Long overdue...

Okay, so I know I’ve been horrible about keeping up the blog but seriously, we’ve been busy! There’s so much to catch up on.

Two weeks ago, Dave and I went with our friends Ben and Andrea to Lac La Belle in Wisconsin for the weekend. We had such a fabulous time! I definitely know that the thing I miss most about Chicago is our friends! The cottage we stayed at was perfect! Ben and Andrea, my vote is for this place again next year!

Super cute house that we stayed at.

What kind of weekend at the lake would it be without a bonfire and LOTS of S'mores!

Dave and Ben playing ladder ball. Check it out, Dave got all three white on one rung. Impressive!!

Also impressive...the one that Dave got stuck in the tree branches...nice work hon!

Last weekend, Dave and I got to visit with some of his family on Kiawah Island, SC. It was so nice to see Aunt Shirley and Uncle Bill. Dave has been going to Kiawah almost every year since he was a kid and the past two years we’ve missed because of my job. The beach on Kiawah is so pristine and secluded, we’re truly lucky to be able to go there.

This is the path from Aunt Joan's out to the beach...you can see why we love Kiawah.

Dave's parents take a picture of the family for the wall and since we haven't been there in a couple of years, we were hoping to get a new one.

I will fully admit though that the WORST night of sleep I’ve had since I’ve been in Charleston was the night we spent on Kiawah. We had just climbed in bed and it escapes me why I decided to get up and turn on the light but I did and the lovely cockroach that had started to crawl down the wall climbed right back up into hiding. At this point I freaked out; Dave didn’t see it but I SWEAR it was there! So I tortured Dave by forcing us to sleep with the light on that night. I couldn’t really get into a deep sleep because I was so scared that that nasty bug would come back out of hiding and wind up in my bed...soooo gross! Well at one point, Dave woke up and there was a bug in our bed! I seriously thought that the bug was the darn cockroach from earlier but Dave told me later that it was just a flying ant. I’m still not sure if I believe him that it was the ant…it was definitely wasn’t there the next morning…heck maybe it was an ant and that nasty roach ate it! AGH!!!! BUGS!!!

I so don’t mean to make Kiawah seem infested because those yucky bugs will not keep me from going back there…but seriously, that will be the one thing that forces me out of the south eventually!!!

The B IG news from that weekend is that we found a place to rent!!! YAY!!!! We’re going to be moving into a condo on Daniel Island for a year! It’s two bed two and a half bath with a dining room (which will be used as my piano room J ) and a HUGE terrace! I absolutely love the terrace!! Steph, this place is within walking distance of the stadium!!! You’d better be down here for at least one match!

Our new address…

200 River Landing Drive

Unit A203

Daniel Island, SC 29492

I hope everyone has a fabulous Labor Day!

Love,

Beth

Happy 50th Birthday Hawaii!!!

This past week, I was lucky enough to have my parents come into town to visit and "approve" of where we'll be living. I felt badly because I had to work during the day, but definitely had our share of fun in the evenings. The standing joke throughout their time here was that my mom (and dad you too) is older than Hawaii. This was figured out on the plane ride down here from reading a magazine. This joke lasted until a little boy in the hotel pool thought my mom was 365 years old. Apparently this is very traumatizing...but really, Hawaii is millions of years old...dang mom you look good for being over a million!!! :)

Bugs, spiders, peacocks, birds and alligators... I seriously never realized how petrified my mom was of anything that wasn't human. I did know though that my dad loved to tease the poor creatures...careful dad, one of these days the animal kingdom may strike back! I'm sitting here laughing out loud at how funny our excursion to Middleton Plantation was.

Strike one...While walking through the butterfly gardens my dad wanted to see how close he could get to these beautiful white herons. I decided to join in the fun, what kind of damage can a bird do to a person? Well we got pretty darn close and this heron didn't like the sound of the camera so he started squawking and proceeded to fly in the direction of my mom. My heart did jump when I saw it flying through the air towards where she was standing. I did manage to get some pretty good shots out of it!!

Strike two and snake two...This is snake number two that we saw while exploring the gardens. My dad wanted to see it move, so he decided that spitting at it would be a brilliant idea. At this point and time, my mom is walking as fast as her legs would take her away from the snake while yelling at my dad to stop..."Philip, would you please stop, it's going to come and bite you and Beth and I aren't strong enough to run from the snake and carry you at the same time!!!"...at which point my dad proceeded to spit at the snake again. Lucky for us it didn't move...maybe it was dead? I haven't been able to figure out if it was a copperhead...can anyone tell? Apparently they're plentiful around here.

This is the picture that we took after the snake episode when my mom stopped crying (okay, slight exaggeration) and forgave my dad. It was one of the most picturesque points at the plantation.

Strike three...After we left the snake infested area, my mom wanted to see the stables. Though I have no pictures of the stables, I do have a picture of my dad attempting to make a peacock spread its feathers. To which my mom commented that the male only does that when he's attracted to a female so he must not be all that attracted to my dad. Don't worry dad, all 5 of us girls think you're handsome!

So this is what I have learned is called a Banana Spider. Apparently it's not poisonous but its bite will hurt like heck! This picture does not do the size of that sucker justice, that thing is at least the size of a lemon. These spiders are EVERYWHERE!!!

I won't even POST a picture for you of a palmetto bug...these suckers are glorified cockroaches and are disgusting!

The only other valuable piece of information we learned related to critters was that "you only have to worry about alligators longer than 8 feet". Mom, this really isn't true...and don't worry, I'll be sure not to live near a pond.

Here are a few more pictures of me and my parents at Middleton Place. The gardens there were truly spectacular. In fact, the formal gardens reflect the style of the landscape architect from Versailles. French...now that's my cup of tea!

This Live Oak tree is over 85 feet tall, has a circumference of 37 feet, and a limb spread of 145 feet. Some of the branches have additional support to keep it from losing more limbs.

Aren't these lilly pads crazy huge?! I swear at any moment we all thought an alligator would climb out and eat us alive!

My most memorable moments though were in the pool at night. Dad and I would swim laps every night in the pool; we'd do 20 and then go sit in the hot tub with mom. One night, we convinced mom to join in the lap fun. She indicated that we were swimming too fast for her so my dad picked her up just like a football and ran her across the pool next to me. I only wish I had a camera, her expression was priceless!

Papa et maman, merci pour toute cette dernière semaine. C’était si amusant et je suis tellement heureuse que je pourrais vous montre où je vais vivre. Même que je suis quatorze heures loin de vous, je suis avec vous en esprit toujours. Je t'aime de tout mon cœur.

Have a great week!!

Love,
Beth

CHARLESTON!!

Stephanie & Cindy ... this blog is dedicated to you!! :)

Holy cow...all I have to say is time flies! I can't believe that I've been here for 2 weeks already and after 2 weeks I do have to say that I'm loving it here.

Last weekend, my first weekend in Charleston, I was able to spend with Dave. Our objective was to figure out a neighborhood where we wanted to buy a home. I didn't realize how many options we have. Objective is to be close to the beach, have a pool, and work on buying a boat! I expect you all to cast your votes on what's below!!

1. Mt. Pleasant - Otherwise known as "Mt. Plastic". I haven't gotten to the bottom of the naming reference yet. After staying in Mt. Plastic at the Marriott Renaissance for the past 2 weeks I have to say, I have not seen a lot of fake boobs or face lifts...or maybe the doctors around here are that good... :) So...what it really has to offer is a great suburban community (not sure if I'm ready for suburbia after living downtown Chicago), 5 minutes from the beach, and what I've been told are the best schools in the area. It is about 20-25 minutes to work, which I shouldn't complain after having an hour commute in Chicago.

2. Daniel Island - Referred to as the "Stepford Community". I like to refer to it as Mayberry, but it makes me want to see the movie. It's a newly developed island community that has great hiking trails, river/marsh access (when we get a boat), you could survive with only a golf cart for transportation, great schools, many community pools to choose from, and 10 minutes to work. We could walk to the restaurants and grocery store, but depending on where on the island we live it could be quite a hike. Bummer about it is that even though it's an island community, there is no beach so the beach is more like 15 minutes away.

3. Downtown Charleston - Haven't figured out what it's referred to yet, I'm sure that there's something! It's got wonderful old homes and a quaint feeling about it. Its got so much history!! We can walk everywhere, even to the grocery store like we did in Chicago. Access to awesome restaurants and bars. It's about 20-25 minutes from work but about 30 minutes to the beach and I haven't found a place with a public pool

4. Sullivan's Island/Isle of Palm - WAY TOO EXPENSIVE! Would love to win the lottery in order to buy house on beach. For now, I'll have to only be able to afford parking in the public lot.

So after figuring out the where we could live, we made the most important purchase of our lives in Charleston...our beach chairs!!! This process took quite a while, not by my choice. I wanted to grab a chair and go, but I'm thankful that he made me test them out before purchasing.

Guess which one's mine and which is Dave's?

The container ship in the background came from the port right next to the papermill where I work. Did you know Charleston has the 3rd largest international port in the United States??

Weekend #2's post is in the works...I hope y'all will have a wonderful weekend! (I'm working on my southern accent ;) )

Love,
Beth