An End to our #bumsummer
As the summer draws to an end, it's time to say good-bye to our #bumsummer. Back in the begining of June we vowed to make this our summer, and I'm happy to say that we did just that! Ashley left her job at Portrait Innovations on June 1st and just two weeks later, Elle wrapped up her first year of teaching. For the first time since we were both young teenagers, we were both jobless during the summer. We had big plans for the summer, we wanted to do a few projects around the apartment and we were determined to find a North Carolina town for us to relocate to in the near future.
Twice this summer we made the long drive from our home in Jacksonville, Florida to Spindale, North Carolina. Lady Belle was a champ for both of the rides. We're very lucky that she is such a great traveler!
While we were in North Carolina we explored Asheville, Morganton and Hickory- all potential towns for us to relocate to. Although we absolutely fell in love with Asheville, the cost-of-living is probably just a little out of our price range. We can get a lot more house (and more land for our pup) if we move closer to Hickory or Morgantan. We decided on a town... more on that another time.
While we explored the potential locations, we visited The Wicked Weed Brewery (Asheville), Green Man Brewery (Asheville), Olde Hickory Tap Room (Hickory) and Silver Fork Vineyard & Winery (Morganton)-- because we all know that wherever we end up, we'll have to have good wine and beer! The Silver Fork Vineyard &Winery (pictured left) was absolutely stunning, we look forward to visiting again during our return visits. It's a place that we look forward to taking our mothers to. The views are incredible and the wine isn't too shabby either!
We spent our 4th of July weekend on Lake James where Elle impressed everyone with her insane(ly bad) karaoke skills. We spent our days relaxing at the lake's beach, zooming around on jet skiis and showing off our Beer Pong skills. Both of our teams went to the Championship! Ashley's team finished in fourth place while Elle's team placed 2nd! Elle managed to embarass herself by "making it rain" with the prize money (a whopping $15 in Moose Bucks), and lifting her shirt to distract the opposing team.
We had so much fun that we decided that we would make visiting the lake for the 4th of July an annual tradition!
Sadly, we had to say our goodbyes and head back to Florida so Ashley could begin looking for a job and Elle could start working on school projects. Within a week of coming home, Ashley landed a job working in the office for a local landscaping company. On her first day of work, reality set in- our #bumsummer was coming to an end.
This summer was so incredibly good for us as a couple. Since we started dating two years ago, our schedules have been hectic. Elle worked a full-time job and a part-time job while going to school full-time at Flagler College. Ashley worked ridiculous hours at the portrait studio. With almost none of the same days off, our schedules couldn't have been more different. Our time this summer allowed us to not only (finally) spend time with one another, but granted us a chance to grow even closer together. We are extremely fortunate that we were able to have this time together. Who knows if we'll ever have this opportunity again?
