Ya Mon, No Problem

We are back from our wonderfully fantastic trip to Jamaica! We got back on Thursday morning at 2am, since our flight was delayed for 3 hours, and I haven't had enough energy to begin to put this post together. I'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves, and will spare you the day-by-day run through. The first picture was taken just outside the resort, where the beach is very private and untouched. I had read a review online that you can check out with the guards and are free to wander the beach. We had a fun morning out there all to ourselves.

This was the view that was right outside of our room. There was a pool to the left, so we often used our patio door to get back into the room, rather than going around to the front. All of the rooms are ocean facing, not necessarily ocean view. But we had the best of both having a ground floor room and a nice view.
On Monday we did the only excursion of the trip and went horseback riding. Joel and I had never rode before, so it was a fun experience. A little scary for me though, as halfway through the trip my horse, Big Red, decided that she needed to get to the front of the line and took off in a full on gallop for about 50 yards...that definitely got the adrenaline flowing! Luckily I didn't fall off!

This was one of our favorite meals, outside on the patio facing the ocean. Most of the food was very good and we definitely stretched out our stomachs--we can't seem to get full off of the meals we are eating at home now! Most nights after dinner we played pool or table tennis at the games center. I even beat Joel a few times :-)

These are some photos that the Sandals photographers took on Tuesday. That morning we went on the glass bottom boat ride, tried out snorkeling (I'm getting those developed and will post any good ones) and attempted to sail.

These pictures are from our last day...we had breakfast,

and had a last stroll along the beach before packing up. Then we had lunch and our last drink--see Joel with his sad face. We really loved Sandals and the Jamaican people!

Sandals, Jamaica!

Joel and I took Michael Scott's advice and got 2 tickets to Sandals, Jamaica (Sandals Whitehouse to be specific)....we have never been so ready for a vacation! We'll be back next Wednesday night and I'll maybe get some pictures up by next weekend!

Tour Championship

This past Sunday, Joel and I experienced a new first together--attending a PGA golf tournament--the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. I scored the tickets through work (of course).

We enjoyed some barbecue in my company's suite and then secured a spot alongside the middle of the 1st Fairway--it proved to be a good spot since most of the first drives landed close to where we were standing. We saw Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, and Mr. Tiger Woods-the winner of the Tour Championship and the first annual Fedex Cup (10 million...not too shabby).

Us in our complementary commerative photograph--I was glad they had this because they didn't allow cameras on the course!

Dave Matthews Band--Green Concert for Piedmont Park

Even though I've had a couple of busy weeks at work and I know that I have some long days ahead as I go through my first year of budget planning, I really can't complain because my position includes some really awesome perks. The best one so far has to be the VIP tickets that my manager gave me and Joel for the Dave Matthews Band concert in Piedmont Park. My company was a big sponsor and I helped with some of the administrative details for our sponsorship. It was really an awesome event and it raised over one million dollars for a 53-acre expansion of the park. The VIP experience was awesome....we had free food (including Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which I was very excited about) and drinks, nicer bathroom facilities with short lines and were able to actually sit down and enjoy the show from our area on the hill, as opposed to standing up for six hours with the other 50,000 fans. It was an awesome date for me and Joel and a night I won't soon forget.

I had the best date there :-)

Enjoying my Ben & Jerry's

That's a lot of people, and a lot of port-a-potties

and my newest fav picture :-)

Yahtzee Time

Joel was so jealous of the fun time Sharla, Josh and I had playing Yahtzee, that when I got back Sunday evening he went out and bought the game for us. This past week we've played 5 times and the running score is Amy:3 Joel:2. We played on Friday night and Sammy was being so loving that we snapped some pictures.

What a sweetie!

Gone to Carolina....

For our faithful readers, I know that these posts are way overdue...but I've had a couple of crazy weeks at work and just couldn't seem to muster enough energy to put together an interesting post...so here it goes--

On Labor Day weekend I went up to Gastonia to visit with my bestie, Sharla, my breakfast buddy Josh and Baby Teeny (who is doing some good growing). Sharla and I went to see the long awaited movie, The Nanny Diaries. We had both read the book back in college and loved it.



After that we had a less-than-exemplary dinner at Applebees with Josh that included a really long wait to be seated, some interesting people watching and a frustrating wait for our mediocre food. But being the easy going people that we are, we took it in stride. The evening was finished up my some dice throwing- Yahtzee style. I'm not sure if I had even played Yahtzee before, but it's my kind of game, since it includes a lot of luck. Everyone knows that I am not so good at the stratergery (which is why Sharla can whoop me at Skip Bo every time) but I do seem to have good luck when it comes to games of chance. I even beat the standing Collins' House High Score.




On Sunday we had a yummy Bojangles breakfast and I drove to Charlotte to have lunch with my middle/high school friend Katherine, her husband Seth and her sweet baby, Charles. I hadn't met Charles until then and he is a real cutie and a flirt :-) He let me hold him for a little bit and Katherine and I had a good chance to catch up. As always, it was a great trip to NC!