labor day weekend: HHI and an annoucement

we got back last week from a wonderful long labor day weekend in hilton head. i have great memories of going to HHI during spring break in high school with my sweet friend jessie's family. it is one of my favorite beaches. we started our weekend on thursday in atlanta, which was christopher's birthday. the ncaa was kind enough to schedule georgia tech's opening game of the season that day- a birthday present to my husband, maybe? because it was a thursday night game, we didn't get to tailgate. but we did eat at five guys with some friends and enjoyed birthday/game day cupcakes. we spent the night in atlanta and drove to HHI on friday. we had lots of relaxing time on the beach to read and be lazy. check out chris' beard! i even got a little tan (only noticeable when you see where my straps were, but for me that counts!). we really enjoyed people-watching as we walked up and down the beach. one of christopher's favorite things about the coast is the fresh seafood. the best place we went was a little hole-in-the-wall appropriately named the sea shack. in true golden family tradition, i am posting a picture of the food:our delicious seafood sampler plate (a.k.a. the shack attack) included crabcake, fish, shrimp, scallops, and oysters. we also went to another seafood place that is not even worth mentioning the name (so chris tells me, i had a steak and it was good). but, they did have a cool boat on the marina named the yellow jacket that we posed with. one morning i woke up early (very unlike me!) to watch the sun rise. it was actually too cloudy to see, but still very peaceful and relaxing. i was reading psalm 139 and was touched and overwhelmed at verses 17-18 about God's thoughts of me (and you) outnumbering the grains of sand!

this is probably our last vacation for a while because...we are having a baby! baby G is due march 12, 2012. here is a picture from earlier this week (13 weeks). not much of a baby bump yet (last i checked i had only gained 2 lbs.), but it will be a good baseline shot: we are very grateful for a safe & healthy pregnancy so far!

gt game & anniversary trip

last weekend was our much-awaited vacation. chris took thursday & friday off, so we were able to leave thursday morning for atlanta. i'd been wanting to visit the coke museum for a while, so we took the tour in the afternoon. my favorite part was by far tasting coke drinks from around the world.

then we met our friends angela & joseph (both tech alum) and rode marta down to midtown together. after dinner at the varsity, we enjoyed the first game of the season. i have to get used to our new seats...but i definitely like being able to sit down during the game (impossible in the student section).due to some unexptected circumstances, our plans to go to the beach had to be changed. we decided instead to go to asheville, nc and see the biltmore house. it was beautiful, and i especially enjoyed the tour. it reminds me of an american versailles, and i left with the same thought: people actually lived here?! we liked it so much we got annual passes - they pay for themselves in two visits, and we thought we might go again for christmas or with our parents sometime.
we also explored downtown asheville. it's both quaint & strange. i was freaked out when we saw a street performer painted like a statue. she stood on the same corner for several hours, not moving a muscle except when someone dropped change in her bucket -- then she'd play a drum beat. pretty bizarre...and cool.we ate at a restaurant that was formerly an s & w cafeteria. what attracted me was the awesome art deco facade. the steak was pretty good, too. all in all, it was a fantastic weekend. we came back sunday night and celebrated chris' 25th birthday monday with four cheese lasagna and a strawberry pie.