For Anna...

We kept our swimsuits on just to take pictures, but you can even tell in the picture that there isn't that much sun out there!

On Tuesday night last week my friend Gwen called and asked if I wanted to go to the beach on Wednesday. Since Tuesday was so gorgeous, and since I actually have a work schedule that is flexible (which I won't have starting in May with school), I decided to go! We left early-ish on Wednesday morning and headed down to Charleston. The sky looked a bit overcast and it was kindof cold, but we kept saying that it would warm up. I mean, it HAD to warm up if we were driving all that way to hit the beach, right?

We pulled into the Chick-fil-A on Folley beach around 11:30, and it was still chilly enough to want a jacket outside. We ate our lunch and headed out to the beach. The beach was beautiful, in that deserted, it's-about-to-rain kind of way. There were four guys in sweats playing football, and there was us in our bikinis, pretending that those goosebumps on our arms and legs were not from the cold. We set out our towels and actually ended up getting maybe 30 minutes of sunlight that was warm enough to let us rest on the beach, but then it just got more and more cold and windy. After an hour and a half (at the most), we wrapped our towels around us and headed to the car.

Our main topic of conversation on the beach (besides the obvious topic of boys) was our weight and how neither of us want to lose weight, necessarily, but just tone up and be more fit all around. Get our "beach bodies" back, if you will. So what did we decide to do when we left the beach? After all that resolution on the beach about getting toned and fit, we promptly headed into downtown Charleston to the candy/gelato store near the market. Gwen bought a half pound of fudge, and I knew I couldn't just watch her eat fudge by herself, so I bought some, too. Then we got gelato. Then we tested out their taffy. What can I say? When you make it all the way to Charleston and don't even get to lie out in the sun you have to make the trip worthwhile somehow!

We ended up having a great trip despite the cool weather. It's always nice to nurture a friendship like that, especially when that friend doesn't mind an afternoon of eating gelato and fudge!

On Saturday, some friends and I went white water rafting with a group called the Venture Crew. Venture Crew is a part of the boy scouts, but is coed. We piled into a church bus (all 8 adults and 3 kids) and headed up to the Natahala. I love rafting!! Honestly, the most nerve-wracking part of the trip, and the time I felt the most unsafe and close to death, was while we were in the bus. The guy driving got lost in the mountains, and I think because of his frustration he was driving even more crazy than usual. Also, we were in the mountains, so every second we were on some kind of turn or switchback. I seriously thought we were all going to die by going off the side of the mountain. When we finally got on the river, even though I fell out of the raft in the first five minutes, I felt no fear of death. :)


Here is a picture of Christi and me on the bus we nicknamed "Heaven Bound." It wasn't as funny at the time.