Friday, April 29, 2011

Oh, those crazy Brits!

Today was the Royal Wedding and I have a confession to make..... I love the Brits!  And I am obsessed with the Royals.  And I suddenly feel the need to own a Philip Treacy hat, like immediately. 

I think Kate Middleton looked absolutely beautiful and her sister Pippa is a real hottie!  Who knew?  I do adore Prince William, but he's definitely loosing his hair at record speed.  Everyone says he looks just like his mother, Princess Diana, but I have to disagree.  I think he looks more and more like Charles as he gets older.  Harry definitely got the better end of that stick - and a full head of ginger to boot! 

I did not wake up at 4am though - I might be obsessed, but I'm not insane.  I knew it would be repeated over and over all day long.  I did see the first (and second) public kiss live though.  I couldn't leave the house for work until I saw it, which subsequently resulted in me being 45 minutes late. 

With all the depressing stuff in the news lately - earthquakes in Australia, Japan, etc., tornados in the South, the unrest throughout the middle east and Africa, the struggling economies all over the world - it was so refreshing to finally watch something joyous and beautiful for a change. 

Here's to the new Princess and her Prince!  I guess dreams really can come true! 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Smile!

I'm no stranger to websites like Snapfish and Shutterfly.  I've somehow conned Shutterfly into giving me multiple free photo books because I'm such an awesome customer, and I printed all 1400 of my Italy pictures via Snapfish since I had about 1000 free pictures to redeem.  Yeah - I'm that good. 

Well, at work last week, this older lady happened to bring in a photo book she made and she let me look at it.  It was pretty freakin amazing.  Much better than my freebies from Shutterfly.  No offense, I will continue to print free photo books from them, but her book really rocked.  She made it on a website called Smile Books.

So I logged on last night to play around with making a Savannah book - holy moly.... that website is INTENSE!  I actually downloaded the program onto my computer so I didn't have to do it online.  I have spent countless hours over the past 2 days farting around on this site..... and it's pretty great.  So you should definitely give it a shot.  It's a little pricey, but the quality is worth it.  Plus I think they're currently offering 25% off - so DO IT!  http://www.smilebooks.com/

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Georgia..... still on my mind

We had a great time in Savannah.  The drive up was a little long - I'm not a fan of being stuck in the car for over an hour.  We hit a little traffic just before Jacksonville and again just before Savannah so that added about an extra hour to our drive.  Once we got there though, it was all worth it. 

I said it before, but I'll say it again.... we stayed at the AVIA hotel - fantastic location - very nice - would definitely recommend.  Here are some photos of the hotel:
We did a ghost tour - Blue Orb Ghost Tours - we did the City of the Dead tour and Tobias was our guide.  We did this on Friday night - the day we arrived in Savannah, so we opted not to do the Midnight Zombies tour since we thought we might be a little tired.  Tobias was great, and even though I'm not one for ghost stories or supernatural stuff, I was completely captivated by all the information he shared with us.  He's a fantastic story teller and it was definitely worth the price.  We took some pics on the ghost tour, but only one really creeped me.  Can you guess which one it is?
We also did a carriage tour on our last day with Carriage Tours of Savannah - and Bob (the horse) was our guide.  Actually, Carolyn was our guide, but Bob was the highlight of the tour.  He's enormous and moody, and I loved him to pieces.  Pics below:

Taking advantage of Savannah's open container law:
Other than that, we just did a ton of sight seeing on our own - we tried to hit as many squares as possible, and I'm pretty sure we saw almost all of them.  On Saturday we got engaged - right in the middle of Forsyth Park - next to the fountain.  The rest of that afternoon was a total blur, but I do remember popping open a bottle of Dom and having dinner at The Olde Pink House Restaurant - which was great!  Below are some of my favorite pictures from our trip.  Enjoy!

Our sampler at the Moon River Bewing Company.  The first one "Wild Wacky Wit" was the best:

Jones Street - my favorite street, and per Carolyn, one of the most expensive in the entire city - go figure!  Obviously you need to be keeping up with the Jonses to live here:

432 Abercorn - the creepiest house we saw.  There's some debate as to whether the stories are true, but I'll tell you one thing - it's definitely a creepy, abandoned house with a prime location:

First glimpse into Forsyth Park:

Right after THE ENGAGEMENT:

Our first photo together as an engaged couple - obviously D had to be talking during the photo:

Azaleas.  Because of the awful weather Savannah has had prior to us arriving, we didn't get to experience the city in full bloom.  I did get to see some azaleas though - and for that, I am grateful!

The Mercer-Williams House - made famous by the book (and movie) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:

Walking down the cobblestones to River Street.  Let me just tell you, the muscles in my legs were on fire after a couple of days here...... cobblestones are no joke, and you really don't realize how much strength it takes for your legs to keep you stabilized until you walk on uneven ground.

View of River Street:

The bridge - which is actually much larger and more impressive in person than I had imagined it to be:

Tybee Lighthouse.  We didn't climb to the top because it was about 178 degrees outside that day and something like 30 flights of stairs:

Not sure exactly which square this is - but it's definitely one with a ton of oak trees:

Loved this little house!

Oh - just chillin in front of my future home - across from Forsyth Park.  One day, one day:

Soooooo, quick story about this one.  This statue is the one on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - and for some reason, I assumed this statue would be gracing one of the many squares in Savannah.  Little did I know that it was actually originally in the Bonaventure Cemetary and was later moved to the Telfair Museum.  I found a tiny replica of it in front of a bed and breakfast and had to take a picture:

Love these houses!

Greene Square - considered by some one of the most picturesque squares.  I read that in a guide book.  It was actually a really small square in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but to be honest, it was very pretty!

Azaleas!!!!!!!!!!

View from inside Forsyth Park - gorgeous!

Friday, April 15, 2011

The scene of the crime.....

Forsyth Park in Savannah, GA. 

That's where it all went down last Saturday, April 9, 2011.

That's the spot where we got engaged!  Around noon - sun shining, warm weather, gorgeous day.  Couldn't have been more beautiful.
More photos to follow of this beautiful city and our amazing long weekend there! 


Friday, April 1, 2011

Let's try this again....

Maybe this time I'll actually complete a challenge.  Maybe not.... but I'm going to try!