Too old for Roller Coasters?

The idea to plan a trip to Williamsburg, VA all started with the possibility of winning a pair of tickets to Busch Gardens while I was working at Food Lion. To my surprise, my name was pulled out of a raffle and the planning for a double date with Elyse and Josh began. Luckily, I was able to get a pair of free tickets for Elyse and Josh by working hard on a design project for Food Lion. We were then given one more pair of tickets from a coworker and decided to invite Reuben and Shannon along for the weekend. Since we were going to be so close to Colonial Williamsburg, we figured we would buy tickets for the next day to travel back in time and tour the historical grounds. Luck was on our side once again when the day before we left, Elyse was given 6 free tickets to Colonial Williamsburg from a coworker. Crazy! Our trip was turning into quite the deal.

There's no easy way to get to Williamsburg, VA from Charlotte. We began our 5 hour trip right after everyone got off work on Friday and drove to our neighboring state to the north, arriving around midnight. We attempted to get a good night's sleep but I'm pretty sure we were all anxious for the next day ahead. Plus, try sleeping in a room with both Jeremy AND Reuben snoring. Not a good combination.

Busch Gardens day was finally here! Unfortunately we started out the day with a dead camera card and you KNOW my picture-taking freak self was NOT happy about that. My iPhone had to do until we finally found a camera card at a gift shop in the park. The weather could not have been more perfect for the middle of July. We walked comfortably throughout the day that was slightly overcast and filled with few people in lines for roller coaster greatness.

It has seriously been years since Jeremy and I have boarded a roller coaster. We all excitedly stepped onto the "LochNess Monster", a coaster that went up and down with twists and turns - and we all walked off a dizzy mess. We felt old right away, wondering if we could even handle what more was to come. We continued our way around the park, riding coaster after coaster but things had to come to a stop for me after riding "the Griffon", a 205 foot, 90 degree, 75 MPH free fall, TWICE IN A ROW. After that, my dizziness got even worse, losing my appetite and feeling like my equilibrium was thrown off. I sat out the next ride, skipping lunch but finding dramamine in a store nearby. My dizziness wore off and I was back to my normal self, thank goodness!

Official bag lady.

The Griffon

After lunch, we walked around, killing time before the start of the Celtic Fyre show. Elyse and I stumbled upon the clydesdales and took a picture with Dustin who decided to nuzzle (and startle me) with his sweet kisses. It was definitely my favorite part of the day.

We decided to cool off and take a break from the adrenaline rush of the roller coasters with a show featuring Irish dancing and singing that was surprisingly really good! The show featured the makings of an Irish wedding and the cutest Irish Setter dog.

We continued our trek through the park where Jeremy, Josh, Reuben and Shannon decided to cool off on "Pompeii", a water ride with a steep drop and huge splash at the end. Elyse and I were smart and decided to watch/take pictures and stay dry.

Next up was "Apollo's Chariot"! Of course we had to ride! Apollo wouldn't have wanted it any other way. This was my first ride since the dizziness struck so I was a little worried but all was good. This was the only ride where the steep drops made me curse and you can tell from the picture below that I was a little uneasy and a nervous wreck. I think it's hilarious that I'm still gripping the handles tensely even after the ride was over.

We continued the day with one more show, "Mix It Up!", featuring a team of chef musicians cooking up exciting sounds in the kitchen. Josh was in heaven with this marching band-esqe show that kept all of our attention for the next half hour.

We left the park, exhausted but satisfied with the day. Our old selves all needed a nap from the crazy day before we headed out that night for dinner and putt-putt. A few hours of rest did us some good as we worked up an appetite and ate at "Food for Thought", a fun and inspirational restaurant featuring GREAT food and a tribute to great leaders, innovators, scientists, business people and humanitarians. We quizzed each other on American history, had a drawing contest on the table on who could draw the best U.S.A. outline freehanded (take a wild guess on who won) and had good conversation all while eating the most delicious food to hit our bellies all day.

We ended the day with a game of Putt Putt (another activity Jeremy and I hadn't done in years), boys vs. girls. The girls were off to a good start but as we went on throughout the course, the boys caught up and walked away with the win. We celebrated the day with a (close to) midnight snack at Dairy Queen. Sleep came easy that night as we rested up for a day of history in Colonial Williamsburg planned for the next day. Stay tuned!

The 20/20 Experience (again)

Justin Timberlake's most recent album is called The 20/20 Experience...it only seemed appropriate to see his tour twice. Let's be real, though. I got lucky. The very day that Jeremy and I were driving to Raleigh to see JT, they announced on the radio that he had extended his tour and would be stopping in Charlotte that coming July. I couldn't say no to JT and the Tennessee Kids in my hometown and bought tickets with Elyse and Rachel that next week.

Fast forward to July and I was just as excited to see Justin the second time around. We grubbed at one of my favorite southern, home-cooking restaurants in Charlotte, Dish, and then headed to Time Warner Cable Arena for a night of dancing and singing to all of our favorite JT songs.

It had been 14 years since JT was in Charlotte. Fourteen! I was a freshman in high school and soooooo excited to go see NSYNC perform with my best friends at the time. Tickets were only $39.75 for upper level seating and I remember dancing and screaming my little heart out during the entire No Strings Attached show.

Sadly, ticket prices have increased since then but the dancing and screaming didn't change much from now and then. JT still brought it and had everyone swooning during his smooth dance moves, piano/guitar playing and the sweet sound of his perfect melodies. His show was a little shorter this time around but he still held my attention the entire time. Until next time, Justin. Charlotte loves you!

The results are in!

Ok folks, we received lots of votes and we've determined the winner. Some of you had some really good guesses... and some of you weren't even close. :)

What hurt some of you was the 'Price Is Right' rule and not going over. It was also pretty clear that there were a lot more dreadlocks on my head than you realized.

Anyway, without further ado...

(drumroll...)

The winner is Sunny Hutchinson! She guessed 132 and I had a total of 142 dreadlocks!

$15 iTunes gift card and a sweet iPod nano goes to the lucky lady! Thanks for guessing everyone. That was fun. We'll have to do another contest soon!

No more Moptop plus a Giveaway!!!

I did it.

I've finally cut my hair. 

It's been roughly 10 years between haircuts. There was really no major reason for cutting my hair other than I just felt it was time to do it. Plus, I wanted to make sure I still had my hairline. I had a lot of my identity in my hair. 98% of the people I interact with on a daily basis have only known me with dreadlocks. I barely remember life before them. For those of you who love your long, flowing hair, you totally understand how big of a decision this was for me. 

I'm naturally a quiet person, so part of me worried that I would no longer stand out if I cut my hair. I'm no longer easily recognizable and it's a lot harder to doodle myself now. But in the end, my readiness to cut them outweighed my worrying and I'm at peace with my decision. Not like I could change my mind and go back anyway. So yeah, I look younger, my head feels about 2x too small, and I feel a lot lighter. 

So now it's contest time! It's simple - guess how many dreadlocks I had. And we're doing this Price Is Right style - closest person to the correct number of dreadlocks, without going over, will win an iPod Shuffle and a $15 iTunes gift card. Leave a comment on the blog or on our facebook posts to this blog. You have until this Sunday, August 10th. Good luck!