Winter Vacation:

Plane tickets have been booked for a fun family weekend of skiing and undoubtedly lots of white russians for next month!



Although I saw most of my family when they came down for my graduation, it still seems like an eternity since I have spent time with them given the hectic nature of that graduation weekend. I am thrilled to hang out and hit the slopes! (Although it has been five years since I have been skiing, so I have no delusions of mogul jumping or double black diamonds. Not in the least.)

Qualifications:

Something that I definitely want out of my future career: The ability to travel. Not all the time... I love Lily far too much to be gone constantly, but a conference in New York or a project in Dallas every now and again would be amazing.

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I am just dying to see every corner of this beautiful country of ours!

Bicycle Envy:

My roommate recently brought up her grandfather's old bicycle. Every now and again I take it out for a spin after work. It always puts a smile on my face to go whipping around our turn-about here in my complex.


Isn't is splendid!? It is so much fun to ride... I want one of my very own, but in turquoise, please!

An Addiction to Addiction:

One of the highlights of my current relationship? He shared this with me. And now I am eternally grateful, because it is nothing short of amazing...

It is a show that follows comedian Zane Lamprey all around the world as he partakes in local drinking customs with true locals and usually gets highly inebriated in the process. It is called "Three Sheets". It. is. great.


Not only is it fun and humorous, it is also highly educational... That is if you want to learn more about booze. Thus far I have seen the episodes about Moscow and Barcelona... I think that Costa Rica will be next on my list. Best of all? It can be watched online here and here. So go forth, watch an episode about the city in the world you would like to visit most, and enjoy.

(Editor's note: This program is best experienced with a stout rum and coke or Yuengling.)

West Virginia:

(This Memorial Day weekend recap is long overdue seeing as it is now Thursday. Whoops.)

So Kayla and I headed for her parent's home in West Virginia last Thursday immediately after work. It took about 8 hours to get there, which meant that we didn't arrive until 2:30 am. We were exhausted, but we woke up bright and early the next morning and commenced our fun weekend...

This is the view from the porch of the 25 acres that they have just north of Charleston...


They have 7 horses, 4 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 goats on the property, all of which we got to care for and play with throughout the weekend. The days were spent doing things around the farm, tearing through the creek in the 4-wheeler, and riding horses, while the nights were spent sitting on the porch, drinking, and telling tales. It was so incredibly nice to be out in the country, help out with the animals, and do a lot of relaxing.

This is one of the kittens, Rebel...


One of the mares, Dusty...


Kayla heading to the barn on the 4-wheeler...


Lily hanging out on the porch and evidence of my utilization of my boots...


A four day old colt...


One of the baby fillies...


Lily enjoying the wind at the tail end of our roadtrip...


The trip simply solidified my life-long dream of having a horse of my very own. I spent the majority of my teenage years working with horses every summer, so it was definitely nice to be surrounded by them once again.

Don't be surprised if I end up with one in the next year... it is very feasible...

Real Dude Stuff:

I did something slightly out of character this weekend... I went with the boyfriend to Americus, Georgia to the "deer camp" he frequents. I am not going to lie, I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I signed up for this little adventure...

We planted corn and cantaloupe, filled deer feeders, ate smoked ribs, shot lots of guns, cuddled by the fire at night, had a giggling fit for at least 20 minutes straight when we were supposed to be quiet, cleared the roads of trees that had fallen during a recent storm, ate more great food, and got the 4-wheeler stuck in the swamp. This is what Jake likes to call "real dude stuff", which always makes me chuckle.

Here is Jimmy, our gracious host, and Jake doing some shooting...


Here were some of the perks: Getting to use my cowboy boots in a more fitting manner, being outside all weekend, lots of new experiences, I got to take some really great polaroids, and of course spending time with Jake.

But there were also some downfalls: I didn't get to go up in a deer stand like I had wanted, we didn't have much alone time, and worst of all, the bugs were horrendous. Mosquitoes love me, so I have bites pretty much all over my body despite liberally applying bug spray multiple times a day. Ugh. A suburban girl like me wasn't used to this in the least.

Obviously the pros of the weekend far outweighed the cons though, and it was great to see what Jake loves so much. Needless to say I am definitely looking forward to going down there again at some point!

Sheeping:

I had yet another wonderful weekend...

Saturday we drove up to Amicalola Falls. It was kind of a long drive but the weather was absolutely beautiful, so I didn't mind one bit.


I would have liked to do more actual hiking, but the route to the falls consists of a ridiculous amount of stairs, and after a late night on Friday, I was entirely too tired to embark on any long trails after that. Another reason was that Lily was unable to walk on the metal grating that the stairs were made of, so I was forced to carry her on my shoulders (something I like to call "sheeping", because, ya know, that's how shepherds carry sheep...) up the 174 stairs. 40 lbs never felt so heavy...

She was such a good girl though! I was very happy with her, and she was absolutely exhausted! Here's some proof...

Before:

After:


My weekend also consisted of Farkle, beer pyramids, Wii boxing, deer burgers, and a scrimmage softball game (in which I totally got a run despite being in flip-flops)... Again, what a great weekend!

USVI Part 7:

You'll never guess what finally happened... I got my hands on the pictures from my last night in St. Croix! Wahoo!

Well... wait a minute... what happened to those pictures from the boardwalk? And the ones from Brew Pub? Dammit. I suppose those were lost forever or something. Who knows? Anyways, here is what I was sent:





My wonderful host for the week, Alli and I!

Seeing more pictures just brought back so many memories of my trip... Yet again, I absolutely cannot wait to move to paradise! 94 days and counting! (And yes, I was a little sunburnt... but it was okay since it was my last day on island.)

Roadtrippin, Part Deux:

Here are some more pictures and Kayla and I's trip up to Asheville this past weekend...

Here we are with Kayla's stallion, Capps, who ended up winning two second place ribbons in the show:


Don't ask me how I realized this, but Capps loved the smell of our fruity gum and whenever we would blow it into his nose, he would raise his upper lip in pure delight:


And yet another picture of our new boots:


The trip definitely made me miss the long summers I would spend at the barn when I was younger... My sister and I would work all week long in the hot sun just to be able to get in riding time every Friday afternoon. It was totally worth it. I've now resolved that I absolutely have to have horses one day, just like I used to dream about when I was a little girl.

Roadtrippin:

My best friend Kayla and I travelled to Asheville, North Carolina this weekend to meet up with her parents at a horse show. They breed Rocky Mountain horses up in West Virginia and were showing one of their stallions there. It's always great to escape Athens, especially with one of my all-time favorite people!

I also love the mountain roads up to Asheville:

Getting gas is an integral part of roadtrips:

I was having fun with the mirrors:

It was awesome to finally meet her wonderfully kind and hilarious parents, but the highlight of the trip was definitely the purchases that we made:

My boots:

Kayla's boots:

It was a quick one-night getaway, but we had fun nonetheless. (Which we always do!)

USVI Part 6:

Okay, I don't know how long it is going to be until J.R. posts those final pictures and I am absolutely bursting at the seams with this news!

First, I almost stayed an extra four days to participate in the St. Patty's day celebrations. I called the airline and my friend was willing to pitch it towards the transfer fees... Unfortunately I knew that I was going to be bombarded with school work when I returned and felt it would be the responsible thing to leave as planned on Thursday. I have been kicking myself for this decision ever since.

Second, one of the friends I met while down there is coming to Georgia in a couple of weeks! He just so happens to have a wedding to attend in Atlanta and plans to make a trip to Athens to experience our drinking scene. I'm definitely excited to see him again.

Third, after having the absolute best time of my life, I decided that I will be moving to St. Croix this summer! Originally I was hoping to make the journey almost immediately following graduation, but there have been a couple of snags in my planning due to apartment lease issues and getting Lily down there so I don't think I'll be able to make it down until July. Either way, my heart is set on the island life and I am already counting the days until I am back on the beach with a rum and coke in hand!

So be prepared... many posts about my excitement as well as the involved process of moving across an ocean to follow!

USVI Part 5:

Here's a little trivia for you: Where is the Easternmost point of the United States? Maine? No. St. Croix? Yes...


Yeah, I didn't know that either. There were some really steep cliffs that made for some deadly waves, but the views were beautiful...


So everyone has one of these, called hook bracelets and originally designed right on St. Croix. Alli's (on the left) is turned that way because she is taken and mine (on the right) displays my single status. Since both guys and girls where these, it was very easy to just glance at someone's wrist while at the bar to immediately know their relationship status. I haven't taken mine off since I got it, including showers and to sleep. I absolutely love it...


So it was Monday night and we were heading to see Alli's boyfriend DJ at one of the beach bars on the other side of the island. We chose to get the party started a little early...


Since Alli had to work the next day, her mother took me to lunch at their country club. The view was wonderful...


She then took me all around the island showing me some of the prettiest beaches and coolest views...


There is a Romanian Countess who has a home on the island. Here you can just barely see her enormous palace on the top of that hill...


Unfortunately I am waiting for J.R. to post the pictures he took from my last few nights in town, and therefore can't share the best stories of the entire trip until he does so!

Be aware though, everything has been and will continue to be censored... If you'd like to know what really went down, we would have to go out for cocktails sometime. They're a touch on the ridiculous side...

USVI Part 4:

We went to another beach the next day as well, even though the crazy winds had returned, resulting in sand pelting our faces as we tried to nap in the sun...


Alli's roommate Sarah Jean and her Rastafarian boyfriend, Bayo, are so incredibly nice and so adorably in love...


Alli's boyfriend, J.R., created this set up in order for matches to be able to light in the crazy wind. We'll leave that at that...


Sandy Point was absolutely beautiful and there were tons of locals grilling out and having a good time...


We then went to have a late lunch and this was immediately to my left...


Next, we went to go see one of the many sugar mills that are scattered around the island. The history major in me was absolutely thrilled...


The next day Alli and I headed up to her parents beautiful home on the East End. This was the view that she had from her bed every morning when she was still staying with them...


And the other side...


Just wait, there's more...

USVI Part 3:

We made it to St. Croix without any problems. My memory is actually kind of fuzzy as to what we did on which particular night, but I figure I'll just share some stories. Chronology isn't that important, right?

Anyways, this was the view from the balcony in Christiansted that I awoke to. Can you just barely see the ocean? We'll count it as an "ocean view", regardless...



One of the nights we went to a "jungle party". It was basically an excuse to drink even more than the islanders normally do (which, trust me, is a lot) and wear close to nothing whilst doing it. Mardi gras beads, tribal face painting, and palms are "jungle", right?


I was unaccustomed to the drinking habits of the Cruzans, but I definitely learned my lesson after that night. So we went to the beach to have a relaxing day...


We also went up into the rainforest to a farm where Alli's brother lives. After chasing the thing for 30 minutes, I finally got up the courage to hold the baby goat that had just been born...


(Does this look familiar? And please excuse the terrified look on my face... the momma was coming to bite me for taking away her little one. Whoops.) There was also a tree swing by a tree house that looked straight out of Swiss Family Robinson...



More adventures to come...