Hello from Nashville!

I am sitting on Lissa's bed with her crazy cat nestled under the covers. He likes to burrow.

 Silly Crumb...

Activities so far: met Bismarck the German Shepherd. Hung out with the group last night. Made pancakes this morning and ate them with Lissa. 

Three more days with my best friend! More fun activities to come! Yay!

Going home

We're going to Chattanooga today to visit my family!

AND we get to see our couple-friends who we haven't seen in like a year, and not since Thomas came back from Iraq. We're pretty excited to see them :)

On their wedding day :)

me and Sarah last summer when we were double-dating!

I worked with Sarah in Chattanooga, and she was my best friend at work. They were really great when I was commuting, and let me sleep at their apartment one day when I wasn't going to be able to sleep at home. They're great people all around, and I really can't wait to see them tomorrow evening!

Hooray!

Recap: Destin

So, I last left you in Aldridge Gardens, where Kristine and I were discussing how we might go to the beach while she was with me.

Maybes turned into definitely-s, and we headed home to plan and pack...

And we got a bit distracted along the way.


Because wearing sunglasses inside is H-O-T.


Aww, I love her :)


After a lot of phone calls, and a near-mishap, we found a place to stay, and headed out the very next morning!

Token leaving-the-apartment picture:


Driving, somewhere in the middle of nowhere.


Never have I been more grateful for my iPhone's GPS navigation system (which we lovingly dubbed "Archibald" during this trip). We would have been HOPELESSLY lost without that little blinky blue dot. I can't even tell you the number of times that we were like "...Let's consult Archibald."


First sight of the ocean


And we're here! We checked into the hotel, called our loved ones to let them know we were safe, and hit the beach!


Seagull!


Beautiful beach around sunset


It's been 6 years since we've been at the beach together - and my, how much better this trip was! (Our previous trip, on spring break of our freshman year at Samford, involved a lot more people and a lot more drama.)


Beautiful :)


About to head home after our extremely long walk on the beach


We headed back to the hotel and watched a movie, and then fell asleep.

And the next morning... we were right back at it again!
We were some of the first people on the beach, and we got a prime beach-towel location. I love the beach in the mornings. I feel God there :)


So excited to be in Destin!


We spent our day doing a lot of this:


It was SO relaxing :) I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in its entirety that day.


The view from our beach towels


Then some people came and set up chairs. You had to pay to sit in them. We didn't want to. I should have.


Talking to my hubby


Around mid-day, it got warmer, and we got tired of reading, so we decided it was time to play!


Kristine would literally live on the beach, all the time, if she could. She would build herself a house out of sand, I think.


Time to build castles!


...or cars. We were very proud - later that afternoon, a bunch of kids came and were playing by the water. They saw our car sand-sculpture and positively identified it as, indeed, a car. And then they stomped all over it and destroyed it. Oh well...


After the car, we built OG, Resurrected. On spring break, me, Kristine, Andy, and Mark all built this monstrosity of a city that Kristine and I named Planet OG. This was supposed to be a recreation/tribute to that, but we accidentally made it look more like a mosque...


...And also spelled Resurrected wrong. FAIL.


Sooo happy to be in the sun! (I wouldn't be later, though...)


So after 8 hours on the beach, I decided that it was time to head in... I was starting to get pink, despite my waterproof, broad-spectrum coverage SPF 55 with three reapplications...

So we went home, got pretty, and found dinner.


By this point, I'm not feeling all that great, and am getting very very red.


But I still love her :)


We went and bought anti-inflammatories and aloe, and went to bed. I didn't sleep well because of the sunburn, and was pretty ready to go by the next morning.

The token leaving-the-beach picture:


My hand, after lunch. You can't really tell all that well in the picture, but it's HUGE.


After a very long drive, we finally got home, and I crashed with Mark. It was a super-fun trip, despite my intense sunburn, and I'm so glad we decided to go!


Mental note to self: While on the cruise, and in Jamaica and Grand Cayman - RENT AN UMBRELLA!!!

Aldridge Gardens

I FINALLY got an SD drive for my computer, so welcome back, pictures!

I think what I'm going to do in order to catch up is just post one "event" a day until we're back to normal.

So that makes today Aldridge Gardens, back when Kristine came to visit. This was the first day she got here, when we were walking and taking pictures and deciding that yes, in fact, it WOULD be fun to go to the beach. So now, without further ado...

The flowers were SO GORGEOUS OH MY GOSH.


I never did figure out what this one was...


But it was pretty :)


Me and Kristine


Pretty bench in the park


Camelias ... soooo pretty :)


I love it :)


I also liked these .. but now I don't remember what they were.


This is, I think, the best picture I have ever taken. It isn't digitally enhanced (or any other kind of enhanced) at ALL. I was surprised when I saw it...


This one's pretty good too


Looking up into the camelia tree? bush? thing...


This coloring was my favorite. Can you tell?


Kristine plays with the bunny from Aesop's Fables


more pretty flowers...


And that's all for tonight. More tomorrow!