trey and kelsey's brooklyn bridge engagement

I got the priviledge of meeting one of Chandler's good friends, Trey Turner of The Icarus Account this summer. Last Friday he proposed to his girlfriend on the Brooklyn Bridge, but dropped the ring through a crack as he was taking it out to pop the question! Through coordination of several very fortunate events, the ring was found by a construction worker and safely returned to the lovebirds. Kind of incredible. A sweet miracle. A story sweet enough to be featured on The Early Show this morning!
Chandler called me excitedly to tell me that they were on TV being interviewed about it. I couldn't find the channel in time, but I found articles about what happened and here's a link to the clip on youtube. Such a sweet guy, and I wish them the best!

hurricane igor

Let me just say that I am incredibly thankful that my family didn't undergo any real loss due to Hurricane Igor. A few branches may have snapped off but we didn't even lose power. I was still safe in North Carolina for the brunt of the storm, so I didn't even see it except for youtube videos from concerned friends. Fortunately, even my flight home wasn't affected.  If it had been two days earlier, I could have been stranded in Toronto half way home.

It hits me a little more every day just how bad it could have been if I had lived in another community a little more to the north, or a little more west. I caught myself being wrongly annoyed today with how much coverage has been on the news and in the newspaper. That was selfish of me since so many families have been living in that nightmare since last Tuesday and they are still no where close to having their lives back to normal.

Premier Danny Williams stated on the news yesterday that he believes the damage now to be over $100 million. We're used to hearing of emergencies happening all over the globe, but not often are they centered here on our little province that hardly half the country knows of its existence, let alone the weather systems (Well, that's a only partly true. We get plenty of bad weather. It's just consistently bad, rather than a big bomb. We don't need any extra!)

Here's one of the many news report on the subject on Sept 21st from www.thenewstribune.com:



Hurricane Igor hits Canada with heavy rains

By JASON BRONIS
Hurricane Igor pelted Canada's Atlantic coast province of Newfoundland with heavy rain Tuesday, flooding communities, washing out roads and stranding some residents in their homes.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said Igor had transformed into a "post-tropical" storm, which has a different structure from a hurricane but still packs the same punch. The storm battered Newfoundland, on Canada's eastern coast.

In the Pacific, a mild tropical storm formed and was expected to cross the Mexican resort area of Baja California.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said the change in Igor's classification does not reflect a downgrade in the storm's intensity because winds have strengthened as the storm draws energy from another weather system to the west.

"Normally the cool North Atlantic chills out these hurricanes, but this one came up with a vengeance and met another low pressure system and the combined wallop of the wind and the water has been quite devastating," Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Williams said it caused tens of millions of dollars in damages and said it's the hardest they've been hit in recent memory. He said 14 communities have declared a state of emergency and said 27 communities are isolated as a result of washouts and road damages. He said the damage is significant.

"There are a lot of homes that are nearly completely submerged. Barns and structures have been washed away, completely out to sea," Williams said.

He said he would visit some of the affected communities Wednesday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Boyd Merrill said they were investigating a report of a missing 80-year old man who was reportedly washed into the sea on Tuesday morning on Random Island when a driveway collapsed from underneath him due to heavy water flow. Merrill said police and the coast guard have not been able to access the island.

"This is not your normal heavy rainfall flooding. It's having a major impact," said Chris Fogarty, of the Canadian Hurricane Centre. He said more than 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain have fallen in some regions.

Marystown Mayor Sam Synard said the storm was overwhelming his community's capacity to cope.

"We've never seen such a violent storm before," he said. "We've lost sections of our main roads, completely washed out to sea."

Keith Rodway, a member of the Clarenville town council, said parts of his town had to be evacuated.

In the Pacific, a mild tropical storm formed and was expected to cross the Mexican resort area of Baja California later in the day. The Pacific tropical storm, Georgette, had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (65 kph), but was expected to weaken as it moved over the Baja California peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Georgette made landfall near or just east of Cabo San Lucas. A tropical storm warning was issued for southern Baja California.

Georgette was located about 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Tuesday morning and was moving north-northwest near 9 mph (15 kph). A tropical storm warning was issued for southern Baja California.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Wayne Edgecombe said heavy rains that flooded a key bridge in southern Newfoundland have left the Burin Peninsula's 20,000 residents cut off from the rest of the province. Edgecombe said roads all over the peninsula have been washed out or submerged, but so far there have been no major crises.

About 20,000 people live on the Burin Peninsula.

Igor doggedly maintained maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kph). On Tuesday, the storm center was about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north-northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland and moving to the northeast near 39 mph (63 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Schools have been closed and some flights at the St. John's International Airport have been delayed or canceled. The Canadian company Husky Energy evacuated workers from two semi-submersible drilling rigs working the White Rose offshore oil field, spokeswoman Colleen McConnell said.

Igor left behind power outages, grounded boats and downed trees in Bermuda and kicked up dangerous surf on the U.S. Atlantic coast. After brushing past Bermuda, which escaped major damage, Igor veered away from the United States, but forecasters said it could still cause high surf and dangerous rip currents along U.S. beaches.

A 21-year-old man died while surfing in the storm-churned waves off Surf City, North Carolina, where he was pulled from the water Sunday afternoon. Last week, high surf kicked up by Igor swept two people out to sea in the Caribbean - one in Puerto Rico and another in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Across Los Cabos - a string of Mexican resort towns at the tip of Baja California - boat owners scrambled to tie down yachts, while restaurant workers hauled in chairs and tables ahead of Georgette's arrival. Tourists canceled fishing trips at the last minute and hunkered down inside luxury hotels for board games and spa sessions.

Only light rain fell Tuesday morning, but winds kicked up 6-foot (2-meter) waves.

Meanwhile far out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Lisa formed early Tuesday with winds near 45 mph (75 kph). The storm was located about 525 miles (850 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. 

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/20/v-lite/1349700/igor-kicks-up-dangerous-surf-along.html#ixzz10vKTGW1d

Robyn posted this video already, but I wanted to post it again. It brought to mind when I was walking to an activity with my campers this summer and the strong wind that was blowing that day blew down a tree mere feet from us. It was a little scary to hear roots snapping but not know what direction it would be falling until it was almost on top of us! Luckily the bike in video was fine, as were we.

(above images from www.cbc.ca)

day of travels - september 23rd

charlotte airport. 9:50 am. pumpkin spice latte infused. not ready for the long day ahead.

toronto airport. 2:30 pm. people watching. airports are the best place. saw lots of big families of asians.

montreal airport. 7:40 pm. tired and achey, with a creeper in the background edition.

Luckily everything went as it should. Plenty of time between flights. No rush. No lost baggage. No delays. No travel stress other than the knowledge that the gap between me and North Carolina was growing ever larger. I'm happy to say that this was one of the best travelling experiences I've had yet.

I enjoyed my last few moments with my boy. We saw both bird AND plane inside the airport. Seemed that the little bird was trying to decide which airline was best for him to take. It was funny, and helped lighten the mood.

I relunctantly walked through the security gate and he stayed until I was no longer in sight. As comforting as it was to see him wait for me, there was nothing I wanted to do more than to turn and go back. I absolutely hated waiting in the slow moving line when I would rather hold his hand. The feeling intensifies with every trip that comes to an end.

And the remainder of the day's events in point form:
-sitting by ana cowan, nice lady who taught me some spanish on the flight (funny that i met someone who once lived in newfoundland on a flight from charlotte!)
-wolfgang puck for lunch, $15 pizza and drink, only to find a tim horton's on the other side of the gate. darn it.
-watching modern family from toronto to montreal.
-seeing pretty lakes and scenery from the plane
-calling my mom during her parent teacher meetings; calling chandler
-sitting in airport on internet, killing time
-having a bad back from overpacking my bookbag and purse, lugging it all across the airports
-wondering where to find food next
-watching french tv in montreal, then finding french tim horton's for late supper
-watching more modern family on the way to newfoundland; dude stole my window seat :(
-being greeted by elizabeth in st. john's :)
-finding more tim horton's for the ride home. seemed like no one had a plain tea biscuit anywhere.
-home at 2am

voila. my day.

ship is about ready to set sail

Today is my last day in the States with my boy. I'm at home trying to pack, trying not to cry, and trying to enjoy the last bit of sunshine I'll see til who knows when. I'm not looking forward to flying home to depressing and destructive hurricane weather. I'll say it again: North Carolina really is where it's at for beautiful weather.
As much as I've complained sometimes, I have been so thankful to have been able to stay as long as I have.

This weekend was a good getaway. Chandler and I drove down to Clemson, SC to visit our friends. He stayed with his old roommates Matt Moose and Tyler Lacrosse and I stayed with Tyler's girlfriend, Melissa Turner. We drove down after he got off work Friday night and made a little stop in downtown Greenville. We walked around a little bit then stopped into the new location of The Channel. I met Jay, the owner and his wife and their [adorable] youngest followed us around. They were incredibly friendly. Jay showed us around to the stage upstairs and we got some hot tea in the restaurant on the main floor before leaving. They want to make it a place for young people to hang out in a safe area. If I lived around there I'd love to stop by as often as life allowed.

From there we drove to Melissa's house and hung out with her and Tyler for a bit before the boys went home. Melissa's son, Ethan wasn't staying there this weekend, so I got to sleep in his race car bed! Haha. I enjoyed being surrounded by little boy's things, but I would have enjoyed seeing Ethan even more. He was excited when we were supposed to be coming to visit the weekend before. He loves Chandler, and most especially the truck Chandler was driving for the last few weeks he lived in Clemson during the Spring. Too bad.

Saturday, after sleeping in, Chandler came and picked me up and we walked around downtown Clemson for a bit trying to figure out a place to eat for lunch. Since Ancheaux's closed down earlier this year (*tear*), we went to TD's because we wanted to go to a Clemson original. Tyler and Melissa came to join us and we shared some fried pickles and ate sandwiches and wings. After lunch they left to work some more on a video project and we went to Sonic to grab a cherry limeade for me, cherry slush for him and also to the lake to enjoy the sunshine along with said drinks. It was much hotter there than in Charlotte. People were swimming!! Oh to swim in September in Newfoundland! Unreal.

From there we went to Katherine Rainey's house because a few friends (Molly Brantly, Lauren Jordan, and their friends, Heather Johnson and Carson Carroll) were in town also visiting and they were all over there. Chandler dealt with the estrogenfest at the house then we all went to Spill the Beans to splurge on some delicious ice cream. We shared the usual chocolate softserve with cake batter and sprinkles. In a waffle bowl. Best $8 spent that weekend haha.

Tyler got us to pick up the pizza he ordered on the way back to his place, so the four of us had that and salad for supper. Then we headed off to Alex Fagan's to watch the Clemson football game on tv. It was an epic loss. Everyone was saddened once again by their precious school. Even I, who only understood about 14% of what actually happened during the game, felt a sense of depressing loss. We moved to the backyard and made a fire all the same and relaxed out there. The evening was surprisingly cool compared to how hot it was in the afternoon.

Sunday morning we went to DCF the church for the college kids in Clemson. It was an alright service, but I didn't really get much from the speaker. He had a good idea, talking about how the church should be a family. But he used his own family photo album, or rather, random pictures on his disk drive, to guide the message. Seemed like he was up there randomly coming up with examples off the top of his head for about 436 pictures in the slideshow, to a message with no end in sight.

Bless his heart.

After church we had planned to go to the Lemongrass for lunch. I had been craving it since I first had it last summer. But we walked up to the doors to discover--to my sorrow--it is closed on Sundays. So sad! We went to Sticky Fingers as an alternate, which was an overpriced mediocre choice. Live and learn. Next time we won't be so hasty.

I wasn't quite ready to leave yet, so Boy kindly complied and we went for a little wander. It was a fair distance to get to Fall's Park, but as we walked we came across a couple of cycling races going on that day. The main roads were blocked off and there were swarms of people walking everywhere. It was a neat sight to see.

We were hot once we got to the park but the water cooled us off nicely.
Every time I take a picture with this camera I am disappointed with the quality. It needs to go. Maybe if I complain enough, a fairy will show up and grant my wish for a better camera.

We finally continued our journey back to Charlotte, listened to Paper Route, contemplated the wonders of exit 100, had goofy sitting-in-the-car-too-long moments, but cherished the last road trip til who knows when.

We spent the later part of the evening at Caribou Coffee so that Chandler could study Math. I bought us some latte chillers, vanilla and caramel flavoured. Both were disappointing due to their overabundance of sweetness. Undrinkably sweet. I made a sorry attempt to tone down the sugar by adding hot coffee but that was a big fail. Oh well, I enjoyed the atmosphere nontheless!

The highlight of Monday was having lunch with T.Ray (my boss at CWJ) at Pike's Soda Shop. I had some hawaiian chicken sandwich that was so-so, while Chandler had a burger, and TRay had pecan fried chicken (I think? A Pecan-chicken-something that looked good). Shoulda just had a soda. Those things taste delicious. Sadly, no pictures from inside there, but a scene from Shallow Hal was filmed in there.

Tuesday's highlight was going out to supper at Tony Rama's with Chandler's extended family to celebrate Ashley and Brandon's birthday. The ribs did not disappoint, nor did the Red Velvet Cake for dessert. Once again, no pictures. I need to stop being a chicken. Afterwards, the two of us went over to T.Ray's house to see the rest of the family before I left. It was good to see everyone and their dog, George, once again.

As I said, today has been filled with all the leftover packing I didn't want to do earlier. Chandler was sweet and surprised me on his break between jobs with Chick-fil-A sandwiches for lunch. He barely had time to gobble his down before he had to run to be on time, but it was very thoughtful of him.

After work we brought Mckay to pick up the pizza he ordered and a little later, Chandler's dad brought home some ribs for me to try. The closest I'd get to having his own. We had hoped to meet up with a couple of other people, but after a few unanswered phonecalls we went to The Penguin ourselves to enjoy my last order of fried pickles at that place.

The next time I'm in Charlotte, that restaurant will no longer be the beloved Penguin as it has been known, due to the battle between greedy franchise wanting owners and the mutiny of its staff. Good news is that it will exist elsewhere, however it won't have it's nostalgic atmosphere. We can only hope it will be a change for the better.

Anyway, I enjoyed my pickles. And I got me a souvenir.

labo(u)r day weekend

I had a pretty filled weekend! It's the busiest I've been since camp was over, really. Chandler and his band, The Decour had a show Thursday night in Boone which was a couple hours drive away. Our friend, Alexis Worthington opened up first, then the boys, then Jonas Sees In Color.

It was a really good night.

After everything was packed up we went out to eat at Boone Bagelry and enjoyed some good breakfast and hung out. We stayed overnight at our friend's houses who go to college there; Chandler with Hodge, me with Alexis. In the morning we met up again, joined by Marc Gmuca and ate at Our Daily Bread, a really relaxed spot downtown with great soups and sandwiches.

We said our goodbyes then drove another few hours to meet up with the rest of Chandler's family in Cherokee where we stayed at for the whole weekend. It was a hotel and casino, and it was loud and sparkly. haha.

The night we got there was the grand opening of the new music venue right next to (and part of) the hotel. Hank Williams Jr was the feature and as he played I recognized some songs.

I liked how he put on different hat for every song and when he got up and rocked the piano.

We watched the show from a VIP booth and were served some fancy h'ordeuvres. Anyway me, Chandler and his mom didn't stay for the whole show.

We went down to the casino got some burgers to eat (cause we were so hungry after those strange appetizers), and his mom showed us around. I can definitely see why it's addictive, the buttons are fun to push, but I also saw just how fast people can lose their money.

Saturday morning the men went golfing and the ladies to a little town not too far away called Dillsboro. It in its own way reminded me a bit of Newfoundland with it's small homes made with wood, sitting close together on the roads. It was filled with little shops and things in a one block radius.

 Later we got cleaned up and met at the venue for appetizers in the VIP box. They were much better this time with big chicken wings and egg rolls, so we didn't go hungry.

Then we saw Lady Antebellum!

I liked their music a bit before, and they were SO good live! I'm a fan now, for sure! We all had a good time at this show, especially all the ladies in the group.

This concert was definitely for the ladies. Chandler's mom kept talking about how cute Charles was from Lady Antebellum. After the show we went back to our room and watched Get Him to the Greek and finally went to bed since we had a big adventure to go on in the morning!

Sunday was like the "Sons + Their Girlfriends' trip. Chandler and I, Jordan (his bro) and his gf, Kristin, then Brandon (his cousin) and his wife, Ashley, met up at 10:30 to go white water rafting on the Nantahala!

It was such a blast and I couldn't have asked for a more entertaining group of people to go with.

Those boys say the most ridiculous stuff in the most hilarious ways, so when you put them all together you know it's going to be a good time. We didn't have time for breakfast before the trip, but after we registered at the rafting place, the only food available was an overpriced hotdog shop. We ate it anyway!

Rafting took about two hours, the water was very cold (not Atlantic cold though, thankfully!) and Brandon managed to fall into the river about 4 minutes into the trip!!

Luckily no one else fell in after that, though there were a couple of close calls. It probably wasn't a smart move to bring my digital camera, but everything was okay!  We kept getting stuck on rocks and spinning around but it was funny.

At one point another group of people got pushed towards us and as they bumped our raft, some weird red headed chick smiled at and flirtily touched Chandler on the shoulder. Everyone joked that I should have taken her out with my paddle! haha.

By the time we got back there was just enough time to shower before we piled in vans to go out for supper. We went back to Dillsboro to a place called the Jarrett House that was full of antiques and had traditional southern food. (I had me some chicken and dumplin's, comfort food at it's finest.) It was a house built in the 1800s that I wouldn't want to spend the night in. I could see it being haunted. :P

Monday we all packed up by 11, met up and went to the buffet in the hotel for breakfast. After that we packed up the cars and went our separate ways. Some went back to the little stores in Dillsboro.

Chandler and I drove to Asheville, however, and walked around a pretty place called Grove Park Inn before heading back to Charlotte.

 The inn had some pretty important guests stay there, like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

We walked around on the terrace and took in the view of the Smokey Mountains. There were rocking chairs everywhere and the majority of the population was over the age of 60, but we did see a few people our age wandering around too. I took pictures for a group of girls who had offered to take a picture of us.

On the inside of the main entrance there were some huge windows that were open like shutters and showed off the view of the mountains. There was a huge stone fireplace that you could pretty much stand in. Felt like Harry Potter. I was wondering where my Floo powder was!

I would honestly love to live up there near the mountains, or a least visit a ton. The view is gorgeous; the contant breeze is so refreshing. And I'm fairly certain that there's something magical in the water in Cherokee because my cold improved by the second day of the trip and my skin was clearing up fast.

It is an indian reserve, maybe there's healing powers in it? Wouldn't be surprised. I felt the difference because ever since we got back to Charlotte I've been all stuffed up again! I already miss being surrounded by the glories of nature and that fresh mountain air.