Exploring the South

One state at a time! Ok, not really... but we've traveled to our fair share of southern states lately. Just in the last month we've been in Georgia (duh) and both Carolinas! This past weekend we made last-minute plans to visit Andrew's brother in North Carolina and spent a few days with him in Carrboro (on the outskirts of Chapel Hill) where we explored the UNC campus, a local farmers market, a really nice Durham mall, and some amazing local restaurants!

If only the majority of the items for sale weren't so perishable, I would have been in heaven!

 While the town and area were scenic and interesting... the real highlight of the weekend was spending time with Andrew's parents, brother and little sister! 5/7 of the original crew (5/8 including me - their most recent addition) made the trek to NC for the weekend :) I was characteristically terrible about documenting our weekend - and I stand by my {frequent} vow that I would be a better photographer and documenter (yes, I'm aware that this is not a word) if I had a *new* camera! - but I did manage to snap a few pics with the fam and then stole a few from my sissy-in-law's cell phone just for my own blurry, bad quality records! Maybe Santa will bring me a nice camera so that I'm enticed to take more pictures.......

Loved getting a chance to spend some time w/ this pretty girl :)

We had dinner on this cool terrace overlooking downtown Chapel Hill - so delish!

 And because I promised my lovely mama-in-law that I would keep her picture off of my practically un-read blog, I have screened her (and my father-in-law) out of this pic taken at dinner. If she ever stumbles upon this, I can already hear her giggle in my head!

Delish dinner at Top of the Hill (Steve refused to be photographed)

 Good food and good times were had by all! We loved every minute of our visit with the fam, and missed the other two sisters who were busy being fabulous in NYC and living the dream in Athens, Ohio!

Now... back to reality. For me anyway! Andrew has the week off - he finished another quarter of chiropractic school on Friday and after kicking booty on all of his finals, he has a week to just relax and recoup. I'll be playing catch-up for the next several days thanks to my impromptu mini-vacation and general lack of motivation to be a law student these days! Life is just too short :)

Beach Bums

We are taking full advantage of living a short drive from the ocean! But we need to stop discriminating... we've been to Hilton Head THREE times this summer. It sounds excessive - and it is - but we've had great excuses each time :) First we went when my cousin and his wife were there, so we spent a weekend hanging out w/ them.

HHI w/ Ryan and Erika

Then 2 weeks later, we went back to celebrate our anniversary. Which was planned before we knew we'd be going to visit our cousins... or else we might have picked another destination! But probably not :)

Harbour Town after our anniversary dinner

And THEN we went back again last weekend because my parents were there for a few days with some friends - and had an extra bedroom in their condo - so we couldn't pass up the chance to see my mom and dad when we were just 4 short hours away!

Beach w/ my mama and daddy

So the next time we want to get away for a weekend, we will have to choose another nearby beach! Destin, Charleston, Jacksonville, who knows. All are just a quick trip from Atlanta, and we know we won't be able to just pick up and go to the beach for a weekend forever - so might as well take advantage! And even though it seems like we spent half of our summer on the same beach, I love knowing that when we look back on our first year of marriage, Hilton Head will have a special place in our memories :)

We love Harbour Town

Savannah Weekend

Andrew and I spent Easter weekend exploring Savannah, GA! It was our birthday gift from my parents (and each other!) so we made the most of the fine dining and historic tours the city has to offer. We LOVED the beautiful scenery - especially the old trees and gorgeous gardens. It was a much needed getaway, and we're so glad to have had the chance to spend a few days in such a quaint little place!