Only 8 Days Late

No, I'm not pregnant. I've meant to post about our weekend that happened over a week ago. We had a fantastic time. We've really enjoyed the extra time that a completed football season has led to. We miss watching games, but Duke is playing now, so Wes is okay. It's nice to get back in the habit of regular life where we have time to do everything we want to do.
Friday was payday for BOTH of us, so we felt like millionaires. We went to Outback for dinner. I could eat just a Blooming Onion for my meal. After dinner, we decided to go by the Fresh Market. I love going in there during the Christmas season. They had so many yummy candies and cakes. We resisted the temptation, though, and we didn't buy a single thing! We then went to see Fred Claus, which is actually a good movie. I wasn't very excited about seeing it, but I ended up loving it. It's very clean, pretty funny, and quite sweet.
On Saturday, I got out early to enjoy a non-crowded Greenridge. I stocked up at Barnes and Noble because teachers could get 20% off. Then I met my mom and my grandmother at a really non-crowded WalMart. Yes, it really exists! It was good to see my grandmother and to shop with them. Wes and I then prepared to go to my school Christmas party. First, we went to Monterrey with Michelle, Katie, and their boyfriend/husband. We thought we might prevent hunger in case there was no good food at the party. It's a good thing we did, because there really wasn't any good food there. We did have a good time at the party, though. There was even a TV with football games on so the girls got to talk without worrying about bored husbands!
Jane, me, Liza, and Michelle - some of my favorite work friends!

A Whole Year

Our first anniversary was on November 18. The first year of marriage has been wonderful, and it has flown by! We have been told by many married couples that we need to celebrate our anniversary together each year. We decided to go to Charleston. We love Charleston, and we always seem to run out of time to do everything that we want to do there. There is a cute bed and breakfast on Queen Street called The Elliott House that we have fallen in love with. We stayed there again, and we were not disappointed.
This is the entrance to The Elliott House.

We checked in and rested up for a bit in our pretty room. Then we went down to the courtyard for a wine and cheese reception. This courtyard is our favorite part of The Elliott House.
Wes took a picture of me in the courtyard from the balcony outside of our room.

We decided to walk around before going to dinner. We walked through the (empty) market and went to Waterfront Park. Surprisingly, there was no line for the swings.
We are so excited because we usually have to wait too long to get a swing!
We walked to Henry's, which is a bar that I really like. I forgot, though, that it was Sunday, so it was quite deserted in there. After a very sad drink, we went to Hank's. Hank's is our new favorite Charleston restaurant. Their crab cakes are so good that they do not need ketchup. They also have an amazing thing called fried mashed potatoes. Delicious!
After dinner, we decided to go on a ghost walk. I had been on one long ago, and it was pretty amusing. We went by or into some graveyards and learned many of the ghost stories that are told in Charleston.
The next morning, we ate breakfast in bed! We had Danish and tea, which Wes mixed perfectly (he is a great mixologist). After breakfast I actually fell back asleep. I never do that! We left our room at checkout time and went to the market. Then I dragged Wes all down King Street. I did not buy one thing. We were so excited about halfway down that it was time to eat lunch at Jestine's Kitchen. Yum! We walked up to the door only to find that they are closed on Mondays. So we kept walking until we found a nice barbecue place that actually had pulled chicken and really good cornbread. It was called Jim N Nick's Barbecue or something like that. We will be going back there. After lunch, we grabbed a cupcake at Cupcake and headed home. I am already planning our next trip back!

My Husband, the Coach

Wes is too good to me. I had a really rough week last week. He listened to me cry and complain every night and he always told me it would be okay. He even showed up at my school on Friday afternoon! He knew that I would have to stay late to get work done on Friday, so he came to keep me company. He even brought Dunkin Donuts...my favorites, Boston Kreme and Strawberry Frosted.
I've been studying for the GRE and he lets me study in the car and he asks me to call out questions to him. It's so much more fun to study if someone else is doing it with you. We are such big nerds that we even took the book in with us to Pete's and we studied before our meal came.
Wes lets me skip his movies on Netflix so that I can get all my The Hills DVDs and watch them. He even tries not to make too much fun of me for watching that show!
The best thing that Wes has done lately is to coach our women's basketball team at church. Between going out of town and his own basketball games, Wes doesn't have a lot of time to spare. He still decided to help us out! We had our first practice last Thursday, and he was the best coach I've ever had. He showed us lots of different drills, and we practice our defense and offense positions. He even let me guard him while we were scrimmaging (this was not him being nice to me...he knew that no other girl would like that job). Coach Page did wear us out, though. I was so sore on Friday night that I thought I had the flu.

What We Did

This weekend was crazy busy for us, at least at first. We went to eat with Jeff and Brittany at our favorite Friday spot, Giovanni's. Wes and I decided to take it easy at home after that, because we had a hectic week.
We were up early on Saturday morning to get ready for the homecoming tailgate at Furman. We enjoyed eating all of the yummy food at the tailgate. Next we watched the football game, where Furman beat Elon in an exciting finish.
After the game, we went home for a bit to straighten up. We cleaned until I bailed out on Wes to see my mom and my sister at Target for a few minutes. Lauren and John came over and we went to dinner at one of our favorite places, Red Robin. We went back home to watch the South Carolina game until Lauren and I promptly fell asleep as we usually do. I love being all cozy at our house with our friends.
I'm not going to lie - we skipped Sunday School on Sunday morning, only to find out that we missed a class taught by Dan, our favorite teacher. At least we learned our lesson. I got to sit with my dad and my sister in church. Of course Wes and I went to Pete's after lunch. Then we got to see Pops at the hospital and we snuck in a Maggie Moo's banana split for him.
After that, we were done. We sat down to watch the Colts/Patriots game while I studied for the GRE. We sat on the couch all evening on Sunday. It was so good to relax!

John and Lauren enjoying their desserts (look at the size of the mud pie)!

Trick or Treaters

We had a great time at Halloween this year. Wes and I were excited to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. We didn't have many trick or treaters, but the ones we did have were very cute. My favorites were Superman, Spiderman, and a pirate. Superman even had his hair slicked over. Spiderman was very talkative, and he said, "Does your dog bite?" After we told him no, he said, "Do you mind if I pet her?" So cute!


Wes did a great job designing our scary jack-o-lantern. Several people commented on how spooky it looked. We carved it together, taking turns on all of the different parts. We sat it next to the largest pumpkin we've ever bought. We didn't carve the big pumpkin, because we thought that we'd leave it for our fall decoration.


A lot of the kids liked our dracula. They were mesmerized by his red teeth.

Halloween Cinema

Wes and I love this time of year. We love the fall colors, the cooler weather, football, and the holidays. Halloween is so fun, and it always means that the best time of the year is here! We've worked on getting into the Halloween spirit by watching some of our favorite Halloween movies.
When I was younger, I used to watch The Worst Witch, a short movie on HBO, all of the time. I would watch it several times in the weeks leading up to Halloween. It's really cheesy, but it's a cute movie. I haven't been able to find this movie in ages, but this year I hit the jackpot! We found it on Netflix. So Wes had to endure watching The Worst Witch. He complained a little, but I think he really liked it.
We also watched a movie that Wes watched a lot as a child. This was Garfield's Halloween Special. Wes always talked about it, and I found it at Target this year. It was only $7, and it also had a Thanksgiving and a Christmas video with it. This show was cute, and I remembered watching it when I was little. It used to scare me.
Lastly, but of course most importantly, we watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We watch this one every year. Now on to Thanksgiving movies, but first will be You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown. This will be shown, of course, on Election Day.

Cheesecake and Dave's

Last Friday, we had a great night with a miniature vacation! Our friend Jeff turned 30 on October 25. To celebrate the big day, his wife Brittany orchestrated a surprise party for him at our favorite restaurant. That's right...we were headed to the Cheesecake Factory in Charlotte. We LOVE the Cheesecake Factory. Whenever we are in Atlanta or Charlotte, we HAVE to go there. My parents always make fun of us for never trying a new place.
Anyway, we couldn't wait to eat at Cheesecake with all of our friends. All eight of us got to sit in one of the perfect circular booths that I'm always wishing to sit in. It was so perfect and cozy!
After dinner, we headed to Dave and Buster's. Wes and I love playing at Dave and Buster's. We bowled one game and we did not bowl very well. We need some practice. I love bowling at Dave and Buster's because it is so clean and not smoky. After bowling, we played some games with Jeff and Brittany. We did a race car race that was a lot of fun. We also all competed on the basketball game. Wes, Brittany, and Jeff tied for first place. That means that I got fourth place. I suppose I need to practice my basketball skills as well. The best thing that we did at Dave and Buster's was play a trivia game. Wes and I are so nerdy, but this is our favorite game there. We are saving up all of our tickets to get something really cool.

Fall (Sort of) Tailgating

It's a little late, but I love these pictures of tailgating with some of my favorite people! Jeff and Brittany met our family to tailgate before the Virginia Tech game. Sadly, the Tigers did not look good. We had fun anyway (at least before and after the game).




Molly is happy to have visitors who bring food!


Luke (with his mouth full of dry macaroni) and dad

Wesley's Blinkies

Now let's see if I can make an accurate portrayal of Wes using only blinkies.


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(This one is a new addition! I'm so proud of Wes for eating carrot cake!)


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I guess you can see why we work so well together...our blinkies are very similar!

Blinkies

I just had to take one blog to compile all of the blinkies that describe me.


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Finally

...we got to enjoy a relaxing weekend. I love going to Clemson football games, but it is nice to have a free weekend. We celebrated Friday by going to my favorite restaurant with my parents. Giovanni's is the BEST Italian food in Greenville, because it is real Italian. I get the same meal each time we go, and the owner knows us by our car! As soon as we pull up, he is ready for us. He likes to tease me and tell me that he is out of my meal. Thankfully, he had Tortellini Pink for me. Giovanni's is the only place where I finish my entire meal. I have never gotten a takeout box from there.

On Saturday, we watched the Clemson game and made food for a small football party. Our friends Jeff, Brittany, and John came over to watch the USC/LSU game. It was a good game, complete with the best faked field goal attempt that I have ever seen. We took a break from football and went to Mutt's. Yum! I haven't been to Mutt's in ages. We came back, watched a little more football, and then Brittany and I played Social Directors. While the guys were playing PlayStation, we made all sorts of plans that extend into next Spring. Let's just say that our husbands are thrilled that they will now be riding on a train, taking dance lessons, and taking a New Year's trip. They should know better than to leave us alone with Internet access.

Wrigley's Angel

Here is a picture of Molly with the dog she saved at the pound. She called me one day and was so excited about a beautiful, house-trained, Golden. We went to visit her several times and knew that we had to have her!

Could be a Dive-In Movie

...if you're willing to wade into the Reedy River. Wes and I went with our friends Jeff and Brittany to see a Moonlight Movie behind the Peace Center on Wednesday night. We love sitting outside in great weather so that Wes can watch a movie and I can take a good nap! This week's showing was The Birds. We had never seen the entire movie, so it was good to see it from start to finish. Actually, though, I'm thinking that I still haven't seen it in its entirety.

There's only one movie left in the September movie series, so we won't get to enjoy it again until May. It's so nice to do something fun, different, and free.

We got a fence....and a dog!

So my dream for years has been to own my OWN DOG. I love Oscar dearly and often thought about dognapping him, but I think my family would have had me arrested. I decided to begin the search for the perfect dog a few years ago although I couldn't seriously consider having a dog until I had a house. After one year of hearing me beg, plead, and whine, Wes finally got serious about finding our first pet.

Molly found Wrigley for us at the shelter. We kennel shopped several times before we decided to bring her home to a house without a fence. A sixty pound dog is not meant to be leashed each time she goes outside. We were holding our breath waiting for a fence to finally be built, and getting sort of cranky. A week ago we finally got a taste of freedom (well, Wes and I did, but Wrigley is having trouble with the wooden wall that keeps her from the neighbor's cat).

It is so nice to be able to throw her toys for fetch outside. Wrigley likes running around and exploring. She will even try to jump up in the tree if her ball is stuck there.