The Carolina's

Last weekend I made a trip out to North Carolina and South Carolina.  Veronica, my friend that I used to work with (I talked about that here), moved to North Carolina last fall with her husbands new job.  She also had a baby last June so she has been transitioning from working full time to being a stay-at-home mom in a new town.  For her birthday in March her husband arranged for her and I to go on a get-away trip.  I opted to go out to there so I could see Natalia, the baby, so we decided on Charleston for our get-away destination.

After picking me up from the airport Veronica and I headed to Charleston, encountering the strongest rain storm either of us had even driven in.  Luckily her driving was superb and we made it through the rain safely. In South Carolina we stayed in a hotel on King Street, which is right in the middle of the downtown/historic part of the city.  That evening we walked to some of the old houses which were close to our hotel.  The Joseph Manigualt House (I just googled it...finished in 1803 and known for it's architecture) is an example of the picture in my head of "old southern" houses.  I think it is so beautiful and magnificent and I love the 2 story porches with pillars.

There were also two story rounded porches on the side of the house.

This house does not show it but many of the houses in Charleston are perpendicular to the street.  They would just look like long, skinny houses if the front door faced the street but instead they look like houses that are turned the wrong way.  They built the houses that way for better air circulation, we called it "they were trying to entice a breeze".

On our walk we came across this sidewalk art piece.  I'm sure it has something to do with Charleston, but we thought it was fitting for our trip.  Veronica is one of my best friends and on this trip it was as if we haven't lived away from each other for 2 1/2 years.  We had so much fun.

On Saturday morning we ventured to a park across the street from our hotel to a farmers market.  They were selling a little of everything; all sorts of vegetables, tons of strawberries, olive oil, preserves, baskets, paintings/artwork, lotions, candles, honey.  We got crepes at one of the food booths for breakfast (my banana and peanut butter crepe was so delicious) and bought boiled peanuts for later.  When we ate the peanuts later we decided they taste a lot like beans...maybe navy beans.  They were good and I liked experiencing a "southern" food, but I prefer regular peanuts over boiled.  I also tried grits, another "southern" food.  They are good...kind of like couscous.

After the farmers market we drove to Middleton Place, an old plantation.  The plantation house was a bit of a let-down for me because I was expecting huge wrap-around porches and pillars and instead it looked more like an old English Manor (not to say it was ugly, just not the Hollywood picture I had in my head).  It was one of three main living houses that were on the plantation right next to each other.  They had the north house (for men), the main house (for the women and daily living) and the south house (for a library and art display).  At the end of the Civil War the North went through and burned a lot of the plantations and this was the only house that wasn't burned to the ground, although they did have to remodel before it was liveable.  I didn't take a picture of the house, but you can see it here. 

My favorite thing at Middleton Place were the gardens.  They have huge gardens that were carefully planned out in the 1700's and are still around today.

That is Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.  It is a epiphyte, meaning it gets it's nutrients from the air and rain so does not kill the tree.

There were tons of Camellia tree.  The flowers were all different colors and so pretty.

This alligator went crashing into the water about 40 feet in front of us, I think we scared him when we can around the corner.  Truth-be-told, he scared us as well.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning we took some walking tours around Charleston.

The Battery.

Dock Street Theatre.  The first building in America actually designed to be a theater.

A 18-wheeler unloading bay...???  I couldn't figure out why they had these huge double doors in the middle of this old building.

Interesting facts about Charleston:

• It was originally named Charles Town after King Charles.
• It is right on the Charleston Harbor and was often attacked by pirates back in the 16-1700's. 
• To protect the town they built a wall along the water with areass for cannons.
• The water/harbor is now about 200 yards back from where it used to be.
• One of the main crops grown there was rice, which has a 15 month growing season.

On Sunday afternoon we drove back to North Carolina.  It was great to see Veronica's new house, the area, and her family...especially little Natalia.  She is a cute and content little girl.  It was a great trip!

December - No Judging

Last Sunday I had a great lesson in Relief Society (the part of church where the sisters meet together for a lesson) taught by one of my awesome counselors, Laura. The lesson was about being happy with who we are, striving to be our best selves, having confidence, and not judging ourselves or others. It is a good topic to be reminded of, especially for girls.

As was discussed in the lesson on Sunday, we, are often judging ourselves. Why? Because we tend to judge others. So the easy solution is to stop judging other people and we won't be so inclined to judge ourselves or feel a lack of confidence. Definitely easier said then done.

It got me thinking about myself and how often I judge others. Too often. I have been trying to be better in this area for quite some time and I think I am making progress. Small progress, but progress none the less.

It also got me thinking about my blog. I have been procrastinating posting about Christmas and Beth and my (Chris, notice I didn't say me and Beth's) birthday. Now it is February and I had decided not to do a post about it anymore, because I was worried about what will people think. Seriously? That is lame of me. So, I am moving forward with confidence and the feeling that no one is judging me.

Beth, Chris, Caitlin and Ashlee as well as Katie and Ryan came a few days before Christmas. It is always fun when family comes, and more so at Christmas. We jumped in right away with fun busyness; eating, wrapping presents, making yummy treats, sewing pajamas, going to the temple, playing games and dress-up.

On Christmas Eve Dan, Erica, & Alyana and the Allen's over for dinner and a fun filled evening of activities. We pulled crackers (a type of Scottish present) before dinner, played chimes, sang carols, acted the nativity, had a $1.00 gift exchange, ate peppermint ice cream dessert and performed a ravishing rendition of "Christmas is Upon Us".

This is a song that we, the Bishop Family, have been performing (singing really) for years. We used to sing it every year with our cousins in Rawlins and it has been ingrained in our heads ever since. I think, judging from the pictures, the Stevens, Allen's and the brothers-in-law had fun learning and participating in the song that we love.

The performance included:

Santa and Snowmen

Reindeer

Trees

Elves

Dolls

Christmas Day is always an exciting time when little kids are around. We took our time opening presents and enjoying the time together. Below Ashlee is sporting one of my new pairs of shoes from myself. Yep, that's right, there was a present wrapped under the tree to myself from myself - two pair of shoes. It was awesome; I think I'll keep that tradition up. Caitlin and Ashlee are beauties in their princess gowns.

After Christmas we continued to busy ourselves with all kinds of fun. A birthday party for Ryan in Sierra Vista, football bowl games, another trip to the temple, the park, and a sleep over with Caitlin and Ashlee at my house.

At the park we played a game of horse shoes, girls vs. boys. It was a very close game, but in the end the girls pulled it out with a ringer (by me!). We were pretty excited to get the W.

The boys were not too excited to get the L, but they tried to be good sports.

On New's Years Eve...Beth and my birthday, we celebrated in true birthday fashion. We made an awesome pork burrito dish for dinner and had banana royales for our birthday treat. Brenda came from the valley with three of her kids and Erica & Alayna came over to help us celebrate our 30th birthday and ring in the new year.

We spent the evening playing games and eating and we all made it to way past midnight...1:00 does count as way past in my opinion.

Hopefully 2011 brings some new challenges and exciting adventures.

Fall Travels

This fall I have taken advantage of my vacation time. I love traveling and it was proven this fall with my many, many, many many trips. My excursions took me all over the country.

1. Texas
At the end of August I went to see David, Julie and Bailey. The end of August is not the ideal time to visit Houston, aka. hot and humid, and it did not leave me disappointed. One morning Julie and I took a long, fast walk with Bailey. I don't know about Julie, but I was soaking wet afterward! Despite the hotness/humidness, it was a great trip (and honestly, it was kind of cloudy the first too days so not too hot or humid). We went to the zoo, a Rice volleyball game, shopped at Hobby Lobby, played games and ate plenty of Blue Bell ice cream.

At the zoo we saw long horn cattle (a must see in Texas in my opinion)
and Bailey rode the carousel. She was quite a pro at naming all of the animals.

2. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
This trip was for work. A week long, all expenses paid trip to Florida...I'm not complaining. I went with 4 other people from my company for a training. The training was pretty good and boring at times, as all trainings are. It took up the large majority of our days, but we did manage to get to the beach on Friday before flying back home. There was a storm out over the ocean which us land-locked people thought looked awesome.
The most memorable part of the trip was probably the flight to Florida, which warranted a blog story, but there were lots of other great times and many laughs. One night we went to dinner in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. After dinner we decided to walk to the beach, which was, in our opinion, at this sky rise that we could see in the distance. Once we had walked about 1 mile we realized the the sky rise was actually just a turn in the road and not the beach. It was getting dark and everyone was tired of walking so we gave up on the beach and walked back to the cars. Turns out the beach was about 6 or so miles away...ha ha ha. We would have been walking most of the night to get there and back.

3. New York City

In the summer of 2009 one of the ladies that I worked with moved to Amsterdam. It was decided that we would take annual girls' trip starting in 2010 so we could keep in contact better (there were five girls in the mix).

As we moved closer to September, 2010 it looked like myself, Veronica and Joni (the one in Amsterdam) would be the only ones making the trip to New York City. In the end, one of Joni's friends also joined us for a long weekend in the big apple.

On the first day we walked, and walked and walked. We went past the Manhattan Temple, which was only about 10 blocks from our hotel, very beautiful. Then we walked up and down Park Avenue and checked out every store. OK, not every store, but a ton of stores. Needless to say, Veronica and I were not really too enthused about shopping so much. I enjoyed the walking and the people seeing though.

For the next few days Joni and her friend shopped -seriously that's all they did, I can hardly fathom it - while Veronica and I were tourists. We saw Battery Park, ground zero, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, and Central Park among other things. After being to New York several times and taking in the sites, I am of the opinion that Ellis Island is one of the best kept secrets. It was so interesting to see, learn the history, and ready people's stories. I highly recommend it.

We did hook up with the other two for meals...we ate at some awesome restaurants. To walk across the Brooklyn Bridge; another really fun thing that is not too common. And to see In the Heights on Friday, I mean Saturday night. We had planned to see it Friday night, but as we were about to go in Veronica looked at her ticket and realized it was for Saturday night; she had bought the tickets for the wrong night, ha ha. Luckily we were still there Saturday night so no harm done. The musical was great (on Saturday) and Times Square was crowded (on both nights).

Through the walking, waiting for the subway, eating, talking, etc. we did manage to snap a few photos. However, somehow I didn't get any of Joni or her friend. Oh well, next trip I guess I'll have to do better. These are from the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty.

4. Phoenix, Arizona
This wasn't really a huge trip since I do go to the valley several times every year, but in October my mom and I went specifically for Time Out for Women. We attended our second annual TOFW and were not disappointed. The speakers and musical numbers were amazing. We left with our spirits lifted.

5. Southern California
In June my mom and I got great plane tickets to fly to Southern California in October to visit Katie and Ryan (this was my only trip that was planned so far in advance). We flew out for a long weekend and managed to fit in tons of fun. We went to Disneyland using our "give a day, get a day" free tickets. It was fun to see Disneyland decorated to the nines for fall and Halloween.

We also went to Joann's, Gap Outlet (always great deals to be found here), I made a skirt with the help of Katie's friend, had a Pampered Chef party, ate yummy food, played Lego Harry Potter (on the play station I think...I am not too good at it) and played games. It was also fun to see Katie and Ryan's new house.

6. Wyoming
In November I flew up to spend a long weekend with Beth, Chris, Caitlin and Ashlee. When Beth was driving to pick me up, Caitlin was tired of the drive and wanted my plane to drop me off in Coalville. I guess the pilot didn't get her memo so they still had to come all the way to Salt Lake.

It was cold while I was there, although not nearly as bad as last year, and not too snowy. Still, I no longer have my Wyoming skin so I was freezing. Luckily I can borrow Beth's coats, slippers, sweaters, shoes...it's quite easy to pack when you are going to visit your twin :)

We had a lot of fun while I was visiting. Zumba, swimming (in an awesome pool), swimming lessons, a tea party, princess Yahtzee and hop scotch, workbooks, playing house, watching Oklahoma, a Thai restaurant, shopping at the mall (yea for Vanity) and local stores, babysitting, cooking, waking up early and making a Christmas decoration filled up much of our time.

At the tea party Caitlin loved to pour water for everyone in their enough-for-one-small-swallow-sized cups. Ashlee thoroughly enjoyed using her "cut" (knife) at the tea party and at any meal for that matter. She is really grateful if a "cut" is part of her place setting at meal time.

It is always fun to play with Caitlin and Ashlee with their huge imaginations and to have them sometimes confuse me for their mom. It is also fun to spend time with Beth and Chris; luckily Chris doesn't confuse me for Beth :)

No more vacations this year, I am saving my remaining days for Christmas time. The 2010 travel log was sure good though. I'm excited to see what kind of travel 2011 will bring.

Ending of an Era

It all began in the fall of 2005. At work I was on the team that was getting ready to open the Central Lab and a new chemist came on board, Veronica. She was quiet and I was busy and through the fall we didn't get to know each other too well. We worked with the nicest 70 something year old man, Dick, and he assigned the desks in our new office. He said that he felt sure that Veronica and I needed to have desks right across from each other. And it turned out that he was so right.

For the past 5 years, this has been Veronica and my desks. We have not only became great work colleagues, but great friends as well. We have been through many ups and downs, solved numerous lab problems, dealt with complaints, enjoyed triumphs and endured the stresses...together. It has been so great to be able to sit across from her and talk about anything and everything.

Great things, however sometimes end and situations in life change, as was the case on July 30. This was Veronica's last day of work at the lab; she has transferred to a new job within the company. She is working at a mine and will be one of the labs customers, so I'll still work with her often, but in a different capacity. Luckily she isn't moving (that would be awful) so we can still get together outside of work and catch up on things.

The era of the desks is over. I am glad that we had 5 great years of being "neighbors" and will cherish all of the memories made and lessons I have learned from Veronica.