5 semesters down, 1 to go

As soon as Ben turns in his paper due today, he will be done with his last fall semester! YAY!!!!! Then, it's one more semester and we are done with law school. It's going to be a busy summer. He'll graduate in May, the baby is due at the beginning of June, we'll move at the end of June, he'll take the bar in July, and start working in August. Whoa! It's all kind of crazy to think about, but we are excited.
I went to the Dr. today for my 16 week checkup. She said everything seems to be fine. The baby has a strong heartbeat...it is sooooo cool to hear it. It still doesn't seem real that there is actually a person growing in my body, but I heard it today. I still don't feel pregnant, although, some of my pants are definitely getting a little tighter in the waist...not a big fan of that! I'm already thinking of all of the running I am going to do when this baby comes out...blah!!!! I go for an ultrasound on Jan 5th. Then we'll find out if this thing is going to be a little Kristin or a little Ben! Either way, I'm sure the baby will have a big butt, wide nose, and curly hair!

Bathroom Texter

There is a lady who works in the department across the hall from me who likes to text in the bathroom. It's so weird. A couple of weeks ago, I walked in and she was standing there texting by the sinks. Just a minute ago, I go in the bathroom and all I hear are the little tick, tick, tick of the plastic buttons being pressed. And I know it's her because I saw her walking to the bathroom from her office. The bathroom is right outside of my office. I just want to say to her, "Lady, this is a bathroom! This is where people pee and poop and this place smells funny...why do you want to stay in here and text? Is it really that important? Weirdo!" Obviously, I don't say this to her. Sometimes I really wish I had the balls to say what I think. Unfortunately, I'm a baby when it comes to those things. One day I'm really going to speak my mind...it might surprise some people what I think!

"Get in my belly!!!"

That's what I told our baby to do. Surprise! It actually listened. Probably the last time in it's life it will listen to me, but that's ok...we'll deal with that another time. It's going to come out of my belly sometime around June 8th. We're excited! :)

Countdowns...

Countdown to Thanksgiving in SC with all of my siblings: 9 days.
This will be the only time that all of my siblings and their families we be together this year. It only happens once a year, so it's a pretty big deal. My brother and his family will be in from Brazil, another brother and his family will come in from Utah, my brother will come down from Baltimore, and the other brother will come in from Myrtle Beach. And, Ben and I will go down from NC. My older sister already lives in Chapin, and my other sister will be there from Spartanburg! I am soooo excited, especially to see all of the nieces and nephews! They are so cool and so much fun to hangout with.
Countdown to Christmas in SC: 39 days.
No explanation needed...it's Christmas, enough said!
Countdown to GRADUATION!!!! 174 DAYS
The day we have worked and waited for will finally be here. It's been years in the making and on May 9, 2010, Ben will finally be done with school! Hallelujah!
Then we move to SC after that, which is very bittersweet! I never thought I would say that because I couldn't stand Chapel Hill when we first moved here. But now it's our home. It's the only place Ben and I have called home as our little family. We've made some fabulous friends here and, as crazy as this sounds, this place feels more like home than any other place. It's always nice to go to SC and visit our families, but, after a few days, I'm ready to come back to our house and our space. I know I'll adjust and come to love Columbia again, especially since our families are there, but I think a little piece of me will always be in Chapel Hill. Not because this place is any more special than any other place, and it's definitely not because of UNC (I honestly couldn't care less about that). It all has to do with the people...our friends. Thankfully, we still have 6 months before we move. And I think I need to get back to work and quit being so sentimental! :)

The Sky is Falling!!!

Not really, even though it has been raining nonstop the past couple of days. Trees are actually falling! A couple of weeks ago, a tree on campus fell and two people were hurt. Yesterday, I heard this loud bang but didn't really think anything about it. A few hours later I got a call from the grounds department saying "You might have heard that a tree fell on Saunders Hall (my building is kind of perpendicular to that one. Luckily, the tree fell on the other side of the building from my office). No one was hurt, but the grounds crew will be working on it tomorrow morning early. If it gets too loud, please call us." So, that explains the loud bang I heard, and it really is amazing that the building wasn't damaged and no one was hurt. I guess it's good the weather was crappy yesterday and no one was hanging outside the building. I took a picture with my cell phone, so I'll have to add it later. My boss says they are probably going to cut down some of the old trees around, which would be SO SAD because the trees are what make this campus sooooo pretty. I may not be a huge UNC fan, but this campus is really pretty! The grounds crew has seriously been working all morning, and I still hear the beeping of the trucks and humming of the chainsaws. So, if you're walking around campus, watch out for the trees!

SMILE!!!

My friend, Ashley, took our picture the other day. It was fun, and she did a great job! I'm excited to have some nice photos to print and hang on our wall!

Ben's Aunt Lisa

Lisa is extremely talented and very eccentric. I made one of my favorite pairs of earrings with a necklace to match with her. She has made jewelry for years and has finally started a Web site. I was surprised at how reasonably priced her pieces are. You should check it out! She has some very unique pieces with gorgeous stones!

http://pandorasjewelz.com/

Jennie and Steve's Engagement Party!!!

Jennie and Steve are finally engaged!!! Well, it actually happened this summer, but they just had their engagement party last weekend. It was so much fun! Jennie and Steve are great! Jennie and I used to work together, and Steve and Ben are in law school together! We are so excited for them to join the married club!
Their party was at East End Martini Bar. It was our first time there, and we both really liked it. I would definitely go again to dance and drink ginger ale and "aquatinis." They had ice in martini glasses that melted, so I grabbed one while taking a break from dancing and drank it very quickly. I then placed it on the bar and passed the empty glass to one of the bartenders and he said, "Gosh, hasn't someone cut you off yet? You are drinking way too much!" The bartenders were really fun...they even danced with us some! And they both knew the dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" song. It was hilarious! And they did some tricks for us!

They also had some delicious food!!! Some of the best spinach artichoke dip ever and some divine chocolate covered strawberries! They also had stuffed mushrooms, grilled chicken and some mozarella, tomatoe, basil kabobs. It was so yummy!!!

Yes, they are dancing on top of a table! A small round table...I'm surprised they didn't fall!

Ben was directing some of the girls during a dance. I can't remember which one it was, but it's a song that has a particular dance. One of the guys, Jeff, was impressed that Ben was just out there dancing like it was no big deal. He was like, "I can't believe he is out there dancing and completely sober. I need like 3 more drinks in me before I can get out there!" And that was after he already had quite a few drinks, but I told him to drink some more!

And here is Jeff, Jennie and Ben dancing away!!! It was seriously such a fun night! I even had pineapple martini spilled on my dress and in my shoes, but nothing a little water and towel couldn't fix! We can't wait for their wedding in August!

If anybody is up for some dancing, just let us know!!! We were going to go dancing for my birthday, but since it's Halloween weekend, we think everything is going to be a little crazier than normal. So, the dancing has been postponed!

If it weren't for Chick-Fil-A...

I wouldn't eat lunch some days! Seriously! The days I don't bring my lunch (which I try to do 3-4 days a week), I am all about some Chick-fil-A! I don't know what it is about their chicken sandwiches (regular or grilled, although I like the grilled a little better) and french fries! Oh, the french fries! I love them! I just wish the Chick-fil-A on campus also sold the lemonade...I guess I can't have everything! Maybe one day I'll own a Chick-fil-A, so I can eat it whenever I want!!!

Family Reunion in SC

This past weekend, we went down to SC for a family reunion on my Mom's side of the family. On our way, we made a stop in Pittsboro for dinner at the General Store Cafe on Friday night. I love this place! First of all, I think Pittsboro is such a cute town. I love small towns! And I really like unique restaurants in small towns. The cafe used to be a Chevrolet dealership back in the day, which is why it says "Justice Motor" on the front of the building. The food is soooo tasty, and they have music there every night. They even have shag lessons on Monday nights. I want to go, but we haven't made it. Anyways, I recommend the General Store Cafe to anyone who wants a fun experience and yummy, reasonably priced food!

I love sunsets!

Sunday we went to Spartanburg where my Mom is from. Most of my aunts and uncles still live in the area. My family is the only one who ventured out of Spartanburg. It was so fun to go back to the grandparents' house. It brought back so many memories! One of my uncles and a cousin live with my grandma and work on the farm. My grandfather always had a large garden and a huge peach orchard! Every summer growing up we would eat peaches galore! Soooo yummy! My brother and I used to sell peaches during the summer...we would make $1 for every basket we sold, so I guess $.50 each. We did pretty good some summers! Sadly, my uncle and cousin don't do a lot with peaches anymore. They mostly have livestock.

Precious baby calves! I just wanted to hold it and kiss it!

This is the main pasture. I actually own a little over an acre here. When my grandfather passed away, the 40 acres were split between the 5 children. Since my mother passed away 3 weeks before my grandfather, her portion was split between her seven children.

This is my grandfather's grave. The family reunion was at the church where he was buried. This is the first time I remember going up there since his funeral. We've been to Spartanburg since but not to his gravesite. It's kind of crazy seeing my grandma's name on the headstone too. My Dad's name is also on my Mom's headstone...weird!

He was proud of his service in the military. It was so cool to hear his stories. In the 2nd or 3rd grade, I interviewed him for some school project. I wish I could find those notes! He was so cool! The 21 gun salute at his funeral was awesome! I was doing ok during the whole thing until I heard them play the song and do the salute, and then I lost it!

I definitely miss my Pappa and Mom, but I know that eveything happens for a reason! At least they can hangout together. My Mom was a Daddy's girl! I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas when we can see more family! I can't believe it is almost that time of the year!!! Yay!

Cancun? Sure...why not?!?!

A little over two weeks ago, we went to dinner with our friends Melati and Bishop. After talking for a little bit, Bishop says, "We're thinking about going to Cancun in two weeks. Do y'all want to go?" Me, being the crazy, impulsive person I am says, "Absolutely!!! That would be awesome!" I didn't even think about my vacation time or asking for the days off work...I just knew I wanted to go. So, after dinner, we went home and began looking at deals online with each other on speakerphone. We couldn't find anything, so we decided to reconvene the next morning with options after doing some more research (and me getting approval for actually being able to get off work). The next morning, Bishop and Ben did the research, we found a good deal, I got approval, and we booked our trip!
Last Wednesday night, we spent the night at their house and all left for the airport at 4:45am Thursday. After a layover in Miami, we were in Cancun by 12:45pm and off to our hotel, the Cancun Caribe Park Royal Grand (try saying that five times fast!). Upon arrival, we were upgraded from an oceanview room to a beachfront room, which we gratefully accepted. It was sweet!!!

After getting settled in our rooms, we walked around for a little bit, swam in the pool, then showered to check out "El Centro," or downtown Cancun. Our taxi driver from the airport to our hotel gave us a recommendation for a restaurant, so we hopped on the bus and began the journey. The bus is so cheap there! Thankfully, Ben is pretty good at Spanish, so we asked the guy sitting in front of us if he knew where we should get off to go to this restaurant. Initially, he said it was two stops...about 10 later, we finally got off in the middle of everything. After some more spanglish conversations, we made it to the town square to get tacos for our appetizer. They were yummy, and we got three tacos for less than $2.
Once we ate those, we walked around some more and asked more people where this restaurant was...about 10 minutes later we finally found it! The food there was tasty as well.
The next morning we decided we wanted to go to Isla Mujeres, an island off of Cancun. Originally, we were just going to get the boat to the island and play there for a few hours and come back, but we decided we wanted to make a day of it. So, we spent some more money and got the package that included a ride on a catamaran, snorkeling (Amazing!!!), unlimited drinks on the boat (Bishop enjoyed those!), lunch buffet at a beach club, time on the island, and a ride on the spinnaker. It was pretty much a booze cruise for those who drank, and very entertaining for those of us who didn't! I don't think I'll ever forget dancing to Bob Marley on the way back to Cancun with Bishop singing as loud as he can! It was hilarious and such a fun time!!!

The four of us on the other side of the island

At the beach club, they had these kayak things that Ben and Bishop took out.

And the spinnaker thing!

Our boat crew told Bishop that he couldn't do the spinnaker b/c he had a little too much to drink...HA! Good luck telling this boy he can't do anything. After everyone was done, Bishop walks over to the side of the boat and jumps in! The guy started going crazy, but they had fun with him and he loved it!

Once we got back to Cancun, we showered and walked to a restaurant area kind of close to our hotel for more tacos! We ate a lot of those on this trip. After dinner, we were walking around and saw this WACKO and his snake named Princess. He was one weird dude! And he got soooooo mad when I took this picture! He turned around and started yelling at me about how he charges $10 for photos and did I want to pay him $10 b/c that is how he makes money for his foundation and all of this stuff. I should have responded, "Nope, don't want to pay you because I already have a picture! Thanks!" But I didn't. Either way, he was crazy and showed us a bite he got from wrestling a tiger cub. No, I didn't ask why he wrestled a tiger cub.
Night swimming in the pool before the security guard came and asked them to leave!

The next day, Saturday, we rented a car!!! We were stood up by the Thrifty lady across the street from our hotel, so we walked around to find another rental car place. Luckily, we found one and were on the road and on our way south to Tulum with a pit stop in Playa Del Carmen. Here we are at some random restaurant on the side of some random street in Playa Del Carmen. If I went back, I definitely could not tell you how to get to this place. We just drove around and decided on this one. It was sooo good! And we stuffed ourselves on more yummy tacos and some other food for less than $4 a person. I love an exchange rate in my favor!!!

We made it to Tulum, and saw these guys on the first ruin. They were everywhere. The one on the left was probably the biggest one we saw all day. They were pretty cool!

Tulum was absolutely beautiful!!!! Wow, seriously gorgeous! I think I could have lived there!

It was soooooo hot this day, so we didn't stay at Tulum for long. We were all soaking wet with sweat, so we decided to go to the beach! A guide at Tulum gave us the name of a nearby beach (10 minute walk according to him), so we started on the road to the beach. 20-25 minutes later and still no signs of the beach, but definite signs of wanting to pass out from the heat. Luckily, we saw a taxi and asked him to take us to the beach! This was one of the prettiest beach I have ever seen in my life...definitely in the top three. It was seriously soooooo beautiful! White sand beaches, water so clear you could see to the bottom with no problem, a little beach bar for drinks, chairs and beds for lounging...seriously amazing! The water was sooo perfect too! I am NOT a fan of swimming in cold water at all. Ugh, I hate it! But this water was perfect. I would have stayed in the water forever if my neck and shoulders weren't burned from the day before (the reason for my swimsuit looking like it does). It was the perfect pool! I loved it!
After hanging out there for a few hours, we got back to our car and on the road. We made a stop at Aktun Chen. We decided to do the snorkeling in the cenote, or cave. The water temperature here was the complete opposite of the water at the beach! It was freezing!!!!!! I seriously had goosebumps from the time I jumped in the water until we got back in the car. It was so cold. We don't have any pictures from it b/c we left the camera in the car, but you can see pictures online. It was really beautiful! There were bats flying all around too...one almost hit a girl in the head...yikes! We even got to meet the owner of the park. He and his family were there swimming in the cenotes as well. He just opened the park 6 months...it was pretty cool!

We went back to Playa del Carmen to check out some of the shopping. As always, they had some beautiful silver, but we didn't buy anything. We walked along the beach (sucky compared to the beach earlier in the day) and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Had we had more time, we would have gotten a couples massage on the beach for $25 a person for one hour! Another time...

We made it back to Cancun for a later dinner in El Centro. I couldn't eat tacos this time, so I went for fish and it was good. We also had the best guacamole of the trip at this place. I could have eaten five more plates of it...yum!!!

And last, but not least, our trusty rental car when we turned it in! It was such a good little car. On our way back from Tulum, we saw a car on the highway that blew up...like, there was nothing but the metal frame left to this car...everything was burned! It was crazy! So, we experienced a Mexican traffic jam in the rain at night! Ha, it was fun! Thankfully, we were safe the whole trip and had no problems with flights or anything! It was such a fun time!!!! Can't wait for more trips like this in the future!!!!

Randoms from our time in Charleston

This post is all about me wanting to go to Charleston...that's really all it comes down to. It's just such a cool place. Everyone should go to Charleston to visit...they will not be disappointed! So, here we are with Mike and his girlfriend, Celia. Mike is actually one of my brother's really good friends from College of Charleston. He has come to family events for the past few years every time my brother is in South Carolina from Utah. It just seems like a Christmas or Thanksgiving (depending on the year) is not complete without seeing Mike. He is also an extremely, extremely talented wood worker. Seriously, he has some amazing pieces! You should check it out! It was so fun to spend time with them! Celia is getting ready to study for a year in London. They are super cool and were so nice to house Ben for the first few nights he was in Charleston!

This is the Cistern yard at the College of Charleston, where I went my freshman year of college. It's beautiful! If you walked around the campus, you might recognize it from movies like The Patriot, The Notebook, Cold Mountain, and a few others. Random fact: the color of the building came from cows blood. They didn't have any paint, so they used the blood. Kind of gross, but also kind of cool. They were resourceful back then!

Our last morning in Charleston, we walked down to Waterfront park. They have a large pier that you can walk out on with really big swings. It's one of my favorite things to do in Charleston...just so relaxing and pretty!

There were even dolphins swimming in the harbor! It was so cool! There were a lot of them too! Fort Sumter is the little island in the back left.

USS Yorktown is in the back. I've actually never toured the ship, but I hear it is really cool.

And a picture of us before we headed to the farmers' market! Seriously, if anyone wants to go to Charleston and needs company, we will be happy to go along for the ride! It's so fun! Also, there are other Charleston pictures on my photo blog.