Mile-High City: Part 1

Allie and I returned yesterday from a trip to visit our friend Avery.

Avery moved to Colorado after we graduated to do Teach for America. After a stint in Colorado Springs, she's now a teacher at an elementary school in the heart of Denver.

Allie and I left Memphis on Wednesday and headed to Nashville, where our friends Melanie and Andrea kindly hosted us for the night. We had a great dinner at a new (to Nashville) Italian restaurant, Mirko. Loved the restaurant's concept of "build-your-own" pasta.

Melanie took us to the Nashville airport Thursday morning, and we landed in Denver just before noon. Avery had to work Thursday but left us detailed instructions that helped us navigate our way to her home.

Allie and I made ourselves at home and headed to lunch at Vine Street Pub, Avery's recommendation.

After lunch, we strolled down 16th Street -- a downtown shopping area. It was during this walk that I developed one of the worst headaches ever! I thought I was just a little dehydrated, so I chugged water and took ibuprofen once we got back to Avery's apartment...but it didn't get better. We picked up Avery from school and toured her classroom around 4:30 p.m. We had plans to head straight to Alma, Colo., where Avery and some friends had rented a house for the ski season, but my headache kept getting worse. By 5 p.m. I was nauseous, and the pain hadn't subsided. I called my parents who worried I was feeling symptoms of altitude sickness, which can get pretty serious. Hoping for medicine to cure my apparent sensitivity to Denver's elevation, the three of us headed to a local emergency department. (There were no 24-hour clinics nearby.)

Our experience at the Rose Medical Center emergency room was pleasant, though. I was seen right away -- no wait! An IV of drugs and a CT scan (and an expensive bill) later, we headed home, and I was headache free! We ordered pizza and enjoyed a  night in, just the three of us.

Our second day in Denver started off much better, but I'll save the rest for tomorrow's post!

Engagement Photos

On Saturday, Brian and I got our engagement photos taken by a Birmingham photographer, Breanna Fogg. Breanna is a civil engineer who owns a photography business on the side. Some friends recommended her to us.

She posted a preview of our photo session online and will send us the rest of the photos in a few weeks. Here are a few:

 This one we thought was particularly funny. The serious face is just hilarious.

Obviously others thought the same thing. Some Facebook comments about the serious face:

Jack Wagner ya'll need some work on the serious faces. Brian looks angry and hillary is about to fall asleep.

 

Andrea Wehrly Hill, Tyra would be proud- look at that smize!

7 Down, 3 More to Go

I completed the first 10 miler in the Road Race Series on Sunday. I haven't posted about the RRS in a while, but so far, I've completed each one! Only three more to go out of 10 total. I finished Sunday's race in 1:40:10, according to my chip.

Here's a photo at the finish: http://MRTC.zenfolio.com/p713973841/e11df2f

The race was held at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. It was almost an hour away for me but worth the drive because of the gorgeous scenery. I can't wait for the next one on Oct. 22.

Bridesmaids' Dresses

We crossed another item off of our wedding "To Do" list this weekend, thanks to my sister who came home for her fall break. We finally chose bridesmaids' dresses!

When we went to look at All About Weddings, I knew only two things: I wanted short dresses and didn't want them to be too expensive. I also had been leaning toward the color navy but was open to other colors.

After trying on several styles (over and over again), we finally settled on one: a dress by Alfred Sung in the color, "Midnight." (This isn't the color pictured below.) The best part is that the dress has pockets!

Next up on the "To Do" list: find a baker and decide on desserts! Brian and I are also getting our engagement photos taken in Birmingham in a couple weeks. 

Swim Lessons

Emma had the greatest day of her young life Saturday. Brian and I took her to meet up with Walt, Allie's pup, at Shelby Farms. Emma had never been to the dog park before, and she really loved it. Though I was nervous at first, I eventually let her off her leash to swim with Walt. I felt like a new mom -- camera and all! I was nervous she would get hurt (or run away) but didn't want her to feel left out! So she had her first lesson in swimming...

Charleston

I'm in love with Charleston, S.C. I got to visit the city for the first time last weekend. I took Thursday and Friday off of work, and Leah and I met my parents in Charleston. They had arrived two days prior to celebrate their anniversary.

After my parents picked Leah and me up from the airport, we drove to Sullivan's Island just outside of Charleston. It felt great to stick my feet in the Atlantic! We had a pretty good lunch at a place called Poe's Tavern, and we had an amazing Italian dinner at Bacco's.

On Friday, we toured downtown Charleston by foot with a tour guide named Tommy. He explained the city's history. This tour was probably my favorite part of the trip. I learned so much. Dinner Friday was at Coast, which was within walking distance to our hotel. Our meal was OK, but not as good as dinner at Bacco's.

Like our matching T-shirts? We didn't pack well for the trip. It was much colder than we expected! We had to buy these T-shits to stay warm on our tour.

Saturday, we spent a lot of time shopping. I didn't expect Charleston to have such great shopping! We also watched the UT v. Florida game at a local pub. Dinner Saturday night was my favorite. We ate a place called Cru Cafe inside of an old historical home.

Meet Larry -- one of the city's tour guides.

I was sad to leave Sunday. The trip was definitely too short. But I plan to return one day!

Rocky Top

Over Labor Day weekend, I went to Knoxville, Tenn., to visit Leah.

I enjoyed seeing her roommates and new apartment. which she wanted me to help decorate. Her bedroom was mostly decorated but need a few more things on the wall to make it complete. So Saturday we went to a few places to find some stuff for her walls. At an antique store, we found a series of three photographs that we loved. We placed two over her desk and one in the bathroom.

At Home Goods, we found a wooden wall decoration that needed some work. We knew it needed spray painting, but we liked how it added some texture to the room. We painted it purple.

Saturday evening we had plans to watch the UT v. Montana game at Downtown Grill & Brewery. We didn't get tickets to the game, but were glad we decided not to once the rain started right before kickoff! Kickoff was delayed for a couple hours, so we spent our time at Downtown Grill eating pizza and drinking beer (or water for Leah) without football.

Sunday was spent running more errands, shopping and eating at another Knoxville favorite -- Chez Guevara!

I headed home on Monday after a great weekend with my sis! Glad I got to come for a visit.