Miss Chipmunk

It appears as if I gained 350 pounds in my sleep by the look of my cheeks. Yet, I somehow still have friends. First Annie, then Andrea, then Evan came bearing gifts of smoothies and time set aside to spend with me. I love them all so much.

Today we celebrated Wesley’s birthday with family. I couldn’t eat much of the food, but I was too tired to anyways. My favorite part of the day was discovering a boy I had been talking to is a jerk because that led to a talk I had been craving to have with my dad for so so long. What healing it brought to our relationship and I am so thankful for that. I am also thankful for Yo.

Adios Wisdom Teeth

Well this happened. Don’t remember it, but my brother captured a lot of it on his camera. I recommend watching the videos when you’re in desperate need of a laugh, because they’ll provide that for you.
Jenna Quinn Long and Meaghan Vaders get gold stars for visiting me today. I have some great friends.

So far no chipmunk cheeks, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Panic! At The Creek

Panera with an almost complete stranger was how I began my day. A boy I used to work with requested to pick my brain, and so I let him for this morning, and that is that.

I love my friends. Today turned out to be the perfect day for boating. Chris, Evan, Emma and I spent a few hours on Alum Creek where I tubed for the first time. I haven’t laughed that much in quite some time.

I was the first backup for an abandoned Panic! At The Disco ticket and tonight was the night to put it to use! Janelle, Lauren, Jessica, Annie and I jammed out to Magic Man, Walk the Moon and the main event until the stars joined in with us.

Things that went wrong: losing my phone momentarily, all of our phones dying accept for Annie’s, getting lost in Marysfield township, littering, continuous ringing.
However, all of these disasters made the night absolutely PERFECT!!!

What I’m Thankful For Today

Healthy meals.

However, not so thankful for the strenuous babysitting that followed. 😅 Yet, again thankful for time spent with Mandy, Matt Landig, and Kay afterwards.

Hilton Head: Day Nine and Ten

On the road again back to the Ville! Before our adventures could begin, we had to complete a checklist of things the McIntosh’s (owners of the villa) needed us to complete.
-Take out trash
-Strip sheet of beds
-Blah, blah, blah
We finished in no time and were out of there by 10:30! And so the trip begins.
Our halfway mark was the same as last time, solely because I forgot my tennis shoes there on our first stop to South Carolina.

The ride home seemed to fly by, and thank goodness because I was incredibly ready to come home and out an end to all the eating out.

One thing I did learn on this six hour ride home was how to eat an apple in the car. Note to self: always carry around an apple cutter, wherever you go.

So good to be back in Ohio.

Hilton Head: Day Eight

Quite a lazy day it’s been. I woke up early to take a walk on the beach and think for a bit. As fundamentally relaxing as this week has been, my mind has been thinking nonstop in a billion different directions. Hoping to reach some clarity, I strolled awhile until I found a spot to sit and pray away for awhile.
The rest of the day was spent rescheduling classes (I am now enrolled in yoga on Monday and Wednesday mornings..so pumped for that!!), and reliving my 5 grade days by logging into Webkinz for a momentary walk down memory lane.
Once my family decided it was nap time, I decided it was exploring time.

Making it back just as the clouds were turning this beautifully dark color, I freshened myself up and the four of us made a stop to Guseppi’s.

This seemed like a terribly wonderful way to end our last day of vacation until the beautifully dark cloud brought forth a vicious storm. This weather detour wouldn’t have been so drastic if we weren’t seated outside just feet from the downpour. It made for a memorable finish to a time we’ll spend on Hilton Head Island.

Hilton Head: Day Seven

What a better way to spend a sun-filled day than at the beach??

Everyday, a man walks up and down the beach showing off his enormous kite. Today was a particularly windy day, so he had to fight more than usual to keep his contraption above the heads of the fascinated observers.

Shelter Cove is a town with a magnetic force attracting visitors and residents of Hilton Head together for nights of family friendly friend. A Jimmy Buffet knock off, Shannon Tanner, provided a crowd with a night full of music and dancing…what I would consider an ideal way to live out a night such as this.

Rarely does the Griffith family end the night without dessert, and due to a coupon graciously left in our villa, Pino Gelato was the obvious sweet treat of this night.

Forgot to mention, mom and I were matching in two of her old maxi dresses from back in the day. So cute. 💕

Hilton Head: Day Six

For the first time this week I slept in! I think last night was so rough with all the itching, I was spent so a little extra sleep did me good. The Griffith’s ate out for breakfast this morning at Stacks. Honestly, I have never had a better pancake (non-homemade, of course) in my life.

After scoping out the area, I spent a quick hour at the pool and came back to get ready for some R&R time at the pool with Momma while the boys went golfing. At FACES, I got my first full body massage and peppermint sugar scrub, and my mom received the most modest manicure I’ve ever seen. Pretty much a clear coat, but never looked better.
Th

For the rest of our girls time we searched for some good buys at an outlet mall and thrift stores, but to no avail (who knew they all closed at 5 on Wednesday??). So instead, we had a girls day in and snuck in a few pages of our weekly reads in before we were to rescue the boys from a sweltering, yet somehow enjoyable day at the Golden Bear course.
Sharing meals has become a regular occurrence for my mom and I as of lately, so when we went to Wendy’s we ordered a salad and fries to split. I highly recommend their apple pecan salad, and sharing it with one of your favorite people makes it that much better. ❤️
I used to be a lot more competitive than I am now, but when it comes to board games, there’s no monkeying around. However, Clue is not my strong suit so Wesley and my dad came out with the wins at family game night. This time.

Hilton Head: Day Five

Yet another day beginning at 6am! This time I was without my brother, so I enjoyed some rare me time, shared with Jesus and his handiwork.

I’ve been reading Captivating and it is currently teaching the qualities of a woman that exude beauty. The most interesting thing I read this morning was how the only thing keeping you and I from being truly captivating is our striving due to our beliefs that we are not enough. How true!!

After taking a dip in the villa community pool, my family spend the day an hour away in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia. It was terribly hot outside, so there was more wining and sweat than expected, but the beauty of the history here left us without regrets.

We were given instructions by a sweet elderly woman behind the help desk, leading us down the street, ending us at the river and bringing us back where we started. However, once we about reached the river, the heat got the best of us, and we decided it’d be best to split up: mom and dad walk back to retrieve the van, and Wesley and Emily stay by the Savannah River. While waiting on the parents to return, Wes and I moseyed in and out of shops making some southern friends along the way. One of which owned (well her family owned) the cutest boutique full of strange clothing, beautiful paintings, and precious pups.

It seemed like hours before we finally found our parents, and by the look on their faces, they were exhausted and in need of some nourishment. In which case, we made out way into One-eyed Lizzi’s for some delectable seafood and southwestern eating. I ordered shrimp, but the table favorite were the salmon tacos Mom accidentally ordered. Stuffed and bleary from walking all day, we stopped by two final shops and dragged ourselves to the van.

Every Tuesday night, Shelter Cove, a town on Hilton Head Island, displays a dazzling array of fireworks. This week my family, after a long hard search for a parking spot, was able to find what seemed to be the perfect location from which to view them. This ended up being a 9 out of 10 finale to this day (9 because of all the bug bites 😣).

Hilton Head: Day Four

6am- RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!! Loud and clear, my alarm shook my brother and I til we were able to peel ourselves from our beds, awake enough to get dressed. Usually I’m one to ignore my alarm and let the snooze take over, but there was a sunrise at the beach at stake. We gathered our things (fitness passes just in case we felt extra motivated after the sunrise, and our phones) and slid down the stairs to our bikes. Way too excited for my own good, I sped walked straight into an enormous spider web. I screamed and jumped and did everything I felt would help to get the nasty web off of me. I even asked my brother to be safe:
“Wes, is there a spider on me???”
“I guess we’ll find out.” 😐
The beach was breathtakingly peaceful at this time of day (we were there from around 6:20 to about 6:45). The tide wasn’t too high, there were very few people, and you could see the sun peaking through the clouds as it rose.

We rode about a mile before we decided to turn around and head back home (not feeling the fitness center this morning). We thought it better to catch up on the sleep we missed out on.

The rest of the day, the Griffith’s spent at Sea Pine, SC. Starting off with a tour of the lighthouse.

Followed by a quick ice cream stop…

…before we boarded an hour and a half long cruise to spy on dolphins swimming!

The ride ended up lasting only a little more than an hour because of weather, but it was perfectly timed for us to make it to the Salty Dog Cafe and get seated right before a HUGE storm hit.

Luckily, we were able to dash to the van and walk in the door as The Bachelorette was starting so my brother didn’t throw a fit. Between the sunrise and the dolphin sightings, the beauty today we experienced was remarkable, easily making today the best day of vacation yet!