It happened! I got my dream job, right out of college! The weight has been lifted from my shoulders and it is such a relief to know that I have a job before graduating :) I accepted the role as a cast member for Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings team. This has been my goal for well over 2 years, and all my hard work in school and at my jobs have paid off. I am so lucky to be one of the few seniors who not only has a job lined up, but it was a much easier path than many people will have, and I don't discount that at all. I realize how fortunate I am and appreciate my journey even more. My first day will be January 8th, but my first day at the workplace will be January 13th, which is my brother Tyler's 12th birthday. The end of my college program back in 2012 was my Aunt Sally's birthday, May 18th. It sure makes it easy to remember the important dates! I can't wait to figure out where I'll be living, who I'll be living with, and meeting my new co-workers and supervisors. I'm so anxious to start this journey, but so glad I'll be spending the holidays with my family before I leave. I will be in Florida in 65 days! And I graduate in 39 days. So many countdowns.
I went to Savannah this past week-end with Bernadette, Samantha, and Caren. The weather was absolutely perfect and everything was so wonderful. Me, Bernadette, and Samantha spent the night at Bernadette's Wednesday night and finished up our costumes, and left Thursday morning to head to Kentucky to pick Caren up. We stopped in Ohio and got some Skyline Chili, a place none of us had ever been to before. Our waitress told the manager we had never been there before, and we got a goodie bag filled with Skyline's staple items including a bib, oyster crackers, which are their appetizers, York peppermint patties, apparently they're the biggest distributors or manufacturers of them, and some coupons.
We got to Caren's apartment in Kentucky and drove to Nashville, where we enjoyed dinner at City House. We split some amazing items, which included Frico:Montasio cheese and potato, Ciccoli with white beans, salsa verde and bread crumbs, and pizza with house made belly ham, mozzarella, grana padano, oregano, and chiles.
We left Friday morning for Savannah, and along the way stopped in Atlanta. We went to lunch at a place called TacoMac, and stopped at Starbucks, which was great because I grabbed a mug as a souvenir. We also went to the Monetary Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. We got a bag of shredded money and learned quite a bit of the history of money. We also learned that up to $12,000,000 is shredded daily.
When we got to Savannah, we checked into our hotel and got ready for the night. We dressed up in our minion costumes, and it was great that we decided to wear those outfits first because it was a bit chilly that night. We went on a hearse tour, which was awesome!
We then headed to a club, and everyone was loving our costumes! People would yell out, "MINIONS!!!"
We went to a few other bars, including the Jinx, which was entertaining because of a guy who realllly liked Bernadette, and at one point we all looked at each-other and yelled "Run!!!" and the four minions went running out of the bar, down the street and around the corner to the alley. We didn't blend in with our bright yellow and were easily seen by passers by. That night was fantastic.The next day, we woke up and explored Savannah. We went to The Pirate's House for lunch and had an amazing fried green tomato BLT and some she crab soup.
After some more sightseeing, we headed to our hotel to get dressed up in our ice cream costumes, and went back for our 5:30 pm reservation at Lady and Sons. While we were eating, we heard a very recognizable laugh, and we ran for it. Paula was actually at her restaurant! It was so awesome because every trip we go on, we see someone famous! I mean I knew there was a chance that she could be there, but still, it was so cool!
Her daughter-in-law took our picture, which I didn't know until I asked her if she wanted me to take a picture for her, haha.
After dinner and all that excitement, we met outside the restaurant for our own private tour for just the four of us! Our tour guide, Bonnie, took us to many places and told us some great haunted stories at many locations.
She dropped us off 2 hours later at the Pink House, which was a location for a murder that we heard about on both Bonnie's tour and the hearse tour. It's called the Pink House because the owner had one of the first brick houses, and it was red brick imported from England. He had it painted white, but no matter how many coats were put on, it would always turn out pink. We went downstairs in the tavern and split a bottle of moscato and enjoyed some great company, just relaxing and talking.
After the Pink House, we checked out Lulu's chocolate bar, which was packed! We got a ginger plum tart to share, and it was delicious.
After that, we went to the city market where the night life was exploding! There were so many people in fun costumes. We found a mariachi band, which was one of my favorites that night :)
After Lulu's, of course we had to stop in one last time to Jen's and Friends. The second night I decided on a Mounds martini, and I was not disappointed! It was amazing!
Our last stop was at the Bohemian Inn, which had a rooftop bar. We even met Forrest Gump! There was such a beautiful view of the water and a bridge, and there was even a really cool chandelier made out of oyster shells!
Our last day, we woke up and gathered our belongings, but before we headed back to Nashville, we decided to take a side trip to Tybee Island. We weren't sure where to go, so we parked on a side street and got out and a guy was getting out of his truck, so I asked him where the lighthouse was and where a good local place to eat lunch was. He gave us directions and we found ourselves at a wonderful patio on the beach. We ordered some yummy plantains with pico de gallo.
After eating, we took a stroll on the beach and just soaked up the view and relaxed. It was a perfect ending to our trip.
We drove back to Nashville and spent the night, then woke up early to drive to Kentucky so Caren wasn't late for class. We said our good-byes reluctantly and headed back to Michigan. I didn't get home until 8:30pm, and after a long day of driving, I was exhausted, but it was SO worth it. I had a wonderful, relaxing, exciting, and unique trip to a place I had never been with some GREAT friends. I couldn't be happier. Now bring on the rest of the semester. Career Expo is tomorrow and I figure even though I have a job lined up, it can't hurt to network!
