Savannah Anniversary Trip

Waving Girl statue-- she used to welcome all ships in and was known throughout the world!

We finally made it down to Savannah!  It was the perfect end of school trip. :-) After 1.5 years of didactic portion, including days when Seth had to counsel me that this is my dream and I truly love what I'm doing, I am DONE! And ready to move on to clinicals. I still have a poster to put together and a few other small things to do for follow up, basically, but I am done, and as far as I know I passed, so I am feeling very proud! Seth and I were able to celebrate our 3 year and 1 month anniversary there, which was fun.

Last day of school!

We had our pinning ceremony on Thursday after the exam. It was almost sad, but I'm so relieved to be done that I don't think it's really fully hit me yet. I will be sad, I'm sure, especially once my favorite Texan leaves, but right now, I'm just like, oh, wow, I have free time! I have a couple more Christmas presents to make/get, and have plans to READ and play video games (yes, this is a priority) and catch up on shows. We're 90% done with shopping, and even know what we're getting for the last bits! Anyways, back to the end of school, we then had our OT Holiday Cocktail party at Upstairs at Midtown! It was a very pretty place, and I rocked my favorite dress and shoes (which will also be making an appearance at Seth's holiday party next week). I may have been a little tall...

With Seth, Cherisa, Courtney, Becca, and Greg.

OT girls at Cracker Barrel! So glad I could finally go to one. :-)

Before we left for Savannah, I went out to breakfast with my classmates at Cracker Barrel! Seth and I got a later start, but it was fun. Rosie spent the weekend at Paws in Paradise, which is her favorite place pretty much ever. We took a nap (a much needed nap after festivities), then headed out. It was a lovely drive-- relaxing, and full of fun sights! The trees are so pretty down here-- I'm obsessed with Spanish Moss.  My ipod decided to be a little punk, so we had much more random music for the trip than expected, but it wasn't bad for an hour and a half. :-)

Seth in front of the John Wesley statue.

In Savannah, we checked into the hotel, then went downtown for dinner and exploring. The first night, we really just took it easy, but we did discover lots of John Wesley stuff! I made Seth take a picture next to it. We saw the Marshall House, which is apparently the first hotel in Savannah. We got to see some of the things down by the River, but then went off for food. We had Thai, and I tried Thai Tea with bubbles for the first time. The meal was only okay-- apparently the chefs threw a mini temper tantrum when I had to send my food back for being drenched in onions, as my second dish was about half the size of the first. Seth's dish was awesome, though, and we had a good time anyways!  It was actually just really nice to walk after then head back to the hotel-- we caught up on HGTV and Food Network shows. It's the little things in life. :-) We got to sleep in, too, which was amazing. I love Rosie, but it was fun to not have to wake up super early to escort her first thing in the morning.

"Silence is Golden" fountain.

The next day, we spent pretty much the whole day exploring. We visited several shops and parks, and even checked out the SCAD museum. Seth and I have very similar taste in art-- a.k.a., not modern like at all. There was one installation that was all orange yarn and crochet pieces-- it was kind of ugly, really. There was one piece I liked, pictured to the right, and one being installed that I loved, but most of them were just not that attractive or our style. We saw some cool art down by the River Walk, and Seth and I found an awesome nativity ornament that we really liked. It's such a dog friendly place there-- Seth and I have decided we're going to take Rosie down to Savannah to check out the parks and do more sightseeing.

At the Cotton Exchange before lunch.

Such delicious food!

For lunch, we had an AMAZING meal at the Olde Pink House! (I keep wanting to call it the Olde Pink Lady, combining this restaurant with the Painted Lady Tea Room in Norfolk.) I had Fried Green Tomatoes, and they were super duper helpful about my no-onion thing. Seth even enjoyed the FGT! I am super obsessed with them now. I also had an amazing beer with lunch, and enjoyed delicious cheese straws. Seth had the Lobster Roll (and remarked how funny it was that we traveled further south to enjoy more lobster), and I had a fabulous Mahi-Mahi sandwich. Seth's side was better-- he had asparagus, and I had sweet potato fries, which just weren't as good as Sesame's. We finished with delicious key lime pie, one of the best we've ever had. Thanks to a friend's recommendation, we had a later lunch, and were able to explore the house afterward! The ballroom was ah-maz-ing, and it was really fun to just explore and read the history. We ate outside, because the weather was seriously divine, then did a little more shopping.

Forsyth Park- beautiful!

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

We did more exploring after dark, and found a few fun parks and got to see pretty streets and holiday decor, including a holiday party. We did go by Lady and Sons, but definitely didn't feel obligated to eat there (we have awesome Southern food here in Charleston, realistically). There was a theatre there playing It's A Wonderful Life, but not until next weekend. All the holiday decor was gorgeous, though! We also saw an amazing church downtown (well, several, but this was our favorite). It's the Catholic church, and it was just stunning, even at night, with all these fabulous details and designs echoed throughout the building. It reminded me of the awesome churches in England that I fell in love with. We also got to enjoy antiquing, and it was a lot of fun, although I hate going into stores where I'm terrified of breaking everything because it's too close together.

Now, Seth and I are back with our little Roo, and it's been a good day overall. We took a nice long nap with Rosie, which was much needed, and did a little shopping. We're now watching Christmas with Holly, based on Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, which is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Lisa Kleypas. It's not like the book in many ways, but it's still a lot of fun. Time to start enjoying vacation! (Including all the awesome Disney movies now on Netflix!)