Stuff

Mom, Amanda and I spent Thursday through Saturday in Greenville, S.C., for our second annual girls-only trip. Last year we went to New York City and while at first glance these seem like entirely different places, the trips had a lot of similarities.

Such as Googling directions from our hotel to a zillion thrift stores, and finding them without (too much) trouble. Meandering through gorgeous parks. Walking across bridges with cool views. More thrift shopping. Eating hot dogs between meals. Brazenly disregarding "do not walk" signs (Mom). Finding a hotel with a great location at a great price. A little more shopping. And most importantly, lots of togetherness with my top two ladies.

In contrast to last year, I did not take one picture! I don't even know how that happened. Fortunately, Amanda did, and she posted some on her blog.

Saturday night just a couple of hours after we got home, Jacob and Carrie were driving home from dinner when they were intentionally plowed into from behind by a guy who had been drinking since 10 that morning (and who was fleeing the scene of another hit-and-run across town). Thank God, Jacob and Carrie were fine and Riley wasn't with them. The paramedics were there before Jacob even got off the phone with 911 because they happened to pass by on their way to another call.

The other driver was out-of-his-mind wasted and when Jacob went over to his car (which had flipped from the impact) to see if he was OK, the paramedics told him to get away because the guy was talking about shooting people. He turned out to have four guns in his car! The craziest part is that the next day, after a trip to the hospital and a night in jail, he claimed not to remember any of it and was extremely apologetic. Absolutely insane.

I am loving this warm weather so much! Yesterday while Matt and the boys played basketball I went on a long, lovely run through our neighborhood and several miles of greenway trails. It's supposed to be just as nice through most of this week, I think. I'm going to go to CrossFit today since I haven't been since last Monday, but tomorrow I'll definitely be back outside for another long run.

And during that run I'll probably be thinking of nothing but baby names because finally we find out tomorrow whether we're having a boy or a girl! It's going to be so nice to finally know! I'm tired of saying "he or she," "him or her," etc. The English language really needs to take a cue from most others with a gender-neutral pronoun. I do not like referring to our child as "it."

Totally off-topic, today through Feb. 22 the N.C. State Highway Patrol is running a campaign to crack down on speeders on interstates and major four-lane roads, so beware.