Category Archives: Everyday Adventures

Rock Hopping The Hooch

2nd August 2014

There are few things I love more than spending summer afternoons along the river. While I didn’t capture a single photo on last weekend’s canoeing adventure with Shoot the Hooch, (though my phone would have survived as we didn’t tip that thing once) I did snap a few on our most recent trek across the Chattahoochee thanks to my Nathan Shadow Pack a few weekends ago.

Who needs a pool when you have views like these?

While Atlanta may not have the mountains of some of my other metro loves (ahem Denver), living with beautiful adventures like these just a fifteen minute drive away is quite the perk.

Having a fiancé that knows the river like the back of his hand as a perk, makes spending a Sunday afternoon simply hopping from one rock, as far as our Chacos would take us even sweeter.

Bliss, it looks like Vida would most certainly agree.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Summer, don’t leave.

Vegas, You Win #donttellanyoneisaidthat

6th May 2014

Phew. Almost four weeks later and with a fairytale Faircloth wedding now behind us, and I think I may *finally* be recovered enough to blog about Vegas – bachelorette style.

Now, let’s be clear, this wasn’t my first rodeo with the city in the desert. P and I ran our way around the city quite literally with the Great Urban Race in late 2012, but boy does seeing the sun rise over the Vegas strip paint this city in a whole new light.

Backing up from the whole why-are-we-still-outside-when-the-sun-is-coming-up thing, when your best friend since 7th grade decides it’s time to go to Vegas for one last fling before she says “I Do,” first you apologize to your back account, then you buy some Goldfish crackers and finally you hop on a plane heading west.

Upon landing at 10:00PM PST, Vegas very quickly made it very clear that we were not in control. This bachelorette weekend may as well have taken place in an alternative Vegas than my first trip around.

We landed, headed to the hotel, made our way to the bar and then (or so I hoped) headed to find a quick bite to eat. Food quickly turned into a jaunt over to the MGM Grand to see Rev Run DJ – starting around 2:00AM if my east coast body was keeping track. Nearly five hours later, I was crawling into bed saying small prayers to make it out of the next few days alive.

Let’s get one thing crystal clear. I’d heard it before, but it didn’t quite resonate until we experienced it ourselves. Vegas LOVES bachelorette parties. I’m fairly certain there’s a special club just for that. In fact, it may be called every club. And everything is free.

Three days in Las Vegas lead us to make eight new friends on a bachelor trip (who coincidentally were also from Atlanta), spend three mornings watching the sun rise while walking home heels in hand, enjoy a few too many poolside jello shots and spend one weekend with one little lady who also happened to rock a tutu and close down the club after the last of the confetti fell.

If Vegas doesn’t invite me back, say ever, I’ll be OK with that, but I am proud and a bit humbled to have knocked a bachelorette in Sin City off of the bucket list, with countless stories to prove it.

#itneverhappened

Holy cow we’re getting married!

6th April 2014

With wedding planning well underway and these little guys beautifully designed with help from Wedding Paper Divas *hopefully* landing in mailboxes in the next week if I can get my act together, I figured it was about time to ink our engagement story from December to ~~paper~~ a blog post. A little overdue, yes, but just as fun.

Maybe it was trying on my wedding dress for a second time today that just has me in the mood for a little love. I could twirl in that thing all day, every day for the record. So here ya go, the story nearly four months overdue and seven years in the making of how P popped the question.

Always after a good adventure, The Great Urban Race National Championships took us to Puerto Rico this past December. It sounded like the perfect excuse to do a little exploring and a little vacationing not too far from home. When Patrick strained his ACL (again) we cancelled the race, but kept the trip.

Not to be completely sidelined, we found our way to renting a car for a drive to El Yunque National Rainforest. Not ones for plans, we didn’t have a trail picked out, opted out of the $2 entry fee (we’re known to be a little “thrifty”) for a map and we wound our way through the mountains, simply on the lookout for what might look like a good trail. When the rain picked up (who knew it rained in the rainforest?), we pulled over and settled for a less crowded route.

The trail we picked just so happened to connect to the main trail, leading us to the rainforest summit in a little less than two hours – much less than we had read online – our “give in” trail ended up being a rather sweet shortcut.

Soaking wet, in the clouds, without a darn thing to see, I insisted on a photo from the top of one of the rainforest’s many stone lookout towers (this one just so happened to look like a miniature castle which was even cooler). When it turned out terrible (perhaps it foreshadowed some nerves), I turned around to find Patrick on one knee.

After several “are you serious’s”, a “I think I might throw up” and a “yes” later, we were making phone calls, marching ourselves through the mud, avoiding slipping off of ledges held together with branches and heading for a dinner in a small seaside town. It couldn’t have been a more perfect moment, and trip, to represent everything we’ve loved most about our relationship over the past seven years.

While the last four months have been a whirlwind, it’s so exciting to see things getting crossed off the list and the vision coming together. The countdown to November is on!

A special thank you to Miss Lauren Carnes for the beautiful engagement photos, we cannot wait to have you capture our big day!