Barktoberfest

This year we took Ellie, her boy friend Spencer, and Spencer's mom Shannon with us to BARKTOBERFEST. It is a huge dog party. There were a ton of dogs... lots of treats....and costume contests. Most of the crazy pet owners in Charlotte were out and it was some great people watching. My favorites were the dog being a camel, and the dog who was James bond in a tux with his owner wearing an evening gown. Of course we dressed Ellie as a princess (it was her same costume from last year buy hey there is a recession going on so we saved a few bucks) and no we did not dress up to match her maybe next year! It was the largest crowd of dogs she has ever been around and I think Brian was more nervous than Ellie... He kept picking her up and holding her because "there were too many big dogs around"... he was being very protective and it was so cute!

SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE

This post is a little late since it is October and I am still writing about summer! That does sum it up.... I wish it was summer all year! This labor day we went to Smith Mountain Lake (it is in Southern Virginia... It is also the lake where What About Bob was filmed). 

We went and stayed there with Brian's BFF Steven, his daughter Olivia, and Steven's parents Joe and Roxanne.. Stevens parents live there and man oh man am I jealous!!! The views from their deck are beautiful. We played in the water, went on sunset boat rides, played in the water, went tubing, walked around the lake (not the whole thing it is BIG), and played in the water some more!  Steven's dad Joe was vicious when he was pulling Brian and Steven and he made them FLY off the tube more than once!! It was funny when the guys got back in the boat they were telling Joe that he gave them a 20 year old ride not a 30 something  year old ride... and that they were too old to be tossed around like that!  Now for some pictures....

Brian and Steven on the ride of their lives

Steven and Brian before they wiped out!

Cheese'n it up on the boat!

Whitney and Olivia... note the matching braids

Brian hanging on...

Whitney and Olivia on our boat ride to have dinner!

Snake Hill

 My friend Shannon and I walk our dogs everyday. Well we did until I got a job...but I am glad that I am working so it is OK that our daily walks are now weekly walks. We walk from our apartments past some restaurants and doctors offices, then down past a construction area, down a dirt hill, and then on a "path" (a construction zone with huge pipes and back-hoes) that leads us to the Greenway Walking Trail of Charlotte. This is our own personal short-cut to the Greenway. We usually walk between 4 to 8 miles and we are considered regulars. Yep we know the other regulars and the construction workers are familiar faces.  Now that you kn0w our routine I will tell you about the traumatic event that changed our path.. goodbye sneaky shortcut.

It was a beautiful sunny humid southern end of summer day... Shannon and I were walking along talking about houses, jobs and boys when we approached the hill... like normal we started to walk down... about 1/3 of the way down the hill I froze in terror. About a foot away from my little Ellie was the biggest snake I had ever seen not in a cage. It should be in a zoo or reptile house somewhere!  This snake was slithering across our pathway and covered the entire path which is about 10 feet wide!!!! I could not move for about 3 seconds then when I did my body did a weird leg kicking jump scream combo... while screaming I turned yanked Ellie's leash and started running...my scream lead to Shannon screaming seeing the snake, screaming again and running as well.  We sprinted to the top of the hill out of breath and scared to death.  Our construction worker friends were running to us because they could hear our screams and thought a homeless guy tried to kill us or that we found a body.... they were thinking something was seriously wrong.. and it was HELLO we were almost killed by a giant snake! 

We frantically told them what had happened between our gasps for air and wiggling around to get rid of our creepy feeling. They died laughing and told us that because it was all black it was a "good snake" the kind that keeps cotton mouths and water moccasins way. I was very confused by the term GOOD SNAKE! Are you kidding me this snake looked as big as the snakes that eat babies out of huts in small villages!!! I am pretty sure it was related to the huge snake in Harry Potter. 

 Once we caught our breath and got some composure we had to walk the long way on the side walk to get to the Greenway and we have not braved "SNAKE HILL" since! We are waiting for winter when the giant beast who so rudely made our personal walk way its home will be hibernating!  

The After Party

My sister Claire nannies for a darling little girl named Alex. Alex is a pistol and always saying funny things for example she was calling Hillary's reception the wedding after party. I loved it and so this blog is about the wedding after party and by that I mean the 5 days we stayed after the wedding. If you are reading this you know that I like to have a plan and a schedule... it kind of drives me crazy when things are not planned especially for Holidays or Trips. I had been making reservations and planning activities for a month. I feel like when we are out there we need to do all of my favorite things, visit as many people as possible, and show Brian a few cool places LA has to offer.  Lucky for us my Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve let us borrow their car while we were out there. Thanks again guys! Here is a very quick recap of our trip.

This trip we...

did tons of wedding and family stuff

shopped down town in the fashion district and at the alley

went to a Dodger Game - they lost SAD!

went to the Los Angeles mesum of Natural History - I hadn't been since Prom

went to the Beach - with the Boyacks we love the Boyacks and miss them tons!

celebrated my 28th Birthday we had a fun party! (Brian got me a very very sparklie necklace and I am having a hard time not wearing it 24/7) 

went to Roscoes, in-n-out, north woods

meet up with friends for Pinkberry

had a hotel getaway (it is always fun to sneak away for a night)

shopped with my mom 

put away wedding stuff - a huge task

went to the beach with Hillary and James to take wedding beach pictures

visited the nethercutt car musem - I liked the phantom 4 rolls royce and the silver dusenberg the best. 

Now for some pictures!

Me and Stephanie at my birthday!

at the car museum

us posing by old cars

at the natural history museum

 

Claire our Dodger expert and us!

Claire and I decked out in our Dodger blue... check out the sunset!

Go team go!

Having fun at the game!

WE LOVE L.A.!!!

Hillary & James got MARIED!

This is a pic I copied from my cousins face book... It is the only one with the bride and groom

Garrett, Brian, Me, and Miss Nevada aka Lauren

You can see the tented ceiling in the background... we did that!

Me and Lauren

Brian and I taking a break from dancing! 

We went to home (LA) for my little sister Hillary's wedding. I went out the week before to help my mom and Hillary. We worked hard!  Hillary married James Reyes who has pretty much been her boyfriend FOREVER (I think they are going on 8 or 9 years) so he was already like family. We are excited to have another member in our family and My dad, Morgan, and Brian are all excited that there is another guy!  The wedding was beautiful, it was well worth our efforts.  We loved seeing friends and catching up. I don't have many pictures actually I don't have a single pic of Hillary and James on my camera opps!!! Once I get some I will post more. 

Summer FUN!!!

We went out on the lake the past 2 weekends with Rob and Kimberly. They are pretty much our favorite locals!!! They have a pontoon boat or as they call it a party boat! I thought it was going to be an old man fishing boat but I was so wrong!!! I got a full lake education. I now know about everything from speed boats and lake police to the red neck yacht club (all to boats tie on to each others boats and people go from boat to boat drinking and what not)! We didn't tie up... maybe next time! We rode  around the lake then we grilled, played in the water, tubed, and got some sun! I love love love (yep 3 love) doing anything with water so I have been loving playing on their boat!  Here are a few pictures.

Brian and Rebel playing lake biologists and exploring the creatures of the lake!!

Me and Kimberly!

Brian Tubing!

Me and my nephew dog Rebel (one cute and fluffy puppy)

Brian feeding ducks... they were eating out of his hands... I was too scared to try!

Sitting on the Boat having fun!

THE SCHOOL YARD SALE

Brian and I have been packing and moving for a while now, umm since March... In all of our cleaning out we had developed quite the junk pile (it took over the garage).  So it's no surprise that when the Bunker Hill Elementary School's annual PTA yard sale came around we were EXCITED! We had a ton of stuff to get rid off and were ready to go! Debbie and Dave (Brian's parents) came up to help us! Seeing how neither of us had any yard sale experience we had the bargain site... people jut couldn't believe our prices... and we couldn't believe anyone would pay ANYTHING for our old stuff. The people watching was also entertaining. We set up long side the "other Mrs. Williams" (one of my teacher friends) and together we sold, sold and sold. Our favorite part of the whole event was our view!!! 

This was the view...  this lady was set up across from us!  She was so funny every time we looked over she had less clothing on! 

Some teacher friends working hard! The one in the black shirt is a Mrs. Williams too!

Brian looking good!

Me & Miss Becca Grace being silly!

Dave and Debbie supervising! We always have a great time with them!