two-person tent set up for shade, i was in the water and loving every minute of it. alan brought his boogie board, so justin and i took turns catching waves and diving through the breakers. we had a cooler full of turkey wraps and drinks, so we had a picnic lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon reading or listening to music on the beach and then getting in the water to cool off.

after several hours in the sun, it was time to head down east and get cleaned up before meeting my grandparents for dinner. we hadn't seen them since our last trip down in january, and we came with wedding videos and photos in tow. we checked into our rooms at the driftwood, a little motel right by the ferry terminal to ocracoke. we've been here plenty of times for dinner, but never actually stayed there. it was a basic motel--nothing fancy, a few crickets who tried to make themselves at home in our room, but certainly closer to my grandparents and cheaper than anything in town. we had a great dinner with some of the freshest seafood you can find, and then went back to my grandparents' house for dessert and wedding videos/photos.

the next morning, we stopped in for one more visit and made it down to snug harbor to visit aunt esther, who will be celebrating her 100th birthday this coming january. it was then time for lunch in beaufort at one of the waterfront restaurants and a little browsing before heading back home. as we prepared for the week, we wondered where the weekend had gone and how quickly the week would go, too, as we got ready for our trip to kentucky. i'm so thrilled to be making this trip and really looking forward to each stop along the way. i will definitely have my camera on this one and plan to take tons of pictures as we drive along some very scenic roads.

one fun thing that we learned friday night--i never really met our backyard neighbors, but we were putting away some groceries and i spied the wife out in the backyard, setting up a tripod with a speedlight on it and then attaching a large reflective umbrella. we headed outside in a couple of minutes to visit with diane and john next door, and the neighbors came over. we introduced ourselves, and as it turns out, she teaches photography classes at one of the local community colleges and has a fantastic website and blog, as well as an offer to ask her any questions as they come up with my photography.

alright, that's it for now. i promise some great photos next time!

finally posting

though i certainly didn't intend to get a couple of weeks behind in posting, the sheer number of photos and events that i've been working with made it so. i wanted to use justin's macbook for the wedding pictures, but needed some of my pics that weren't up on flickr--so here we are. finally have moved them all to the right places.

last week flew by with a crazy busy schedule that almost did me in. after a fabulous cook-out with my new co-workers and a great kick-off for vbs on sunday (covered on reflector.com of course) i learned that i was in charge of one of the pre-k groups. not that i minded, but it was just somewhat of a surprise to find out on monday night that i would have a group of three and four years olds relying on me for the remainder of the week. it ended up being a fabulous fit--more than one mom told me that i missed my calling of working with preschoolers, and i got mistaken for being the mom of one of the kids because of how well i handled him. my only complaint was the 6-8:30 schedule that left no time for dinner with justin, little time to do stuff around the house, and was way past the bedtime of many of my kids. BUT it was only for a week, and for a week, it was fun!

combo of the regular church band and the youth group band--my buddy will there in the front!


i like this one not just because it looks like little miss jordan is in fish bowl (it's a playground window) but also because you can see me in it :)
ahh, angelina. cutie pie to the max.
and i could definitely identify with this little one (and wanted to take her home with me.)
all their cute little shoes in a row.so once we finished with that, then it was time to fix up the house. we got some great new couches from our friends jeremy and lindsey for a bargain price--and it was time to close in the shed that our neighbor john has been building for the past few weeks. justin was recruited to help on friday since it was his day off, and they made quite a headway on it, putting up all of the walls and trusses with the roof going up on saturday.

my artsy shot of the not quite finished shed.
saturday brought my second wedding photography job of the summer. this one was lined up with my hair stylist, and it was absolutely beautiful. i just loaded several pics up to flickr, so check them out there, and then there are more on my business site (www.laurenthornphotography.com) so sunday was church, "mamma mia!" with justin's mom and sister (where i got to see jennifer macneill-yay!), and hosting the small group at our house since we had jeremy and lindsey's furniture :) the weekend felt like it went by very quickly, but hopefully the week will go by just as fast! we have plans to go down to the beach on saturday and stay down east saturday night, so i'm thrilled to get a beach trip in before summer is totally gone.

and i leave you with a cow that i spotted on my way to farmville (another reflector shoot) who looked just about as comfortable as a cow could be in the middle of july.

later, y'all.

kicking off the weekend

it's been a busy week with lots going on, and the weekend promises to be just as event-filled.

i'm still learning a lot at work and preparing to start with my first client family. yay! in the meantime, i'm having a great time getting to know people and finding my way around the office. i also joined the gym across the street and have made plans to meet a couple of my co-workers there in the morning. also good :)

on tuesday, i got to do a relaxed engagement shoot. this is a couple that has several connections to us--johnny is one of justin's longtime friends here in town, and heather is one of my new co-workers. they'll be getting married in october and though they'd already had their "official" engagement shoots, they wanted some candids and more artistic shots. we had a great time out at johnny's house, and they were so pleased with the results. i've put just a few up on flickr, so free to check them out.


i've been helping put up decorations for VBS at church, and i'll be volunteering there next week. they're going with an original theme--"Bible school musical"--that's modeled after "high school musical" of course, and i also got asked to cover it one evening for the paper. that'll keep us busy sunday night and most evenings next week.

and tonight, we began our task of shopping for a new bed and watched "the dark knight," which i watched through partially shut eyes a good portion of the time. great movie, but definitely a dark theme and some scary villains. i'm up for a movie with lighter content next time--anyone wanna go see "mamma mia"?

we're still making preparations for jon and carrie's wedding in august and have a few more pieces of information in place. we'll be staying at the cumberland inn, where they're getting married, and will have the opportunity to visit.... the kentucky fried chicken museum! no joke. i also hope we can check out one of the local state parks, cumberland falls. looks gorgeous from what we can tell by the websites...
and we'll be stopping in to visit with matt and patrice on our way up, and my great-aunt and uncle pete and mary on the way back. i'm excited to spend even one night in boone, since it's been....six years?...since i spent my summer up there with duke tip. i love the mountains in the summertime, and i can't wait to get a sandwich at "our daily bread" or maybe stop in at the real mast general store. should make for a great extended weekend and will break up the eight hour drive to kentucky quite nicely.

alright, that's it for now. later, y'all :)

wedding weekend in fayetteville

after finishing my first full week of work (yay!) justin and i spent the afternoon watching our wedding videos (also yay!) and then ran out to do some errands and enjoy the beautiful weather during dinner on the back patio at ham's.

saturday morning, we headed down to fayetteville for my second cousin katie's wedding. i helped katie and brandon find an apartment in greenville a couple of months ago in preparation for their move to ecu this coming fall. they are a sweet couple who have a bright future ahead of them, and we were glad we could be there for the special day.

with the wedding being in fayetteville, katie's mom had contacted us after our wedding to ask for referrals. we loved all of the businesses we used, so we gave them positive recommendations and encouraged them to contact them. they ended up going with our caterer, florist and photographer, so it was cool to see our photographers again and to enjoy the delicious food (and cake!) from the caterer.

so a few photos... me and justin after the wedding brandon and katie at the reception
doing the cake thing--they were very nice to each other!
there are some more pics up on flickr, so feel free to check them out!

we had another great dinner of crab legs over at grandma's and a nice visit to hay st. where we met the new preacher and listened to alan play during the offertory. complete the visit with a lunch at micasita's and a trip to edward mckay, and before we knew it, it was time to head back to greenville.

so now we're getting ready for another week of work and making plans for our big trip up to kentucky in august. i'm actually excited about the drive and the opportunity to spend some time in the mountains, so we're trying to make a mini-vacation out of it like we did with the weekend in charlotte. should be a good time :)

that's all for now. later, y'all.

a couple of fun photos for a mid-week post

we had a great time at the mudcats game--awesome fireworks, a mudcats win, and an enjoyable evening (even with the threat of rain!)

milo and our new wii fit--he doesn't quite grasp the concept yet.
and a fun night with the young adults small group at jeremy and lindsay's, where we cooked out, watched jake crawl for one of the first times, and taught him to play aerosmith guitar hero :)now it's back to trainings, photo sessions and getting ready for our... third wedding?--yes, third-- this weekend (fourth if you count the one where i was a photographer)

hasta luego!

celebrating the 4th

it's been a busy couple of weeks since i last posted, and justin and i were happy to see the holiday weekend approaching so we could relax and spend time with some friends and family.

i accepted a job offer last week to begin working at an agency here in town as an intensive in home family therapist. though it will be a couple of weeks before i start actually going out to see clients, i had trainings this past week and several more lined up for next week. this is a great agency that has a positive reputation in the community and is looking to grow over the next few years. the program that i will be leading involves a team approach where we help families and at-risk youth stabilize their environment so the youth can remain in the home. i am really excited about this and can't wait to get started after all my training are complete.

in the meantime, we've been enjoying the summer and some of the new "toys" that are out on the market. we searched for a wii fit all last weekend--with no success. we eventually ended up borrowing one from heather and wylie and were immediately hooked. after calling around during the week, we gave it one more shot yesterday and lucked out--toys 'r us finally had some in. so now we are proud owners of the balance board. what a cool accessory and awesome game to add on to our wii library.

we also went to see "wall-e" last weekend and loved it. pixar never dissapoints! (though they didn't do outakes or bloopers after the credits again :(--we waited around just in case, but maybe they've gotten out of the habit of doing that in the theater releases.)

and finally, we've spent some lovely evenings in little washington. i still haven't made it down to the beach this summer, but perhaps it's because we keep darting over to washington for dinner and really enjoying ourselves on the waterfront. last week, it was to celebrate my new job and get out of greenville due to the water contamination that had all of the restaurants closed in town. we headed on over to backwater jack's, a great waterside restaurant with a tiki bar atmosphere, complete with a double-decker outdoor porch and awesome views of the river. after delicious shrimp burgers and the best sweet potato fries i've ever had, we walked along the waterfront and got some ice cream. after such a nice evening, we considered going that way again yesterday for the 4th of july. i knew i was scheduled to take pictures for the paper at the greenville town commons, but i had already planned on going down there early before it got too crowded or dark. we thought about going over to kinston for the baseball game and fireworks, but once we looked into it, the tickets were already sold out. new bern was just a little too far to drive, and they have the main bridge closed so we'd have to drive through town to get to the point park. so... it was decided we would head on east to washington to catch some waterfront fireworks. we packed my tripod and camera, picked up some bojangles and got an excellent parking spot for the evening. i had to share some of the pictures from our evening out there, and after hearing that it downpoured in greenville just as the fireworks began, we're really glad we ended up going.

(since justin still wants to do a baseball game and fireworks, we're going to go see the mudcats play this evening and enjoy their second fireworks show after the game)

the docks were full and there were tons of boats coming up and down the river yesterday evening.

a candid of justin as we walked along the waterfront.
the lights of the boats reflecting off the water--that was one of the most popular spots to view the fireworks!
i was so happy with how these turned out--there are more up on flickr, but these are just a couple of my favorites.
part of the "grand finale"--they had said a couple of weeks ago that washington wouldn't be able to do their fireworks because of the burn ban and the huge wildfire that started last month, but they changed their minds earlier this week and i'm so glad they did!alright, that's it for now. we've got a couple of things to take care of around the house before we head to zebulon. check out the pictures on flickr and reflector

just FYI...

i have a job!

more info to come soon, but it is with an agency in town and it's a THERAPIST position--not QP or case management. dream come true. i start tuesday, and though i'll be giving up the rest of my summer, i have a feeling it's going to be totally worth it.

yay! many praises for answered prayers!

turning in the bridesmaid shoes

so we've reached the end of my bridesmaid duties for the season. justin does have another wedding in august where he will be a groomsman, but i'm convinced that's 10 times easier than doing the bridesmaid thing.

my brother alan is now married to his wonderful wife rachel. they are off somewhere in jamaica at a sandals resort and should be back by the weekend. at that point, he will commence his search for a band director job and rachel will finish her masters in accounting in december. overall, it was a beautiful wedding and i was so happy to be a part of it. i also enjoyed seeing all of our family members that came in, and with all of us staying at the same hotel, it was like a family reunion every morning and evening!

i like this photo alot, particularly because it reminds me of....

this one. i always interpret this expression as, "look what your brother did to me."they had crazy mad bubbles on the way out. must've been really good bubbles or just the fact that it was a lot of music majors (ha!)
and these young men made the weekend incredible. the brothers of phi mu alpha were so polite, helpful, courteous to our family members and friends, and extremely talented. they were a part of the ceremony by singing the benediction, a gorgeous version of "the Lord bless you and keep you" complete with the 7 fold dresden amen. and then they serenaded us at the reception as well. so awesome to have them support alan and rachel throughout the weekend.

as for the rest of the past couple of weeks...

oh yeah, the pearl jam concert in virginia beach! one of justin's favorite bands of all times, and close to our friends kenny, stephanie, kaleb and (only a couple of months old) kendra, as well as linda and brandon (our lovely hosts for the evening). though i can't say that i knew more than a couple of songs, justin and the rest of the crowd enjoyed a great evening of music.

and we had some great seats this time rather than fighting for space on the lawn.

also, justin and i had the pleasure of attending a cook-out at one of my former co-workers house. it was great to see lots of friends and their family members, especially some people who worked at oakwood when i first started that i haven't seen in a while. it's great to know that we will still be able to continue these friendships even though we won't be working together anymore. the evening ended with s'mores and sparklers for the kids and lots of great conversation with old friends.

i've got a couple more interviews lined up. fingers crossed!

photo jobs have been fun--a trip to the farmers market was my favorite. i did go out and take pics at one of the church league games a couple of weeks ago. as soon as i pulled into the parking lot, my heart rate immediately went up and i felt slightly stressed out and anxious. i don't think i've recovered from playing softball quite yet, but i enjoyed being a spectator again!

that's about it for now. later, y'all.

sorry for the delay...

but things are finally starting to calm down around here. or at least, until the next wedding related event comes around :)

so we had an awesome time at ashley and mark's wedding over memorial day weekend. justin actually got his post up before mine, and we're still getting pictures from friends online to document to day. nothing beats a wedding in duke chapel, and it was such a beautiful day with some amazing friends. i can't wait to see the photos that the wedding photographer took, and we also wish mark and ashley happy "house closing" as they bought their first home together this weekend. we can relate--we are celebrating one year (today!) in our home and know how stressful, yet wonderful, it can be all at the same time.

so from the wedding, justin and me infront of duke chapel

and the ec scholars reunite! mateo, linda, the beautiful bride ashley and myself at the reception. so great to see matthew as always :)


on the way home we stopped at billy and maryanne's house to meet my new cousin william for the first time. he was adorable, quite happy to be held by a couple of new people, and at only a week old, was already starting to show some personality.this was the first time in a while that justin had held a baby, so we reviewed proper "newborn-holding" directions :)
the long weekend led into the last week of school with the kids, which was spent proctoring exams, packing up my office and lining up interviews. we went to fayetteville for the weekend to visit family and to celebrate with alan and rachel as they had another wedding shower. this one focused on the boys--tools, to be precise--and alan now has enough hardware and power tools that he can stop borrowing ours and begin loaning out his own to all the fraternity brothers and probably his brother-in-law :) it was great to see everyone, and it's hard to believe that in a little less than two weeks, they will be married!

i had my last few work-related events this past week and also had three interviews for some promising job opportunities. there is one in particular that i am very excited about and i hope to have a second interview for this week to talk with the people who own the agency. i am also quite content not to work for a while, especially with alan and rachel's wedding, my yearly appointments that i schedule in the summer for this very reason, and spending time with all of my public school teacher friends who just got out of work. interviews are good, though. very good :)

and yesterday, i had the joy of photographing a wedding for the first time in a while. i was afraid i would be a little rusty, but all of the weddings we have attended/been a part of have given me some new ideas, plus this was a wonderful couple and family to work with. i had never met the bride before (they attend the early service at our church) but jarahnee was beautiful, radiant and one of the genuinely nicest people i've ever met. she and shane will be very happy together with her two boys, and in the meantime, i've got over 700 photos to go through and edit. here's just a taste of what i was able to capture yesterday...

(love this idea with the respective rings around "man" and "wife", but now wish i had chosen a verse that didn't include "naked"--might edit this one to blur out everything except man and wife, but we'll see)


love this one, though i might edit it closer to the couple in photoshop when i get the chance.

alright, that's it for now. grace and i are both looking forward to relaxing over the next couple of weeks :) (i don't know why she likes my shoes, she just does.) later, y'all!

quick post

i've been trying to post more regularly, but it's (obviously) been quite hectic and i occasionally forget how long it's been since the last post. since i'm edging on two weeks, i thought i would write very quickly before we head into the holiday and wedding-filled weekend.

at school, we have successfully accomplished standardized tests, four talent show performances, spring concerts and planning for the last full week of school. we have field day (tomorrow), exams and end of year assemblies to go. it's hard to believe how quickly it's coming up, and i'm just trying to tie up all the loose ends.

one of those loose ends was my auction photo package that a family won this year. i talked with the mom about what she had in mind, and she left it totally up to me--just something casual and fun. she has a four year old and a nine year old, so we needed something that would keep the four year old entertained as well. we headed on out to briley's farm for some strawberry picking and had a fabulous time. the mom was thrilled with the results and has promised to spread the word with many of her friends. i hope the "word of mouth" business will keep me busy through out the summer. i have also lined up an engagement shoot for next week and have the prospect of another wedding shoot in july. exciting and great for building up the portfolio.
www.laurenthornphotography.com if you want to check them out under children's portraits.

also had the oakwood athletic banquet, which i was able to use for a scene around slideshow (great publicity for the school) and a couple of other quick jobs for a benefit wine tasting and a softball tournament. it's amazing how many cool things you find out about once you start regularly attending these community events.

and this weekend is ashley and mark's wedding in durham at duke chapel, and we'll also get to visit with fellow bridesmaid linda and her husband brandon. we plan on heading back home by way of youngsville, where my uncle and aunt welcomed new cousin william to the world last week. i'm definitely looking forward to that (and will of course get some pictures!)

that's it for now. time for bed :)

may is flying by...

so i finally have a few minutes to write about my last two weekends. it's been crazy busy lately, as usual, but we've hit a much needed quiet evening and i'm thrilled just to have a moment to catch my breath.

i took a half day last friday and headed down to charleston, sc, with linda for ashley's bridesmaid weekend. it was a gorgeous day, we drove on down to kiawah island where we were staying and met the rest of the girls for dinner at the king street grill, a local place. we had thought about doing a haunted ghost tour of downtown charleston, but time was not on our side and we were unable to make it. instead, we spent friday evening hanging out at the condo and catching up.

saturday, we headed down to the beach for a couple of hours in the morning and after lunch, linda and i set off to the downtown area to do a little sight-seeing. being fair-skinned ladies, we knew we couldn't handle a whole day in the sun, so we were up for doing the touristy thing at the old market, rainbow row and the battery. it was the best way to spend the afternoon and i took a ton of pictures. see the rest on flickr!


we got back in time to get cleaned up for dinner in downtown charleston and taking a few group pictures. we HAD to show off our matching "bride and bridesmaid" tanks that ashley made for us--rhinestones and all.

we went out to tbonz downtown for dinner where linda and i split an awesome shrimp and chicken dish and geared up for the rest of the night. there were definitely a couple dozen bachelorette parties in charleston that weekend, so it seemed like we were running into another group every place we went. we all had a great time, though, and i was so happy to be a part of that special night with ashley. just two weeks until her wedding!

so after another wild week of testing, planning for the end of the year and field trips, i took this friday off for alan's graduation. his departmental graduation for the school of music was friday at noon, and then the main ceremony for the whole university was today at 10 in the football stadium. we had family coming in for the ceremony on friday, and it was a much smaller production that what we attended today. it was definitely cool to see alan walk across the stage, and i also got to use it for a reflector slideshow, so you can check out the photos here. we had a reception at the school of music afterwards, and then we got ready for a family cookout at our house with rachel's family.



and today was the big ceremony, where i got to flash the press pass and get some great pictures from the field. those haven't been posted on reflector yet, but i had an awesome time and felt like quite the "professional" out there with the other big guys. and in all, i got paid to attend and take pictures at two events that i would have attended otherwise. i'll go outside the plan for pitt community college's graduation tomorrow night.
so congratulations to all of the spring 2008 graduates and here's to the future!

(don't forget mother's day tomorrow!)

*p.s. i just got the link for commencement photos that are up here

and... seriously, i had nothing to do with this. the one picture of alan that i did throw in was not identified in any manner... but who did they put up on the "graduation galleries" front page? my little brother getting his own screen time :)

no time to post....

but pictures from charleston are up.

enjoy!