Vacation and Good News

Well I have returned from some vacation time. I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend and had a fabulous time celebrating the independence of this country. We decided to take a little mini vacation and head to Myrtle Beach, the baby, Zach and I. We stayed at the Patricia Grand right on the ocean. I will say I was a bit disappointed in the hotel, I guess I had just expected a little more with the word "resort" in the title but it was not shabby. We had a balcony looking over the pool and the ocean and it had a separate living and bedroom. I think my biggest disappointment was the bathroom. I'm a sucker for awesome hotel bathrooms and this one wasn't one. Strangely enough the sink and tub and toilet were all in the same room which is weird for hotels these days and it was a bit small but hey it worked and was clean enough for this germophobe. We had a great time swimming in the pool and the lazy river. The lazy river wasn't huge, it was inside, but it was cool because you could just float around and chill out and it was warmer for those chillier nights. The baby really liked swimming, especially in the lazy river. I wished this resort had a kid water play area like a lot of the other resorts in the area, but when you book your trip for 4th of July weekend in a high-tourist beach town the day before you leave to head down, you get what you get!

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium which was really neat. It took Ariana a bit to warm up and get out of her stroller but once she did she was all smiles and really enjoyed the horseshoe crabs, she cried when we moved on, poor thing. We missed the mermaid show because it was really packed in the room they were having it in but we were ok with that and just enjoying the exhibits. There was a really cool "danger alley" part where you stand on a moving sidewalk and there are sharks and other dangerous creaturs swimming around. I liked that - there's something about seeing the underbelly of a shark that just fascinates me. Ari wouldn't move from her stroller at the point, just stared over head. Ariana and I even went up in a bubble and "swam" with the puffer fish, I always called Jonny my puffer fish, so I thought that was super neat that was where the bubble was :) We also went to Pirate's Voyage, the pirate dinner show in Myrtle. We had an awesome time there. The food was so good (and plentiful) and the show was entertaining for both Zach and I as well as Ariana. There were stunts and singing and dancing and cannons and sea lions and, well, all kinds of neat things. Ariana especially loved the corn on the cob and did not want to throw it away when dinner was over, she's so funny.

Most of our time was spent lounging around pool side soaking up sun (I doused Ariana in 50SPF baby sunblock but forgot mine on ONE day and turned lobster red - FAIL) and just relaxing. Zach and I and had both had semi stressful weeks and we agreed this is exactly what we needed to unwind, just some serious chill out time. We headed to the fireworks on 4th of July and the Myrtle Beach fireworks didn't disappoint, we found a grassy area a few blocks away and it was neat seeing the sparkles at the palm tree line. Then when we got back to the room and watched people do their own fireworks displays on the beach from the balcony. The day we left, we stopped by the Children's Museum of South Carolina. It was pretty neat but still a little too old for Ariana. She had fun with the bubbles and the play food in the kitchen area, and playing on the biggest LiteBrite I've ever seen. She made some art in the creative station and "drove" me in a VW Beetle. It was fun being a little kid for the day and it was only 8 bucks to get in and free for kids under 2 so it was worth that!

All in all it was a fun vacation, we enjoyed relaxing and just being together. I wanted to share photos but my camera cord is currently MIA, hopefully in the near future I will have a photo post!

I guess the only downfall I really have is I still get so sad because these are all things I "should" be doing with Jonathan. It's hard to not think that anytime we all do something together. Zach is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but my mind always goes back to how I should be doing this with Jonny. Or Jonny would have loved XYZ. It's hard to not do that, to not think of the what-if's but I do. And I talk to Zach about it, he's supportive. He says of course you're going to wonder these things and wish he were here, I wouldn't expect anything else. It's good to be with someone who really seems to get it. He encourages me to talk to him more often, tell him about the things we do and I do that, but sometimes it's hard because it's like I'm just saying outloud all the things he's missing. And I just want to hear him talk back... Sigh, I don't know. I'm working on focusing more on the positive though, I've realized lately that I do look at the negative side of things a lot, not just with Jonathan but with well... just about everthing. School, career, anything, I just am like well I have my degree but... or I could be working here... things like that. So one goal in my life is to look less at the negative. Talk to my husband daily and be thankful for what I have now in my life even if it isn't what I had planned.

Wow, the vacation rundown turned into soul searching. That's always what happens with me isn't it? Trying to figure myself out. Maybe I should have finished my Psych Master's so I could shrink myself.... Nah... hair and writing are both WAY more fun.

Speaking of writing... I got the print issue of DStripped in the mail the other day. O MY GOODNESS how exciting it is to hold in your hands a magazine and see your name as the byline on articles. I know I've talked about how exciting it is to be published in the online magazine but to hold it in your hands. I just squealed and squealed. Five articles, published on glossy paper with my name on them. Ah it was SO awesome. Zachary being the awesome person that he is made me a celebratory dinner of steak, corn on the cob and baked potatoes on the grill then invited some friends over so I could show off the magazine and celebrate. He's sweet :) We all cheersed to my published-ness and it was pretty awesome. It feels one step closer to my dream job of being a writer, and it really, really makes me smile. And it helps that I'm writing for such a cool magazine with really awesome people. (If you haven't gotten your copy yet, head to DStripped to order one, or even just peep the July issue of the online version). Re-reading this I see I use awesome a lot but hey - IT IS SO AWESOME!!!!

Besides that I've been working on making my house more home-y. I've finally hung up picture frames and the like and I have discovered the awesomeness (there it is again!) of Kirklands (interior decorating store with phenomenal prices) I figured I'd lived there 6 months, it's about time I actually make that house look like I live there haha.

Well, I've rambled long enough and I'm getting eaten by misquitos hanging out here on my mom's front porch. I'll be in touch friends. I hope you are all doing wonderfully, God Bless!