Denver, here I come!

So, I took the Auditing portion of the CPA exam yesterday. Never can tell how I did... so I will just wait for the score. Now that the studying is out of the way, I should have some more time for blogging, but not this week, as I am shipping out for Denver, CO in the morning for the entire week for work. My plane gets back into Columbia on Friday around 5pm, but then I will be heading to Folly Beach with a whole group of friends for the weekend for our semi-annual weekend away! It is sure to be LOADS of fun. I cannot wait! From the mountains of Colorado to the beaches of South Carolina all in one day. Lots of traveling. Maybe I will get a chance to do some blogging from the hotel room. I have lots of updates to post. Til next time!

And happy late Halloween....

Litchfield Beach!

So, later that day after we finished our 5k race, we met up with Jake's parents here in Columbia for a brunch of sorts at Waffle House before hitting the road to Litchfield Beach for the week! The beach was perfect. We had perfect weather the entire time until our last night there, when it finally thunderstormed. We spent our days on the beach, in the pool, in the hottub, visiting Myrtle Beach, shopping, eating, but mostly just relaxing. We spent our nights going out for dinner (usually AMAZING seafood - especially the conch fritters!!!) and hanging out in the condo and hottub with Jake's parents. It was a great time, and a very much needed vacation from work. I had not been to the beach for a week in forever, and definitely not since I started working! I definitely did not want to leave to come back home. And, on our last day there, I just happened to get stung by a jellyfish for the first time in my life! It hurt SO BADLY. I never did see the jellyfish, but I definitely felt it. Thanks to Jake for pouring some vinegar stuff on it to take the stinging away. And as a side note, a week after the sting, just when you think it is all okay and going away, it comes back ITCHING like nothing has ever ITCHED in my life. So, if you are ever stung, be prepared for that. But, I did get a fairly decent tan. And, a big thanks to Jake's parents for letting me join them on their family vacation! Here are some photo highlights from our week.

Jake and his dad

Jake and his mom

Jake and his parents

Me with my DELICIOUS conch fritters!

The worst part of my jellyfish ATTACK!

Me on our last day

Our caricature we had done at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach! I love it!

Do you think it looks like us?

Study, study, study

Yesterday, I finally scheduled myself to take my first part of the CPA exam - Business Environment & Concepts (BEC). I signed up for Monday, August 17th at noon. I wanted to do it on a Monday so that I can study the entire weekend leading up to it, and I had the options of 8am, 11am, and noon that day. No brainer, right? Anyway, I had thought of scheduling it on the 24th or 31st of August to give myself a couple more weeks (since I can't take it in September), but Jake and his parents have invited me to the beach for a week from August 22nd - 29th, which I am soooo excited about, so that pushed the exam up to the 17th. That gives me 5 weeks from yesterday to study for this darn test. I think I can do it, though! I have been dabbling with studying for it a little ever since I mailed in my application back in May, but now I am in complete study mode. And I will definitely be glad when I finish on the 17th to have the rest of that week to get packed and ready for my beach trip! Wish me luck!

A Capitol Fourth!

Well, our trip to Washington D.C. was a great success! We left Columbia just before 8 am on Thursday morning, and we were on our way.

We arrived at Lark's apartment in Arlington just before 5 pm, and after resting for a little while, went out for dinner at Ragtime, which was a delicious restaurant and bar just up the street from Lark's. I had clam bisque and crabcakes with onion rings. Soooo yummy! We left there and went for a walk around Arlington where we saw the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington cemetary.

Lark and I ran to hug this tree.

This is the view of D.C. from Arlington.

Goofy times with Lark!

Friday morning, we got up and headed into the city to check out the White House first. We then went by and saw the Washington monument before heading to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This was one of my favorite stops because we got to see the original Star Spangled Banner that our national anthem was written about. I remembered seeing it as a kid, but back then, they had it displayed hanging, and now it is laid out flat. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take pictures of it... but I think it is one of the neatest things to see. It amazes me that they actually still have the original flag intact and on display for everyone to see. We left that museum and went to get some lunch on the National Mall - hotdogs of course! After our we satisfied our hunger, we checked out the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty good time. At some point, Jake and I were able to buy a couple of $4 souvenir t-shirts.

I loved this building with all the flags hanging on its windows!

Here, Lark and Thomas Edison shared a special moment!

Nilly, this picture was taken with you in mind.

After that, we headed on down to the Capitol building, where they were busy setting up and rehearsing for Saturday's concert. We climbed all 75 of the Capitol steps and rested for a while. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole weekend.

After that, we headed over to the Sculpture Garden for some jazz and Sangria! Then, we headed back to Arlington, and we were exhausted, but we went up and sat on top of Lark's building where we enjoyed seeing some early fireworks from all different directions!

Here is the view from the top of Lark's building.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed back into D.C. for a reading of the Declaration of Independence in front of the National Archives and the parade. We ended up skipping out on the reading and grabbed ourselves a prime spot for the parade. Jake did go over and get some pics for us of the front of the National Archives, and more hotdogs were consumed while we waited for the parade to begin.

Jake wanted his picture made in front of the IRS building.

Waiting on the parade

The National Archives - reading of the Declaration of Independence

The parade came down Constitution Avenue.

Saturday afternoon, we ate lunch back in Arlington, where I tried some of Lark's falafel (yummy!), then Jake and I ventured out on our own on the metro back into D.C. to visit the International Spy Museum and then to the Mall for the fireworks that night. Cameras were not allowed in the Spy Museum, so no pictures from there, but here we are waiting on the fireworks.

None of my fireworks pics came out very good, so I won't post any on here, but it should be noted that they were AMAZING! Sooooo beautiful - exploding right behind the Washington Monument. Best in the nation. The metro was PACKED leaving the mall after the fireworks, but we managed to get back to Lark's with no trouble and in less than an hour. We took a total of 429 pictures and videos over the course of our 4 day weekend, so I have really just posted the highlights here. One video is of me trying to do a cartwheel on the National Mall. haha

Anyway, we had a FANTASTIC 4th of July holiday weekend in the D.C. area, and we want to give a HUGE thanks to Lark for letting us come stay with her! We do hope she'll let us come back again sometime, and Lark - come visit us in Columbia! Hope everyone's 4th was as great as ours!

Happy Birthday, America!