guess what we're doing!

eeekkk!!!!!!!

More to come later ;-)

Richmond

One of Michael's oldest friends - Dusty and his fiancé, Colleen, live in Richmond and we had the chance to visit with them over the holidays!  We've never been that far up the east coast and we actually loved Richmond.  They live in a cute old apartment in Carytown surrounded by locally owned boutiques and restaurants.  It was so nice to catch up with old friends and just relax.

We spent a lot of days eating at local restaurants and nights by the fireplace sipping wine playing super competitive games of The Settlers of Catan (a game we're now obsessed with).  Dusty and Colleen were such lovely hosts.  I wish we lived closer!!! : (

 This is their neighborhood.

 The view from Dusty and Colleen's balcony : ) So cute!

 Yummy treats from Dixie Donuts!

 Chillin at the hizzy.

 The. Best. Game. Ever.

We went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and took a look at the CHIHULY exhibition.  He makes crazy glass sculptures.  The neon one was my favorite.

We also had newlywed's Amanda and Josh over one night!  It was a Gilmer High School reunion (Amanda, Dusty and Michael were high school pals.)

We went to dinner on NYE at Pasture in Richmond.  Yum yum!

Washington D.C.

While we were in Richmond to see our dear old friends Dusty and Colleen (who recently got engaged!!!) - we decided to spend a day in D.C.  It's only an hour & 1/2 drive from their place to D.C., so how could we not visit the nation's capital!?  The whole day we walked and saw all the monuments.

This photo is a major fail lol.

 The Vietnam Memorial... very sad to read all the names of soldiers we lost : (

 Approaching the Lincoln Memorial!!!

 Trying to get a picture of the monument behind us.

 The stairs are steep and crawling with tourists. I was a little scared of falling.

 Here's a little flashback for you...

 MLK Memorial

 We really liked this one!

 The walls surrounding it are engraved with MLK quotes.

 We only saw the White House and the Capital building from a distance. We'd done so much walking already.  We had zero energy left.

At this point we decided to drive back to beat the traffic and return another day to see all the museums!  I was so looking forward to the Smithsonian museums.  However, the hour + it took to get there was misleading because it took a whopping FOUR hours to get back to Richmond.  People said D.C. traffic was terrible, and now I know what they mean by that.  Atlanta traffic's not so bad after all!   

So we'll have to go another time to see the Smithsonian.  I refused to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for four hours again.  Nope!  With that being said, it was still very fun and I feel so blessed to have had the chance to travel to another city I've never been to.

team glendene

Friday the 28th we went up to Kennesaw to celebrate my brother, Clint's 22nd birthday with food, friends and drinks.  It was nice to spend some time together, but we had to get up bright and early Saturday morning for the Walk to End Alzheimer's hosted by the Alzheimer's Association at Atlantic Station.  My sweet friends were very kind and donated to our team.  Atlanta raised almost $500,000!!!

My brother and I wanted to raise funds in honor of our grandparents Leon and Glendene.  My grandma Glendene is still living with Alzheimer's and my grandfather cared for her until he passed away this summer.  I owe a lot to my grandparents for being so strong in their Christian faith and setting an example of what marriage is about.  I can tell you that they were some of the sweetest and generous people you could ever meet.  I really miss them, but I know how blessed I am to have had all four of my grandparents well into my adulthood.

In the last decade, my grandfather was completely devoted to my grandma.  If you don't know someone with Alzheimer's --- it can take a lot of patience and kindness dealing with  someone who is disoriented and repeats the same questions over and over.  My grandfather stayed true to his wedding vows and never left her side and I never heard him complain.  They were faithful to each other for 64 years.

We walked the 5K with all the other people who came out for the event.  The weather was cloudy, but nice.  If only I were in better shape, I would have loved to RUN the whole thing.

At the starting line!

I screen printed our shirts... thanks to Lauren of mycalicoskies for the tutorial. 

Waiting to begin!

My husband : )

Surprise shot ;-)

Cute four legged walkers!

Lots of people came to support the cause!

Thank you so much to all our friends' donations!  It is deeply appreciated!