Thursday, August 20, 2009

Seriously? Seriously.

As I trolled through the UK, I was planning blog posts in my head.
One is funny things we saw while in the U.K.
Like this, for example:
Everything's a pound, indeed.

(Get ready peeps, there's more of that coming your way soon!)

Another was the fashion.
But I don't have to do that post, because I just read it right here. Glad I'm not the only crazy one who noticed that stuff... So go read that stuff and just pretend I wrote it, k?

Friday, August 14, 2009

mind the gap (reader's digest version)

So at some point, I'll go back through and do a real post... probably a series of posts about our vacation, but for now, here are some of our favorite pictures. (We took close to 3,000 so consider yourselves lucky that I'm taking it easy today.) ;)


london bridge is falling down...
except this isn't london bridge. this is tower bridge. common mistake.


seeing Big Ben made me feel like I was really in london
except Big Ben is the bell inside, so I didn't really see Big Ben, but whatever.

such good weather!!

outside buckingham palace


that should seriously be a poster


the reason we went in the first place. look how smart he looks!

gorge.

j and tha' minster.

we had lots and lots and lots of these. seriously. sometimes 6 a day...

at the Temple Bar

when in doublin, drink guinness!!

see? i wasn't kidding.

gaelic

what can i say, paris spoiled me forever...


we were kind of obsessed with the guinness storehouse



the biggest beer i ever did see...

from the gravity bar while we drank our free (not really) pints


he's in heaven, people. ancient stuff and armor everywhere.

we couldn't not see oscar. what a stud.

a dublin sky

back in london


oxford

elementary, my dear j


look *really* closely. the swede who took our picture didn't zoom as well as he could have...

footbridge

our tube stop

st. pauls

I want to go back RIGHT.NOW. It wasn't cheap, but it was so worth finally going on our *real* honeymoon. Love you dear, and so glad we did it! :)

I don't know if you'd heard...

... but it's football season again.

I don't know what tipped me off... the late summer heat, the enthusiasm about getting home fast, or the LOUD expletives coming from the living room.

He's also taken to turning the expletives into "good dogs!" because it freaks the heck out of the dogs when he yells. That just doesn't happen much around here...

For a quiet, mild-mannered guy, he sure gets passionate about his football...

:)

p.s. he just read me writing this and said "it's not real yet! it's just the pre-season!"

J, I love you, even if you are an avid football fanatic.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

where do I start...

I have so much to update on this blog, I don't even know where to begin...
So I'm going to start with our beach vacation with my family. We've been several times to the same island in the very southernmost part of North Carolina, but it's been a few years since we've gone. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to go back! SO, we packed up the "kids," piled the car with our stuff, and started on a long road trip!


Celebrating our arrival ...
With dinner at Ella's (our FAVORITE restaurant ever!)
I was very, very set on not going deep sea fishing. I know better than that. But after explaining that it would be easier to let me stay at home than whine the whole time, my siblings (and everyone else) wouldn't quit pestering me. So I gulped down some dramamine, and went along for the ride...
The guys fishing:
J trying to find a big fish
Turns out the meds were a good choice... since those that didn't take them ended up VERY sick. I kept saying, "you have to respect the ocean!"

I spent a couple of days working while we were there to make the vacation time work, but still had time to have some fun. How awesome is this sunset?!?


My aunt and uncle live in NC, so they spent the week at the beach as well. So much fun to get sibling and cousin hang-out time!
We even squeezed in some put-put. (I, of course, did not keep score, and ended up getting a gold star at one hole and a smiley face at another)

All of us after the last hole:

We also made sure we had some fun shopping time while near so many outlet malls. While we were there, we also managed to find our way to Margaritaville!

The last day there, we took the dogs to the beach for the first time. We weren't sure what they'd think, but they had a good time! Both kind of pranced in the sand (they couldn't figure out why it slid away when they walked), and ran into the water a bit... until a wave came and they decided that was the end of the water.

A big thanks to Mom and Dad for our family vacation! We had a great time, and were so glad we could make it work.