Tybee Island, GA - A Redneck Oasis

I recently went on vacation with my best friend from Snow Hill - Michelle. We planned this trip at the beginning of the year, so when I found out I was pregnant - it didn't deter our plans. We drove down to Tybee Island, GA - which is just outside of Savannah and just south of Hilton Head, SC. Even though it was the first weekend in June, we were looking forward to some warm weather, cool ocean breezes and the good southern food!

I drove down to NC on Wednesday and spent the night with Michelle, so that the drive for me wouldn't be 12-13 hours. Thursday morning we awoke early, got showered, packed the car, ate breakfast at Bojangles and were on the road. We made a short pit stop at Michelle's grandmother's house which was on the way to the interstate. Her grandmother is so sweet and her grandfather is very funny, so it's always nice to get to see them.

The trip down was beautiful through NC - although I didn't realize there were so many I-95 strip clubs, but it makes sense I suppose. Once we hit SC, the clouds started moving in. We hit a few bad thunderstorms and even heard a tornado warning on the radio - which kind of freaked us both out. But Michelle drove straight through them like a pro and we stopped at a truck stop for a late lunch. After downing some deadly Taco Bell, we headed back out. We noticed that while we were at the truck stop they have these tiny orange bugs that had jumped a ride and were trying to bite us. Needless to say - we didn't make anymore stops in SC - they've got bugs!

We got to drive through Savannah on our way to Tybee Island which was very nice. I just love the moss in the trees. The next thing I know, we're driving across this road to the beach that's barely above sea level. I imagine it gets rained out a lot - you'd think they'd do something.

We were a bit disappointed with the hotel. Their website makes it sound like a lush resort - but it was more like your typical spring break hotel. There was even a Yager label stuck to one of the pictures in our room - Party On Dude. Anyway, we had a great time and the food was AWESOME - especially at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House!! We relaxed, got sunburned and did some shopping between the many meals that I made Michelle eat with me. The ride back wasn't as exciting except for our stop at Pedro's for ice cream and a few candid snapshots. We'll try to make this an annual trip - since we could both use a regular vacation - but I don't think we'll go to the same place each time. Next year it's Michelle's turn to choose where we go - and I know she'll pick somewhere nice!

I've posted some pics of our vacation for those of you interested. Enjoy! (Oh, for those of you scratching your head - Yes, I was sticking my belly out in that one side shot - hee hee! And the pic of the guy walking into the Crab Shack restaurant was to show off his fabulous hairdo - it was like a mohawk that had slipped to the back of his head - ha ha!)

Who'd A Thunk It?

Well, David and I have some big news that we're ready to share. We're pregnant. Our due date is November 30th. We decided that last year would be our last full year to spend completely spoiling ourselves and being selfish. That starting this year we would try to start a family - and after a few months of trying, we achieved success. I wish I had some romantic story about how the 'magic happened' while we were on vacation in the Turks and Caicos - but my runny nose and hacking cough was less than a turn on.

We've started a new blog site for anyone interested in how things are progressing with the new family. If you're brave, or just nosy, check it out - http://barrowbrown.blogspot.com. David has been authoring most of it so far - and he can be quite amusing - so it's a funny read.

Also, since my belly is already starting to pooch out - I'm on the lookout for a t-shirt that reads something like 'Don't Touch The Belly'. I'm not looking forward to strangers wanting to rub my tummy - so if anyone sees such a shirt, please let me know! I mean really, I don't go up to strangers and rub their bellies - it's rude and a bit disgusting! Oh, I'm also not looking forward to the unsolicited horror stories of pregnancy or child rearing - so please keep those to yourself. I'd like that part to be a surprise. ;)

Just wanted to share the good news - we'll be 14 weeks along tomorrow and all is going well so far. Oh and by the way - we got married today. Hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend!

Long Time No Hear....Sorry!

Sorry that it's been over a month since my last post....I'll try to do better. Things have been a bit busy for us recently. With the warmer weather we have been working hard on home improvements and enjoying being outdoors for more than 5 minutes. Here's what's been going on (I'll post pictures at a later date):

The Yard
Our goal is to have as little grass as possible in our townhouse front and back yards. So, we dug up a nice section of grass and planted a new flower bed in the back yard beside our patio. We now have snapdragons, freesia, sedums, golden euonymus and gardenia bushes to admire and enjoy their sweet scents. They are young plants and if they make it - hopefully they will grow in nicely. We just need to find a few stepping stones to add in the bed and it will be complete.

On the other side of the yard, still next to the patio, we have our vegetable garden. Our veggie garden is on it's 3rd year and hopefully this will be the best! We have planted cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, cantaloupe and watermelon. I LOVE fresh fruits and veggies - especially tomatoes - and they all appear to be hanging in there with the crazy cool and rainy weather we've been having recently.

Our back yard has a lower level toward the back, and we have also added some plantings here recently. We had 2 rose bushes that were gifts from my mom on the right hand side of the yard. Behind those, in the middle, we planted a clematis vine with a trellis. On the left hand side of the yard we planted a japanese maple tree - which are slow growers and have beautiful red leaves.

The House
We also had a little work done to the house. For those of you that have seen the house, you should remember the periwinkle door and shutters - ugh! We had some painters out for routine repainting of the trim on the outside of the house and had them repaint the door and shutters a nice charcoal grey. It looks so much better!

We also had some overhead lighting put in the spare bedrooms upstairs and in the den in the entryway. These rooms had switches that were connected to wall plugs and while lamps are pretty - they just don't cut it over overhead lighting. I must say that the recessed lighting in the den looks wonderful! It's a major improvement!!

The Family
We've also been trying to spend more time visiting with our families. Since David's parents and my brother's families live in the area, it's really no excuse for us not to see them more often. And we were lucky enough to have my mother come up for Mother's Day so we got to spend some nice quality time with her as well.

Today is my mom's birthday - so if you know her, send her an email or ecard wishing her a happy one. She deserves it! (If you need her email address, just email me and I'll send it to you.)

As you know this upcoming weekend is the first major holiday weekend of the summer. So there will be plenty of cookouts and parties for all to attend - us included. Wishing you all a safe a happy weekend - may the weather be nice wherever you are!!

No More Eating In Front Of The TV - Darn!

I guess it's inevitable that DB and I are growing up and will eventually consider ourselves adults. So back in February, we finally went out and bought a nice set of dining room furniture. The furniture was delivered a few weeks ago and to our surprise - it was too much/too big to fit in our dining room area. So, we did some rearranging of dining room and living room furniture, and now have a place where we can eat that's not coffee table level or in front of a TV. (Although we still like to eat in front of the TV on occasion.)

Here are more pics of the new furniture:

http://flickr.com/photos/clearlynuts/sets/226906/show/

The first few pics are when we tried to put it all in the dining room. Which would be ok, if we and our friends and family were all stick thin anorexics. So the last few pics shows the new arrangement and how we can now use our fabulous new furniture.

Sometimes People Are Just Funny...

On my way to work this morning, I saw something that really amused me. I wish I had a photo, but alas my words will have to do. I hope this tickles the irony in your funny bone as well.

I pulled up at a stoplight behind a white buick century. The car's license plate read - Eat Pork. The irony hit when I realized that the driver was quite overweight. Was she advertising for a local restaurant? Is this her way of picking up men? The questions are now endless...