a short, but very sweet visit

{the only picture taken this weekend, thank you, self-timer}

Drew came to visit and we had so much fun! Just as I had predicted... we sat around my house watching movies, cuddling, laughing, eating and telling stories. Whenever we watch T.V., we don't actually watch it.... we just kind of goof around on the couch, and when we're not goofing around, we catch little snippets of whatever is on the T.V... its great. Its so funny because it always takes us hours upon hours to decide and agree on a movie to watch... but Drew brought up a very good point when he said, "Why do we care so much about what we're going to watch? We never end up actually watching it!" I thought that was a very true and wise statement, but I still care deeply about what we watch for some strange reason....

We were planning on cooking a fabulous and delicious dinner, but we were too busy snacking on spinach artichoke dip, salami, crackers and wine... I know, a very strange snack, don't judge...

We did get a chance to go bike riding, but for transportation purposes only, it was cold and rainy so it was not too enjoyable... we ate at Hominy Grill, which has the most delicious bacon I have ever eaten in my life... and then we spent hours at Kudu Coffee, chatting it up.

It was probably the shortest visit of my life, but I'm so thankful that he has the patience to drive 7-8 hours to Charleston just for the weekend! It was definitely worth it. Its amazing how doing nothing by yourself is so boring, but doing nothing with a person you love can be the most fun in the world.

Am I in Italy??

I woke up this morning very late, as usual... I threw on some clothes and ran out the door 6 minutes before my 8 a.m. class was going to start, giving me just enough time to get there riding my bike. To my surprise and slight excitement, I walked out to see that my lovely road had turned into a lovely river! I was a bit panicked for a second because I realized I wouldn't be able to get to my bike without walking through a foot of water, and now I would be late for class. I had a decision to make: get my feet and legs soaked and ride my bike, dodge the river and walk to class but arrive 15 minutes late, OR skip class altogether and get some useful work done. Obviously, I chose the third option. I still ended up walking through the river, just for pure enjoyment (Claire thinks its gross) but I was able to wash off my feet and legs afterward, whereas, if I had gone to class, I would have had nasty dirty rainwater all over me for the rest of the day. I think I made the right decision. As long as my car and house are high enough not to flood, I thoroughly enjoy having a river outside of my house! It's as close as I can get to Venice! Thanks hurricane Ida!

We headed to the county fair!

We went to the county fair and ohhh how fun it was!!! I was being such a sourpuss on the drive there because we were in rush hour traffic and I was driving and Drew was navigating and I kept getting frustrated because I didn't know where to go and Drew kept telling me to switch lanes and I wanted to cry... buuutttt Drew was very patient, obviously, and talked me through it and calmed me down. Once we got there I was happy as a clam! (and then, of course, apologized profusely for being such an annoying, frustrated driver)

First thing we did when we got there was eat some yummy corn dogs (which I had not had in years). There was way more bread on them than I had remembered and I ended up peeling a lot of it off, but it was delicious!

We went on just three rides (due to our lack of funds)... I really wanted to go on some fun, exciting, fast, spinning rides but someone (I won't mention any names)... was being a little baby and only wanted to do the little kiddie rides, so I agreed to stick by his side. We did this mini roller coaster ride that went forward and then backward really fast, then we did the spinning swings and finally we had to go on the ferris wheel (which had the most amazing view).

We watched these adorable kids participate in a pizza making contest...

....and watched every kind of food possible get deep fried...

and we even tried a FRIED SNICKERS BAR!! never in my life did I think I would actually try one of these absolutely disgusting fried fair food products, but I thought why not?? It actually wasn't bad but just the thought of it grossed me out and I could only eat two bites... it looked like a corn dog with chocolate sauce on it.

Ohhh and the absolute strangest part of the whole experience... we decided to pay a dollar each to go look at "The World's Smallest Woman"... they said she was alive but I didn't actually think about how awkward it would be to go look at her. She was just sitting there, right in front of you, chewing on a toothpick, and all I could think was how guilty I felt for paying a dollar just to come look at her and see how short she was!!! Most awkward experience of my life, we got in and out as fast as we could. Although she was very very small, and it was pretty interesting, I felt a little bit weird the rest of the night.

I must say one of the most interesting and entertaining things about going to fairs is the people-watching. The most unique and diverse crowds go to fairs for some reason, and I absolutely love observing them... it really is a whole new world.

It was such a great way to spend Drew's second-to-last night in Charleston! He left for his new job in Atlanta today and I am so very very excited for him!!! However, I am equally just as sad that he won't be here with me anymore... :(

saddest day in a long time...

...but he promises to visit!

dressing up is fun to do

Ooohhh I cannot express how much I love Halloween! I always have an amazing time just dressing up and getting into costume. Just being able to walk up and down the streets of Charleston in costume and admiring everyone else's creative ensembles is just so ridiculously amusing. I had fun going to the bars and everything, but I would have been just as satisfied if we simply walked the streets of Charleston. I can't wait until I live in a real neighborhood and kids come trick-or-treating to my door.. because then I can get dressed up and not even have to go anywhere to see the creative, hilarious costumes! They'll come to me!

Soooo... Drew and I dressed up as zombie prom king and queen, and it was hilarious. I was kind of jealous because Drew got way more compliments on his costume than I did.... but oh well, I guess I don't mind. So we got some dressy clothes from goodwill for about $8 and then tore them up and put blood all over ourselves... so. much. fun... We had some other good costumes in my house, too. Claire was "the lady from the birds", it was so random and funny. She put a crow directly on top of her head and another one coming out of her ribs, and of course, put blood all over herself. Everyone who saw her was like, "dude, did you see that girl?! She has a crow on her head!" it was hilarious how amused everyone was with her costume! Shannon was minnie mouse, Meredith was a murdered housewife, Diana was a greek goddess and Allison was raggedy anne. Everyone's costume was so fun and creative!

A Cupcake Halloween

Cupcake always gets super into the Halloween spirit each year. We decorate the store with bats, giant spiders and ghosts. And of course, we dress up in our costumes and decorate the cupcakes in spooky halloween icings and sprinkles!

we dressed as bloody zombies

made silly halloween cupcakes

and some spookyyy "blood velvets"

We always have too much fun working on Halloween. It was actually one of the slowest Saturdays we have had (no one is going to give their child more treats than they're already getting on Halloween), giving us more time to come up with some spooky halloween creations!

Pumpkin Carving!

We have been putting off this whole pumpkin carving thing as long as possible! Its so hard to coordinate our schedules in order to find some time to carve! SO Halloween night before going out we decided we had to carve our pumpkins.... as last minute as possible. We did it in a way I have never done before. Claire had a book of designs to put on pumpkins, so we each picked one and then traced over it so that you could see lines on the pumpkin and then carved over the lines. This approach is way more frustrating and annoying than the normal way of just drawing your own design and cutting it out, BUT the product is so much better... I can't decide which way I like more. But here they are... aren't they so professional?!

everyone's pumpkin

Drew's pumpkin

Claire's Pumpkin

My pumpkin