2012- A Look Back

2012 was a great year.  It wasn't filled with major life transitions or monumental events, but it was filled with the people I love.  

January: We went to 12 straight nights of Code Orange Revival at church and it was an amazing way to start the new year.

February: We celebrated Love Week at church.

March: We went to the NeedtoBreathe concert.

April: We traveled to Atlanta for a few days during Spring Break.

May: We traveled a lot.  We went to Wilmington for my sister's graduation and then to Edisto for Brandon's cousin's wedding.

June: We went to San Diego and I volunteered at Camp 658 with some amazing kids.  Oh yeah, and Brandon broke his ankle.

July: I watched one of my closest friends get married. We celebrated the Olympics and were glued to the t.v. for the next month.

August: We celebrated our second wedding anniversary!  Oh and school started back.

September: We went to Myrtle Beach for Labor Day and my cousin got married.

October: We went to Raleigh for our annual Wolfpack football game and we got tickets to the Panthers game that same weekend.  Brandon began traveling for work and was in Florida for two weeks, so I went to visit!

November: We ran the Color Run!

December:  We went to the Panthers game, celebrated Christmas, and prepared to ring in the new year.  

                           Bring it on 2013!!  I know it will be great!!!

I'm Back

I'm back. I needed to take a little hiatus from blogging.  I can't really pinpoint a reason, I just didn't have the creativity nor passion for it at the time.  Needless to say, it is good to be back.  The past month has been nothing short of crazy.  Back in June, Brandon started a new job.  We knew that there was the possibility of him traveling on occasion.  Well, the traveling hit big time.  No it wasn't a day here, a day there.  I got a call at work on a Monday at the beginning of the month from him.  "I'm going to Florida tomorrow...for a week".  "Um, okay..."  So off to Florida he went.  Now understand, we have never been apart since we have been married and rarely while we were dating, so this was an adjustment.  It went fine and he came back home that next week.  Okay, great he traveled, did his work thing, now he's back home right?  Nope.  Four days later they send him to Florida again for the day.  He's back that evening.  Then he tells me, he going to be in Florida for the next TWO weeks.  What?!  Yep, he's been in Florida for practically the whole month of October.  

So, what does a wifey do with her hubby in Florida for a month?  We go to Disney!  Duh!!  I flew down for the weekend to visit between weeks.  I flew standby to try to save money.  Good idea, right?  Wrong!  I didn't get on two flights Thursday night.  Bawling my eyes out in the airport, I sulk back to my car only to drive back the following morning.  I made it on the Friday morning flight.  Praise Jesus!  A serious meltdown may have occurred otherwise.  

Upon arrival Friday, we rented a kayak and set out to find some manatees or "tees" as Brandon calls them.  We kayaked for about an hour and a half with no luck.  We did see some beautiful springs, some flying fish, and some raccoons, but no tees.  Then right as we were turning around I say "wait I think I saw something".  Totally skeptical he kayaked over to the spot.  We sat for about a minute then a manatee nose rises up out of the water.  It was amazing.  We were surrounded by a herd of them!  Just the two of us in a kayak.  One of the best experiences ever.  

 
 That Saturday we drove the two hours to Orlando to Disney World!  Yes, we are 25 years old, but Disney is awesome!  We rode all the classics: Space Mountain, Tea Cups, It's a Small World, etc.  It was great to have a spontaneous vacation in the midst of a tough situation.  Yes, I did have to buy a 1-way ticket to get back home after not getting on another flight, but hey it was totally worth it. 

San Diego Part 2

So we left off on Monday at Sea World.  Here's the rest of our photo tour, enjoy!

Tuesday: We went on a trolley tour through San Diego and hit some major spots, including Balboa Park, eating our way through Little Italy, and Old Town.  To be honest, the trolley tour was not the best I've been on.  The trolleys didn't follow the time schedule and we ended up missing some of the sights, which resulted in me yelling down the street after we missed three trolleys in a row because they weren't on schedule.  Of course, Brandon made fun of me the rest of the week for it.  However, Balboa Park is stunning.  So pretty!

Wednesday: This was one of my favorite days!  We went to the zoo!!  You all know that San Diego is famous for it's zoo and it did not disappoint.  I love how natural feeling it is and how many different exhibits there were.  It was fabulous!

Thursday:  This was the day I had been looking forward to for a long time.  We went to La Jolla and kayaked the sea caves.  I love doing outdoorsy things and was excited to try sea kayaking.  The conditions weren't stable for us to actually go in the caves, but it was still a fun experience.  After kayaking, we explored La Jolla.  Their shores are beautiful.  Sea Lions and Seals are all over the place and will come right up to swimmers in the coves.  It was awesome to see all of the wildlife. 

Overall, our trip was amazing.  San Diego is a wonderful city with so many different things to do.  Where are you all traveling this summer??