29

Dustin turned 29 on Tuesday. I took him to a Brazilian Grill so he could eat ridiculous amounts of rice and beans and meat.

We BOTH had the day off so we treated ourselves to a movie- Dustin chose Despicable Me (which was funny and clever and adorable all in one)!

And then my family came down to celebrate. We went to dinner. And I baked him a cake. Which we shared with friends.

Overgrown

Zucchini is taking over our yard (our patio may soon disappear). The tomatoes are falling over they're so tall. I have more herbs than I can handle. If you can't find us come Fall, we may have gotten lost in the squash. I'd say the garden is doing well.

 

We didn't even see this mutant zucchini lurking in the overgrowth!

Backtrack

We visited my family to celebrate the 4th of July this weekend, and I finally got a hold of some old photos. A few of these go way back. But better late than never.

These were taken before my brother left for Ukraine. Life is significantly more boring without him around.

This was taken this year on Mother's Day. The Goodfellow girls.

Sometime last month we went to the Greek festival in Richmond. Good food but crazy crowds.

And now we're caught up to the present.... watching fireworks set off in Old Town Manassas last night.

River Fun

We spent a beautiful Memorial Day afternoon tubing down Richmond's James River. There were a few rapids, and a lot of paddling. (I did some strenuous math to figure out that since we went about 3 miles in 3 hours, we were flying down that river at 1 mph!) I managed to not topple out of my tube and I got a tan. Dustin loved it- he would be floating down the river every day if he didn't have dental school.

For Katelyn and Amber

Congratulations to my two little (twin) sisters! They graduated from high school Monday night (both in the top 10 of their class) and are on their way to BYU in the fall. I love you girls!

 

May Vacation

It's not yet summer, but this was the only week that Dustin and I had off of school together (until I graduate in December). We wanted to spend it somewhere warm and sunny, so we went South.

Last year we visited Charleston and found Folly Beach. We couldn't get the waves and sand out of our minds and I had been craving a particular fish taco shop ever since, so we went back. We stayed one night in Charleston just to spend the day on Folly and eat fish tacos- twice!

From the Folly Pier. 

Downtown district historic Charleston.

Note the progression of skin tone from ghostly pale (or vampire-ish as my sister described us) to slightly tan. Yes, we used sunscreen and still got a tan. Sunblock is your friend.

Next we spent some time in Historic Savannah. We consulted Trip Advisor and signed up for a highly rated walking tour with "Savannah Dan". He guided us around the streets and squares of downtown Savannah for an afternoon- it was informative and fun! Trip Advisor came through.

That house is famous for something... I just can't quite remember what!

With our tour guide Savannah Dan. He was a large and funny man.

Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady and Sons. Savannah is obsessed with her. I'm not much of a fan so we didn't eat there, but I had to take a picture of course! 

After tiring of the city, we drove out to Tybee Beach for an afternoon. This is where they filmed The Last Song. Yes, I saw that movie- Miley Cyrus and all. And yes, I liked it. A quaint little town and a pretty, wide beach.

Our last few nights were spent on Hilton Head Island. It was our favorite part of the trip. Mostly we slept and swam and read sitting on the beach or by the pool. Can't forget all the awesome fresh seafood and Southern fare. A whole week of no cooking! It was unbelievably relaxing.

Sitting on the beach. I thought that my sunglasses would hide the fact that I had my eyes closed for this shot. You caught me.

My pink toes by the pool.

In front of our resort- I already miss those palm trees. 

Decapitated

This is how I found my beautiful Gerbera Daisies this morning. Severed at the neck and soon to be dead. And I know exactly who did it. The homeowners association hired painters who have been touching up the paint on the exterior of our townhouse for the last few days... popping up in random windows and doorways, invading my privacy, and trampling through my garden. Even propping ladders up in front of my front door for hours on end, making me feel like a hostage in my own home. (All this after power washing the house several days ago and practically taking out my herb garden in the process.)

I can deal with strange men peering through my bedroom window (because I can close the curtains) and climbing around in my front bushes (because I can lock my door) but I really don't appreciate them ruining my newly potted plants. It's quite obvious they knocked the whole pot right over... because they didn't even bother to clean up the carnage! Since I'm too timid to march out there and speak my mind (which would probably be useless since they don't appear to speak very much English), I'm complaining to you. I can only hope that the fellows creeping around outside will at least leave my poor vegetables alone.