April 30, 2012

weekends in april

The past two weekends have been full of exciting things! Last weekend, Mike and I got to enjoy a long weekend at Pawley's Island with our community group leaders, Will & Toni. It was glorious [and I may have gotten sunburned]. We laid out when the weather permitted, hung around the house and watched a lot of baseball when it didn't and ate ourselves silly. I hope this summer is full of weekend trips just like this one.


sunday afternoon
rain @ the beach
mikey watchin' the storm

This weekend was my sweet, handsome, little brother's first prom! I had the joy of taking pictures of him and some of his friends at Furman -- enjoy! (:


Carson
my handsome, grown up "little" brother (: 

DSC01865
Sarah & Carson 


Elledge, Mikey & Carson
Elledge, Mikey & Carson

the group
Group Shot

C&S again
last one, i promise 

Next up: more pictures of the progress on the house! 

April 25, 2012

window boxes

We're still working on the house. We'll probably always be working on the house. Now that the weather is nice outside Mike has been itchin' to get some work done on the outside of the house [never mind that we still have painting and windows to trim on the inside...boys (:]. Last Saturday Mike's g-ma, Gram treated us to lunch and then went plant shopping with us. We had a gift card and some of Mike's birthday money in pocket so we headed over to Martin's Nursery to see what we could find! Our knowledge of plants is slim nonexistent, so after wandering around for a few minutes we snagged an employee and got a little help. He basically told us if something was sitting out in the sun it was a "full exposure" plant, meaning that it can stand to be in the sun for long periods of time. Excellent. The front of our house has NO shade, so we needed a lot of these puppies. We ended up with some purples, yellows and whites along with some herbs. We are ecstatic with how they turned out! With a little watering and the rain that we've gotten they're growing beautifully! Next up on the "outside list" - shutters. 

side window

freshly planted window boxes

pretty little purples

Sweet Gram!

*this last picture is Gram workin' hard ... it has been so neat to have her help us work on this house -- the house that she raised her family in! (: 

April 18, 2012

our first real lake trip in 2k12

Over Easter Mike, Carson & I headed to the lake for our first real lake trip this year. While there wasn't enough water to put the boat in this go 'round, we did have plenty of sun to lay out in! On Friday it was just plum cold, so we ventured to the outlets in Commerce, GA for some new duds. Friday evening our sweet friends Matt and Amanda met us back at the lake house with their 2 precious babies, David and Ethan. They brought Mike's truck back to us because we'd left it in Athens the weekend before for Matt's papa, Steve to work on. On Saturday Mikey fixed everyone waffles for breakfast, one of our favorite lakehouse traditions. We hung around the house until lunch time when we met Mike & Kayla at The Carolina Pizza Co. for a lunch of pizza! Once back at the house, the sun was warming the dock without us on it, so we packed up and headed down for the afternoon. The boys decided it would be a good idea [and it was] to take an old TV down to the newly electrically wired dock for some Super Nintendo. They had a blast playing super old video games while laying partly in the shade and partly in the sun...which left them with a nice half burn tan. (:

David @ the lake

Baby E enjoyin' the shade on the new dock


<3 him


Mikey & D


David loved the water! It was so fun to watch him "swim" around with Mikey and Matt - he'll be swimming on his own by the end of the summer! And sweet Baby E lounged around on the dock like a champ!

April 13, 2012

Travel List Challenge

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I LOVE to travel. Seriously, I don’t care where I’m going or what for, I just love to travel. Thankfully for me, my Mikey loves to travel as much as I do. Together we’ve been to Costa Rica twice, on a cruise with the Martins to the Bahamas, walked from GA to NY together, climbed Mt. Katahdin with Loop at the end of the AT, been on a mission trip with Grace to Eluethra, and skied out in Crested Butte 3 times. It may not seem like much, but we’re working on our 3rd year of marriage, people! We’ve also been to the beach / coast of SC several times and while I count that as traveling [you do have to pack a bag!] I know most people probably wouldn’t count that. We’re currently working on an anniversary trip for our 3rd anniversary this year! We aren’t quite settled on where we’re going, but have a pretty good idea—more on that later! AND – I have a weekend trip coming up in May to visit my sweet friend Alexa in New York with my soon-to-be-married cousin, Amber! To say I’m excited for this getaway girl’s weekend is an understatement! (:
I found this Travel List Challenge and thought for sure I’d have been to more places than I have! There are a couple of places that I’ve been awfully close to, but not actually in – so I didn’t count those. This literally makes me want to pack my bag and buy an “around the world” plane ticket…do those even exist?! As soon as I checked through the list I told Mike that my passport was itchin' for another stamp, and soon! Check out the list … Where have you been that I haven’t and is it worth it!? Any recommendations from the list that are a “must see?”  (Or any that aren’t on the list?!)


Travel List Challenge:





San Antonio, Texas, USA
Granada, Spain
Bahamas
Venezuela
Angkor, Cambodia
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
Australia
London, England
Polynesia
London, England
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Seville, Spain
Mexico
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Italy
Rome, Italy
Oregon, USA
Israel/Jordan
California, USA
Wyoming, USA
Jerusalem, Israel
Polynesia
Edinburgh, Scotland
Paris, France
New York City, New York, USA
Beijing, China
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Ecuador
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Alaska, USA
Montana, USA
New Zealand
San Francisco, California, USA
Venice, Italy
Arizona, USA
Saudi Arabia
Queensland, Australia
Córdoba, Spain
China
Istanbul, Turkey
Hawaii, USA
Hollywood, Califonia, USA
Argentina and Brazil
Kyoto, Japan
Moscow, Russia
Peru
Barcelona, Spain
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pisa, Italy
Paris, France
Peru
Switzerland
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
New York City, New York, USA
Nepal
Japan
Tanzania
Keystone, South Dakota, USA
California, USA
Tanzania
New York, USA
Paris, France
British Columbia, Canada
Nice, France
Jordan
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Portland, Maine, USA
Madrid, Spain
Egypt
California, USA
Gibraltar
Colorado
Athens, Greece
Pompei, Italy
Barcelona, Spain
Chicago, Illlinois, USA
Czech Republic
Vatican City, Italy
Washington, D.C., USA
Seattle, Washington, USA
Vatican City, Italy
New York City, New York, USA
Wiltshire County, England
Sydney, Australia
Agra, India
Kyoto, Japan
Mexico
Hong Kong, China
New York City, New York, USA
Uttar Pradesh, India
Zimbabwe
Jerusalem, Israel
Orlando, Florida
Washington, D.C., USA
Dover, England
Washington, D.C., USA
Hampshire, England
California, USA
Utah, USA


Here a just a few pictures from some of the places I've checked off the list! (:

the arch!
the Gateway Arch
on our way back from skiing in CB for Spring Break 2009 

Time Square
Times Square, NY 

collesium
Me & My Best in the Coliseum in Rome 2007

Pompeii
Sarah, me & Melissa in Pompeii - 2007


Venice
the Grand Canal - Venice, Italy 


on top of the MET
on top of the MET - Summer 2011

light house in maine
this isn't the Portland Head Lighthouse [I went before I had a fancy camera, so those pictures are definitely not on my computer -- but it was close enough]