One Carolina to the Next!

I have officially headed south to the lower Carolina. Charleston is only 3 hours south of Charlotte. Lauren and I arrived in Charleston Saturday afternoon after a good-bye brunch with Allison and Ryan.

We really like our apartment! We didn't like carrying all of our belongings up to the third floor. There are pictures below of our new home for the next 3 months! Come and visit! We'll take you to the beach!

The picture below is taken from the door to the screened-in porch.

Picture with Lauren's wing behind me and looking towards the front door. Taken with the kitchen behind me. My room is to the right of the windows. The highlight of the picture below is the decorative tree in the corner. That's Lauren on the couch! We were impressed with the tree and the large pictures on the walls. While the apartment is nicely decorated our TV is sitting on the floor because there was no TV stand. Also sad there is no microwave. Should have a delivery tomorrow! This is my room! So our first South Carolina experience goes as follows. We didn't get our cable hooked-up until today. Lauren and I went in search of a sports bar to watch basketball on Sunday. We end up at George's (hole in the wall) sports bar. When we arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon being 2 of about 10 patrons and 1 of 3 cars in the parking lot. We were a little wary, but they had the game, food and beer so we were happy. We sadly watched the Longhorns lose to Memphis. An obnoxious Memphis fan didn't help. Just prior to the Davidson game beginning the bar started to fill in. By the middle of the second half the entire bar was packed. We come to find out that everyone is there to see Wrestlemania 24! We befriend some nice looking young men from the Citadel at the booth next to ours. They assured us that this was not what South Carolina was all about, but it was hard for them to deny as we were being stalked for our table as the basketball game was ending. We ended up staying at George's for a good 6 hours. Now we know where we can go to watch wrestling if we ever get the urge! Stay tuned to see if we get a different impression of South Carolina!

House Party!

Megan has made the blog! That's for you Kathryn. We had a house party last night and Ryan's teammates all came over. I tried my first sip of moonshine and we grilled out. Never mind all the spots on my shirt...I was having a good time! Looks like Megan was having a good time too! She must have gotten into the moonshine as well! A good time was had by all. When everyone left at the end of the night...that's when the real party started! All that homemade North Carolina boos will make you do some pretty crazy things! I love me a few country boys with a tall glass of apple pie!

Family Visit

I had a chance this past week to go visit with my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Greensboro NC. Ben is going to school at UNC Greensboro studying mechanical engineering. We had a great visit with lots of catching up. Hopefully Ben will make the trip to come down and hang with me in Charlotte before I leave!

Kendall's Valentine Celebration

Kendall (Ryan's daughter) got to have a Valentine's Celebration early! Allison and Ryan are both out of town for work on Valentine's Day. They will be in Daytona FL. I wanted to post some pictures of her so everyone can have a face with the name!

Buster's Birthday

Here are some pictures of one of my roomies! His name is Buster and he had his 5th birthday yesterday. He likes long walks and will occasionally go on a jog with me. He is my pet substitute for Elsie right now. He's a sweet dog, but I still haven't warmed up to doggie kisses yet.

Biltmore Mansion

Allison took me to see the Biltmore Mansion in Ashville NC. This is the mansion built by a member of the Vanderbilt family at the end of the 1800s. It had running water and electricity which is pretty remarkable for that time. On a more fun note is has one of the oldest bowling alleys and an indoor pool! The existing family still celebrates Christmas in the mansion. The grounds were very pretty and reminded me of Tennessee a lot. Probably because its in the Appalachian Mountains. We had lunch in the stables (it's been converted to a restuarant). It was a fun day trip!

Visit to Phoenix

The last weekend in January I made a trip back to Phoenix. I stayed with my friend Lauren who is still working there and we made the most of our time. We met up with a friend of hers (see picture below). Lots of catching up, lots of missing Phoenix, too many shots, and not enough sleep! I had a great time. She pretty much has me talked into going to Hawaii with her in April. So stay posted for updates on those plans.