Harrisburg, PA

This weekend Mike and I are visiting his parents in Harrisburg, PA. We have an exciting weekend planned, which started with a wonderful dinner last night. I had some delicious scallops (typical!) and Mike had meatloaf (a first for him, if you can believe it). But even better than the food was the company - it was a long leisurely meal with my future in-laws and an opportunity to celebrate our engagement and upcoming adventure. We also received a beautiful cake-serving set from Linda and Marc - thank you for such a thoughtful gift! We have some more events lined up this weekend, too - minor league ball game, winery, brewery... maybe some shopping, too, if I can trick Mike into it.

Tour of the South

Last week Mike and I toured most of Virginia, North and South Carolina and the Atlanta area seeing friends and family. Our trip started with an over-nighter in Greensboro, NC, about a 5 hour drive from DC, where my sis currently resides. She was studying for finals for her first semester of her PT program at Elon, but graciously hosted Mike and me on her futon for the evening, and treated us to pizza and beers. It was great to see her, her kitties (though Mike was no at all excited about those things because of allergies) and her first apartment. I sometimes forget that she's old now, too - something about her being the younger sister always makes me think she is younger than she really is. Elaine, welcome to being old :-), and thanks for the futon and pancakes.

Next stop was a short hop to Charlotte for a lunch with some Davidson friends. I always love driving through Charlotte because I know that I can call my good friend Schulie and have a good meal with great company! We were also thrilled to see Dan, Sarah, and Elliot, and meet a new friend, Matt, too. We relived a few college memories and Sarah and Elliot shared some sage advice on how to deal with wedding planning. Thanks, everyone, for meeting up with us!

Next stop was my parents' house outside Atlanta. It is always such a strange sensation driving into my old neighborhood. It is all exactly how I left it, but different somehow, too. We had a great time with them. A delicious (huge!) dinner at an Italian family-style restaurant, dinner with my grandma, dinner with our good family friends the Millers, lunch with another college friend and Mike's teammate Ronnie, and lunch with my childhood friends Sarah and Megan (yes, we eat a lot!) I was so happy that I was able to see everyone. It was a great combination of a continual going-away party and engagement celebration with those that I'm close to in ATL. Speaking of engagement, my mom is only slightly less excited than me - she had bridal magazines and wedding books waiting for me when I got there, and we snuck away to try on some dresses. I still have no idea what I want, except that I will NOT be looking like the icing on a cupcake on my wedding day (I felt like these things below, only in white!).

Last stop on the tour was my parents' lake house on Hartwell. The first two evenings were quiet, just the four of us, which was a nice respite from the go-go-go of the previous days. Late Friday night, my uncle, aunt, and three cousins came down from Southern Indiana and spent the weekend on the water - skiing, tubing, swimming, paddling, canoeing... you name it. And we had a blast. It was such a great time, and such a pleasure having my extended family around.

So all in all, it was a wonderful trip, and well worth the 1300 miles. I'm so glad that we had the chance to spend some time with my family. I know they will only a plane-ride away, but it is tough to mentally get over the geographic distance. Driving away on Monday got me a little choked up - the next time I see them, I will be a California Girl. I know down deep, though, that I will forever be a Peach, and that my family isn't too far away.

Pig N' Steak

We made it home this evening from our whirlwind tour of the Southeast. I'll post more on the trip itself tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait to share a little gem we found on our way home. We decided to experiment; instead of taking the interstates back (I85 to I95 is a common route, or I85 to I77 to I81 to I66 which is a little off the beaten path) we decided to take a highway. US Highway 29, to be more exact. It runs more or less along I85 until Greensboro, NC, then goes straight north through Danville, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville, VA. We wanted to see how much longer it took to get home and if it was any more scenic than the interstates. At first, we were a little disappointed, as it looked almost exactly like the interstates - nothing but oncoming traffic on the other side of the median and trees off either shoulder. But then we were pleasantly surprised when we started driving through small towns while still keeping a high and steady speed. We stopped at a cute little produce stand and bought canned sweet vidalia onion relish and hot pepper relish (best on pinto beans, we were told). It was a very pleasant drive all the way back home.

When Mike was looking at business schools, Univ. of Virginia in Charlottesville was high on his list. We went down twice to the city to take a look. On the first drive there (which is only about 2 hours south of our home now) we passed an intriguing restaurant about 30 miles outside Charlottesville. On subsequent trips, we've wanted to stop, but never quite made it work out. This time, however, we stopped at the famed Pig 'N Steak in Madison, VA.

We dined on an appetizer platter of fried jalapenos, fried pickles, and brocolli pops which are too, fried, with cheese and ham filling. As you can imagine, there wasn't much on the menu that wasn't fried and wasn't delicious, including the funnel cake for dessert. We passed on the fried dough though since the meal was already over our entire daily intake of saturated fat. We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner that would put up a tough fight against any Carolina BBQ (except Ron's, may your BBQ trailer R.I.P.). All in all, it was an excellent stop and a delicious dinner.

Many have asked if our trip will have a "theme". While we aren't planning on any themes, we have decided that we are going hit up as many diners, dives, mom and pops, and local food stops as we can. There's something homey and "American" about these joints that appeals to us both. And, we just really like good food. So here's to the first of many hometown eateries.

4000 Miles To Go

As I write this we are driving through southern Virginia on our way back to DC after spending a little more than a week in Georgia visiting Megan's parents. According to the signs along side the road, we are traveling along the Seminole Trail, but since I can't get a good signal on my BlackBerry, I can't look up what exactly that means.
Anyways, we figure we've got about 4000 miles left on our trip out to LA: 250 until we home today; another 250 to visit my parents next weekend; and about 3500 on our cross country adventure.
Megan will post more later tonight or tomorrow about it, but we're on a victory lap of sorts visiting all of our friends and family before we settle down in LA for at least the next two years. Considering we know all of five people in the greater LA area, we thought it was important to say goodbye to everyone in person.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

On Lake Time

On Thursday afternoon, we left Atlanta and headed to Hartwell, Georgia to spend a few days at Meg's parents' lake house. In addition to Meg's parents, her uncle, aunt and their three kids came down from southern Indiana and her sister came down from Burlington, NC for the weekend. As we get closer to our move date (which is only about three weeks away at this point), it has been great to spend time with family and friends before we live a couple of thousand miles away.

This time at the lake also have provided a few days of rest and relaxation. We get spotty cell phone coverage, so while there are still a lot of things to do for our move, we can't really get in touch with anyone to finalize those plans. We've done some swimming, canoeing, paddle boating and water skiing in addition to a lot of lying around and eating. Meg's really the expert water skier between the two of us, and we have photo evidence, but my internet connection doesn't seem to want to let me upload the photos. (I'll try to get them up later.)

Our first engagement gift

Thanks to Anna for our very first engagement gift. (It says Mike and Meg.)

Wedding blog

We don't want this blog to become the official "Oh my god, we're getting married" blog, but I felt compelled to provide a brief update anyways. When we arrived in Atlanta on Sunday evening, Julie (Meg's mom) had bought us four bridal magazines, a book titled "The Bride's Book of Lists" and a groom's and bride's instruction manuals. After flipping through these things for the last couple of days, there's more to this whole getting married thing than I anticipated. I can't quite tell how much is necessary and how much is a product of the American consumer culture. I think the groom's instruction manual was right - the honeymoon isn't so much a celebration as it is escape from the fanatic weeks (or months) leading up to the wedding date. Thankfully, it appears as though my biggest task is to shake my head and say "Yes dear, I love that selection."