Watch out - it snows in NC!

I spent most of this week in the beautiful state of North Carolina. The first part of the week was spent in Asheville and Winston-Salem and the last part in Lake Lure. My week started and ended with snow, which I was not expecting in mid-December.

Monday, I left Augusta for Asheville and it was a chilly but bright 40 degrees. I expected the temperature to drop as I drove into the mountains and when I entered Asheville it had gone to 25. It was also dark and I started seeing little specks of white in the air - SNOW! Wow, my first snow of the year. It was so tiny though, I never thought it would stick. About 10 minutes later I was proven wrong, and the novelty was over. I had to meet a group for dinner at 6 and I was running out of time and going the wrong way. I picked the wrong street in the Garmin and was driving up a scary road carved into the mountain. I called the B&B and they got me on track and I finally skidded into the driveway at 5:55.

The B&B is worth mentioning further. I don't have much experience with B&B's, I've really only stayed at hotels or privately owned condos or cabins, but I kind of think I'm a B&B person. I stayed at the Sweet Biscuit Inn and it was sooo cute. It was all around charming, from the couple that owns it, Robert and Angela, who personally greet you, help you in, and serve you homemade biscuits and muffins in the morning, to the simple eclectic decor and the old, probably original features in the house - I had a claw footed tub in my bathroom and my room was heated by a radiator (I had never even seen one of those before)! If you are in Asheville, I definitely recommend it. They have a website: www.sweetbiscuitinn.com

Then Friday, with Blake accompanying me this time, we headed to Lake Lure, NC for the a Christmas weekend with the Hoxsie's. This is the third year that we have gone to a cabin in the mountains to have Christmas together and it is always super fun. We find a cabin large enough to sleep all of us together (14), with a full kitchen, and some fun things to do (pool tables, hot tubs, games, etc.) - and then we just hole up for the weekend. We enjoy good home-cooked food, great views, and quality time together to make lots of memories. This year we stayed at the Dancing Falls cabin, named so because it was built in the resort/golf course where "Dirty Dancing" was filmed.


Another highlight that has become tradition is our Dirty Santa gift swap. Before I go further, I have to say that Aunt Lydia, who was in charge this year, did a great job! She found and booked the cabin, organized the meals (which were awesome), and put together some really great gifts! The gifts are a mixture of snacks, pranks, and truly desirable/functional items. Whatever you get, it is going to be good!


We had really great weather Saturday. It was warm enough to walk around outside without a coat, but we knew that Sunday was going to get ugly. I got up at 5:30 Sunday morning for a potty break and saw huge clumps of white falling outside. I was too distracted to go back to sleep, so I stayed up for an hour to watch it. The snow was so heavy you could hear it when it landed. It was beautiful in the morning! The only downside was that we have to leave pretty early. I have learned this week my car isn't the greatest in snow. But thank goodness, we stayed on the road and made it out.


I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and now I'm kind of bummed that it's over - but there's always next year!

Tragedy at 4175

So today a very bad thing happened....I accidentally poured one of our goldfish down the drain! I was unable to save him. He had a premature funeral.

You probably didn't even know that we had fish. Well, we had 2 fancy goldfish for about a month. We got them for one of Blake's Young Life games. The kids thought they were going to be drinking water with goldfish, but obviously it was a trick because I have kept them as pets. When we bought them, I didn't really think of what to do with them after the game. They only cost $3 a piece but they are living creatures and so I couldn't just flush them....(seems like that what I ended up doing anyway). So I have been caring for them in a pitcher until this weekend when we picked up a fish tank that Blake's parents had.

Finally they had a real home! And then tragedy struck. I was trying to pour out the extra water from the pitcher to transfer them to their palace of a tank when one began to swim the wrong way and swam with the water being poured out! I saw him wriggle for a half a second in the sink before he was lost forever.

Well, I shed half a tear and then I put the remaining fish in the tank. I could tell he was lonely and broken hearted but I had to leave him to go to church. (As you can tell, to me, all fish are boys.) When I got back home 6 hrs later (church doesn't last that long, I had other things to do, including buy a new filter and more fishy friends), the goldfish was dead....Don't know what happened, maybe I shocked him in so much new water.

Well now we have 2 goldfish, but they are not the original 2. I always wanted fish, and I really hope these last. One has been hanging out on the bottom next to the glass and I'm afraid he's trying to kick it. I cheer for him "swim fishy, swim for your life!" Blake thinks I'm stupid. So far I have spent about 25 bucks on my fish project, which I think is pretty good. 4 fish, some food, and a filter - so if they end up dying it won't be the end of the world. I just can't believe I kept two fish alive for a month in a TEA PITCHER, and I can't keep them alive for one day in a tank.

These are the new fish in their shiny new tank, they are white with red heads
which would have looked really good with 2 totally orange goldfish...
SWIM fishy, Swim for your LIFE

November/December Update

So I totally missed the November blog....

November was spent doing my ER rotation in Aiken, beginning interviews, having a great turkey day, and watching some really great football. WAR EAGLE! SEC Champs and on the way to becoming national champs!

More on interviews: I am done with 5 out of 8 residency interviews. It is exciting and a little scary to imagine what life would be at each place. They have gone really well so far. You get to visit a new place and eat lots of food and fortunately they are fairly relaxed and not as intimidating as I had imagined. Monday I head to Asheville and then on to Wake Forrest. I'll be going to these by myself which isn't as fun, but in Wake Forrest I get to meet up with Kavitta, my roommate from first year. We will keep you posted in March as to where we match!

I am getting in the Christmas spirit! Last week I got my decorations up. This is my third married Christmas with Blake but it's our first year having a Christmas tree. In the past we were in the apartment and did more traveling over Christmas and it wasn't practical. This year I had to have one though. I have collected a few ornaments over the last few years and I was really excited to use them - I had to laugh when I hung the "Our First Christmas, 2008" ornaments for the first time. But I love our tree and I think it looks great!

YAY! Love our stockings!

Hope you are all having a wonderful December, see you soon!