Fun-filled trip!


Hey everyone!  I hope all of you had a great weekend!  We just got back from Jacksonville a few hours ago and we had a blast!  We went down for  Christian's friend's (Steve) wedding.  Christian was a groomsman.  We got down to Jax last Wednesday night and left this morning.  So, we had plenty of time to have fun.

Let me start from the very beginning though....  So, here we are last Wednesday at about 2:30 p.m. getting ready to leave the house to head towards the airport.  We decided to take the train to the airport since it's right by our house and parking there for the five days only cost us $3 plus considering the fact that the last time I parked at the Philly airport, I left the garage with a $280 parking bill.... $20/day, yikes.  We then decided to not use the station near our house because we would have had to transfer trains down in Philly and we wanted one that would take us all the way to the airport.  So, we ended up going to a station neither of us had been to before.  So I looked at a map on Google to find where it was.  I made my own directions according to the map (old-school, Atlas style... no Mapquest for me) and thought I knew how to get there.  Well, apparently I didn't know the exact distances on the roads and where the station was exactly.  So, Christian and I start the trip off by yelling at each other in the car.  He's pissed at me because I didn't do the directions correctly and I'm pissed at him for being pissed at me.  haha I'm laughing right now because it's so ridiculous.  So, he finally stops and asks someone how to get there and we were only about four blocks away (not so bad, right?!).  We finally get to the train station and find a parking spot.  Now, before we left, I checked online about parking overnight in a SEPTA parking lot.  It just said to write a check out for $1/day (Sat & Sun are free) and then slip it into the envelope slot on the back of the payment machine at the lot.  So, I had my check ready and all the pertinent information on the envelope.  We park and I walk over to the payment thing and realize there is no slot for envelopes.  Nor does this lot say anything about SEPTA on it.  So, I improvised and took the check out of the envelope and folded it really tiny and slipped it into slot number 79 (the spot we parked in).  Then, the whole trip we hoped and prayed that my car would be there when we got back.  And, thank God, it was!  So, after all of the fiasco, Christian and I start laughing because everything was so stupid.  This is how we fight.  We yell at each other and tell one another when we're being a jerk/bitch and then we get over it and laugh.  It's nice.  haha

So, we're finally at the airport and board our flight and get to Jax 30 minutes early which made me very happy.   The less time I have to spend on an airplane, the better.  I hate flying.  Wednesday night Christian and I just went to Hooters for dinner (classy, I know).  And as a little side note, did you know that Hooters will pay for a boob job if an employee wants one?  I'm still a little skeptical about this but about three people told me that this weekend.  Craziness.  Anyway, Thursday we woke up early and did our workout and went swimming at the rooftop pool that our hotel had.  It was nice!  No one was in the pool that early so it was relaxing.  Then we just went to breakfast at a greasy spoon place (that is so good) in the Avondale area of Jacksonville.  Riverside/Avondale is where we will move if we get stationed in Jacksonville.  It reminds me a lot of East Hill in Pensacola but a bit larger.  Then a couple hours later we went to lunch with some guys that Christian knows who are stationed down there and spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool.  That night was Steve's bachelor party so Christian went out with the guys and I went out with Lance's wife, April, and her girlfriends.  We had a blast!  We went to the wine/beer bar and had so much fun.

Friday was another pretty slow day.  We spent time by the pool again, shopped for wedding gifts, and then had the rehearsal dinner that night.  Jerrod, one of the other guys in the wedding (also a friend of Christian's) is a season ticket holder for the Jacksonville Jaguars so he asked us if we wanted to go the scrimmage game that night so we ended up going and then met a couple of the players after the game.  Jerrod is best friends with the quarterback so we hung out with his wife and family during the game and met him afterwards.  It was pretty neat and really made me ready for football season!!!

Saturday was wedding day.  Christian and I had breakfast at one of our favorite places, Biscotti's, and then went back to the hotel to lay by the pool some more....  we did a lot of that, if you can't tell.  Christian had to be at the groom's house that afternoon so I took him and a couple other guys over there and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.  Another side note.... I passed a Krispy Kreme on my way back to the hotel and it took everything in me to not stop and get three original glazed doughnuts.  I stayed strong though!  haha  I miss Krispy Kreme soooo much!  This Dunkin Doughnuts crap will NEVER compare.  Finally got to the wedding later that afternoon and it was in one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen!  It reminded me of a church we saw in Germany last year and of the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.  Absolutely gorgeous.  The wedding was great and then we went on to the reception which was in the Hyatt on the river (where we stayed).

The bride's family is either Arabic or Israeli (I was told both so I'm not sure which one is accurate) so there were a lot of traditional rituals which were very neat.  And, may I just say, the music they played was awesome.  It was like Arabic hip hop.  haha  Reminded me a little of the music in Slumdog Millionaire.  The reception was a blast.  Christian would not come off the dance floor the entire time so that was hilarious plus the fact that he actually drank that night since we stayed at the hotel and didn't have to drive anywhere.  For those of you who don't know, Christian doesn't really drink too much.  I had a little to drink but I am absolutely terrified of hangovers now since they've gotten so bad in the past year or so.  But anyway, we had so much fun last night.

We ended up going out to a club after the reception for about an hour.  Being at a club when you're not drinking and you're not single is a very interesting thing.  You actually see what everyone is doing and how they're actually dancing.  It was hilarious.  Hilarious to watch but also hilarious to think that I was there not too long ago!  haha  I felt old.  Oh well...

So, now we're back and I just wanted to update you guys on our little adventure this weekend.  I leave again Wednesday morning to head back down to Florida but this time I'm coming HOME!!!!!  I can't wait!!!  I'm so excited to see my family and friends!  However, I got a little taste of humidity this weekend while in Jacksonville and I am NOT looking forward to that part of the trip!

Anyway, I hope all of you have a great Monday tomorrow and I'll be seeing many of you this week!!!!!

xoxo,

Chrissi  :)