A Boston Wedding - pregame

May 17th - May 18th

This weekend we headed north for a fun road trip and wedding. Tim & Wendy were getting married in Boston on Sunday and Jed was in the wedding and our travel partner, Joe, was the officiant.

So we headed out on the road Thursday after work and got as far as we could before we stopped in Bridgewater, NJ. Friday morning we started again driving through NYC. It felt like it was calling us to come play but we enjoyed the sky line and kept going. Before we knew it, we were in Boston! Well, Quincy, but close enough. After we dropped off Joe's suit to get altered for Sunday's wedding, we were on a mission for lunch. After driving around looking for a food truck that wasn't there, we decided on Murray's Deli.

Our next stop was downtown Boston. Before the bachelor party that night we wanted to take a tour of Fenway Park and after a slight hiccup with the T, we found it.

The tour at Fenway was so much fun. We learned so much about the stadium and got to hang out on top of the Green Monster.

After our tour, we had a little time before all the festivities began so Joe, Jed & I spent some time hang out at The Bleacher Bar. This is the place to watch a game! There is a garage door size opening that looks out right onto left field. It was so cool. Unfortunately, the Red Sox were away this weekend so we will have to come and have the game day experience another time. But we really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere during an away weekend.

Joe & Jed went to meet up with Tim and all the guys for an evening at Jillians. I can only assume they spent the evening making fun memories that can never be spoken about again, like all bachelor parties should be. Meanwhile, I meet up with Krystal and we headed off to dinner at Sweet Carolines. This place was a block away from Fenway and really nice. We sat outside, laughed, talked, ate great food and unknowingly watched some guy skip out on his check.

After a fun filled night, and a few hours of sleep, Joe, Jed & I decided to head back into Boston before all the rehearsal festivities began. We had one stop to make before heading back into Boston, the very first Dunkin Donuts.

After 25 munchkins, a few pictures and some really friendly Bostonians, we headed back into Boston to tackle the Freedom Trail. Since we didn't have the time to take a guided tour, we grabbed a $3 self guided tour book from the visitor center and off we went.

It was a perfect day to just walk around the city and we enjoyed seeing and reading all the history of Boston. It was a lot of fun but before long it was time to go set up and rehearse for the big day tomorrow.

The rehearsal was great. We had a fantastic time meeting new people and catching up with old friends. Jed's video was perfect and he did a fantastic job with his impromptu MC position. I absolutely loved listening to friends and family laugh and cry remembering stories of Tim and Wendy and Tim & Wendy together. I was so thankful to be a part of it. Unfortunately, the evening wasn't without a few kinks. A busted wireless mic, an unsuccessful trip to Walmart to get it fixed (a successful trip to Radio Shack got us up and running) and forgetting my camera in the hotel room.

Even without pictures of the event to post (Sorry Lisa), we had a great time and were all really excited for the wedding tomorrow.

Mother/Daughter Weekend

May 10th - 13th

This year for our Mother/Daughter Weekend, mom and I went for a road trip. We meet in Raleigh, NC and headed down to Savannah, GA to see what we could find. The ride down was a lot of fun just laughing and telling stories. By the time we got to Florence, SC we decided it was time for a dinner break. I had read that The Clay Pot Coffee Shop had great grab and go food so we decided to check it out.

The reviews must of been pretty accord because when we got there, he had sold out of all of his food, even his prior day leftovers. We asked if he could recommend a place for us to grab a quick bit before hitting the road and he suggested the thai place next door, Thai House 2 Restaurant. I was excited to take mom to her first Thai restaurant, unfortunately, this place was quite a disappointment.

The service was really slow and the food quite disappointing. So after a much longer then expected detour for dinner, we made it to Savannah around 10pm and called it a night.

In the morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast from the hotel and walked down to River Street to explore. It appeared that everyone decided to stay and party until the wee hours of the night the night before because no one was out walking around on a Saturday morning. It was pretty surprising. Many of the stores weren't even opened.

We decided to try one of the on/off trolley tour companies to get the full picture and history of Savannah. We found Old Savannah Tours and loved it. We jumped on at River Street and took it a few stops until we got to the City Market.

Right across the street from the City Market was the First African Baptist Church. As soon as I saw it I remembered it from when Jed & I had visited Savannah years ago. This church was a part of the underground railroad system and they gave tours. It was something that we had wanted to do but never had the chance. So mom & I decided to check it out. As we were walking up, we learned that they were getting ready to start the tour so we were able to jump in.

This church is beautiful and we absolutely loved our tour guide, the tour, the history and all the information they gave us about past and present. If you are ever in Savannah, it is a must do in my opinion.

After our tour it was time to find some lunch. We had a whole bunch of recommendations and we decided to head to Zunzi's, it had some South Africa tea that I really wanted to try and they say the food is great. Unfortunately, we weren't the only people that had heard about how great the place was so when we saw the line go for blocks, we decided we would have to try it a different day. We tried to get into a few other places and landed on a cute, artsy place called Soho South Cafe. Mom was not impressed with the food, I liked it, but we both agreed it was strike two with food service. Not good at all. But we weren't in a hurry and it was a great area to just hang out.

We headed to the start of the trolley tour for the rest of the day. We drove around learning about the city and check out all kinds of areas and historical houses that we could go back and visit later.

We hopped off the trolley for the night on River Street. But this time it there were plenty of people out and about and all the stores were opened so we did a little shopping and stopped for ice cream at Leopold's.

As we were starting to think about dinner, we found a place advertising fried green tomatoes. Mom was pretty excited so we decided to try The Cotton Exchange. We decided that we would just do drinks and two appetizers instead of a full blown dinner so fried green tomatoes and spinach cheese dip it was. This was most definitely strike three with food. Although the service was better the food was terrible. Maybe we didn't order the right stuff or maybe it was just our luck for this trip but I don't know that we would try that place again.

We did a little more walking after dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning was Sunday, Mother's Day. I had no idea it was Mother's Day weekend when we planned it but it worked out perfectly. That morning we headed out for a walk, shopped at a few shops and headed back down to River Street where we boarded a boat for a Mother's Day Brunch Cruise. We had a fantastic time riding up and down the Savannah River. There was plenty of food, live music, great views and laughing.

After the cruise, we headed to the Owens-Thomas House. They allow guided tours through the house a few times a day. We were able to make the last tour of the day. It was a fantastic house. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures in the house but some very note worthy things about the house for me were: running water, flushing toilets, square room built to look like a circular shaped room and an incredible double staircase complete with a bridge at the top.

I loved doing this with my mom, so much of old homes and listing to the guides talking about designs & building them reminds me of my dad. It was just so great to be able to do that with her.

When the tour ended, we went exploring again. This time we were headed to Forsyth Park. All of the parks in Savannah are beautiful but this one is one of my favorites. It is a pretty large and busy park but it has a beautiful fountain where we just sat for a while.

Once it started to get dark, we decided to head towards dinner. We had found a great coffee shop that we had already been to twice that day for coffee and tea called Gallery Espresso.

We had seen the perfect dinner for us there, bread, cheese and fruit. So we headed back there and at dinner outside as we people watched. It was great.

On Monday, it was time to head back but not before we got one last tour in. That morning we meet up with a group of people for Savannah Walks: Historical Homes Walk. I loved getting to walk around, hear more history about the area and the homes. It was such a beautiful day.

After the tour, we started the process of heading home. But not before a quick cupcake stop at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes.

I am so glad that I get this time with my mom. It is always such a great time. I can not wait to see what kind of adventure we find next year. Thank you mom! You are the best.