I want to thank you, for lettin' me be myself...

OMG.... It's been a long time.

Well, I have been a busy gal but my lovely and oh-so-curious about my life bestie, Andi, has been dying to be brought up to speed... So brace yourself... and if you're not interested in my life then you're on the wrong blog...

In August, my brother Jim proposed to his sweet girlfriend Beth, here in Washington, DC. His original plan was to propose at Martin's Tavern (where JFK proposed to Jackie) but after sitting in the smallest freaking quaint booth, he decided he needed to do it elsewhere. We ventured over to the Jefferson Memorial, and out along the way was the FDR memorial- beautiful! It had water falls and beautiful lighting. I had never seen it before, but it was definitely the perfect spot... and very Jim.

Proposal

The happy couple!

The day after Jim's proposal we headed to Ocean City, MD for our annual family trip... 

This is how we do...

Can't beat the view. Unreal.

Beth, Jim and Gam

Baby brother

Me and Jas <3

Aunt Lisa and Ma- out for Aunt Lisa's birthday

Beth and Jim

Me and my cousin Shane, love him to bits and pieces! MISS YOU!!! 

My precious and adorable grandmother

My new motto...

We had an awesome time in OC, sadly the trip was short because I wasn't able to use my PTO with my new job... Ahhh well! Tis what it tis! 

Moving on, I found this quote and I just love it... thought I'd share :)

 So, I'm not very good at staying put, I love to travel and get out and about- but I have to say, having so much of my family so close is really wonderful... and having wonderful friends in this city is the icing on top! 2 weekends ago Grantley and I decided to venture into Logan Circle- I bought some new shoes and we stopped for drinks...

Love me some Grantley... our conversations are always interesting and intellectually stimulating. He's one of the most interesting people I've ever met and I can't imagine not having him in my life.

And ever since I left Georgetown in July, I try to schedule weekly to bi-weekly dates with Jordy. I sure do miss seeing her everyday. Last week, Jordan and I went to a new(well, new to us) restaurant in Chinatown, called Matchbox. DELISH! And the beverages were off the chain. Definitely a fan, I will be going back for pizza next time though...

Love that little nugget! 

Moving on to my impromptu trip from this past weekend... so Peej's parents are retiring from missionary life and the church they are affiliated with is having a recognition ceremony tonight actually (congrats Joe and Chari!!) in a little town outside of Asheville-called Ridgecrest. Jas and I wanted to go to the ceremony, but again, I don't have any PTO... so that just left the weekend open. Joel lives in Raleigh, which is about 4 hours from Asheville. PJ decided to make a weekend of it in Asheville, so he invited Joel, and us along. Well, flights had been crazy expensive so there was no way I was going to spend what it would cost for a flight to Germany to go to Asheville, so we bailed on the trip. Well, long story made incredibly short- through the due diligence of my sweet friend, Joel- we worked it out and found a way for me to get to Asheville for cheap! It meant lots of driving (I flew into South Carolina and out of Charlotte, NC!), but it was definitely worth it. Asheville was amazing!!!

So, after Joel and I found my flights Wed. night, I booked them and we decided to keep it a secret from PJ. I'm not good at secrets, but luckily I only had 2 days to keep it on lock down. I landed in SC around 930, the original plan was to drive straight to the Asheville airport to pick up Peej, but would you believe it... his United flight was delayed... 5 hours! He was due to land at 3am! OMG. Anyway, so, Joel and I went and checked into the hotel, checked out Asheville and mosey'd into a bar for a bottle of vino. We had some great conversation (we always do)...and snapped a precious pic...

So presh

 After that, we hung out for a little bit and got a bite to eat before going back to the airport at yep, you heard me right the first time folks, 3 am. UGH. We brainstormed a bit about how to do the big reveal... and ultimately decided that the best option was to have me pop out of the trunk (maybe that was the wine? Because yea, that wasn't the best idea...). He was surprised... but exhausted so I think the exhaustion overshadowed the surprise a little bit... Ahh well!

After we picked up Peej we went back to the hotel and crashed... and then we woke up and had a photo shoot with our matching sleep masks. We all love them... I can't sleep without mine anymore. Thank you Brookstone, thank you.

Matchy-matchy

Saturday we went to Tupelo Honey Cafe for one of the most amazing brunches I've ever had... We also had a mini-photo shoot whilst waiting almost an hour for our table... The boys didn't want to wait, but I insisted...and trust me, they were glad I pitched a fit about leaving because the food was so darn good!

Peej and Joel

La familia que eligimos- minus Jas! Wish you were there, Jas!! Wasn't the same without you! 

Check the cheekbones...

Geek

After Tupelo, we went back to the room and took a cat nap... then it was off on an adventure up into the Blue Ride Mountains! Beautiful, really beautiful! The higher we got though, the worse the fog and rain got... 

It was cold and rainy at one of our stops on the way up

Peej unimpressed with our hike

Me freezing to death at the summit... note the lack of view

You could see NOTHING... and if the fog would've been gone you would've been able to see all sorts of beautiful mountains in the background

Add caption

Weeeeee!!!!

 That night we capped it off with a really nice, delicious dinner (can you say goat cheese grits?!?) and then some bar hopping... We made some new friends and had lots of laughs

Dinner

Our new friends- David and Ece at Sky Bar in A-ville

And I don't know her name...

Loved Asheville! Loved seeing two of my favorite people! Can't wait until the next adventure... Until then... ta ta folks!