My Rum Luck: We're bad at updating

So, once again, it's been a while since we've updated this thing. Well, we've had a few trips this fall. I've had a bachelor party in WV, two weddings in Richmond, and a work trip to Key West. I felt bad I had all this fun stuff planned, so I "allowed" Kristen to be my date to the weddings so she could have some fun too. I'm a nice guy, what can I say.

Back in September, some friends & I went to Oak Hill, WV to go camping and white water rafting on the Upper Gauley River for my good buddy's (Josh) bachelor weekend . IT WAS AWESOME. The rapids are actually considered some of the best in the world. It was a 14mi trip down the Gauley River down rapids that were caused by the releasing of 50* dam water. We took on five class 5's, a few 4's, and several 1, 2, & 3's. The whole weekend was a blast and I hope I get to go back some day.

The following weekend, my cousin Peyton was getting married in Richmond, so I took the week off in between to hang out at home and visit with family/friends. I didn't do much all week, just kind of relaxed. I did get a nice trip to the river where Anthony & I commandeered Ben's sailboat and went for a nice little cruise. Afterwards, we met up with Granddad & Gigi for dinner at Trick Dog because it was JoJo's night to tend bar. I got to sleep in my favorite bed at Crosstides and woke up to the sight of Carter's Creek and a few boats idling by. Before breakfast, I took myself on a 45min paddle board ride across the creek. It was perfect. Calm water. Sun shining. Just me paddling around practically having the water to myself (minus the blue crab swimming circles and a few bait fish jumping from predators).

On Thursday night, Kristen finally arrived and I had someone to annoy once again. This was going to be a BIG weekend for us. Our parents, Jim & Sally and Paul & Townley, were finally going to meet for the first time ever! It only took almost 2 years of dating for this significant event to occur. We think they got along pretty well. Before the inaugural dinner on Friday, we got to tour our wedding venue for the first time. It has a plenty of room, a big bar, and a bocce ball court. I think it's going to work out just fine for us. Dinner took place in heart of the Fan at Strawberry Street Cafe. Good food, good atmosphere, and good company. Can't beat that. On Saturday, we had Peyton & Ryan's wedding. I don't think they could've asked for a better wedding. Perfect weather, perfect ceremony. Congrats again you two! And Sunday, we had a big family breakfast at my parents house before packing up to head home. Great weekend!

Awesome candy bar

A few weeks later, I got to go on a FREE trip to Key West with work. I had won a sales contest and scored a 3day/2night trip that was paid for by one of our suppliers. It was short but a lot of fun. Flew down Friday, had a nice dinner then hit some bars. On Saturday, toured all over Duval Street then another nice dinner followed by some more bars. Sunday flew home. Didn't pay for a thing all weekend (minus Kristen's Capt. Tony's souvenirs). Not a bad work perk.

The weekend after that was our second wedding weekend in Richmond. One of my best friends, Josh, was getting hitched to a beautiful, smart girl (Sam) who is waaaay out of his league. He's clearly the lucky one in that relationship (just kidding buddy). On Friday morning, all of us guys had a fun round of golf (Kristen slept in all morning). Since I was an usher at the wedding, that meant I got to participate at the rehearsal, which meant we got a free meal at the rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's (thanks Abe). Then came the wedding day. Again, it was another perfect wedding day. Weather held up, ceremony was beautiful, and the booze was tasty. What more do you need? On Sunday, we went back up to our wedding venue with my mom and Aunt Ginny (who has graciously decided to be our wedding coordinator) and started getting some ideas/plans together. I think we made some good progress and might have even picked out our ceremony location. But, we'll shall see.