Charleston and Final Preparations

So as part of my last few weeks, my parents planned a trip for us to Charleston. The weekend was combined with a performance by one of my favorite comedians - Jeff Dunham! So Friday night, we headed to Jacksonville to watch him perform. It was one of the funniest shows I had every been to. I used to go to comedy clubs in NYC often, but this was so much better. He performed for 3 hours, minus a 15 minute intermission. Since he is a ventriloquist, he talks the WHOLE time! It was so impressive, and hilarious - I hadn't laughed that much in ages!

The next morning we woke up bright and early and drove up to Charleston. When we got there, our room wasn't yet ready, so we headed to get some lunch and visit Boone Hall - a plantation where they filmed a family favorite miniseries, "North and South." We went on a tour of the house and saw the slave quarters and heard about the history. It was very interesting and it was a nice day to be outside. That night we went to a delicious restaurant, McCrady's, and had an amazing 4 course dinner!

The next day we woke up and got brunch at Husk, which was named the best new restaurant of 2011 by Bon Appetit. We went with a friend of my mom's from when she was growing up. Afterwards we went on a driving tour of the city. Unfortunately it was a cold day so we couldn't do much walking outside, but we visited a beautiful old house and the market before another delicious dinner. The next morning bright and early we headed back to Gainesville. Even though it was a short trip it was a lot of fun.

Since then, I've been running errands and getting ready for this crazy weekend. My sister flew in on Thursday, and it's been a crazy few days so far. Yesterday we had a family photoshoot with an amazing photographer which was a lot of fun. Then last night we went to a dive bar to watch a band that a friend is in. Today there were lots of errands to run, and had a great dinner for me to carb load. Tomorrow is the craziest of days - I have to wake up early to run my half marathon at 7 AM, and then in the afternoon we are having my going away party with family friends. Let's hope I am actually awake to be able to enjoy everyone being here!