Our 20th Anniversary Georgia Trip!

Arnold and I recently went on a trip for our 20 yr anniversary. Originally we had always wanted to go on a cruise but there was just too much going on and I didn't like leaving that many days while the kids still live at home. So we decided to go somewhere we'd never been. Arnold has always wanted to go to Macon, Georgia to see a museum of a favorite band of his, so we kinda built a trip around that. It sounded like Atlanta had a lot of fun stuff to do so we added that into the trip. Then we decided to end up the trip with Savannah. I had gone a long, long time ago when I was young but didn't mind going again. We left out on the morning of our anniversary morning early and headed straight for Atlanta. 

The skyline.. a lot of people had warned me the traffic would be really bad, and it was bad, but on that certain day I don't think it was any worse than Charlotte. 

The first thing we did was head to the Georgia aquarium. I had heard it was one of the biggest aquariums and it was worth it, even if i've been to tons of aquariums. Ill agree, it was pretty nice! We went to a dolphin show, and I wished I had something to show on here but they said not to record in there. Arnold and I made it late into the room, and sat in the "splash zone." I didnt think it would be that bad, but sure enough, when one of the dolphins sped by our side, we got soaked! The show was amazing.. the dolphins and their trainers were really in sync and they did a lot of tricks and impressive things. They seemed to take really good care of them, which is important to me. 

Had to get a pic of Arnold with this fish.. he said it reminded him of the fish on our tv screen saver that always moves around slowly and opens his mouth over and over. I waited until he opened his mouth to take the picture, haha. 

I love how beautiful jellyfish look in aquariums, but Ive been stung by one so I know they hurt! 

After the aquarium we went to the World of Coca Cola. Yes its a corny touristy thing but I had to go, and it was very closeby. We went in and saw coke bottles from all over the world and saw a little inspirational video, then a room to take lots of pics, then a little museum that showed all kinds of coke products and memorobilia, then to a tasting room. 

With a background of a lot of the different coke bottles 

Had to get a pic with the Coke Santa since im such a Christmas lover! 

The last stop was a tasting room where you could taste coke products from all around the world. Arnold tasted I think every single one. I tasted none of them! Some of those looked yucky! A nice, normal coke for me, please! 

They also had an old-fashioned town set up to show some of the history so that was pretty cool 

After the museum we drove around downtown area to look at a few cool things I had seen online, including the Outkast mural! Who else loved them back in the day?! I'm sorry Ms Jackson.. I am for reeeaaaall.

By late afternoon we had done a ton of walking and went to check into our hotel. When I booked online I knew we would spent one night in Atlanta and then move on, so I decided for the night of our actual anniversary I would splurge and get a really nice hotel for that one night. I found a pretty good deal, more than I usually spend but not outrageous. Well turns out it was way nicer than I expected. We showed up and the guy asked us questions and kept looking at us weird, he was trying to take my car! They had valet service only! So we grabbed stuff out of the car quickly and then got inside the hotel. We finally find the place to checkin and walk right into the middle of some business convention! haha.. tons of people were walking around dressed up, talking, eating... and here we are with luggage and me wearing a valentines day sweater and headband :D Then we find out were on the 11th floor.. the hotel had 21 levels!! We are on the elevator and Arnold keeps pushing our floor button and its doing nothing, and the guy in there with us keeps looking at us.. then hes like man.. you have to scan your key card (for security reasons) Told you it was fancy! So Arnold does, but he pulls it away too quickly and keeps pressing over and over and I swear I saw the guy roll his eyes at us. Eventually it worked and we got to our room! The room was nice.. nothing extremely special.. but the bed did up being comfortable and I slept SO WELL which is a huge thing for me! We had a little balcony outside and so we took pics out there. Arnold felt bad we didnt have cash on hand to tip the valet so he walks down the street to a Truist and gets out a few 20's and he couldnt find anywhere to break them, so the first dude ended up getting a huge tip :D He also had to escort us back to our car a few times (secuirty!) to get a few things I forgot in my car! I know they were tired of us! 

By the time we got done with all this we were hungry and decided to go eat... the closest thing in walking distance to our hotel was a Hard Rock Cafe, so we went there and had burgers and chicken sandwich for dinner, and shared loaded nachoes as a starter! Nothing like a romantic anniversary dinner! :D Then we walked back to our hotel. We get all the way up to our room and Arnold says oh my gosh I left my debit card back at the restaurant. So he had to walk back and get it! By the way, were not stupid I promise.. we are just used to small town living :D My dad traveled ALL THE TIME for work and he would have laughed so hard at all the issues we kept having. 

The next morning we get up, get ready early (im proud of us!) and check out of the hotel. Turns out there was a big fee for using the valet service, so that along with all the tips and other things is where they got us! It was $60 to add on breakfast (which we did NOT! good ol mcdonalds for the win haha) But just goes to show that the "halfway good deal" I got wasn't because of all the added charges and fees. I should have known better!!

Then we head down to good ol Macon, Georgia. One of Arnold's favorite bands of all time is the Allman Brothers Band. They have this place called The Big House, which is where they used to live and write music, and now that theyre gone, they've turned it into a musuem. Now this isn't my cup of tea at all (Im more of. Dave Matthews Band Girl!) but I wanted my hubby to be happy. We go into the museum and a hippie guy named Rex who is even more of a music nerd than my husband told us all about things I did not care one bit about but... ok, at least Arnold was happy! I later found out he didnt even work there for money, he was just a volunteer! And I totally believe he didn't even realize I was there at all.. he just talked to Arnold and gushed about all the music memoribilia. 

Outside the house 

Some guitars Arnold told me are special.. in some guy's bedroom.. pretty creepy if you ask me! 

I know he was in heaven around all those guitars. He wished he could have that many.(and he has alot!)

After Macon we decided to drive on down to Savananah. Yes, poor Arnold did a LOT of driving on this trip. I saw a place called Wormsloe Historical site online that looked nice so we stopped there. By some miracle, in January, it was nearly 70 down there and SUCH nice weather, so I ditched the sweater and put on a new shirt! 

We went on a wagon ride through the famous spanish moss trees while a guide told us more about the place. I enjoyed this SO much. Couldn't have asked for better weather. There was another couple there from NC and they were really young, might have been on their honeymoon even :) 

It's so hard to always capture true beauty through pictures but everything was just gorgeous 

We went on a hike down the trail through the trees 

They also had a little museum there for more history so we stopped in. On the wagon ride back we met some new people. They were awesome. everyone was congratulating us on being married for so long. Sone old guy said wow they must have gotten married at about 15! I said actually I was 20 and he was 24. And another guy said.. well you still look that young. He doesnt! hahahaha. I know he was just being funny and silly but I felt special ;) 

We researched a few places to look around and took pics. We went to this HUGE, stunning catholic church to take pictures. The sun was starting to set and couldn't have been more perfect. 

We also took your usual dorky, touristy pictures 

Arnold told me to put my hand up on the fence, haha

This is the spot of the famous scene in the movie Forrest Gump when he's sitting on a bench and waiting on a bus! They moved the bench to a museum , wish it was there still! There was a local musician playin g in the park and im pretty sure it was one of the songs from the movie! 

Some guy offered to take pics of us at the fountain, thought that was nice

After downtown, we were ready for dinner so we found a nearby seafood place that did famous seafood boils and I LOVE it.. my dad used to make the best. After we ate we walked around town a bit and stopped into a candy and chocolate store and Arnold got some icecream and I got some chocolate covered pretzels. 

Now here's the funny part. I am usually a HUGE planner and huge control freak. Ask anyone. I plan trips down to the minor details. But this time since we kinda hopped around I was less strict on stuff. We hadn't found a hotel yet for that night so Arnold told me to just look one up real quick. I went back on hotels.com and made a reservation at a nearby hotel that looked pretty nice (but not as fancy as in atlanta, haha!) and we went over and tried to check in. The lady kept saying she didnt see us in the system. Finally she found us but she said the reservation was for the NEXT week. I said no way... looked back into it and sure enough, I chose the following thursday night for our trip. I dont know how the date skipped ahead on me or how I didn't notice it. I blame it on the long day and I was so tired. Anyway, we had already paid, and it was non refundable, and the lady said they were booked up. I WAS SO MAD AT MYSELF! I was like this is it... im done with trips. At this point were scrambling to find a last minute hotel, knowing well have to pay all over again. We know we had to go home early from our trip due to the inclement weather thats coming in NC, so Arnold decides for us just to drive home home that night. Here we are at 9pm, and he wants to drive home. But I dont want to argue anymore, so I say ok, and we drive through the night and return home just shy of 3 AM. I leave everything in the car and go straight to bed.

SO there you have it.. our awesome adventure for our 20th. For the little but of trip we did have, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We packed so much into so little time. And surprise twist- the hotel manager decided to have pity on us and refunded our hotel stay we never had. THANK THE LORD FOR KIND PEOPLE!!!!!! We got back just in time before the bad weather started and I was ready to be back to my kids, pets and own bed. Happy anniversary babe ;) 

 

Rachels 16th Birthday, Survey, and Letter!

Rachel turned 16 back in June.. it's taken me this long to write about it! She decided on a rustic western cowgirl theme... why she chose that I have no idea, but it was cute! She originally asked me for black/crows and I said no, this isn't halloween! :D She got a cute dress, some boots and a cowgirl hat to go along with the look. We used Arnold's parents church gym. Unfortunately with the time of year, a lot of her friends were busy, vacations or family plans etc, but she still had a few show up and a lot of family. I go all out for a party, especially a themed party, so I had fun planning but man was I exhausted at the end of it!! 

Everyone always asks where we get our cakes and I tell them WALMART! Their cakes are actually really good! They taste great and to get a big tiered cake like this one is way cheaper than a bakery. I just chose to have them do a white cake and we bought the topper on amazon and added some decorative sunflowers on ourselves. I think it turned out really pretty! 

I can't believe our girl is 16! The baby of the family, so it's extra bittersweet! 

Arnold made hula hoops into wagon wheels, aren't they cute! I told you I love themes! I found mostly everything on amazon and at hobby lobby. Kinda bummed me out having BROWN balloons but it fit the theme! 

The centerpieces for the tables were easy.. we just put sunflowers in mason jars, filled little cups with peanuts, and I pulled lots of decor from my own kitchen to use (farmlife theme!) and we put everything on bandanas. 

I made chocolate lollipops using a mold I got off amazon

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest and had to use it! Recently Rachel got a pretty pink Bible, and I told her to bring it along and everyone that came to the party highlighted their favorite bible verses, and signed their names, and flagged where it was so she could go back and see it later! 

Rachel requested that big horse balloon haha. Thankful for hubby who helped me pull all of this together!

RACHEL AT AGE 16

Going into grade- junior year

Shoe size- 7 (I think she's stopped growing!) 

Height- 5'3

FAVORITES-

Food- nacho fries from taco bell

Drink- Baja blast

Dessert- Strawberry milkshake

Song- Strangers

Bands- Pierce the Veil, Korn

Show- Invincible and The Walking Dead

Movie- 10 Things I hate about you

Animal- Cats and seals

Flower- tulips

Color- purple

Restaurant- Red lobster

Store- Barnes & Noble

Book- No Longer Human

Thing to do- Listen to music, draw, play trumpet

Class- English

Thing to wear- anything black

Memory from the Year- Marching season and MPA

What do you want for Christmas? bike or money

Future career choice? Psychiatrist 

Dream Vacation- Greece 

Dear Rachel,

I can't believe my baby girl is turning the sweet 16. Feels like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital. Ive loved watching you grow up. You have always been an independent, funny, kooky girl, who does whatever she wants and doesn't care what anyone thinks about it. I love that about you! I wish I were more like that! We have a lot of fun together, singing in the car, going to find treasures while thrifting, drawing doodles, and hanging out in my bed while you play your videos and I read. You have truly excelled in high school-- you are doing honors and AP classes and making good grades. You are about to start your third year of marching band. You are great at playing the trumpet, and you also are amazing at art. You have so many wonderful talents and I know you will go far in whatever you decide to do in life. Right now you say crazy things like you want to be a psychiatrist, travel the world, live in Colorado, and have no kids.. or MAYBE up to 2 of them. You really don't know yet, and that's ok. This is going to be a big year for you, you'll have to take your ACT test and you will start looking into college options. I hope whatever you decide you take advantage of all you've been blessed with. Dad and I are proud of you and can't wait to see what the year ahead holds. We love you!!!!! 

 

My Book-Themed Bash for my 40th!

 I am finally getting around to writing about my party I had for my 40th. I decided to throw it late this year (July 12) since some important people were going to be out of town closer to my actual birthday. I went with a BOOK THEME... I'm so glad I decided to look it up, they actually had some stuff on amazon! Just not book balloons.. go figure? I was able to use the family life center at mom's church. That church Is so special to me.. where I grew up, was confirmed, got married, and now where dad rests (the columbarium.) Arnold helped me out a LOT and I really am thankful to him! I always get so excited when we do big parties, but then the day of its like I forgot how much work it really is and afterwards the cleaning up takes forever and you're just exhausted. But I can say this was quite a success. I invited a lot of people, since it was a big birthday.. and a lot showed up, about half.. I think it was the perfect number though, I think many more would have been too much! My boss from work even showed up which surprised me and made me feel really special! Ive always said my love language is quality time.. I know it's technically for romantic relationships but it works for friends, too. How do I know if you truly love me? You show up!!! For my happy times, my hard times, my crazy parties ;) Id rather have your time than any gift or anything else you'd give me. Anyway, we had the party at lunch, and we had Mexican food.. with lots of help from Brooke's boyfriend's family!!! Oh my goodness they made tortillas, pulled pork, Mexican rice, and even brought some special Mexican sodas and candy and stuff. Arnold made some beef and chicken in the crockpot and we got all the sides and sauces, etc. Id say everyone loved the food! It was a great idea!!! 

Best theme ever for me, right?! All from amazon! 

I used my own books at home to hold the centerpieces. Arnold and I made the confetti ourselves using old book pages and heart shaped punchers! It kinda hurt me to rip pages out of a book but it was a very old one I didn't care about anymore, haha. 

If you're around my age you get the banner. From the song ;) A lot of the older guests were like whattttt?

I loved my childhood table! stole a bunch of pics of little Abby from my mama and brought PJ and Keroppi along, and some framed pics I had up at home. I also "borrowed" these flowers from the church kitchen because they were pretty! haha! And those butterflies are suckers I made as favors. They didn't have any book themed chocolate molds so I went with something else cute! 

I hardly ever get to see all 3 of these friends in the same day! Ive known all of them forever and they mean so much to me! And doesn't Jess look amazing?! ;) 

Katie!! My 2nd mama! She means so much to me! 

My brothers family lives in Charleston so we don't get to see them often but they came up for my party!! It meant so much! They also took my nephews to Great Wolf Lodge that weekend and had a blast. 

Joannes family and Rosie.. Rosie and I go way back to working together 

Caleb and his friend 

My mom, Nancy, and a lot of Arnold's family! 

Brooke, Rach and David and his family!

Talk about a surprise! My friend Karen who lives in Raleigh came to see me! We were roommates for a year at Western Carolina! 

Still can't get over how great the day was and how much fun I had. People were so sweet with the gifts and cards they brought me, too. I ended up with some cool stuff like a flow art set, a personalized cup, candles, gift cards, and even my first designer purse! I am a spoiled girl! haha. The cleanup afterwards was brutal, Arnold and I had used a lot of the church's dishes for food prep and serving so we tag teamed and cleaned and dried them off in their big Industrial size sinks at the back! 

My 40th Birthday Recap & 5 Things I've Learned in my 40 Years

Tuesday I celebrated my 40th birthday! I still can't believe I am that old. We were off work the 3rd and 4th anyway, and I wanted to take my birthday off too, so I just saved my vacation time and took the whole week off. I had a great time, especially since Arnold took off work too, and the kids were home. 

Tuesday on my actual birthday, Brooke did my makeup. I don't usually wear a lot, but she made it look really pretty! We went downtown to do a photoshoot. It was SO hot and my hair hardly wouldn't hold its curl, and the wind was blowing which was messing with my balloons and hair, but we made it work. By the way, it cost over $8 just to get these few balloons blown up for the photos! Robbery! Helium is expensive now!! 

We wanted to incorporate two of my childhood items in one of the pics. I took Keroppi and PJ the bear with me. Keroppi is one of the Sanrio characters. While everyone else loved Hello Kitty, I loved that silly little frog the best! My mom got him for me when I was around 8, I think. His eyes are now a dingy brown and gross, but I just had to keep him! PJ (otherwise known as Parson JR, don't ask, I don't know!) was actually made for me by my grandma Mildred when I was a baby. He is so well loved that his mouth has completely rubbed off! He used to go with me everywhere and I used to dress him up in themed sweaters for the seasons and holidays. Anyway, Brooke told. me to look fondly at them or laugh at them and I love this picture!! 

We also had to make one of those silly childhood-like signs with your stats and favorites and stuff. I almost wrote down that I was 60 in instead of 70 but Rachel corrected me. Thank goodness someone in our family is good at math! hahaha! 

Isn't this picture so me?! I love nothing more than reading. 

On the weekend before, Mom took me out to lunch at Carrabbas to get lasagna. Every year it's been a tradition for her to cook me her famous homemade lasagna for my birthday, but it's getting tougher these days for her to cook, so we just went out.

We went to church and they had a backdrop up for 4th of July! They also gave out popsicles as everyone was leaving. One year they actually had fireworks! I love our church! 

Rachel is soo talented and artistic. She made me this birthday card! I love the colorful cake! 

She also drew lots of cute doodles inside and wrote me a sweet message! I wanted her to paint me a goose on a canvas which she did, but she asked me not to share it. But I love it!! 

The week before I left work everyone was so sweet... my friend Carries class made me drawings and cards, and she made this up that I hung outside my classroom. Some of the older kids made me cards, too. And they had a joint party at work for me, Lori and Jean, who are my birthday buddies! We had lots of yummy food and cake! I felt special!! 

We also did lots of other fun stuff over the week like went to the movies with Arnold to see Bride Hard.. it had Rebel Wilson in it and was a mix of comedy and action... was big time DUMB but it was entertaining enough. Weird to be at the movies on a weekday, didn't even have hardly anyone in the theater! Arnold also took me to my fave place-- Hobby Lobby! And I started buying stuff for my big party. Im having my party late this year, because some friends were out of town and I wanted them to be able to come. It is going to be book-themed (perfect!!) and we are having a big Mexican themed lunch! Thanks to Brookes boyfriend's mom and family, who so graciously offered to help with the food! They know how to party! 

Since its my birthday, I wanted to write something meaningful also... Ive done other things in the past like facts about me or things I love, etc. So this year I decided to do things I've learned in my life. 

1. No matter who the person is in your life, show them they are worth it to you. Be loyal. Be honest with them, even if it's tough. Show up for them when they need you. Celebrate the good times with them. Don't let too much time go by without checking in. My love language is quality time and how I feel loved the most is when people are there for me. just show up! I also love picking out gifts and surprises for people, even "just because" treats.

2. When it comes to marriage, love is not just a feeling, it is a VERB. You have to work hard in a marriage! Arnold and I have almost been married 20 years and there have been times we thought we wouldn't make it through, but we did. So many people think you just fall out of love but that's not true. You committ to a person, and you show up every day and put in the work. There will be days you don't even like each other, but you still respect each other and find a way to get through it. Running to another person will not fix it. No person will complete you and fill that space in your life, you have to love yourself first. 

3. Don't compare yourself to others. Ive spent so much time of my life wasted doing this! That person is prettier, or more successful or has more, or has it all together. No-- you be happy and content in what you have and learn to be thankful. Do I have the biggest house out there? No, but I own it and my husband bought it at a time where it was a steal and one day we'll have our mortgage paid off before a lot of other people. Did I have my kids too young? Probably, but I had lots more energy and time back them and we had a blast during those years. Now I'll be young enough to enjoy my grandkids. Is my job some fancy title? No but I work hard and am good at what I do. I love being around young children/babies and watching them grow and being a part of it. I love my coworkers and am thankful not to have to work on weekends.

4. LET THEM!!! I know this is based on a recent best-selling book, but it's true. Oh my goodness. I used to let every little thing upset me. And now I try my very best to say LET THEM!!! Someone was rude and cut me off on the road? Let them. Someone didn't like my Facebook post? Let them. Someone didn't point out my good job at work and compliment me? Let them. I can't control what others do and say (or don't!) but I can decide how I react to them. And half the time people are so absorbed with themselves that whatever it was didn't have anything to do with me anyway! Show people some grace!

5. Learn a little every day. I am a big nerd but I love learning! I don't care if it's reading a book article, watching a news clip, doing a devotional, or a trivia game... find a way to incorporate some learning into every day. Sometimes people ask me how I know so much random stuff or how I knew that word, and honestly it's usually because I read so much!