quick one

alright, don't have much time to talk right now, so here's what i see as being important at this moment--

love is in the air. here's to the future mr. and mrs. alan and rachel and mr. and mrs. baxter and maggie :) lots of diamonds coming out, people... must be the holiday spirit. not to mention two weddings in the next month, helping plan a couple more, and my own. it's kinda cool joining the married world with the rest of my friends.

i'm about wii-ed out. it's been played non-stop around me for the past week, but man--it is cool. here's to entertaining family and friends across the state with justin's newest toy.

one step forward, two steps back. here's to guest lists, rehearsal dinners, ugly invitations, florist losing information, and save the date cards. all in my brain right now... so ready to get some of this stuff officially checked off.

and here's to the holiday season. i've got the tree up, tickets to see snyder's singing christmas tree on saturday, presents bought, a few christmas parties to attend, and i'm loving every minute of it.

that's all for now-- later, y'all :)

turkey day

so it's been a while...

but it's been busy and i'm soooo glad it's finally thanksgiving break. lots of meetings, lots of events and just a general build-up to these next few days of relaxation and family time.

spirit week turned out so well and we had a fabulous time with our final "pie in the face" contest. we ended up having not one, but three participants, and the kids loved it.

a picture of the "pieing"...

i've also gotten back into doing some kid photo shoots--lots of parents wanting them for christmas cards, etc. i had one this past saturday that turned out so well, and it's ended up getting me a lot of "word of mouth" advertising. i am definitely enjoying getting this experience and taking some pretty awesome photographs.

so i have today off, and tomorrow justin and i are heading to fayetteville for thanksgiving at my grandma's (along with invitation choosing and honeymoon booking--we're determined to be productive!) saturday will be thanksgiving at his mom's house, and sunday will be thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. we'll be doing WV family right before christmas. i'll also try to be extra productive today with some possible christmas shopping

and i guess that means i'd better start getting ready... happy thanksgiving! later, y'all

back in the swing of things...

so it's spirit week at school, which means i'm figuring out the appropriate way to celebrate themes like pajama day and celebrity day as a faculty member. i always loved homecoming week in high school, so it's kinda cool to be so involved this year with our similarly planned spirit week.

and in true nostalgic fashion, i was able to go back to dear ol' FTS this past friday night to watch them compete for (wait for it, wait for it...) the conference championship. those of you who came through during the late 90's, early 00's with me will be gasping in disbelief much like i did when i found out what was at stake. i mean, c'mon, this was the football team that led us on an 0 and 11 season my freshman year (and made the cheerleaders yell at us because we didn't show appropriate signs of respect for our losing football team on the way back from one of the games--hello? if you want respect, win some games. 'nuff said). anyways, it was senior night, way dejavu to be back, and so cold. i mean, soooooooo cold.

so we were freezing our tales off and got to see chris emano who was also in town, a glimpse of wood stewart, and a conference title for my alma mater. it may have been won in overtime, and they might have allowed pine forest to score with 40-some seconds left in the game and tie it up with a 2 point conversion--but the bulldogs are conference champions for the first time in 20 years and i was there to see it :)

a few pictures to commerate the occasion:

the student celebration on the field after the 24-21 victory in overtime (you can just see the scoreboard in the corner)


the new field house at the baseball field end of the stadium. i was quite surprised to see this addition!
and us after three-plus hours in the cold. you can tell the temperature by the shade of pink on my nose...

i also took some pictures of the band trailer and names on the back...but by that time, justin was freezing and it was time for me to stop taking pictures.

we also got to see a ton of family at my great-aunt betty's 80th birthday party. it was a potluck (yum!) out in the middle of the woods near hope mills (brr!) but still a great time. we headed back to greenville afterwards and joined justin's side of the family for dinner yesterday afternoon. lots of plans being made for the holidays and wedding stuff. if you want to get on our calendar, let us know now! (it's filling up fast).

that's all i can think of for right now. later, y'all...

and october's over...

where'd it go?

so happy halloween to everyone and i hope you're all having a safe and spooky evening. i apologize for the lack of posting, but it's been one crazy latter of half of this month and i'm just now getting to the point where i'm catching up.

we had a weekend full of wedding stuff (where i did get a dress, a florist, and eventually a photographer), homecoming weekend complete with parade and winning football game (check out the pictures on flickr!) and a halloween themed weekend with a school dance, a family wedding and trunk-or-treat at church. should have pictures up from that soon...

and in between, it's been busy at work and busy with my friends and family. so much going on... and just keep my family and my school in your prayers. just taking things day by day.

i'm ready to see what november brings and looking forward to some more beautiful fall weather. lots of fun stuff coming, and i'll be sure to keep you posted :) later, y'all...

100th post!

so i'm back from cheerio, without too many bruises from the caves or blisters from canoeing. and we had an amazing time! i added a few pictures below--and have some addtional ones up on flickr. check 'em out if you get the chance.

and now i'm in fayetteville, doing wedding stuff and being extremely productive. after a couple of days of searching, i have a dress. like literally, it's hanging in my room right now. i have information on how to order bridesmaid dresses. and by tomorrow, i'll have a catering menu, a florist and possibly some rental stuff or a photographer. we'll see what happens.

so enjoy the pictures and i'll be relaxing and checking stuff off my knot.com list. later, y'all :)

cheerio, here we come...

in less than 24 hours, i will be heading to the mountains for four days with 56 kids and four other chaperones. whoa.
when we get back, i'll have less than 24 hours to unpack and then repack for a long weekend in fayetteville where we have wedding stuff scheduled almost non-stop. i must find a dress. not that i'm particularly worried about it, but i really must find a dress.

it's one of those crazy times where i'm convinced that once i get through it, life will be ten times better and hundred times less stressful. but it's the anticipation and actually getting through it that's the tough part.

don't get me wrong, i'm thrilled about going to camp cheerio again and i cannot wait to spend time with these kids and my faculty friends and being in the mountains again, doing all that campy stuff. but it just seems different this time. it's going to be tough being away from justin, i feel like i'm missing time to work on wedding stuff, and i am slightly concerned about bringing both the 7th and 8th grade--two totally different groups.

but i remind myself--a week from now, i'll have a dress. i'll have a menu. i'll have a florist. i might have some tents and tables reserved. cheerio will be a fun story to tell at lunch, and i will be able to breathe again :) yay.

the fall festival this past friday was wonderful--had to be held inside, but i had the best time painting faces and taking pictures (i won't put them up on my flickr site, but if they get put up on the school's website, i'll link to it). we passed on the football game (ecu won), but enjoyed running errands and watching movies on saturday. sunday was spent cleaning, cooking, packing and painting, and for whatever reason (i really don't remember now) i volunteered to host young adults tonight. crazy, yes, but i'll live and we'll all have a good time enjoying our "breakfast for dinner" (one of my favorites to cook). i love hosting and i cannot wait until we have a nice big house so i can do it all the time.

prayer requests--for my dad, who is getting his last major medical procedure done and having a pacemaker put in today. and for my dear friend ashley and her mom, who need lots of support and prayers right now. and for my friends that are lonely and need to know that people care about them.

alright, that's it for now. enjoy the fall weather and i'll be back on the flipside.

finally fall...

well, almost. there are a few more 80 degree days left. but there have been some gorgeous days :)

so it's been a busy week--student council elections, supervision, and fun times with the family at alan's concert. there was also the promise of a beautiful weekend, so justin and i made plans to stay in virginia beach at linda's place and then head to busch gardens on saturday for some rollercoaster riding and their annual "howl-o-scream" events. with short lines, 70 degree temps, and more haunted mazes than i could handle, it was one of the best day trips we've taken in a long time.

this is a re-take of our "tired picture by the swings in new france." that one was taken last june. this one was muuuuuuuch more comfortable. even with sweatshirts :)


the fun big swings in germany while we're flying around. i used my wrist strap to take this one...

and this was one awesome shot i was happy to get. the loch ness monster loops lit up at night. i used the night scene feature on my camera, was able to find a flat surface on the bridge and voila! very cool picture. i LOVE the reflection in the water.

we also had a great time visiting kenny, stephanie and kaleb at their place in VA beach and spending a little time on the boardwalk enjoying the sandcastles at the boardwalk festival. it was tough coming back to greenville and getting ready for the work week, but now i've gotten all of the traveling and amusement park adrenaline out of my head, i can focus in on wedding stuff. and there's a lot of it coming up...

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

in the "office" hanging out with my "girls"

alright, some post office prattle.

number one, you can verify with justin, i so called the "jam" situation before the new episode came on. i knew they wouldn't put them together--hello, it's only the 3rd season? but i also knew pam wouldn't be with roy--the kiss would have shaken her too much. jim would take the job, pam would be single, and they would pine for each other for atleast another couple of months. save it for february sweeps or something :)

on the whole oscar situation--we knew that was coming. i didn't expect them to open with it, but i read a column by the girl that plays meredith after the fact where she said there had been fear that "the office" would lose it's cutting-edge social commentary, that uncomfortable comedy that made us laugh, made us cringe, and made us look at the way we handled those "difficult" situations. that they would go for the safer, slap-stick comfy comedy that they knew would fly over without making too much of a stir. let's face it, if you have a show that has put episodes out there like "sexual harassment," "diversity day" (looking back, that was only their second episode! can you imagine coming out with that and what guts it took?) and now "gay witch hunt," it's obvious that "the office" has not lost their edge. if anything, they're taking even bigger steps into getting those topics out there. i watched the movie "crash" recently, and it very much focused on those same, awkward, uncomfortable and down-right "ignorant" (if i may quote oscar) statements that a lot of people still hold to. it's handled smartly, with wit, with a bit of sarcasm, and with characters that we love even though their faults cause such drama. it's one of the best shows out there. *off my soap box*

gilmore girls tonight. i am a big luke/lorelai fan and not a christopher/lorelai fan. i'm only tolerating this because i see it as a step that must be taken in order to get l&l together by the end of the season. the whole long-distance rory/logan thing smacks a little too familiar with me (yes, yes, i admit it, i cried during the season finale) but i'm interested to see what they do with rory while logan is away.

and just to round out the whole tv conversation, i'll throw these opinions out there: loved "studio 60" and "6 degrees"--which with my luck means that they'll be canceled by november. only watching "survivor" to see how long candice lasts (yes, i graduated high school with candice on the raro tribe--she was two spots ahead of me in class rank, that smarty pants) and because i'm getting bored with extreme home makeover, i might pick up "amazing race" instead. the DVR is working overtime right now...

alright, off of tv. afterall, i do have a life.

friday was a fabulous social with oakwood folks where there was karaoke, lots of homemade hor's dourves and salsa dancing. you know that sounds like a good time. justin also purchased his new car that day, a blue honda civic that i'm sure we'll have a picture up sometime soon. saturday was the ECU football game vs. WVU, which is the only game of the year where justin could care less who won. (WVU won, obviously--ranked number four in the country--but we did come close). and then sunday was destiny's birthday party, where we celebrated her entering the double digits. it's a busy week, but not too crazy. alan's concert on thursday night. end of student council elections at school on friday. whoo....

a couple of photos to share before i go fix dinner...

taken at dinner on the way back from the beach a couple of weeks ago. it makes me want to be there....



and a very welcome site around greenville. a new sheetz gas station opened on thursday, which means they have 10 days to sell gas below cost to drum up business. which means it started a major competition between the greenville gas stations where the price dropped about 50 cents in two days. flippin' awesome.

counting down the hours...

you have no idea how excited i am about this one...





though i am a bit dissapointed that tomorrow's episode is titled "gay witch hunt" and not "pam and jim get together and live happily ever after." but i guess you need something else to base the show on, so i'll just be patient and see what happens.

yay jam!

things are picking up...

so after wrapping up our first full week of the year (including another crazy book club night and another near-death moment for the mustang--she's close to dying, folks--it's only a matter of time). that's why justin and i have spent time researching car loans and preparing to purchase a new car within the next couple of weeks, possibly by this weekend. ahh, the memories.

this was a fun, productive weekend--a bridal fair in fayetteville where i got some great tips and ideas on other possible vendors. then it was off to raleigh for the rascal flatts concert with maggie. we had an excellent picnic dinner out in the parking lot and then made our way inside to the lawn. the remainder of the evening invovled some amazing music, some kinda decent music, an unusual amount of talking in between songs, and dodging some extremely inebriated college boys and girls (and there was one chick that was determined to tick me off--took a whole lot for me not to react). i did have a great time visiting with maggie, but the night was almost spoiled when it took me an hour to move about 15 feet in the parking lot. as much as i love live concerts and going to alltel a couple times during the summer, there have been a few times where i almost think it's not worth it. maybe i will spring for the "family safe alcohol and smoke free zone" next time, or even actual seats. or possibly just stick towards the back of the lawn with all the rest of the sober people.

and it's a busy busy week at school and everywhere else. i have about 5 sticky notes on my desktop with stuff that needs to get done this week, and a few more things that aren't written on stickies. i do LOVE that it's a new season of tv, and my dvr is chock full of fresh new shows that i can watch at my leisure. right now, i'm watching "studio 60 on sunset strip" and am counting down the days until the new episodes of "the office," "grey's anatomy" and "gilmore girls" come on. i'll get a chance to catch up on those this weekend in between the ecu/wvu game and justin's niece's birthday party.

favorite story of this week? this one i always knew i liked madrid.

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

another mid-week post

so it's our first full week of school--i know, sad stuff, huh? and it's going well and i continue to love my job. colorguard is starting up, i'm getting involved with student council stuff and my new class is coming together nicely.

i got the opportunity to catch up with lisa last week--i miss her a lot at work and she's doing quite well in her doctoral program. afterwards, justin and i caught up with the church crew for dinner and then enjoyed a quiet evening and movie.

saturday, we were incredibly productive--we registered at two stores and made it down to the beach to take some photos that we could use for our save the date cards/engagement announcements. it was a little tough because we were using my tripod and timer feature on the camera, but some of them came out really well.


the last one is a little too dark, but the sunset was gorgeous behind us and we had to capture it.

sunday was church, lunch in goldsboro with dad for his birthday, and registering at two more stores before we called it a day. i've also managed to get the caterer/cake person lined up, and i'm playing phone tag with a hotel person about reserving a block of rooms. it feels good to get a lot of these big details taken care of, and i'll be headed to fayetteville this weekend for a bridal show before the rascal flatts concert in raleigh with maggie for her birthday :) very excited about that!

alright, i will update more later. until then, enjoy the rest of the pictures on my flickr site. later, y'all...

short week, long weekend...

so a little late in posting this week, but it wasn't your typical week either. we had our second week of school--went well, not too many issues, and finally getting into the swing of things. the weather was crazy, with a heat index of over 100 early in the week and then tons of thunderstorms and rain at the end of the week, culminating with tropical storm ernesto on thursday night/friday morning. the flooding and rain was enough to get us out of school, so with justin's car in the shop, we headed to raleigh to put his macbook in the shop as well. both of these visits should hopefully take care of the immediate problems. i did get lunch at the cheesecake factory out of it (with a white chocolate peanut butter truffle cheesecake slice--yum!), so definitely worth the trip :)

saturday was spent car shopping--not terribly exciting, but necessary when justin's looking at getting a new car sometime next month. he's leaning towards a jetta or a civic--still a little bit of time for him to decide.
sunday we got up and headed towards pittsboro to have lunch with the family, and then back towards chapel hill for my cousin meghan's wedding. it was the first jewish wedding any of us had been to, so the boys got to wear the complimentary yamukahs (with the names of the couple and date printed on the inside) and the program offered some great explanations on the symbolism of the wedding ceremony. the ceremony was outdoors on a shaded patio area--overlooking the golf course and lake. gorgeous, a little warm, but overall, a very neat experience.



we were then able to go upstairs in the clubhouse after the wedding and enjoy the cocktail hour before dinner. it was great to see all of the family that had come in for the wedding and people that we hadn't seen since our own engagement. though our wedding will not be anything close to the size of this one, it was fun to pick up some ideas and enjoy being a guest while knowing you're also planning a wedding. we all ended up out on the terrace and enjoyed some of the drinks and snacks before heading into the ballroom for dinner.






dinner was served after the introduction of the couple, a few toast and a big welcome to all of us. they went all out with the dinner, including a four course meal, live band, chocolate fountain, and following the cake-cutting, lots of dancing. we got to see some of the traditional jewish dances, lots of beach music and shagging, and just some plain crazy wedding dancing. it was entertaining, to say the least. justin and i headed back before it got too late, and we were able to enjoy our labor day holiday with kenny, stephanie and kaleb, and a cook-out with the church crew.


i know i've been mentioning the changes i've made to my office at work, and i finally got a chance to put up some of the pictures. i painted it blue over the summer, and then this past week, i decided to add some butterflies to my main wall--just to brighten the place up a little bit more. i finished them today, so i thought i'd give you a nice view of what you see coming down the hall as you look into the window at my office. very kid-friendly, and it just makes me happier to be in there. i had a blast painting those, and it makes me miss my crafty stuff. gotta find an outlet for that at some point...





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

head first...

into the school year.

so i'm happy to be back, and i'm happy to see all my students and spend time with my friends and feel productive! and begin the whole counseling process again. it's taken a while to adjust, though, but i feel like i'm finally back on track. we kicked it all off with open house on tuesday night, my first day back and teaching my health class on wednesday, and my first "thank goodness it's friday" of the year at the end of our abbreviated week.

i also had the joy of celebrating justin's birthday this week, with a lovely dinner out and more shopping for the nintendo ds. we're definitely trying out the whole "sharing" aspect of the ds, even though it was his birthday present, because i have discovered the fabulously entertaining mini-games with the super mario brothers, mariokart (always one of my favorites), brain age (my purchase!) and tetris. all games we can both enjoy, and enjoy we have :)

we headed to fayetteville on saturday this weekend to celebrate mom's birthday today. it was also the first time we'd been to hay street since the engagement, so it was nice to see lots of family friends and visit with them. we have ideas of what needs to happen next with wedding planning, but they just haven't happened yet. i'm trying to keep a positive attitude without stressing out too much when it seems like "the list" is building up. it's very easy to get overwhelmed with the details that are way off in the future--but in the end, the time will fly by, it will only be a one day event, and the only thing that will matter is the fact that justin and i are happily married.

in the meantime, we have finished up the process of selecting our attendants (bridesmaids and groomsmen) and will soon have a caterer and perhaps even a florist. all in due time :)

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

three days til the children come...

so, the faculty meetings have begun and we're in full swing preparing for the school year. i enjoyed my last few days of the summer doing some tutoring and getting together with my other teachers friends. we also did a lot to get ready for justin's move on friday. he picked up the truck in the morning, and friday afternoon, we spent about two hours moving his stuff out, putting half of it in storage and splitting the rest of it between his room at heather's and my room. it's nice to have that taken care of, and they should be able to clean it over the next week or so before the end of the month. it was HOT, though, on friday, and i was never so glad to be moving. i've lost my tolerance for the mid-summer heat, and it's hard to believe that i used to be able to stand out in it for hours on end at band camp.

speaking of band camp, i was able to relive some of my "glory days" with the marching pirates on saturday. dr. knighten let us know about a marching pirates alumni event that evening (which included some great parker's barbeque). it was awesome to see some of the former marching pirates people, especially courtney (always a pleasure!) and some other past ECUMP leaders. the evening would not be complete without a small group joining the sousaphones for the pre-game run-on. good times, good times.

AND i got the exciting news last night that there's another engaged girl out there that will be planning along with me--linda and brandon will be tying the knot next summer! i'm so happy for them and couldn't think of a better couple out there :)

we had justin's family birthday celebration tonight at his mom's house. it was great to see everyone and i went ahead and gave him his gift--a nintendo ds lite. he knew he was getting it and went ahead and bought a game to go with it. so now we're figuring out all the neat features on it (with the promise that he will use some of his birthday money for a sports coat--a necessity for a wedding we're going to next month).

okay, that's all for now. good luck on the start of school! later, y'all :)

and now...

we have a preacher! everyone say "woo hooo!"

you've gotta rejoice in the little things when your "theknot.com" list still has 170 items to be checked off.

planning continues...

more details now...

so...adding some pictures from inside the kyle house now. there are four major rooms, all decorated in the historical style with lots of great architectural details--14 ft ceilings, chandeliers, ornate cornices and a great staircase in the center that leads up to the second floor. there is a foyer that connects the house to the episcopal church beside it, and then they have a great back lawn where we could put up a tent and tables if need be, as well as a playground for the kids. not to mention the huge magnolia trees in the front with the covered front porch. it just fit the size that we needed, with lots of options for mingling and places for people to sit and talk. our big decision had been deciding what kind of reception we wanted, and after we discussed the rehearsal dinner and what that would involve, we agreed that it would provide the "sit-down meal" that justin's northern instincts wanted and the reception could be more of a classic southern deal. so check mark for that one :)

besides the reception research, it's been a busy weekend. friday evening was the kenny chesney concert in raleigh--i went with justin's family (scott, melissa, tyler and destiny) and we all had such a great time. it's amazing how that type of concert can bring out the redneck in people. more overalls, straw hats and lack of shirts than i've seen in a long time. i also got to see maggie and baxter before we left fayetteville on saturday--always great to visit them. this afternoon was spent going to raleigh to pick up justin's newly fixed computer from the apple store, and to extend the trip (so it wasn't a 3 hour round trip for a 15 minute task) we stopped in and visited matthew cook for a little while. i miss having him closeby for our weekly chats, but it's still nice to have our catch-up conversations every now and then.

i start work again on wednesday...where has the summer gone?

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

we can check another one off...

we've decided on a reception site--the kyle house, built in 1855.

(sorry for the crappy picture--i forgot to take any of the outside of the building, so this is the only one we could find online)

more info to come.... :)

here we go, here we go again...

for your entertainment...


and yes, here we go again. into the school year, into another move, into wedding planning and everything else these next few months will bring.

so yeah, there's one more week of tutoring and then faculty meetings will begin, followed by the school year. i'm excited about seeing what this school year will be like--the changes with the new building, meeting new students, seeing some of my old favorites, spending time with my friends everyday instead of just one or two days a week like this summer. getting started on those LCSW hours and also trying my hand at teaching (health class for 9th and 10th). i cannot say enough how much i love my job and how perfect it is for me at this moment.

another move...for justin. atleast i don't have to move this summer. but justin's roommate is moving out and we're unfortunately 4 months short of needing a year long lease. so the most economical solution we've come up with is for justin to scatter his stuff around greenville for the next eight months, stay in the extra bedroom at his sister's place and save money for our many upcoming needs (new car, new house, new furniture, etc.) i'll be keeping a few things here, so that's led me to clean up here and throw out some of my stuff that needed to be purged. and so as not to impose on his sister, he'll be over here more often for dinner and to use my internet and tv, etc. so it'll give us a good taste of how we handle more of the "day to day" stuff together. so far, so good :) but it does stink to have to move in august--again. oh well... it'll be over soon.

and as far as wedding planning, we're heading to fayetteville this saturday to take a look at reception sites. we have a couple of ideas in mind, but after seeing them in person, i'm hoping we'll be able to reserve and have that detail taken care of. as long as i have the big details taken care of by the end of the month, i'll feel good about it.

this past weekend kept us busy, with lots of errands on friday, then our "fun with h2O" event at church and some car work on saturday, and on sunday, a trip to raleigh for lunch at carraba's, a visit to the apple store and a quick catch-up with justin's cousin before he heads back to california. lots of stuff going on, but it's all good...

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

mid-week post

so we have a date penciled in... now just following up on the rest of the details. at least having one thing done makes me feel better :)

i've been spending a lot of my free afternoons cleaning up and throwing out old stuff, since i know i will have to consolidate it at some point in the future. it's amazing how much old stuff i've held on to, and also how just seeing a piece of paper or little trinket will totally take you back to that stage in your life. i ran across a bunch of old movie ticket stubs in my desk drawer and i could tell you who i saw each movie with and where it was and about when it was. i also found enough important papers to fill up my new file box i bought around tax time (after i got in trouble for not keeping better track of my paperwork.) and i've taken a lot of pictures through out the years--even found some negatives (from the pre-digital days). i think for all of these reasons, i should get into scrapbooking. the trouble would be actually trying to organize all of these things into some sort of scrapbook. i'm just not sure i'm ready to make that jump, cause i'm somewhat afraid of the time and money that i would inevitably end up spending...

and it's hot. let me just put that out there. it's reaaaaaaally hot.

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

vacation is over...

and school is two weeks away... sigh.

but i did have an excellent vacation along the outer banks with mom and grandma.

we headed towards the beach and stopped at all the little coastal towns, visiting historic districts, estuariums and local restaurants. once in manteo and nags head, we did all the touristy stuff--festival park where the elizabeth II is docked, fort raleigh, the aquarium, the lost colony, and the elizabethan garden where i had a great time taking some pictures...

loved this gate--


and the statues...and with all this "elizabeth" stuff, i did enjoy seeing elizabeth play in the concert at the festival park friday night amongst heat lightning storms. beautiful music, but scary skies!

in manteo, we relaxed one evening along the waterfront and watched boats coming in and out of the harbor...
and on the way back, we stopped in columbia and edenton for some more historic districts...


more pictures up on flickr as well--check 'em out!

fun stuff? finding a "life is good" store that had stuff from the past couple of years that has long been off the website. enjoying some relaxing beach time. and having dinner with justin's mom and stepdad when we came back into town--along with seeing justin for the first time in five days--i was starting to miss him a bit ;)

so now it's two more weeks of tutoring, a couple of weekends starting the wedding planning process, and before you know it, school will be here. i'm off to enjoy the remainder of my summer vacation :) later, y'all.