{movies}

it's rare for me to see a movie in the theater...two in a one week is almost unheard of!

and the two movies could not have been more different!!

i wasn't particularly excited about seeing the dark knight but i went to appease matt & spencer. it was very dark (as the name implies) and creepy. heath ledger as the joker was quite good (and very creepy) and probably does deserve an oscar. it was a bit more violent (and did i mention, creepy???) than i would've expected for a pg-13.

i went to see mamma mia with my sister, not really knowing what to expect. i had never seen a broadway (or off-broadway) version of it. i was very pleasantly surprised. granted, it was definitely cheesy and if you don't like musicals, you won't like this. but the music was good and the movie was very, very funny!!! No creepiness here (well, except for some of the goofy facial expressions by Pierce Brosnan when he was trying to sing).

{random questions}

I was tagged by Melissa, so here goes...

1. What is the one Website you visit almost everyday? Yahoo Mail.

2. Do you have a IM account? if so with whom? (IM=Instant Message) The only one I use is Yahoo Messenger

3. What grocery store do you shop at the most? Bi-Lo

4. What brand of Shampoo do you use the most? Arbonne

5. What Internet Browser do you use? Internet Explorer

6. For editing Photos, what software do you use? It varies...sometimes just the Windows program (can't remember what it's called) and sometimes Adobe Photoshop.

7. What are you paying in gas this week? $3.79/gallon

8. What are you going to be when you grow up? I think I am grown up, so I guess a Business Analyst - who knows what the future holds.

9. Do you subscribe to your local newspaper? what's the name? Yes, mainly for Matt. I only read the ads on Sunday. The Herald.

10. What's one of your favorite songs from the 70's? Cheesy as it is - I Will Survive

photos {hanging with the neighbors}

just a typical day of hanging out with the neighbors in the yard. warren is always great about throwing the ball with spencer.

photos {gourmet gardens}

we did "frog adoptions" at gourmet gardens (part of the come-see-me festival). we hung out for a bit afterwards, listening to the band and letting the kids play.

the girl in purple is dalton's sister, sydney (i like to call her my future daughter-in-law!)

dalton having a blast!

photos {anniversary}

these are the roses that matt sent me at work for our anniversary back in april.

photos {golf tournament}

back in april, we had the third annual charity golf tournament for the foundation. it was a great day with perfect weather - raised over $12,000 for DHF. See more about the foundation here. See more pictures from the event here.

this was the first year we did corporate sponsors - great idea that we will definitely be doing again.
Dalton (he wasn't happy - he had a horrible toothache).
Matt, Dalton & Strait - Dalton loves riding on the golf carts.

photos {clean garage}

last weekend we finally tackled our garage. it was an absolute disaster. but, we managed to get it tidied up a bit. we have a long way to go to our "dream garage" but at least it's organized now and you can actually walk around in there!

photos {charleston}

the last batch from charleston...

love the marina full of boats - just a awesome sight.

we couldn't resist stopping at krispy kreme when we saw the "hot now" light on.
flags flying over fort sumter.
trademark properties (from the original "flip this house").
matt & spencer walking toward california dreamin' - one of matt's favorite restaurants.

photos {harbor tour}

On our last day in Charleston, we took a harbor tour.

this was our boat...

we saw tons of dolphins - they were beautiful to watch.
plenty of seagull came very close to the boat (hoping for food, i assume).

we passed lots of great sites: USS Yorktown, Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Castle Pickney, The Battery & Rainbow Row...

photos {ghost tour}

one night in charleston, we took a graveyard ghost tour. spencer loved it - asked questions throughout and talked about it a lot afterwards. it was a walking tour and we stopped by houses, hotels, courthouses, churches, etc...all with a ghost story associated. and of course, we got to go into a graveyard.

this is supposedly a haunted alley where duals used to take place.

one of the churches with a ghost story...
the graveyard we were allowed into...

photos {fort sumter}

we didn't actually do the tour of fort sumter, but we did visit the museum and saw the fort from our harbor tour.



some cotton in the museum...
HUGE flag on the wall in the museum...this picture doesn't do its size any justice.

photos {arthur ravenel, jr. bridge}

i much prefer the old bridge, but here are pictures of it's replacement - the arthur ravenel, jr. bridge. i just think it's too modern for such a historical city. we only had to drive across this twice (to and from the uss yorktown).

these were taken from the aquarium, of spencer with the bridge in the background.


taken from the harbor tour - this is about half the bridge.

photos {uss yorktown}

matt is a history buff, so we couldn't go to charleston without a trip to the battleship - uss yorktown. unfortunately, this took way longer than i expected. matt & spencer seemed to enjoy themselves but after a few hours, i was bored :) there were so many steps (tiny, steep steps) and it all kind of looked the same (can you tell who isn't the history buff in the family???).

matt & i with the battleship in the background.

matt & spencer by the cannon
matt & spencer checking out a helicopter on the deck of the battleship.
the walkway to the battleship is lined with american flags - very cool.
the whole thing (though this doesn't capture the submarine and other boats off to the side that you also get to tour).

photos {charleston sights}

One of the truly awesome parts of Charleston is all of the gorgeous architecture that has come about through the many years of history. Though we didn’t do any tours specific to this, we did get to see plenty of beautiful buildings in our other activities.

United States Custom House



Daughters of the Confederacy

Rainbow Row - taken from the Harbor Tour

A house I just loved :)
Beautiful old church

more charleston photos here.

photos {south carolina aquarium}

over spring break, we went to charleston for a few days. the one thing spencer was most excited about was visiting the south carolina aquarium. he'd been to the ripley's aquarium in myrtle beach a few times, but this was our first visit here. it has a good reputation and we weren't disappointed. everything is native to south carolina waters!

check out the gator...he's looking at you!

this is the portrait they took as we entered the aquarium (the background is fake...shhhh).

look at the awesome colors - isn't nature impressive?

i LOVE this picture because you can see the diver in the background which puts into perspective just how huge that turtle is!

at the touch tank, spencer was able to hold a horseshoe crab while it was being fed.

more pictures at my flickr account.