The Hoppy's are here!

I was so excited when my parents arrived in Black Mountain! They came straight to Pegg's house for dinner with Aaron, Pegg, and I.   They were pretty excited to be there, as you can see!  

Are those HAPPY HOPPY'S or what?!

Two days later, after running around town all day getting last minute wedding details dialed in, Aaron and I called my mom and dad to see what they were up to and my mom was just about to cook dinner at the cabin they had rented for the week!  We may or may not have invited ourselves over for dinner!  But, my mom swears she loved having us there!  It was a win win for everyone!  :)  

The boys played a little game of mini-pool after dinner...

.... and how adorable is this bag!?  

Don't worry, be Hoppy!

Pegg found them at Cracker Barrel and bought it.  She probably asked me 5 times before I took it over to my parents if I thought they were too corny!  haha.  I loved them, and so did my mom!

The night before the wedding, Aaron and I headed back over to my parents cabin, charmingly named "The Mountain Getaway" for a Hoppy (dad's side) / McCallister (mom's side) family reunion!  This was such a special night for me, because my dad's sister and her husband and all of my mom's side of the family were there!  Every summer, we would fly to Alabama for 2 months and stay at my Mimmy and Granddady's (mom's parents), but we never went back after they both passed away when I was in middle school.  I had never even met my cousin Shelby (2nd from the right) until this night, and she's 16!  Amazingly, it felt like no time had passed at all, and we all jumped right back into being family!  It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E and we all swore never to let that much time go between visits again! 

***Photo credit to my sister's camera timer.  (Thanks Amy!) 

I'm blessed with an incredibly supportive, funny, loving, encouraging, and super fun to be with family!

Thank you to Barb, Jeff, my sister, mom, dad, aunt Judie, Shelby, Jenn, Kirk and Will for coming all the way from Colordao, New York, California, Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia for my special day!

Love you guys!

Black Mountain charm

If I had to compare Aaron's hometown to a TV show, it would be Dawson's Creek, hands down! It's quaint, charming, slow paced, a lil country, everyone knows everyone, there are beautiful mountains, flowing rivers, and green everywhere you look, and community is key.  It's the kind of place you go to and never wanna leave! 

There's an art, music and flower fair behind the big church downtown on the weekends...

...where families and friends gather to buy and sell handmade goods and hang together!

A little girl had bought these gorgeous flowers from a lady who grows them in her garden!  aaahhh

There was even a cute little redhead running a booth while his mom was socializing, no doubt.

   

There are charming coffee shops with cute little girls in tutu's showing off their yoga posses while customers gawk over how precious they are!

... and a cute little cupcake shop that makes flavors like "Fred Velvet"! And don't think you can get away with asking for a "Red Velvet" cupcake!  No siree!  You'll have to embarrass yourself by saying the silly name before they serve you!  Ask Sarah!  It's true!

There are awesome mom's who get up early to make omelets and delicious home made muffins for their son and his soon to be wife!  ahem- Pegg! Mother in law extraordinaire! :)

There's local art sold all around...

... and a family owned pizza parlor that's been around since Aaron was a kid!  Doesn't help that their pizzas are AMAZING and only $7.00!  We may or may not have eaten here 3 times while we were in Black Mountain!  How I lost 8 pounds while I was home in the US is beside me.

There are old historic homes, turned Inns, like the Red Rocker, where Aaron and I stayed our first night as husband and wife!

There are even cute little baby black bears that hobble across dirt roads and climb up trees, only to hold on tight and peak their head around to see if you're still there!

It's the type of place I've always wanted to be a part of, and now that I'm married to Aaron, I'd like to think I am! :)  Speaking of family, have I mentioned that Aaron's mom, dad, BOTH grandmothers, 4 aunts, and 2 uncles all live within about a 3 mile radius of each other... and his sister, cousins, and other two aunts are only a couple hours drive! I love it!  

This day, we decided to spend the day with Carol, helping her get the yard and house ready for the wedding!  We painted our little hearts out!  One of my favorite memories of the day was painting the front steps of the house with Aaron's dad!  It was a fun bonding time!

A fresh coat of paint can make all the difference!

We spent an afternoon with Aaron's grandma, Mammy, aunt Sherry Beth and his dad at 

Mammy's pool!

 It was the perfect break from the summer heat!

What town do you know that has a rocking chair in front of their chamber of commerce?!

I'm telling you... It's awesome! :)

Night at the cabin!

Being in North Carolina 2 weeks ago was like being in the middle of a dream... everything was lush and green, the sky was blue, the people were friendly, family galore was gathered together for our big day, Taco Bell was in driving distance, I had a car to drive (thank you Aunt Vicki!) and I was a seriously happy camper!

*** The next couple blogs are going to be a little out of order, because some pictures are on my camera, some are on Aaron's, and not all are on this computer, so I'll start with our night up at the cabin with Keith (Aaron's dad) and Kaye (his darling wife)!

We always have so much fun spending time with Aaron's dad and Kaye at their weekend cabin on Lake James!  It's quiet, the air is clean, the cabin is charming, the food is always delicious, and the company is top notch!  This time, we picked up some gladiolas for Kaye while at the grocery store, because what girl doesn't like flowers around?!  Aaron was getting ready to do some fishing in the morning...

Man, I love this place!

This trip to the cabin was especially fun because it was summertime and we could get out on the lake in their kayaks!  Unfortunately, I realized I had forgotten my overnight bag, with my bathing suit, back at Aaron's mom's house, so I had to take a lil trip to the outlets for a new bikini, dress for dinner, and shoes of course.  And while I was at it, I picked up a few other fun things! :)

When I got back, we loaded the kayaks in the truck and headed down to the lake!  I wasn't about to take my fancy camera out there in a kayak... So, instead I stuffed my iphone into a plastic baggie and stuck it in my pocket!  I couldn't kayak on the lake without some pictures!

Aaron, his dad and I had the best time paddling around the lake for a couple hours...

...and my arms were happy to have the workout before the wedding! 

 

Look at these studs!

 When we got back from the lake, we cleaned up and spent some time out on the front porch together before their friends all came over for dinner to meet Aaron and I!

*** I feel the need to express that this was one of the only sundresses at the store... 

I wouldn't normally chose to look like a frilly sherbert ice cream cone!

Aaron's dad had been given this gave as a gift, and the boys were determined to master it!  Like father like son... always up for a good old fashioned competition! 

Keith and Kaye

Aaron's beer, brewed locally in Asheville, NC...

At around 6pm, Keith and Kaye's friends started coming in their golf carts, because that's how they roll in these parts of the woods (or lake in this case)!  They were one of the spunkiest, energetic, fun, sarcastic, friendly bunch I'd met in a long time!  They made Aaron and I feel right at home, like we'd been a part of the group for years!  We could see, right away, why Keith and Kaye thought we'd enjoy getting to spend time with them!

Keith and James, chucking corn on the porch!  There's a little bit of country for ya!

Aaron's dad was the G.R.I.L.L  M.A.S.T.E.R!

I mean, seriously!  You can't get burgers like this in Korea!

Dinner was delicious and everyone brought a dish to share!  Before we served up, Aaron's dad did the sweetest toast for A and I. :)

The girls!  Kaye has been friends with these girls for years, and years, and years, and years!  I love how small town people stick together!  They were telling stories from their college years!

It was a late night, and morning came before we knew it!  Keith, Kaye, Aaron, and I were up at dawn, enjoying breakfast together, before we headed back down to the lake for some kayak style fishing!  I overcame my disgust with hooking live worms by helping Aaron's dad cut them in half and pack them back into the box.... ugh

It was all worth it though!  The four of us had the time of our lives out there... We decided to have a little friendly boys vs girls fishing competition!  Boy was I glad Kaye was on my team!  That girl knows how to catch a fish! 

I apparently wasn't so bad myself though.  I caught 3! 

(Self portrait; iphone style)

Aaron caught 3 too! 

But between the 4 of us, we caught 22 and it was a tie... 11 for the boys, 11 for the girls! You do the math!  Or, I'll go ahead and do it for you!  Keith and Kaye each caught 8!  Apparently Aaron and I have a lot of work to do in the fishing department!

But, that's what next year's for! We can't wait to be living in the Carolina's, so we can hop right up to Black Mountain and Lake James!  Lord knows, we've got a lot of catching up to do after being away for 4 years! 

 Thanks again for a great weekend, Keith and Kaye! 

Catching up!

I'm alive... after a whirlwind of an experience in San Francisco, to an amazing trip in North Carolina, to a magical wedding, and an unforgettable honeymoon, we're back in Korea!  

I was hoping to jump right back into blogging as soon as we returned, but once again, our bad luck struck - HARD!  We found out, when we returned, that Aaron's Korean debit card was backed by Master Card, and the thieves had a hay day with it, spending $5,000 in the last 3 weeks!  In America, this would be an easy fix... Call Master Card, give them the police report, and days later, our money would be returned to his account!  It's NOT like that in Korea.  We'll be lucky if we see a penny of the $5,000 that was stolen, and for that, I am heartbroken!  I know it's just money, but it's OUR hard earned money that we've been saving for when we move back to the US. I'm just grateful that Aaron went to the bank on Friday to get a replacement card and not today! It was then that we found out the card was being used and were able to cancel it!  Just think, they could have spent another $5,000, I'm sure!  

I'll make sure to give an update if anything comes of this, but for now, accept my apology for being incognito (is that the word?) from blogging for 3 weeks!  There were some things that took priority - Can you believe it?!   

I'll be back, with lots of fun stories and adorable pictures in the next couple days!  

It's 9:00am, and my summer camp kids are just starting to file in!

Happy Monday! 

San Francisco Adventure!

When our flight got changed and heard that we would have a 10 hour layover in San Francisco, we were so excited and immediately rented a car online and started planning where to go when we got there! FYI: Most of today's photo's were taken with Aaron's camera and I don't have a camera cord to load the photo's to my computer, so you're stuck with my randoms. :)

When we got to San Fran, we grabbed our luggage from the baggage claim... not without getting stopped by the search dogs though.  Darn banana! Then, within minutes we were in our little bright blue Ford Fusion and on our way to Alamo Park to see the Tanner's house (a reference for all you Full House people out there.)!

Then we drove over to the windiest (sp?) street in America, Lombard St.  I have fond childhood memories of my dad driving down this street in our big family van!  

Then, we drove over to Fisherman's Wharf for a little walk around the wharf and some dinner at a little restaurant behind these crab stands....

.... called Sabella and La Torre.

It was a charming little place with an old style feel... It wasn't till after we sat down that we realized it had been open since 1927!

SALMON!!  Salmon is almost impossible to get in Korea, unless you buy it frozen at COSTCO or pay an arm and a leg for it at the fish market (but even there, it's only available a couple months out of the year), so I was super excited about it!

... and Aaron's fish tacos were enough to feed a small family!  We're not used to these giant servings and only finished about 1/3 f our meals before loading them into to-go boxes and heading back to our car.

Aaron was dying to see the Golden Gate Bridge, so we headed over there and spent about an hour there, along the water.  *** pics are on Aaron's camera. :(  By 7:30pm, we knew it was time to head back to the airport, so we bid farewell to our San Francisco adventure and drove back.

When we got to the rental car garage and started unpacking the car, Aaron realized his laptop bag was missing!  We knew right away that our trunk had been broken into and his bag had been stolen. I tried to calm him down, but for a guy who has thousands of images and programs stored on his computer, this wasn't just your average laptop!  Then, about a minute later that he remembered his Korean E-2 Visa, credit card and debit card was in there too!  NNNOOOOO!  It gets worse! Then, I realized my laptop, Korean VISA, $300, and my social security card were stolen too!  Double NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!! It'd be an understatement to say that we were in panic mode!  There was NO time to file a police report and we had about 45 minutes to cancel A's credit and debit cards, notify Soc Sec that my card had been stolen, return the car, and check in for our flight!  Where do we even start?!!

I immediately called my mom and put her to work!  She's the most resourceful person I know, and within an hour, she had e-mailed me all the info I needed to get things handled!

UPDATE as of Wednesday, July 18th

***  Aaron's credit card and debit card have been cancelled.

*** I need a SS card to get married, but without a birth certificate, you can't apply for a replacement, so my dad went and got a copy from the office and overnighted it to me.  It arrived LAST NIGHT!  Whew!  I'm hoping they can expedite it, because it usually takes 10 days to process a new one! :(

   

*** We both need copies of our E-2 VISA's to be able to leave the US and fly back to Korea.  After calling the Korean embassy, they told us the ONLY WAY they can re-issue a copy is if we show up IN PERSON to their embassy in ATLANTA!  There's no other way! Uuuuggghhhhh... So, now we're gonna have to make a day trip of it and drive down to Atlanta.     

*** I bought a replacement laptop yesterday. :) 

BTW: When we returned the car, the rental car agent said that Ford trunk locks are really easy to pick!   LOVELY.  Wish we would have known that before we moved all of our important stuff to the trunk, so no one would see it through the windows.  

   

We're trying to be positive about this whole thing and take it in stride!  We'd like for our wedding and family to be our focus, NOT THIS ORDEAL, but we've gotta get stuff handled!  So, one day at a time! :)