We've moved!

Being that I got married and there are a million things to change because of a new last name, I figured that the blog should be one of them! OUR new blog website is wackywalkers.wordpress.com. Please come and visit us :)

We're really getting married!

Looks like there's no turning back now!! This is the picture that was in the Lafayette, LA newspaper last Sunday! Anybody surprised??

21 days from tomorrow I get to marry my best friend!

Do I really live here??

I have been here in the Appalachian Mountains for about 3 months now and I have not ceased to be amazed that I actually live here. It is October 20th, and this morning there was ice on my windshield. Yes, ICE! It's not even November! In Texas/Louisiana the "ICE STORM" of the year does not hit until at least January or February! So, that's an adjustment for sure. But besides the freezing winter I am preparing for, there are other interesting and beautiful aspects of the Appalachians.

As mentioned earlier, I live about 2 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. In North Carolina we actually have Fall. I once heard Matt Chandler say that in Texas we don't have Fall, we just fell. Well, there is definitely a full Fall season here.







We spent all day Saturday at the Valle Crucis Country Fair. The fairgrounds were equipped with homemade apple cider (you have no idea what you are missing until you have apple cider straight from fresh apples), lots of crafts, blue grass music, and an old mountain man telling century-old tales. (You have no idea how amazing his tales were...)





So, there's a tiny taste of our Fall. Anytime you want to come and visit, we would love to welcome you to the Appalachian Mountains.

Lost in a Nicholas Sparks Book and The Cake Fairy Strikes Again

This weekend Joey surprised me and took me to Carolina Beach for my birthday. It was the greatest surprise! We sat on the beach and painted pottery and rode our bikes--it was absolutely perfect! The weather was gloomy, windy, and cold, but I seriously felt like I was somewhere in a Nicholas Sparks book and a great love story was about to ensue!

It was a great weekend to get away from the craziness of this new life in the High Country of North Carolina and nice to spend some undisturbed time with my amazing fiance! And it wasn't too bad to come home to the mountains at the end of the weekend.

We started off by trying to watch the sunrise--it was so cloudy that it was more like a cloud rise!

So, Joey decided to build a sand castle--complete with a moat!!

And take some artsy pictures of me enjoying the waves!

And then we started having a LOT of fun!!!

The houses on the beach were so colorful!

On Monday at school during 3rd period I got a note saying that they needed me in the office asap. So, after 3rd period I went into the office to find this surprise:

My mom has always been the "Cake Fairy". No matter where I am for my birthday, she finds a way to get a cake to me! Year after year, she would show up in College Station with a homemade birthday cake. This year was no exception. She did not let the distance between us get in the way of getting me a birthday cake. She called the receptionist at my school and got a recommendation for a local cake baker. She ordered a cake for me and had it delivered to school!

It seriously was a great birthday weekend that finished off with a great surprise!

Thanks Mom and Dad, for making sure that I get a wonderful cake on my birthday :)

Please Pray

Hurricane Gustav is on it's way straight toward Lafayette, LA--my home town. My entire family is in Lafayette, except for my brother, Kevin, who is in Baton Rouge. The eye of Gustav is currently expected to make landfall at Vermillion Bay, just south of Lafayette, and head directly for Lafayette. The eastern side of the system is always the strongest which means that Baton Rouge will get the worst of the storm. My family in New Iberia (right at Vermillion Bay) are under a mandatory evacuation, so once again my parents are welcoming the entire family into their house. Please pray for safety for my family as well as for everyone that will be affected by this powerful storm. My parents have been through countless hurricanes throughout their lives, but my dad told me today that he is really scared of this one--something he would not say loosely. I am trying to see the Lord's hand in all of this. It is a huge storm and the hugeness of God and smallness of man is so evident in weather systems. However, I know that He loves us and will always protect us. Gustav is expected to arrive late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, so your prayers are greatly appreciated.

much love,
cb

Another New Adventure

Aaah....tis the season once again. Not the Christmas season, but the season of change. But this time, it's a change that I have been waiting for. And hopefully a change that will not change for a while (at least 2 years).

I am a Boone, NC resident! Yes, that's right. No more Texas or Louisiana or California. I have ventured to the other side of our great country, and I couldn't be more excited.

But, with excitement also comes a bit of anxiety.

Upon my arrival I cried as per usual. I cried because it was all new. I cried because no one here really knows me. I cried because I just needed to cry. But this time something was different. I have Joey. He has been my rock over this past week. My move and this decision to be his wife has been confirmed over and over again when time after time he has chosen me over his friends. When he has made the decision (he says it's an easy one) to hang out with me when his friends are playing apple sauce in their backyard. (Basically, apple sauce is baseball with apples where you turn the apples into apple sauce!) So, even though this is hard at times, and it's another move without my chicks, it's okay...in fact it's very good!

Since we have been here, lots has happened. Probably the biggest news is that I found out that I am the JV Cheerleading coach at Hibriten High School where I am also teaching Science.

Yes, I said that right.

JV CHEERLEADING!!!!

I was just as surprised as you are.

So, there's that.

But, we have also been having a lot of fun! We went hiking the other day and the cycling yesterday. And, I'll tell you what, I thought I was a cyclist until I started cycling here. People who cycle here are real cyclists. The hills/mountains are killer! So, maybe I'll become a real cyclist after all. Here's some pictures of some of our first adventures in Boone. (Please, excuse the spandex.)






Sooo...who's ready to come visit??

much love,
cb

Bike-walking

Joey and I are moving to North Carolina on Thursday, and someone asked me the other day how our time in Lafayette has been.

"Awesome" I say.

As I think about my cliche answer some more, one thing stands out during our time in Lafayette--our bicycle woes.

The woes began even before we got to Lafayette.

I got a few stories for ya ags!

Bike-walking #1

So, about a month before Joey moved to Lafayette, he was mountain biking with some friends in North Carolina. He went off a jump, but quickly decided that he didn't go high enough. So, of course he had to try it again. The second attempt was not as pleasant as he had hoped as he flew over his handlebars and proceeded to be knocked unconscious. When he came to, he had to be taken to the emergency room (his friends walked his bike home) where they though that he had ruptured his spleen. (He ended up being okay, praise the Lord!) He soon realized that his mountain bike was totally busted and will require hundreds of dollars of parts and hours of labor.

Bike-walking #2

A couple of weeks after Joey and I got to Lafayette, we decided to go on a bike ride on the Northside of town (a little ghetto at times). We started our journey and soon saw that along our route were prisoners (in black and white stripes, no lie) working on the side of the road. I rode by quickly as they were whistling at me in my spandex! About 3.5 miles into our ride, we heard a pop. One of Joey's spokes on his back wheel had broken off his bike. Are you kidding me? Who does that happen to? So, we began the bike-walking. We decided to go down a side street to avoid the prisoners, but soon found out that we were walking down a very dangerous street in Lafayette. I was scared to death and when I asked Joey afterwards if he was scared he just replied, "I was ready." (Whatever that means...)

Bike-walking #3

A couple of weeks after incident #2, we headed over to Austin for Jessica to take our engagement pictures. Joey insisted on going mountain biking. But, since his bike is still busted, I let him use my Gary Fisher (affectionately named Number 9) that survived the 1-35 bike incident. He was about 3 miles out peddling up a hill when suddenly he heard a clunk. The rear derailleur had fallen off the bike. WHAT?? Yes, I said that right, the rear derailleur fell off the bike. There is a little piece of aluminum that holds the derailleur onto the bike and it cracked in half. Joe had walk his bike back to where we were lying on the beach of Lake Travis. He was upset to say the least, but REI came through again and Hector, my friend at the Dallas REI, called Karl, my new friend at the Austin REI and he special ordered the part for us.

Bike-walking...er...pulling #4

Just a couple of days ago, we went riding around River Ranch in Lafayette with my parents. It was just a leisure 7pm ride after dinner when suddenly Joey couldn't pedal anymore and realized that a link on his chain had broken. So, we took his chain off his bike and I pulled him behind my bike (he held onto my seat) for the rest of our ride. We did pretty well except for one time when we had to start again after crossing a major street and I fell down onto Joey's bike with my feet still clipped into my pedals. I have bruises to keep the memory alive!

So, there you have it...our bike-walking woes of Summer 2008. We did manage to go on a couple of good rides around Lafayette and the surrounding little cajun towns and only came out with minor injuries (sunburn, the beginnings of a heat stroke, you know the likes).

It has been a great summer, but we are excited to be back with 4 fully functioning bicycles and in North Carolina where it isn't so hott!

much love, cb