Goose Creekin It

A couple weekends ago I once again packed my suitcase and office in a box and took off to spend a week at home in SC with my family. 

Dan was so busy with work and school, plus I needed a break from working in the basement all day, so off I went. 

I once again worked from home and just enjoyed being around my family. 

My mom and I took on a couple of projects as well. We worked on top secret homemade Christmas presents (be afraid family...very afraid) and I was able to make presents for 4 people. I have decided to try and get Christmas presents done before Thanksgiving (so that then all I will have to stress over is the upcoming move and where we will live in Provo) and I must say I have become quite obsessive. Since I've been back in DC I have made 3 more presents and ordered two. I have detailed lists and bug Dan to death to help me come up with ideas. 

Anyway, I digress. 

My mom also decided that she wanted to turn her back room into a craft/sewing/office room. The first step was getting something that she could organize all her craft/sewing stuff so that it is in one place. She saw an idea on Pinterest (yes the bug has bitten my momma as well, it may have been a bigger one than bit me actually) for a chest of drawers that had fabric modge podged onto the front of the drawers. FAB. 

So we set out to our local thrift stores in search for a chest of drawers when we struck gold at our local Habitat for Humanity Store. There we found a double chest of drawers (10 drawers people) and desk. Turns out they were old dorm furniture from a local college. They were a little banged up, but my dad can handle his own with a hammer and we were planning to paint AND the price was right so we got them. 

I should have taken before pics and for that matter after pics as well, but I did get one on my phone of the finished desk. 

Fun right?

The chest of drawers turned out pretty slammin as well. 

My mom is going to paint the room a really light yellow, put up some fab curtains, as well as a Pinterest inspired rug she is making and I can't wait to see the finished product. 

It just so happened that the Race for the Cure was the same weekend I was home so I got to participate with my mom's salon's team. I walked in honor of my Mema and it was a great time for a great cause. They raised over a million dollars just that day! 

My mom, me, and little sis Caroline

Caroline and I with our cousin Courtney

I have been so grateful to be within driving distance of my family. I sure will miss that. 

And as always at the end of my trip I got to come home to my Dan. 

And we lived Happily Ever After.

Mt. Vernon is my dream home

Last weekend Dan and I resumed our tourist activities around DC. It's pretty crazy that we are only here for another two months so we better get on the ball if we are going to see it all! (poet anyone?)

On Saturday the weather was beautiful so we decided to go explore Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home. 

Turns out that Mt. Vernon is my dream home.

Let me explain. 

There is tons and tons of land which for some odd reason I crave. There were gardens and stables and oh the fabulousness. For some reason I really want a lot of land with a few gardens, horses, and a chicken coop. BUT I don't want to be that far from a bigger city and Mt. Vernon has the location down to a tee. 20 minutes outside of DC and only like 10 from Alexandria. Perfect. 

The view. Mt. Vernon is on the water and the view from the (yet another high point for me) huge back porch is just amazing.

Inside it is colorful and full of life. It looks like somewhere that you could live while being very stylishly decorated (for its time mind you but that is besides the point). There was a huge dining room for entertaining as well as the huge backyard that would ANYONE would want to have a party in. 

Ok so that is why Mt. Vernon is my dream home. 

On a more serious note it was just amazing to wander around where GEORGE WASHINGTON, one of our founding fathers, lived. I just love the patriotic feeling you get and the appreciation of those who paved the way for our freedom. 

The Tombs of Martha and George Washington

After Mt. Vernon we drove to the Georgetown area and walked around the beautiful streets and shops. Hitting up DC Cupcakes was our goal, but it got HOT and the line was literally wrapped around the building. Since I haven't actually ever seen an episode of DC Cupcakes I figured it wasn't worth it. Now if it were The Cake Boss...that would be a different story. 

We had Cheesecake Factory for dinner which was the perfect ending to a perfect day. 

I left the next day to spend a week in SC with my family. More on that to come.

Cameron Crazies!

Bit of a gap here, but we'll pretend there isn't. 

SO

On our way home from the Carolina game we started seeing signs for Duke University. 

It just so happens that Dan is a HUGE Duke fan. Pretty random but it all began when Duke kicked the University of Arizona's (aka Dan's sworn enemy as they are ASU's rival) trash in a basketball game years back. 

ANYWAY

I instantly began mentioning to Dan that we should stop. He had a severe case of THERE'S FOOTBALL ON TV RIGHT NOW THAT I'M MISSING B/C WE ARE DRIVING AND I NEED TO GET HOME SUPER FAST tunnel vision so of course he didn't instantly agree. 

Then reality hit and he realized he had the opportunity to see where his beloved Cameron Crazies wandered on a daily basis and swerved to make his exit (ok there was no swerving, he decided miles before the exit to stop but that sounded WAY more interesting). 

As we pulled up to the campus I saw one of the RAREST occurrences in the whole wide world.....EXCITEMENT shone on Dan's face...this is not a joke. 

So we spent a lovely afternoon on the Duke University campus. It is SO beautiful and we loved every second of our visit. Dan got a shirt at the bookstore, he got to see the lawn where everyone camps out for basketball tickets, he shot hoops in the practice gym, we saw the famous Cameron Stadium, dreamed of spending our MBA days here...(seriously he loves Duke and I love any state that ends in Carolina...a girl can dream right?), and just had a great day. 

It was a nice way to break up all that driving we were doing. 

K-Ville...Dan was loving the dead grass from all the tents

This is what happens when I give Dan the camera...don't judge me...it was a traveling day

Carolina Gamecocks... GO FIGHT WIN! (well not this time, but that's ok)

One of the things I miss most about college are Carolina Football games! What is not to love about dedicating an entire Saturday to tailgating and cheerinng your heart out?

Exactly!

I also really wanted Dan to experience football in the south. 

Since we are only on the east coast for a few more months we decided to go to a game! We got tickets to the Carolina vs. Auburn game and the time FINALLY came to go last weekend.

Friday night we drove to my bestie, and former Carolina roomate, Kelly's apartment in NC.  

Side note: I had previously seen an idea on thedatingdivas.com (FAB website) for a road trip date. It provided cute printables for snacks and games to play. I got all of that ready and it was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend it.

Here's a pic of our road trip date night supplies. 

We headed to Columbia the next morning. We tailgated with Kelly, Darryl, Mr. Steve, and Kelly's sister Heather and her boyfriend and stepson. Mr. Steve is Kelly's dad and he actually took me to my first Carolina game back in elementary school. 

Mr. Steve cooked up so Beaufort Stew, we hung out and played lots of corn hole.

Darryl and Dan getting their Tailgate on

The following are completely realistic and in no way staged photos of our corn hole tossing skills

Doesn't Dan just look like a natural Gamecock?

Mr. Steve with his daughters!

Besties!

The game itself was a bit of a disappointment as we lost...but that's all we will mention of that. 

We had so much fun cheering and sand storming...oh the memories.

We stayed the night in Columbia that night and Dan and I got to take my cousin Courtney out to breakfast the next morning and check out her college! It was so great to see her and see where she lives and goes to school. I'm so proud of the young woman she has become and the standards she has chosen to uphold.

What a great weekend! I love all of our adventures and feel so blessed to have them!

We actually had a pretty cool pit stop on our way home that I will tell you all about next time...