Is Anyone Else Exhausted?

We are...for sure!  It's been about 6 weeks since I've had a spare moment to sit down and update the blog!  Whew! What have we been up to?  Well, pretty much everything, so here's a happy little recap.

Labor Day weekend was slam jam packed full of fun and excitement (and work...poor Barrett).  With the threat of party pooper Hurricane Earl on the horizon, we thought our weekend plans might be in jeopardy...but Earl moved on and it made for a BEAUTIFUL weekend.  Friday - I headed down to Oak Island for an engagement party for my sorority sister Bre and her fiance Kevin.  It was lots of fun...great weather...good times.  Then, I made the trek from Oak Island to Greenville to meet Barrett for the first ECU game of the season!  Big win for the Pirates and a great weekend all around.

Some of the girls at Bre and Kevin's engagement party

Fun little dessert table

Me, Katie (and Landon), and Lora

Awesome new end zone

ECU Silly Band!

Hey Barrett - "teach me how to Dougie!"

The next weekend we were back in Greenville for another game...another big win....Go Pirates.

Ashley, Me, and Claire

Super Barrett

Brothers

Me, Jerm, and Barrett

September 11

The weekend of September 17-19 we headed to Durham for the wedding of Brandon Comeaux and Amanda Davies.  Brandon and Barrett were pledge brothers in Kappa Sig and have been great friends since their freshman year of college.  Barrett was a groomsman so we headed there on Friday afternoon.  Buddy stayed with my mom and Kenny in Burlington, so it was really nice for us not to have to leave him at home or take him to the vet.  (Thanks!)  The wedding was really beautiful and lots of fun.  The ceremony was at Duke Chapel.  It happened to be the same day as the Duke/Alabama game, so parking was a little hectic, but the chapel is simply breathtaking.  There was a great band at the reception...lots of dancing, great food, and really yummy sangria.  :-)

Inside of BEAUTIFUL Duke Chapel

The day of the wedding...those are empty beer glasses...safe.

The Cotton Room - Reception

Yummy cake

Fun Friends

:-)

Me, Amanda, Lora, and Squishy-faced Brandon

Barrett, Brett, and Matt with BBQ stuffed hushpuppies (feel free to pause and drool)

Kappa Sigma Boys

And...goodnight.

The next week we had a nice 5 day weekend down at Carolina Beach with family.  Susan and Mike rented a house and so we were able to spend a few days with them, Matt, Jenna, Landon, and two of Barrett's stepsiblings, their significant others, and their children.  It was another great weather weekend and we made lots of fun memories.  Hopefully we can make it an annual event...we don't all see each other nearly enough.  :-)

View from the deck

our beachfront for the week

House from the dock

Jenga at the bar...how fun is that?!

Barrett and Susan

Barrett and a fire hydrant (cute one though)

Pretty Carolina Beach

OK...so there is a bar in CB called the Fat Pelican.  Strangest place I've ever been.  This would be the beer cooler...where you walk in, choose your beverage, and then pay for it at the bar.  The decorations were straight out of yard sales over the last 25 years, and there was a dog bowl in the corner.  Weird...but fun!

 

Flash forward and we're already in October!  The first weekend I helped to throw a baby shower for my friend Katie in Richmond.  Again - BEAUTIFUL weather and everything turned out really nicely.  Barrett spent the weekend with his cousins, uncle, and brother at the Carolina/ECU game.  Not a pretty game for the Pirates, but a nice weekend for us. 

This past weekend, I headed back to Carolina Beach for a little girls weekend get together.  It was (again) gorgeous outside (side note - all this pretty weather is making me a little nervous that we might be in for a messy winter).  We spent Saturday afternoon at the Seafood, Blues, and Jazz Festival in Kure Beach.  Had some pretty phenomenal seafood (mostly steamed oysters - my favorite) and got to spend a lot of time catching up.  Barrett went to a birthday party for some friends of ours and got to spend a little time being lazy and watching football. 

Claire, Me, and Lora at the Shuckin' Shack

 The largest oyster I've ever laid eyes on.  Period.

Lora, Me, Claire, and Mandy at the Seafood Festival

Delicious oysters

Award winning seafood chowder from Michaels...delish.

Not a bad view for the weekend.  :-)

We've got two more weekends of football ahead of us...this weekend is the ECU/NCSU game and then Homecoming/our birthday weekend is right after that.  Then...we are FINALLY home!!  Woo hoo!  I can't even begin to adequately describe how much I just want to lay on my couch in my pajamas all day...but, we've got some serious work to do around our neglected home.  Painting, packing up things in boxes to head to storage, and getting the house on the market.  School is keeping me VERY busy.  I am doing well in the class, but it is ALOT of work.  I have been working 10 hour shifts, but am going back to normal 8 hour days in November.  It's just too hard to get home at 7:00 4 nights a week on top of class, homework, keeping up with the house (laundry, etc.), and just life in general.  It makes me tired....

Hope everyone is doing great!  I can't believe it's October already!  75 days till Christmas!  :-)