Hey y’all.

I don’t know why I’ve already started this post out with a southern accent because truth be told, I didn’t encounter too many while we were in NC. We did however, encounter lots of other wonderful southern delights such as – Dunkin Donuts errrrwhere, the Piggly Wiggly, FIREFLIES and Family Dollar. We joked the whole time we were there that the “holy trinity” in each town was – a Dunkin, Hardee’s and a Family Dollar . JUST MY STYLE.

We took a red-eye over which is never an issue for this old lady, who can manage to sleep (mouth agape always) anywhere, anytime.

Saturday morning after picking up our rental car, we drove to our hotel in Garner and settled into a booth at The Waffle House while we waited for our room to be ready. That night, we attended a beautiful wedding for David’s friend Ben and his lovely bride, Camille.

Before the ceremony, we walked around the gardens and took tons of pics.

The ceremony was lovely and the reception was beautiful as well. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens and corn with a delicious sauce. And rolls. I obviously like m’rolls.

Of course E made pals with all the little girls, including the flower girl who was SO cute.

And of course David took this serious glamour shot of me while we were waiting for our dranks. My arm looks about 7 miles long.

The next day we got up early, had continental breakfast at the hotel (LOVE when hotels have that!) and drove the 2 hours over to David’s brothers house.

We had a blast playing their pool. running through the sprinklers and really just getting to see E and her cousin play together.

Our Airbnb was about 40 minutes from their house on a golf course and after dinner that night we came home and totally crashed. The next morning though, we made a very cool discovery out by the pond…TURTLES!

Being Oregonians, seeing like 30 turtles waddle out to say hi to us was pretty damn cool. We stayed out there for like 30 minutes just watching them.

I pretty much DIED over the screened-in porch and have now decided that I need one of these in my future home.

Later that day, we all went to the beach!

The beach had ACTUAL shells, unlike the coast over here, where all you find is the odd broken sand dollar and the water was semi-warm.

That night, we had a super yummy dinner with the fam and flew back home the next day. Until next time, NC!