Kaitlyn over at Wifesessionals hosts a Cara Box Exchange every month. It is a way to get to know other bloggers through a gift exchange. I participated again this month and it was even more fun this time.  Every month has a theme and May’s theme was where you live. I had such a blast figuring out what to send to Ashley over at I’m Always Ashley.  Check out what I sent to her by clicking the link over there. <----After thinking about it for practically the whole month, I finally got my box out to her and I hope she loves it as much as I loved putting it together for her.

I had the great honor of getting to know Holli over at Holli’s Hoots and Hollers. Holli sent me the most awesome Cara Box package.

Holli sent me a really great box. It included an assortment of things from Texas, where she lives. The magnetic wipe board and magnet have bluebonnets on them which is the state flower of Texas. The Howdy air fresheners are because everyone in Texas really does say Howdy. You know how Texas is a big beef state? Holli sent some beef jerky and the cutest cow cookie cutter. The clothes pins are brown to represent the brown dryness of Texas in the summer and they have rhinestones on them to show the nightlife of Dallas and Houston. I love the Dentyne gum for the Tex-Mex spiciness and nail polish to show the Mary Kay empire side of Texas. Also included was a cute pink compact and Texas Longhorn iron on patches. Holli took into thought that whenever friends or family go on vacation they bring me back a key chain. She included a Texas key chain!

Thanks so much for everything Holli! I love it all and I enjoyed getting to know you this month.

Check out Wifesessionals and see what everyone else got this month!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mr. RCGG and I went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We love the beach and want to live there someday, but right now we just visit any chance we can get. This weekend was so much fun. W

e went to the beach a couple of times during the weekend. We usually don’t go to the beach that much when we stay in the Hilton Head area. We like to go into Savannah.

We drove down on Friday and came home on Monday. On Saturday we went to Fort McCallister. It was the end of Sherman’s march to the sea in the civil war. Mr. RCGG loves the civil war and I am starting to learn a lot more than I did before about it. The fort was doing a special Memorial Day event with cannon firings and civil war gun firings. I can’t think of what they are called now. We also took a guided tour of the fort with one of the volunteers. He was AMAZING! He had copies of pictures from a couple days after the battle that showed the fort after it was taken by Sherman’s troops. He watched the battle from a rice mill two miles away.

We also went to the beach on Hilton Head Saturday and met up with Mr. RCGG’s brother and his wife. We hung out with them for a little bit and then went out to eat with them as well. We went to a place that was actually in between our hotels so we both walked over. It is called O’Katie Ale House and the food is so good. I don’t like fish, but I have always wanted to try fish and chips and this place had the best fish I have ever had. Mr. RCGG had shrimp and chips.

Sunday we took a little bit of a longer trip down to St. Simon’s Island to check out the antique show. It was a lot of fun. I found a really cute necklace and my favorite find is two mugs. One is a souvenir from Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding and the other one is from Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. How cool is that? We also found some other stuff, but couldn’t haggle the prices down to what we wanted. We walked around the island for a little bit and then went down to Jekyll Island since we were so close. We checked out Driftwood Beach since we had never been there. OMG!!! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I have never seen such a gorgeous beach anywhere else. Obviously it s named for the driftwood all over the beach. I found a shell jackpot. We were there for about two hours, but it honestly did not feel that long.

We drove back to Hilton Head and decided to go eat at IHOP. Well, let me tell you something. If you ever go to Hilton Head, DO NOT EAT AT THE IHOP IN BLUFFTON. We got there at 10 pm and the server took our order. We hardly saw ANYONE for an hour. No one came to explain anything to us about what was going on or even took care of any other guests. We were left waiting for an hour and still got no food. We left and went to Wendy’s instead. It was ridiculous.

After we ate dinner at 11 pm, we relaxed in bed. Well then about 2 am we started hearing music and loud talking from the room next door. It stopped and we went to sleep. Around 5:30 am we were woken up by a LOUD crash in this room next door. We spent the next hour trying to get the front desk to do something about it. The KIDS would not listen until practically 7 in the morning. They were kicked out and we went back to sleep FINALLY.

On the way home we stopped in Beaufort SC. It is where the new American Idol is from and there were signs all over the town to vote for her. We also stopped at an old church ruins that is simply amazing. It  was just beautiful.

This old church had been burned down multiple times. After the last time it was just not rebuilt. It was so beautiful.

Linking up at:

I promise to have a recap of our Memorial Day weekend adventure up very shortly. We just got home a couple hours ago and I have to get some things done still.

I have been a little scarce this week. I could say that I have been busy, but you know what, that would be lying. I just haven’t felt like blogging. Do you ever get those days? Or in my case weeks? I am looking forward to getting back on track.

This week for Fitness Friday, I would like to share that I actually ran for the first time. It wasn’t much, but it still felt great. I can’t wait to figure out my pace soon so that I can register for my first 5K.

The race that I wanted to register for is this weekend, but I didn’t have enough time to train for it so I will have to wait until next year. It is the Turtle Crawl on Jekyll Island. It is a triathlon, 10K, or 5K race. It sounds like so much fun and I can’t wait until next year when I run it.This is also a charity run! $2 from every 5K entry and $5 from every triathlon entry goes to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center which is on Jekyll Island.

As for other workouts this week…
I have done a couple days of yoga, but that is about it. Does yard work count? I was helping my mother in law pull some weeds yesterday.

I try to eat healthy, but being a picky eater doesn’t help with that. I can never find anything healthy that appeals to me. I eat fruits and some vegetables. My favorites being peaches, strawberries, apples, and broccoli.

That’s my Fitness Friday. Hopefully next week will be a little bit better.

When I was growing up, I didn’t consider my mom to be my best friend. She was my mom. I was a kid that wanted to play with my friends from the neighborhood and my friends from school. She was my mom; not my friend. Then when I got older I started to realize that my mom was a friend, but just happened to be my mom at the same time. She wanted me to be who I wanted to be, but also what she wanted me to be.

When I moved I realized that she is my best friend and really always has been. She may have had certain rules while I was growing up that I didn’t like, but she made them because she wanted me to be safe.  Momma is my best friend and I wish her the very best Mother’s Day!

I am catching up in the blog every day in May challenge.

Day 7, Tuesday: The thing(s) you’re most afraid of

I have a fear of heights over fifty feet, I am scared of bridges of open water, possums, and snakes. Yeah, all little things that I really shouldn’t be afraid of, but I am. 

Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

My most favorite advice came from a woman I had known my entire life named Georgia. She was the sweetest lady in the world and never said anything bad about anyone. I was going through a little bit of a hard time around the age of sixteen. Georgia could tell that something was wrong so she took me aside one day after church and told me this:

No matter what hardships may come your way always remember that God loves you and so do many others. I want to see you smile. You are too beautiful to not have a smile on your face. 

I have always remembered that and from that day I have kept these words in my heart. Georgia passed away recently and I know that her beloved husband Thomas, was running to Heaven’s gate to meet her when she got there.