Breast Cancer Awareness month

Hi everyone, In honor of breast cancer awareness month, I am asking for donations for my personal page to participate in the walk in October in Charlotte. I will be walking 39 miles in 2 days but I have to raise 1800.00! I have raised a little over $400 and need your help. Please consider making a donation:http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/Charlotte?px=7136881&pg=personal&fr_id=2260 I personally have not been affected but have a dear friend that has and I want to walk with her. Thank you in advance for your donation. Alison Wright

Everywhere we find friendship

It's very strange to move to a small town when the last 15 years of your life you have traveled from city to city. The city life. So many strange faces just hustling by you in a crowded store trying to get home or to work or anywhere but here. You will never meet them, never know them, just sense their desire for freedom from this line of overworked, underpaid rat racers. Over time, you become one. It's something you so hopefully spoke of in college that would never happen. You will never be a yuppie, never a rat racer nor a person too consumed with themselves to notice others. Then one day you are rushing into the store to buy bread and milk hoping you get the check out lady that will just do her job and not try to make small talk. Because you see, I don't have time for small talk. I don't have time to talk to you about the high prices of gas or the weather. Just ring me up and let me leave; I have other more important places I need to rush away from later. I didn't realize I was like this until we moved to this small town and people started getting on my nerves. "Hurry up!", I often found myself saying the first few weeks after our move. But over time just as the city changed me and forced me to rush, this small town is changing me too. Everyone talks to each other. I mean everyone. You can't get gas without the driver of the next car asking you "How are you liking this fall weather?" "Fine," I say, "I enjoy football and chili so this weather is a welcomed change." "Me too," is the response. We then pass a few "Have a nice days" and go about our business. The grocery store I shop at down the road reminds me of my small town Foodland store where I grew up purchasing groceries for my grandmother. She would never allow me to buy them anywhere else. They were local and friendly and knew you by name. That never seemed important to me then. It's the most important thing to me now. The bag boy places everything so neatly in the back of my car chatting about local sports and his desire to get out of here and attend college, all the while hoping for a tip for his effort. I can relate to his dreams and am not so annoyed at his need to strike up a conversation with a total stranger. That skill will be beneficial to him later in life. I notice leaves changing and sunsets. I look forward to church each Sunday and the congregation of almost 100 most of which are pushing 80. They are slow, kind and gentle. They are just as excited to see us as we are to see them. I am not annoyed, I am grateful. I no longer have a need to rush through my life, to check everything off my invisible to do list. None of that matters anymore. It will all get done in due time. So, if you come over here to visit us and you are annoyed by the slow driver in front of you, that's just me. I am in no rush and the trees look pretty today.

25 Drive In Auto Theatre

Last week we took the girls to their first drive in theatre. Jeff and I had both been before but it was years ago and in other towns. So this was everyone's first experience with the 25 Drive In. Mattie has been begging to see Turbo and it was playing on a Thursday night. We loaded up sleeping bags, chairs and blankets. We took the truck so we could back in and everyone could have a good, comfortable seat. When we arrived we were greeted by a nice lady that took our money and promised us her husband could make you the best bacon cheeseburger you ever had in your life. Unfortunately we ate dinner before coming and decided to just snack on popcorn. Popcorn and sweet tea both came with free refills! The movie doesn't start until dark so we had about an hour to kill. Luckily there is a playground so the girls had a great time playing and munching on popcorn. It was almost 9pm before the movie started and we were sure the girls would never make it until the end, but they both stayed awake for the entire show! Both screens (there are two) play two movies per night but its ok if you want to leave after the first one. The quality was great and we cranked up our radio for sound. The theatre uses a radio station for sound and some people near us were confused by that. Overall it was a good time and would be a great place to take out of town guests! The company has a Facebook page and posts showings and times. They also have a website with more info including the menu. TIP: Bring bug spray, they charge you to use theirs. And bring cash for the snack bar and you get $1 off your order! http://www.25drivein.com/

Lake Greenwood

We finally moved in and our internet was connected yesterday..yay! The move went fairly smooth as we had movers help us and basically do everything! I think we may have 2 or 3 boxes left to unpack. Of course the office is the last thing to be set up because who wants to think about going back to work? Not this girl! We LOVE our house but more importantly we really, really love our neighborhood. We moved into an older, more established area with lots of retirees. Jeff and I realized about 1 week in that we are by far one of the youngest families here. And we love it! People have been so friendly and welcoming dropping by lots of goodies or just popping in to introduce themselves and welcome us to the area. I think everyone has invited us to swim in their pool! Our first weekend we took advantage of living on the lake and took the boat out! The girls loved it and both jumped into the lake! We drove over to Subway, which has a dock and grabbed some lunch. It was an awesome day! At one point on the lake tour Jeff turned to me and asked if I regretted our move. "Not at all!" I replied.

Canaan Zipline Tours

This weekend I surprised my husband with a trip to Canaan Zip line Tours for his birthday. If you have never zip lined, this is the one to do! Canaan is just 25 minutes south of Charlotte which is about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Greenwood. Upon arrival you are greeted by some nice young men that make you feel at ease immediately. Once everyone in your group arrives they begin the zip line tour by offering a ground school safety class. They teach you how all the equipment works and help you get 'suited' up. Ground school consists of trial runs on the zip line while your feet can still touch the ground! Next you will climb a 75 foot tower and take your first zip. I zipped when I was a camp counselor in New Hampshire but nothing prepared me for the first zip off the tower. It was very intimidating! But the tour guides Matt and John are so encouraging and helpful. The first couple of zips were a little scary but by the third one, I felt like a pro! There are even a few ropes course challenges built into the course and those were fun too. The entire tour from start to finish took about 4 hours and costs $75/pp. You are actually on an island in the Catawba River and the guides give you a bit of a history lesson along the way. Did you know a pirate lived on the Catawba at one time? The entire experience was so awesome and we will definitely return! Besides Zip lining, the company offers team builders for corporate events and a summer camp for kids! Anyone can do this. There was even a lady in our group that was around 70 years old and she was so amazing! For more info you can check out their Facebook page or contact them through their website: http://canaanzipline.com/

We got the house!

I am so excited! Our offer was accepted and we close mid-July. I have already began picturing myself there with the kids growing up. My husband and I both already have ideas of how to make improvements and where we want to place certain furniture. Moving is so exciting. It's like a new fresh start. I am also very excited for my husband. He has been with the same company in Columbia for 9 years and he is due a change. I think he will enjoy working with a smaller group of people and I think we are both going to enjoy being in a smaller, safer environment for our children.
Every time we travel to Greenwood we never want to leave. We both say it already feels like home. I think one of my favorite things about moving there will be getting to go out with my husband to the uptown area. We have been there once, had a great meal at Buffalo Grill and listened to a band. Gosh, I can't remember the last time we did that! It was like being surrounded by family and friends although we didn't know a single person at the restaurant. We both had wings and shared some chips and queso. The wings were great and the chips are homemade! This is a very good place to bring out of town friends or family that want to have a good time and have some yummy food!www.BuffaloGrillSC.com -check out the online coupons!
 The home we purchased is in a lake community and we will definitely be taking advantage of that! We both love being on the lake but the hassle of hooking up the boat and driving to a landing then getting it back out when you're done is exhausting! Now, we will just walk over to the dock and take the boat out for a spin..no hassle!
 After years of job interviews and decisions I think we have made the best one for our family. Believe it or not at one time we were planning to move to Texas then Indiana! Neither of us wanted to be that far away from family. And now we are 20 minutes from Jeff's parents in Clinton, SC. His niece recently moved to Greenwood and she is crazy about our daughters. My family lives in Tennessee so our advantage is the interstate system and not having to drive through Atlanta anymore! We are only 2 weeks away from our new adventure and I couldn't be more proud of my husband or more excited for our family.(picture was taken in the uptown area of Greenwood during our last visit)

House Hunters

We spent this last weekend looking at houses in Greenwood. Oddly enough we did not just look at 3 choices then choose the one with the 'open floor plan but small bathrooms.' We looked at 10 or was it 22 houses around Greenwood. We found a great realtor with a spunky personality that took us out and showed us a lot of options. We knew the basic area we wanted to live in but were open to seeing homes in other areas of town too. Some had a great neighborhood but it was not the house for us. Some were great houses but the neighborhood was not for us. And some had everything we were looking for but smelled of dogs. Actually a lot of houses we looked at smelled of dog. Note to others trying to sell: Clean up the dog smell!
 Actually we ended up choosing a house we saw online and hated! We didn't even really care to see it in person but our realtor wanted to show it to us anyway. I find this theme a lot when making important decisions in life. You never really know what you want until you' try it on for size.' When my husband and I were dating he surprised me with wanting to go ring shopping. No need, I replied, I already know the ring I want. In fact I have known it for years. A solitaire on platinum, done! He convinced me to shop anyway and what girls says no to ring shopping? So we went and my 'dream ring' did not feel right on my finger. It looked very plain and ordinary, like I had seen this a hundred times before. So I was open to looking at different types of rings and finally settled on a white gold flower burst stone that was made to be worn on the right hand and not for engagements. But it was me, and it was my ring. Wedding dress shopping brought about the same feelings of knowing what I want, so no need to shop. In fact, I actually ordered a dress I saw online just like the one I had always had in my head but had never seen in person. Can you believe that? Who does that? ME! Because I always think I know what I want without trying it on. I hated sweetheart strapless dresses so what do you think I ended up with in the long-run? A sweetheart strapless dress!
 I think you never know how you feel about anything until you take a minute to stop and try it on for size. So when it came to our new home, I thought 'could I see us living here?' 'Will the girls enjoy the backyard?' Where will we place the Christmas tree? Then we left Greenwood, we came back to Columbia and went back through each house, narrowing down our favorites, and finally 'trying a couple of them on.' I think we both knew which house was 'the one.' We made an offer and the seller has until 6pm tonight to decide. We love the neighborhood, we love the house and we love the school district. And its closer to the in-laws which is always a plus when you need help like we do! I have already been trying it on in my head and its perfect! Now we wait,.....