Dan and Shelby's Engagement Party

March 8-10th, we were in Vermont for my brother-in-law (it's still so crazy to say that...I'm married!), Daniel, and his fiance, Shelby's, engagement party that her family hosted.

By now you know my luck, so it should be no surprise to you that we were delayed on the way up to Vermont.  Kevin had been in FL for work the entire week, so he was flying up from there.  I was flying up from RDU.  We were slated to meet in NYC and then take the last leg together to Burlington, VT.  Well, because of a few inches of snow in Boston, flights started delaying around 11am that Friday.  By 3pm, Kevin's flight from Tampa was delayed an hour.  I was still in the clear.  It wasn't until about 5pm that I learned my flight from RDU to JFK was also delayed an hour.  That hour turned into 2 hours after I was through security and at the gate, anxiously waiting to see my hubby, after being apart for a week.  We finally made it.  And it wasn't so bad.  We arrived at 1:30am after being scheduled to originally land at 11:56pm.  However, by the time we made it to my Mother-in-Law's house on the lake and got ready for bed, it was 2:30am.

The next morning at 8am, I just couldn't sleep anymore.  Yay!  5 hours of sleep!  We kicked our morning off with a trip to the mall in Burlington, so I could try on some things I had put on hold (that aren't available in NC) and a stop at Bagel Market for a scrumptious bagel sandwich...the best in the world!  When we got back to the house, it was nap-time and we didn't wake up until it was time to get ready for the party.

The party was great!  It was nice to meet Shelby's family and see Kevin's family!  Kevin's dad got me Pink Woodchuck, the new Private Reserve, and it was so good!  As was the guacamole that Shelby's mom made from scratch.  I think I ate all of it!  After a quick trip back to Shelby and Dan's place, we made it downtown Winooski to CK's bar.  It was the bar's 4 year anniversary, so they had food and a live band.  Kevin and I spent the night dancing and having a blast!  And...thankfully, I was able to drag him out of there a little after 11pm, which, with the time change and having to spring forward, was still late!

I woke Sunday morning with the worst headache!  I had 1 Pink Woodchuck the entire night and about 7 cups of water, so it wasn't for drinking.  I was in the bed until 3pm trying to rid myself of the horrible headache!  When I finally got up, Kevin and I had a little adventure on the lake.  I've never seen a lake freeze over.  Ever!  Kevin's been talking for awhile about if the lake's frozen, we'll walk on it or drive our car out on it, fish, or set up a shanty.  Well, this was our chance!  The lake was frozen and we were able to walk out a bit.  I was still worried about it cracking and me falling through to my death, but all was well.  It was so neat!  Kevin's mom's husband, Ron, went out with us and drilled down so we could see how thick the ice was.  In some places it was a good 2 feet thick, but where we were, it was about 8 inches thick!

Just two wild and crazy kids, standing on the lake!

We made our way back inside, got ready, and headed out again for dinner with Dan, Shelby, Kevin's dad and his wife and his grandpa at The Windjammer.  So good!  By dinnertime, my headache was gone and I was ready for fun, but everyone else was exhausted from the night before, so we just headed back Kevin's mom's.  After packing up, it was time for bed to be at the airport before 6am for the flight home.

No trip up there every seems long enough and we weren't even able to see Mémère and Pépère because they had the norovirus, but it's always nice to get up and see family!  The highlight for me was definitely the lake!

Our Engagement Anniversary

March 1, 2012, Kevin proposed to me while we were in Charleston, SC and we were engaged! :)

March 1, 2013, we headed down for a weekend trip to Charleston to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement and enjoy a little R&R in a city that we both just love.  Months earlier, I found a Groupon for a hotel in Mt. Pleasant, The Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, for $306.  That's $153 a night for a King room and included breakfast, which was a $30 breakfast buffet (for two..$15 each).  So, we really only paid around $123 a night.  You can't beat that in the Charleston area.  Especially because the weekend we were down was the Charleston Food and Wine Festival and hotel rooms were going for a low rate of $250-$300 a night downtown.

The resort and our room!

Charleston has become a tradition for us over the years.  In July of 2009, when Kevin and I first started dating, I swooped him away for a weekend in Charleston.  That happened to be his first vacation in 2 years.  In Feb. 2011, we went down to support the UVM basketball team and Kevin's friend from Vermont, Kyle, as they played the College of Charleston and Kyle coached the team.  March 2012, we were engaged down there and then there's this trip.  Each trip we've stayed in a different place and done different things.  I feel like the city is full of so many activities, we could go every year and never do the same thing or eat at the same place.

Friday night, we took the free trolley from our hotel to downtown Charleston and had a quick appetizer at TBonz near the market before our romantic nighttime carriage ride with Olde Towne Carriage Company.  They had a "holding area" across the street complete with a photo booth set-up.  Since no one else was having as much fun as us, and we didn't have anyone to take our photos, we just took pictures of each other.

Photo Booth Fun!

Because the carriage ride was at night, I didn't get great pictures, but we had fun!  And it was very romantic wrapping up under a blanket and snuggling in next to my honey as the horse, Big John, pulled us around!

Carriage riding in the dark!

Afterwards, we were treated to hot chocolate and s'mores.  Once again, we were the ONLY people to participate.  There was romantic music playing and we may have danced a little by the fire! 

S'mores and Hot Chocolate by the fire!

We weren't starving, but as part of the romantic tour package, we received a $25 gift card to Hyman's Seafood Restaurant.  So, off we went to dinner.  At 10pm, this wasn't the best idea!  Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. 

We missed the free trolley back to our hotel, so we hopped in a random cab for the trip and boy was that an awesome experience!  Our cab driver was an old man, maybe in his late 70s or early 80s and his co-pilot, none other than his wife.  She was the talker and he was the driver!  We learned all about their trip to Cherokee, NC for the casino and how they woke up early that morning to leave before the snow started.  She told us about the nice nap she took and how at their age, they had to nap a lot to be able to drive late at night.  The profit they made from their cab rides was for gambling.  They were just so sweet!  It's amazing the people you meet when you least expect it!

The next morning we woke early enough to make it down for our breakfast buffet in the hotel.  We loaded up so we wouldn't be hungry before lunch and then we walked over to Patriots Point to catch our ferry out to Fort Sumter.  I've been wanting to see the fort since my first trip down with Kevin in 2009!  We planned to see it then, but had a few too many mimosas at Virginia's on King and never made it to the docks!  This time, it was sunny, but oh so chilly.  We could have opted to stay inside on the ferry, but the captain told us they had been spotting dolphins in the water, so I wanted a front row seat in case we saw any.  And we did!

After arriving at Fort Sumter, a member of the National Parks Service gave us a 15 minute talk about the fort and then it was off to explore.  So much of the fort (the top two stories) were gone because of the action it received in the Civil War, but it was still neat to walk around.

A beautiful, but COLD day at Fort Sumter

We headed back to the ferry and made the trip back to Patriots Point.  Walked back to the hotel and then jumped in the car to drive over to Charleston.  We were hungry and we didn't have time to wait for the trolley.  We choose a place for lunch that was recommended by our private carriage tour guide last year....Cru Cafe.  It must be a HOT spot because we didn't have reservations and therefore could not sit inside.  They did have a porch, that probably would have been lovely in the summertime, but was just encouraging the wind.  And so we sat and we froze and we ate.  We danced in our seats to the music to keep warm and we laughed and laughed at people that came up to eat, couldn't sit inside, and then didn't choose the porch because they weren't as brave as we were.  It was a great experience and the food was DELISH!  Go there if you're ever in Charleston!

My salad was the Chinese Chicken Salad and one of their top menu items!

After our lunch, we walked over to the Market to browse and found a few little gems to purchase and take home with us.  We each got a coffee drink to warm up and started our walk from the Market, down Meeting Street in the same path we took the day we got engaged.  We made it to The Battery and stood in the same spot and replayed our engagement step-by-step.  I wanted Kevin to propose again, just so I could hear him profess his love, but that was a lofty wish!  Oh well!  (And don't let him tell you he did.  We said a lot of, "and then you did that, and then I thought this, and then you got on one knee." Nothing more.)  But it was very romantic to walk through it step-by-step!

We walked up East Bay Street and behind the Old Exchange Building to see what our carriage driver the night before had mentioned about the "back" of the building and then found ourselves on the swings overlooking the bay, much like we did last year.  And once again, just like last year, there were dolphins.  Many of them!  Just playing in the water right by the pier-with-the-swings off Vendue Range Street!

Fins to the left, fins to the right!

We eventually made our way back to the car and back to Mt. Pleasant to the hotel for a little rest.  We needed to gear up for dinner and warm up after a chilly day spent completely outside!  Well, we got so comfortable in the room that we decided to just order room service and we spent the night in watching TV and enjoying each others' company!

The following morning was the breakfast buffet at the hotel again and then we packed everything up, checked out and made our way back into downtown Charleston.  This time for a little stroll along Kings Street for some shopping.  Little did we know, none of the shops really open until noon on Sundays.  We did find an artist's shop with a guy painting and we browsed, looking at the beautiful art for a bit.  GAP opened a little earlier than noon, so we popped in and that's where I found my flats!  We grabbed a Starbucks treat and we hit the road.

On the way out of town, I began doing research on my phone about the William Washington House.  The house that holds the love story about William Washington, the same story our tour guide told us last year on our private carriage ride before we were engaged.  We had been looking for a print of the house all weekend because it's a symbol of our engagement.  I just wanted to find the flag William Washington took into battle.  The flag that Miss Elliot cut out of her curtains, now known as the Eutaw Flag.  Well, wouldn't you know, it's in the hands of The Washington Light Infantry (one of the nation's oldest militia units, formed in 1807 in Charleston) and we had driven right by their headquarters on the way to King Street that morning.  Something to look forward to visiting next time we're in Charleston- the city we love, that always leaves us wanting more!

My Luck

I have other posts lined up, that I wanted to get out this week, but this is just too unbelievable that I just HAD to share.

We all know by now that I have unusually bad luck.  Which is strange because I used to be REALLY lucky!  I'd win things on the radio.  I always had my raffle number called.  Not anymore!  They say that there is power in your subconscious thinking and that if you think positively, positive things will happen.  I don't think negatively, but I am a realist.  I do imagine the worst possible scenario so that I'm prepared for everything and I don't get disappointed.  I don't think that's being negative about things.  I feel like I'm an encourager to friends and I'm a generally happy person, but I am grounded.  Who knows?  Maybe that's my problem.

So here's what happened...
Yesterday morning I was running a tad bit late for work.  I'm driving up to the entrance of our neighborhood, which is literally a square.  I have to make one right-hand turn before the straight-away and then I'm to the main high-traffic road.  I'm approaching the stop-sign at the main road with a car in front of me.  They're inching out into the intersection and I'm patiently waiting (seriously!  I know I was running late, but I was patient) when all of a sudden they throw their car into reverse.  I see the reverse lights and beep my horn and then lay on my horn when *crash*, I'm hit. 
Can any of you tell me you've ever been front-ended?  Not rear-ended...front ended!?!
I didn't think so because only something that crazy can happen to me.  Who in the world puts their car in reverse when they're attempting to drive straight?  And if they do, who in the world doesn't check behind them when they decide to reverse?  I'll tell you who.  The teenagers who hit me!  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they thought they were too far out into the intersection and they felt they needed to back up a bit.  That's fair.  LOOK INTO YOUR REAR-VIEW MIRROR BEFORE BACKING UP!

My car has a bit of damage.  The hood is slightly pressed in like a accordion on the passenger side.  And I'm the idiot that didn't call the cops.  I just took down their information.  Not wise on my part.  However, they looked scared and didn't know what to do (had no clue what an insurance card was or where to find it) and I was desperately trying to call Kevin to get him to walk out to the "scene" and he wasn't answering (all 20 calls).  I could have walked to get him, but I didn't know if they'd take off.  Regardless, insurance has been contacted and my car is being appraised for damage today, so things are moving along.  I don't need a lecture.  In retrospect, I know I should call the police for any "accident" no matter how small and I didn't, so I'm the fool.  I got it.  I have enough guilt about it now that I won't make that mistake again.

Then it hit me yesterday afternoon...maybe they did it on purpose.  Who would believe it that they backed into me at a stop sign?  It would make sense that I rear-ended them because of the damage to my car and none to theirs.  Maybe if I'd called the police, they'd have believed me.  But there were two of them and only one of me.  If they insisted that I hit them, who would take my side?  And that's true with the police report or without it.

I'm just praying that when my insurance contacts their insurance, that they'll admit to reversing into me.  I'm also a just person, so I'm always pulling for justice to prevail and the truth to be honored.  That doesn't always happen in this world.  Hopefully my luck will turn around...or at least won't get worse!  And in the large scheme of things, no one was injured, so that's a blessing in itself!