Autumn

Last Tuesday I headed out early on my way to visit my sister in Saratoga Springs, NY.



It's a gorgeous trip up there anyway, but when the leaves are changing, it is just exquisite!



I about died while driving through the Pennsylvania mountains. I'm pretty sure they were peaking last week. WOW!

The next morning Ali and I left at about 8am on our way to to Vermont. Our directions were to Burlington and this ride was just as gorgeous as my one the day before.



At one point in the directions Ali said, "OK...turn right" but as I looked to my right, all I saw was a huge lake!



"WHAT?!" The directions, which we hadn't really looked too closely at, said, "Turn right. Get on ferry." I thought I was going to throw up. The lake is HUGE and I had never driven onto a ferry so I was just a little scared. But we did it and it was fun!




I was scared because we were the last car on to the ferry and were quite close to the edge!



Burlington is awesome. I was there about 15 years ago, but my memories are hazy. I could absolutely live here.




People here were also super nice. Two people stopped to offer us change when we were feeding the parking meter.

We also went to the Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, VT, which was AWESOME and we got to try about eight beers. I was in heaven.



Then we drove the 35 minutes or so to Montpelier to visit our Aunt Bonnie. I remembered Montpelier much better as I was there for a about a week when I was 15. We had a grand afternoon hanging out with my aunt drinking beer/wine and playing with her huge dogs.




It was chilly there so we actually sat in the sun for most of the day. How refreshing to sit in the sun and not be miserable. Cold weather, FTW!!!



On Thursday, Nathaniel's (my brother-in-law), family came into town to visit as well so much of the next few days was us all drinking beer and going out to eat.






Nathaniel in Saratoga Springs, NY.

I left earrrly Monday morning and while my drive home went well, I was sad to leave. I miss living near my sister. And it's also nice to not work for a week. But mostly, I miss living near Ali. A lot.




XO,
SVR

+ Titled from Smashing Pumpkins

Yesterday To Tomorrow

I got to hang out with Ali earlier. In a few days she will be 8 hours away again, though, and that makes me sad. We had a good time eating fried food and drinking beer while discussing Vampire Diaries and Lindsay Lohan's inevitable arrest.

It's not like we used to hang out all the time when she was in the area, but she's the easiest one to hang out with and to talk to and she always makes me laugh.

If I knew how to clone people, Ali, Robert Pattinson and I would hang out all the time.

XO,
SVR

My Little Corner Of The World

A few years ago, Ali and I took a whirlwind, three day trip to New England. This is the video from that:



XO,
SVR

I Didn't Understand

As I was driving home today, I passed by a cemetery* when something caught my eye. It was about 8:30pm and I saw a family sitting at a grave marker. I passed by too quickly to take in many details, but I instantly realized that they were there because it was Father's Day.

It made me really sad to think about. It was a different sadness, though. I can't empathize (thank goodness) and really, I feel like trying to sympathize is unfair, too. "I'm sorry" and "I know" just don't work sometimes. I hope a well-timed hug means more than empty words.

I think I know too many people who have lost their dads too early. Too many being any number over zero.

That's all...I don't really want to think about this. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to.

XO and Happy Fathers Day,

SVR





*My great uncle is actually buried there. Aw.

My Tennessee Mountain Home

Ali and I went to Dollywood this past week. Like I reported before, Ali is maybe Dolly Parton's biggest (but not most maniacal) fan. Making our pilgrimage to Pigeon Forge, TN was something we had talked about for quite awhile and it seemed like the date we picked came up so quickly. Don't get me wrong, though, we were ready!

We listened to Dolly for much of the 7 hour drive down there, which turned out to be more brutal than we imagined. I think we were both pretty tired and, while the scenery is pretty, I-81 is not. We were very excited to see "Speed Limit 70" once we reached Tennessee. We got to Pigeon Forge in the early afternoon and took note of about 49320432 places we wanted to go to. After getting lunch we went to check into our hotel...

We booked our hotel the night before online and in the comment section I wrote, "WE LOVE DOLLY!" never thinking anyone would see it, but did you know they read that when you check in!? We do now. She read it out loud and kind of giggled. No shame, though, since we do love Dolly.

However, the maintenance man, who was hanging out nearby, took notice and, I guess, took it as an opportunity to talk to us. He was very nice...but very southern. We're still not sure what his impression of us was, but whatever it was, it didn't stop him from using many racial slurs and warning us of certain areas of town. He even offered to hook us up with some construction men in town. (We declined). It's hard for me to properly describe him because he really was a nice man and you could tell he had spent his whole life there and probably even went to school with Dolly herself! It was just a little bit of culture shock coming from PCville of Northern VA.

Once we escaped the front desk area, we settled in and then headed out to Dollywood, which is an amazing park! Not only is it precious and a great tribute to the area and Dolly, but it has some kick-ass rides! That night we mostly just explored and took pictures*, saving our ride-riding for the next day. We also had plans to go to the Brewery that night, which was walking distance from our hotel...and super cheap! It was fun!

Thursday was spent at Dollywood all day. We had so much fun! One thing we noticed about Tennessee is that the majority of the people there walk and talk much slower than we do. We noticed this often, but mostly when driving (left turn yields were brutal) and when we got off the tram from the parking lot to buy our admission tickets. See, we were towards the back of the tram when it stopped so we jumped off in excitement to make our way to the park. We realized, though, as we got closer that no one was in front of us...THEY WERE JUST GETTING OFF OF THE TRAM AND SLOWLY MAKING THEIR WAY TO THE ADMISSION GATES! It was so funny. It happened all day, too. We would get off of a ride, decided to ride it again and make it back to the line before most people had even unhooked their seat harnesses.

We had such a good time and I think we will definitely be going back! The park is fun, the Smoky Mountains are GORGEOUS and the trashiness was just the right amount.

XO,
SVR

*I haven't put them all up yet, by the way!


+Title from Dolly Parton

Racing Like A Pro

Busy busy busy! I feel like I haven't been home much at all lately and when I am home, I go to sleep. The holidays have been great so far and Santa was very kind to me. Yes, be jealous of the earrings I got from Tiffany. I was also excited for the gifts I gave to friends and family and I hope they all enjoyed them.

Ali's birthday was a lot of fun, too. We took her to The Big Hunt and Lucky Bar in Dupont on the 21st so if you saw a gorgeous young thing with curly hair being dragged around by an equally (but different) gorgeous girl with long straight dark hair who was yelling, 'IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!" then you saw us and we would like to thank you for being there to celebrate her big Two One.

A lot of people do big 2007 wrap up blogs, but at this point, I can't really remember what all went on this year. I mean, of course I remember, but not well enough to write a succinct post. Maybe later I will try. You know, in 2008.

XO,
SVR

+Title from The National

Have It All

So much to cover!

1) So You Think You Can Dance? ends tonight. This makes me sad. How is this show now on all year long? After last night, I think I want Lacey to win. She's kind of edgy and slutty and I give her props for dancing to Daft Punk last night in her solo. Her only negative is that she's Benji's sister and I don't want to see him being all goofy tonight if she were to in. I also like Neil and can see him winning if every teeny bopper with a crush on him voted. Danny would be a good winner bc he is so technically good. Sabra deserves to win, also, but I don't want her to.

2) The beach was awesome. Leaving at 4am and getting there at 720am was hilarious, but also left us with oodles of time to just lay (sleep) on the beach which is just what we wanted. Jaguar Paw had a good time, too. I'll post pictures this afternoon.

3) Muse. I still haven't written about the Muse show I went to months ago-hahahaha. Seriously...one day. I promise.

4) Ali and Bearthaniel left for Florida last night. I'm going to miss that boo this week.

5) Still can't stop talking about Apocolypto.

6) The Hills Season 3 rules! The showdown between Heidi and Lauren was awesome. "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!" Dang, girl! Ew, and Audrina's beau is nast.

XO,
SVR

Bugg Superstar

I have the best sister ever.