For the second Halloween in a row, the guys decided to dress up as the same exact thing.  Last year it was penguins, this year is was gorillas.  This means that I am tasked with finding a cute, not-too-slutty costume that goes with Chad’s.

Sleeping while I decorate...

This year was difficult but I finally found a “King Kong’s Girlfriend” costume and it worked out brilliantly.  Our friends Brandon and Drew had a Halloween party at their condo in Uptown and headed up the decoration & catering side of things.

The glorious kitchen

Fully prepared with spider webs and dry ice, I did my best to make the ba-gillion dollar condo a little sinister and definitely creepy.

The guys fell asleep while I was baking and hanging orange lights around the place and I proudly made the place smelled like cloves and ginger.  I decided to make Jack Skellington-inspired truffles, pumpkin cupcakes and some down-east pumpkin bread for the crowd.  I took full advantage of the beautiful kitchen at the Ratcliffe … especially the dishwasher.

Jack Skellington Truffles

Pumpkin Cakes

oh no!

Once the party started, I took a moment to get into my costume and take some photos with my King Kong.  Besides the torrential downpour outside, and the damage that my beautiful gold heels endured, we had an amazing Halloween.

Love us...

We are already looking forward to next year… maybe the guys will all go as Wizard of Oz characters and I can finally put my red-sequined ruby slippers to good use.

<3

For my 26th birthday this year, we decided to re-acquaint ourselves with nature and take on the Linville Gorge in western NC.  Chad and I started stocking up on camping gear in July and did not stop until October (we could stock REI at this point.)  We got everything from water purifiers to bear bells and even a camping knife that could double as a spear if need be.  We were set.  Chad had programmed the GPS with the 7 mile hike we ambitiously mapped out and I had the old-fashioned map just in case.

We had no idea what we were getting into.  We started off on a pretty well marked trail, it was apparent that it got a lot of traffic and Moses was doing a good job of keeping up.   At some point, we took a wrong turn and ended up and the bottom of a ledge that we should have been on top of with no trail in front … or behind us.  I am typically a level-headed person but the anxiety of being lost in the middle of the “grand canyon of the east” got the best of me.  Using the GPS, we backtracked and made it to the top of the ledge which was absolutely beautiful and well worth the trek.  Our adventure was far from over.  We did our best to find the next trail and we ended up rock-jumping down the side of a massive cliff for at least an hour.  Moe fell a couple times and I am pretty positive that his backpack saved his ribs at one point.  We were doing pretty well – the forest was absolutely gorgeous and there were tiny waterfalls and rock climbing spots all over the place.  The GPS said we were on the right track but I couldn’t shake the fact that we  hadn’t actually been on a “trail” for several hours.  Bushwhacking would be putting it lightly.  We finally found a clearing with multiple cairns all over the place so we knew people had been there before and were marking the trail.  We found a cozy spot, filtered some water for us and the dog and took a minute to re-assess the situation.  By that time it was about 3pm and we knew that we weren’t going to make it to our final destination before sunset.  We decided to start looking for a fire ring where we could set up camp.  It was then that we realized that Moses had managed to cover himself in some type of poo and he was just as happy as can be.  He didn’t seem to mind at all and he probably loved it but he smelled like death and I kept thinking about how awesome it was going to be, sharing a tent with my poo-covered dog.  We had passed piles of bear poo along the way and I wasn’t sure whether Moe would attract or repel the bears but we made it out of the gorge sans bear attack.  It was probably the bell.

Our massive packs were getting the best of us and our legs felt like jelly for the last hour or so of our hike.  Despite hiking all spring and running all summer, we were not ready for this.  Next time, we’ll do the stair-master with our packs on… that should do the trick.

We got turned around a couple times and had to backtrack but some angel from heaven had marked a trail with blue string so we followed it and the GPS as best we could.  I am pretty sure that Chad could tell that my heart was going to beat out of my chest because of my nerves.  I hate anxiety and I hate being nervous but I could not control it.  This makes me sound like a huge wimp but I almost cried a time or two and I had to just sit, take a couple deep breaths and relax for a second.  Around 4pm we found a place to sit and calm my nerves and when we got up to keep trekking, we realized that we were only about 10 feet from the perfect campsite.  We quickly set up the tent, filtered tons of water and made a bag of dehydrated chicken and rice for our snack.  It was the most amazing chicken and rice I have ever had.  Chad set up a tarp for some shelter and we set up a a fire in the fire ring.  There was even a small creek beside us and Moses made it his bathtub (thank God!) and most of the poo had washed right off.  I will never forget the feeling that came over me when I finally had a chance to get in the tent and lay down on my sleeping bag.  I was so relieved.  I was safe and hidden from nature for a short span of time and it was fantastic.  Don’t get me wrong, I love nature and I absolutely loved this adventure we were on but I breathed a little easier and my heart didn’t race as fast while I was in that tent.  While Moe explored the area, Chad and I made more food and determined that dehydrated beef stroganoff is horrible… to the beef’s defense, I think I put too much water in the bag before it was ready.  I was a freak about our odor-proof plastic bags and I made sure that everything was sealed tightly and Chad put everything in a big bag that he hung from a nearby tree so that the bears wouldn’t be attracted to our campsite.  Around 5pm, before the sun had even set, we were in bed.  Without hesitation, Chad was out within 5 minutes.  I was able to fall asleep for a couple hours until Moe started growling at every little thing.  We were in the middle of the woods and he was growling at every chirp, tree branch and random sound he heard.  This is what woke me up and I immediately came to the conclusion that Moe was growling at a bear or axe-murderer that might be near our tent.  I laid there with my poo-dog and sleeping husband and every single scary movie that I had ever seen had crossed my mind.  All of those x-files episodes came back mixed in with scenes from Lost and I was beside myself with horrible “what-if’s.”  Even the silhouette of the trees in the moonlight across our tent was freaking me out.  I finally manned-up and fell asleep for a few hours before the sun came up and it was time to light another fire.  We survived.

Instant coffee saved the morning.  We filtered and boiled a ton of water from the creek and made some dehydrated eggs and bacon.  The first few bites were amazing but it did not take long for the aftertaste to kick in and it just didn’t work out for either of us.  We decided to eat our remaining clif-bars instead to give us enough energy to get back to the car.  We broke down camp and used the GPS and map to determine how to get back to the car.  We knew we would not be going back the same way so we figured out that the trail we were looking for was on the other side of our creek.  We were so happy to finally be on a well-traveled trail and on our way home that we could barely contain it.  Even Moe was pumped.   The trail took us to the road and we took the road for a couple miles until we spotted our car.  I think the last time I was that happy was my wedding day.

We figured out that we had made it about half way through our hike so we are going to go back and pick up where we left off next spring.  It was such an amazing experience and Chad is THE BEST hiking partner ever.  Moses got the best deep-cleaning he had ever had and then slept for the next 5 days and we still have not unpacked our backpacks.  Yuck, I know.  Thanks for the adventure Linville Gorge!

<3

So it has been 9 months since the last time I updated this and I am SO SORRY!  This year has been jam-packed with amazing things and we have been so busy starting our lives in Charlotte that I completely forgot about this site.  I promise on my eyes to be better about updating this!  So many amazing things have happened since last December – here is the past 9 months in review…

A year has passed since I started working at JWU and I L-O-V-E it!  My students are absolutely amazing and constantly remind me of why I got into Student Affairs in the first place.  My colleagues are also fantastic and living in uptown Charlotte is a blast.  Although we both love our little free apartment, living in a residence hall come with a cost and we have been itching to find a place off-campus.  We have slowly become addicted to HGTV and Chad and I will sometimes sit at home and search the house listings on Craigs List, or drive around town and pick up For Sale flyers and dream of what it would be like to not share walls with college students and have a dishwasher.  Our time will come so I am not getting too worked up about it but it’s certainly fun to dream!

Last December Chad and I went to the Biltmore and fufilled Chad’s dream of riding Segways.  It was a bit of a balancing act but surprisingly enough, I didn’t fall over.  Overall, we had a great time and took advantage of the amazing sights in Asheville.

Segways!

 

At the Biltmore 2008

Last winter, Charlotte actually got some snow and while 3tailer remained open,  JWU had a couple snow days.

We enjoyed the crisp weather and Moses enjoyed playing in the snow!

In April, we went to the Smith Center in Chapel Hill to watch our Tar Heels win the NCAA National Championship!  It was an amazing experience and we managed to stay out of the way of the fiasco that broke out on Franklin Street where people were crowd surfing on street signs and throwing up all over the place.  Awesome.

Last spring, we discovered a passion for the outdoors and we started taking advantage of being so close to the mountains not to mention all of the parks that Charlotte has to offer.  We started taking weekend hikes and found that Moe has a knack for following a trail and is a great hiking partner!

Chad and Drew

As the weather warmed up, we took some time off and went to Brandon’s place at Ocean Isle with a bunch of friends.  We spent a lot of time at the beach, got sunburned, watched and sobbed over Marley and Me, and took some much needed time to relax.

Crazy Face!

Happy Grad

Last May I finally graduated from graduate school at Appalachian!  The ceremony was wonderful and I had a great time with friends and family.  You can now call me a Master of College Student Development!  I miss Appalachian a ton and I know someday we will go back there to stay but until then we will visit on game days and take the occasional day trip.

We made some new friends this year and had some great adventures including escapades on Lake Norman, wandering around the new Ikea and catching up on the entire Lost series.  We also took a tour of new england this summer and spent some much needed time with my side of the family.

Higgins Beach

Higgins beach was great, although it rained and was a little chilly the entire week we were there.  Moses had to stay in Charlotte but next time we adventure up there we will take him because we missed him so much.

Bristol

We were able to spy on him at doggy daycare via web-cam and it didn’t look like he was missing us very much.

After Higgins Beach, we drove through the white mountains of New Hampshire to Bristol to visit the Wendel Clan for the 4th of July.  The outhouse races were out of control and it was great to spend time with the family.  We gained about 30 lbs each and had a chance to wander around Burlington before our flight home to Charlotte.   All in all, it was a great trip and we have some amazing memories!

Chad and I are enjoying life in Charlotte and have made some great memories here.   I promise (cross my heart) that I will update this more often so that I don’t have to write a year in review post again!

 

<3

Hello world! It’s been a while since I’ve updated this page and although I don’t have all the time in the world, I thought I would give a quick update. Chad and I and Moses are doing well and LOVING Charlotte. What’s not to love? We live on campus, in a city that has a worse crime rate than NYC and it doesn’t snow. Just kidding – it’s really wonderful. Chad found an office space within walking distance to our apartment and he is even able to take Moses there! It’s really nice and surrounded by cool restaurants and fun things to do so 3tailer has a home now. I have been enjoying working at Johnson and Wales too. My staff is pretty good and the people I work with are amazing! I am really happy here and I think we will be staying here for a while… not necessarily on campus again but we’ll see. Our apartment is pretty good, about a fourth of the size of our apartment at LR but hey, at least it is not crawling with fist-size spiders! AND I have a full size oven (WOOHOO).

It even holds normal size cookie sheets

Moses is enjoying his time hanging out at Chad’s office and sleeping all day. He has been battling allergies lately (go figure, a hypo-allergenic dog that has allergies) but there are always worse things and I think he actually enjoys taking benadryl every day. It’s almost Christmas time and with that, we have taken our annual trip up to Boone to pick a tree at Clawson’s tree farm. It is a lot bigger than we planned but it looks really nice and certainly brightens up our tiny home. We hope everyone is doing well and has a fantastic holiday season!

2008 Christmas Photo (kidding)

<3 Chad, Sam and Moses

We did it.  We finally moved to Uptown Charlotte.  After we graduated college, Chad and Jon moved to uptown and I would drive from Hickory most every weekend to visit and experience Charlotte.  I loved it.  The restaurants, the shopping, the rooftops and the people.  Something is always happening and the city is so clean – I knew someday I would end up in uptown and here we are, waiting to move into our TINY (but expense-free) new apartment in a week.  That’s right, I got a new job at a University located right here in Charlotte and I am so excited about our new life.  I had been stressing about finding a job in Charlotte even before Chad and I got married because my profession (at this point in time) is live-in and for a place right in the city, at a gorgeous institution is hard to come by.  When I saw the position posted I jumped on it and within days I had applied and was ready to interview.  Late April I found out I was selected and I couldn’t believe it – we were Charlotte bound.

Our last days in Hickory were filled with signs that we needed to get out of there.  Primarily, someone tried to break into our apartment at 3am one night which had been my worst nightmare in that place.  Chad was there thank God but Moses would have tried to be the assailants friend so he didn’t help much but the guy ended up running and security came over with their flashlight and squirt gun but to no avail, the culprit had already left.  I’m almost positive those doors still aren’t locking properly.  Our washing machine overflowed into the hallway which was a treat, we got ANOTHER parking ticket from campus security (we have$600 worth in our glove compartment because they didn’t recognize our cars) and my mini-fridge was stolen out of one of my RAs rooms.  It was labeled and everything and I know who has it but it wasn’t worth the fight.

I’m glad it’s over.  I made a couple really great friends while I was working there but I am so glad that chapter is finished.  Now it’s time to start fresh with an exciting new place, new institution, new students and a new life.  For the moment however, we are homeless…. seriously.  Brandon has been gracious enough to open up his home for us (THANK YOU SO MUCH) but we’re definitely intruding and that is never a good feeling.  I’ve got my goldfish in measuring cups and we have to walk 20 minutes across town to get our car.  He has an extra bedroom with a full bathroom so it is pretty ideal for a homeless couple and their dog but I still feel a bit intrusive.  Moses tries to eat his socks too and that hasn’t helped much.  We move into our tiny apartment on Friday.  We’re going to paint and make it beautiful so I’ll update after that – I also start my new job tomorrow (YAY!!!) so I will have plenty of stuff to share.  Hope everyone is doing well, come visit us soon if you ever find yourself in the Queen City.

<3

Sam, Chad and Moses

It only took us four months but we finally went on our honeymoon over winter break and it was amazing. We decided to take the less risky, more convenient and just as expensive all-inclusive route. Everything from our plane tickets to our “dirty banana” drinks were included and it made all of the difference. After dropping Moses off at Club Canine for a week, we stayed over night in charlotte and then boarded the plane at 7am on our way to tropical bliss on 12/21 free of internet, troubles at work, and the crazy crap life can throw at you.

So three hours, one motion sickness patch and a viewing of Unaccompanied Minors later, we landed in Montego Bay. After getting through customs, we were greeted by the Sandals representatives, offered a Red Stripe and forced to relax.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at Sandals, we had the Romeo & Juliet suite with the butler service and they took care of everything. We always had a stocked bar and fridge, every time we returned to the villa there was a new towel & flower sculpture on our bed or a little surprise waiting for us somewhere from the staff. Everything was sparkling clean and with all of the restaurants and room service, we were never bored with the selection. It took us a couple minutes to get used to the sappy PDA honeymooners everywhere and no kids anywhere but it was fun and it didn’t take us long to start blending right in. There were millions of pools, hot tubs, bars, restaurants and even a night club so we were always entertained. We went snorkling, kayaking and aqua-triking which was exciting and then we climbed the Dunns River Falls on Christmas. Santa showed up too on a speed boat with his helpers and mariah carey in the background. It was the perfect, lazy, love-fest that a honeymoon should be and we loved it. Our butlers Shelly and Tamara were amazing and would have tied our sneakers everyday if we asked. They booked our dinner reservations, our shopping tour, our spa treatments and even the snorkeling, we really didnt have to worry about a thing. The entire week we were there, the weather was sunny and 85* which was a nice change from the dreary 35* Charlotte we left behind.

We have so many stories and adventures from this trip that I can’t even begin to describe. Everything from “I’m Bob Marley, ya mon, I’ve got something for you…” to photo shoots in the hammocks and adventures with appleton rum. It was incredible and I can’t wait to see what our next adventure will bring! So enjoy the photos and keep in touch

<3

Chad, Sam and Moses

After eight months of picking out flower arrangements, gathering bridesmaid and groomsmen measurements and buying every bride magazine on the shelf, the wedding finally took place and it was perfect. Despite it being the hottest and most humid day of the year in Chapel Hill, August 25 2007 went off without a hitch and will go down in our books as one of the happiest days of our lives.

Thank you to all of our friends and family who could join us for the wedding and especially those of you who helped Chad and I through the planning stages and pre-wedding extravagance. We could not have pulled everything off without you!

Enjoy the slide-show and keep in touch so we know how you’re doing

<3

Sam & Chad (and Moses)