Amelia Island, FL

Yall know how Kevin's work trips are.  They are unreal.  This one to Amelia Island, Florida was no exception.

We arrived at the Ritz on Sunday around 1pm and hit the beach right away.  That evening we took a cab to Brett's on the water for dinner.  When you call a cab from the Ritz, don't expect a yellow vehicle to arrive.  It was a black suburban.  Also don't expect a $15 cab ride either.  Needless to say, we saw some other folks we knew there and hitched a ride back with them. 

Gorgeous sunset from the restaurant.  Oh - we had called to make a reservation but they told us they only take them for parties of 5 or more.  Funny how the concierge was able to get us a reservation.  At the best table in the restaurant of course.  Crazy.

After dinner we walked the docs checking out the boats.

The restaurant...

Ritz always has the best flower arrangements.  Of course they were ready for the 4th of July.

On Monday we hit the beach mid day after an early lunch at Sliders.  This is the hotel from our beach spot....

I had been to Amelia Island a couple times before.  My parents best friends have a place there and I went there once when I was younger.  And I drove through Amelia Island another time while in Ponte Vedra. 

Kevin and I played catch on the beach and frisbee.  We floated in the water and just hung out.  It was sooooo nice.  He went up to get some work done and get ready so I stayed out on the beach for about 30 extra minutes.

yeah i need a tan and to go run.  a lot.

And then this truck pulled up with a trailer on the back of it.  See the orange triangle stating that it contained explosives.  Oh yeah.

We got ready for the reception and the spread of food was amazing.  All the fresh oysters and shrimp you could eat.  Shrimp and grits.  Tenderloin.  Pork.  Everything was to a tee.  And of course top shelf open bar.  Whatever you wanted!

Then the private fireworks show began.  I think this picture is cool.  Firework, palm tree, bar.

They were so great.  I can't believe they did these just for our party!

Kevin and a couple buddies.

We had so much fun.  The band played beach music and it was the perfect evening. 

Group photo.  Total chaos. 

And this explains a lot from the night.  There were three of these bars set up...

And this is at the end of the night.  All full drinks.  And you know it was totally necessary to go inside to the Ritz bar and buy more drinks.  Because that was just SO smart. 

Ahh you gotta live a little!  We had a great time and enjoyed hanging with old and new friends!  And we cruised back to Charlotte on Tuesday morning early for a big night out once we got back!  That's the next post!

Rest of Maryland

Well I haven't blogged in a week.  Oh well guess that happens sometimes.  I haven't really been in Charlotte at all. 

Okay let's catch up on life.  I'm going to schedule some catch up posts for the rest of this week and I think after next Thursday, I'll live in Charlotte again! ;) 

Last Friday night we went to pick crabs.  Here are my silly parents!  Oh boy, it was the first time I had picked crabs since Kevin and I got engaged.  My ring got so orange from all the tasty old bay!  It came off though of course!  It's been like 3 whole weeks since I've had it cleaned so I'm due for a cleaning now anyway!  I know, I'm OCD.

And I don't have any pictures of just Dad and I so I asked Mom to take one of us when we got home from the crabhouse.

And this is the way I roll.  I always get so stuffed that night picking crabs that I keep picking and save my crabmeat.  Totally illegal, you aren't allowed to walk out of there with extra food but that's what crossed arms or a purse is for.  I've done it all my life.  

So I ate my leftover crab the next morning for breakfast.  Well that was breakfast #1.  Breakfast #2 was SCRAPPLE.  Told ya, I'm not normal. 

On to Saturday afternoon.  Mom and Dad took me to Sonic on the way to the airport for my first trip EVER.  Can you believe that?  I've been so sheltered all my life.  My strawberry slush was tasty!  And I tried not to think about the calories in it. 

Next post will cover our trip to Amelia Island, FL!

MD and Dad is Rotary President

I've been up north for work this week so I was lucky enough to be able to head to Maryland after my meetings and site visits were over.  I finished up my work around 1:00am on Thursday morning then got up at 5am to start again.  I had to make sure I got to my parents house on time to watch Dad get inducted as President of his Rotary club last night.

I stopped at the Fisherman's Inn Crab Shack on my way down for lunch.  It's in Kent Narrows, MD.

My table was right on the water.  It was the best atmosphere and my soft shell crab sandwich was amazing. 

Got to a Hampton Inn in my parents home town to get ready.  I couldn't go to their house or Dad wouldn't have been surprised.  I walked into the Rotary meeting during their cocktail hour.  He said he knew I was coming but he had no idea.  He's crazy. 

Here he is getting inducted (goldish tie).

I'm staying up here until tomorrow and then flying back to Charlotte tomorrow night.  Sunday morning early, Kevin and I are off to cover some more states for a few days.  I believe I'll be in 7 states in 7 days!  :)

Wedding Wednesday - Pinterest Pictures I Love

These are some pictures I'd love to have taken on our wedding day!  All courtesy of Pinterest!

Bride and MOH.  (My Mom would probably disapprove of this one ha!)

Hilarious.

Our Moms and I.  All three of us have the same ring.  I don't think I've told you all that before!  But we do!  :)

Love this...

Hold up a mirror while we are getting ready and get all the girls in it! 

I love creative pictures and I definitely want ours to be different than everyone elses.  I like the traditional ones but I will not stand in front of train tracks or any of that business.  No offense to anyone who did, just not my style.  :)  To each their own!

Have you all seen any creative photos that you HAD to have or want to have at yours one day?!

Kenny and Tim Concert - Brothers of the Sun

This post is picture heavy but I just quickly went through my pictures and picked these.

Our friend Kim got a few parking spots very close to the stadium and across from where the Corona concert was going on all afternoon before the main event.  It was the perfect spot.  It even had nice porta potties one block away that we each paid $3 for to use per time.  TOTALLY worth it.  They were the nice ones with air conditioning, a flushing toilet and a sink to wash your hands.  And they were clean.  Genius. 

Back to the tailgate.  Most of us were struggling from the night before but we still hung!

Dusty sporting his concert gear haha.  He needed his wife there for sure! :)

Kelly and Tara tailgating.

The ladies....

Kevin walked with his brother and sister in law over to the stadium.  They didn't come tailgate with us.  Kev ended up coming into the concert for like 5 minutes and really didn't feel like himself so he walked back home.  :(  He felt better once he got there so it was worth it. 

Britt and Joe (kevin's brother and sister in law)

Helloooooo Tim!

Yes, you can wear all white any day of the week you want.

Faith did well.  Although my Dad would say Tim did VERY well!  He loves Faith.

Kelly and I -

Kelly and Brett came from Raleigh for the concert.  We've been to so many Kenny shows together ha!

There's ole Kenny.

Took this lil chair across the crowd to the stage.  That was nice.

Tim came back out to join Kenny for a few songs.  Between the two of them, I liked Tim better.  He's just so passionate about his music and you can tell he means every lyric.  He was also awesome about talking to all of the fans and signing things.  Kenny, not so much.

They were funny together.  You can tell they're good friends and having a blast out there!

It was a long day - tailgating at noon, concert starting with Jake Owen and Grace Potter at 4:30 and the whole thing ending close to 11pm.  But super fun!  Love country concerts in the south!  And it being in the Panthers stadium added a whole other dynamic which was awesome too!  Highly recommend seeing this concert if they are coming near you this year!

Birthday and Benny/Jackie's Wedding

On Friday night we went to dinner for Kevin's Mom's and Brother's birthday at Nakatos.  It was super tasty and those hibachi restaurants are fun because they certainly keep you entertained.  Needless to say, I went for a longer run on Saturday morning to make up for eating too much, ha.  And to make myself sweat since I was a terrible running buddy last week. 

I did lots of errands on Saturday then we got ready for Ben and Jackie's wedding.  Okay so I call him Benny and always have since Freshman year of college.  It was at The Palmer Building on 7th Street.  Pretty location but it was HOT for an outdoor ceremony.  I felt badly for all the guys in suits.  It was one of the quickest ceremonies we've ever been to.  Hey, at the end of the day, they were married whether it was 15 minutes or 45 minutes!

He was so happy, it was adorable.  They are the cutest couple.  Jackie is a school teacher and super sweet.  She's perfect for ole Benny!

Mike's wife wasn't able to come in from Montana so he pretended to be dates with another friend Brad.  It was pretty funny.  Mike is not right, well neither is Brad.  Let's just say they are quite entertaining individually but then put them together, chaos. 

Matt and Crystal.  I went to college with Matt too.  He and Benny were roommates and I met them in Fall of 2000 at NC State.

Kevin and I. ;)

These are my country boys and I.  I've always called them this because they're all from outside of Hickory.  To me being from Maryland, this was country.  Benny and Andy are cousins.  So are Matt and Mike.  And the four of them lived together in a townhouse near ours for most of college.  Anytime I had a headlight out or something wrong with my place, one of them came to fix it.  Seriously, the nicest guys.  Benny, Matt and I suffered through civil engineering together.  "We", I mean "I," did a lot of homeworks for us! ;)

The presch couple!  They're off to St. Lucia this week!

Kevin and I again...we had a big time.  Surprise there!

The party was wild.  The wedding was like 90% our age people.  SO fun!

The dance floor was never empty, obviously!

Good times!

Tomorrow I'll recap the Tim and Kenny concert!