Sorry I'm late getting this out. I've been waiting for Kevin to upload his flickr pictures so I could use his fabulous pictures, but since he is taking forever making each one perfect, I'll go ahead and write this and maybe integrade is pictures later.
Thursday morning I got up really early and packed my car all up to head over to Kevin's house. I woke him up and made him breakfast. Yes, I cooked! Sort of...his bacon and sausage were microwavable, but I made him scrabbled eggs all by myself! We finally left, and actually didn't leave to late. We stopped a couple places and then we were finally off on the road!
When we got to Charlotte we went to South Park Mall. This really upity mall that has almost every expensive store you can think of, and Belk! Haha. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Kevin loved his meal, but mine was kinda of the gross side, so I didn't eat much of mine. But thanks to Dawn, we had a Cheesecake Factory Gift Card! YAY! We didn't end up getting any cheesecake, but that's alright! If you ever go to one, I recommend the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, it is SOOO good. AND Gluten Free, which means my mom can eat it. I'm planning on getting one of those cheesecakes for her for my wedding (if and when that will ever happen, haha) so she can have some "cake" too. After lunch we had passed some stores Kevin wanted to peak into, and we, of course, had to go to the Apple store. We played with the iphone!
Here is me playing with the iphone (taken by Kevin Cupp):

That was fun, and I updated this from one! (As you can see in the blog post before this one) We finally managed to pull ourselves away from the iphone and head off in the direction of Charleston.
By the time we got there we were pretty tired. We got all checked in, and the manager, Debbie, she was SO nice. She took us up to our room (on the fourth floor, naturally). This is what we saw:

It was so pretty and actually pretty big for a bedroom. We got situated in our room and decided to forego going to Boone Hall right then for walking around Charleston. We decided to go down King Street and back up Meeting Street. On our way out, I snapped a few pictures of King George IV Inn.
This is the front:

The back:

The side porch:

And the cat!:

That's Victoria. She's famous, they put her on the map next to where the Inn is. Pretty awesome :).
So, we continued our trek down King Street. There are a ton of shoe stores. I've never seen so many shoe stores along one street. I thought is was a little weird. We passed amazing houses. I would LOVE to live there. It was really hot, but I'd get use to it I'm sure. Here are a few that caught my eye:
A fantastic blue colored house. I just LOVE that color! Remind you of a certain blog color?:

I love the porch and the windows on this house. Very pretty:

And this one has a fabulous entrance:

We finally got to the end of the road at the White Point Gardens Park. SO pretty. When I saw it for the first time I knew that was where I wanted to get married, but...Charleston is just too far for the old people in my family to travel! My grandparents in New Jersey have to travel 7-9 hours to begin with, and there is no way my grandma is getting on a plane, haha.
Anyway, we walked along under the trees and looked at the beautiful houses along that road through the trees, later we walked right in front of them. We went up into the gazebo that is in the middle of the park.
This is Kevin taking pictures in the Gazebo:

And this is the huge gazebo:

It is dedicated to some people, but I forget who. After taking some pictures we walked over to the water. You could see Fort Sumter way out in the distance like a pancake with a flag pole sticking out of it. There were a bunch of pigeons.
I tried to get close to one to get a good picture:

This was the view we saw:

We walked back toward Meeting Street and stopped a lot to look at each house. They're huge next to the park.
I'd love to live in this one, I love the color and the porch...just everything!:

This one, we were told, has a woman in her 60s living in it. She lives in two rooms of the mansion and the rest of the house is roped off because it's falling apart so much. It is very battered looking because it wasn't fixed back up after a strong hurricane passed through a few years ago. We were told that there is an indoor pool with a glass ceiling and a huge ballroom. The lady had inheritated the house from her mother two years ago. It has so much potential, it'd be a really good investment to fix that house up!:

I love the symmetry with this one!:

Kevin and I walked back up toward the shopping district and looked at more and more beautiful houses. I just love how every single house is so pretty and so unique! They even had lamps that had actual flame!

We saw some pretty neat things along the way.
A tree that did not agree with a sidewalk being there:

A very crowded graveyard:

A pretty turtle:

A cobblestone street (very hard to walk on):

And I thought this church was pretty neat looking:

By this time we were pretty hungry. We found Bubba Gump Shrimp Company to eat at! (Luckily it was in the direction we were going)

If you've never been, they have signs that you can let the waiter know if you need them or not:

The other one says "Stop Forrest Stop!" That was fun. :) I got a VERY VERY good strawberry smoothie in a light up glass. That was pretty awesome. I just love Bubba Gump now, I hate seafood, but they have more than seafood, so that works for me, haha. After dinner we headed on back to the B&B because we were pretty exhausted.
End of day one!
Next morning -- MY BIRTHDAY! We went downstairs and got some breakfast. I got a waffle and some fruit. It was good. After breakfast we hurried to catch our carriage ride. We finally found it and waited until it was time to load. It was really hot and humid already, at 9:00 in the morning! We were ready to go back indoors! Haha. We finally got on the carriage and away we were on the tour. Here are some highlights:
It's a little dark, but I didn't want to flash in his face, this was our carriage tour guide:

This building was the last building built with the King's money before the Revolution. It was a stock exchange:

George Washington stayed here once:

I think it is so cool that I can see a building that George Washington saw hundreds of years ago!
This is a figure on an old hat store. He is made up of lots of different kinds of hats you can find in a hat store:

These are baskets and decorations made out of sweet grass at the Market:

After the carriage ride we found some water since we were getting really really hot. We decided to go and find Rainbow Row again and the smallest road in Charleston.
Along the way we found another turtle!:

We found Rainbow Row:

And the smallest road in Charleston:


We walked back over toward the Water Front Park. That was SO pretty. I loved walking around under all the trees and seeing the pretty water and the fountains.
The new bridge between Charleston and Mt. Pleasant:

A pretty walkway:

A pineapple fountain:

Kevin cooling off his feet. You could wade in the fountain down to the second step, haha:

Kids playing in a big fountain, a great way to cool off:

After we left the Water Front Park we walked over to the cobblestone street, there are some buildings there that we wanted to see.
One is possibly the oldest building in Charleston. It use to be a tavern:

And this building was the last Slave Market built in the area:

We passed the firemen's memorial at the Charleston Fire Department for those firemen who died when the roof collapsed on them a little while back. There are more flowers and stuff at the actual site, I saw that when we came through Charleston on our way back from the cruise a week before this trip:


We ended up going back to our room at the B&B and napping during the hottest part of the day. All that walking really wares you out! Around four we left to go to Boone Hall Plantation. It was so pretty! And it was really neat to see this place I've always loved looking at in the Notebook!
When we first walked over to it, this is what we saw:

We wern't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but once we got outside the back of the house, there was a 600 year old tree sitting down by the water:

Here is me sitting on the tree:

The back of the house:

One of nine slave houses left at the plantation (there use to be about 27):

This is one of my favorites. The Alley:

Kevin in front of the gates. That is a wedding rehearsal in the backround:

That's about it. We were getting pretty hungry since we hadn't eaten since lunch hours and hours before, so we headed back to Charleston. Kevin was making me choose where to go, since I was the birthday girl and all, haha, AND he let me know he was treating, that made me happy. :) (more so than I already was, of course) I chose Bubba Gump again. It was just so good!

They sang happy birthday to me and gave me free ice cream. It was yummy. After that we strolled along back to the B&B and watched some TV.
The next day we got up and ate breakfast then decided to head back home. We stopped at the mall again so explore it some more, I got a little present for Kyra (her fourth birthday is coming up!). After we got home we went to our seperate houses for a bit. My parents gave me presents. I got a pretty skirt and some jewelry! Later Kevin and I met up with Stephanie and we went to Dawn's mother-in-law's house for a little birthday party for me and Luke (Dawn's husband). We had some yummy food and relaxed in the hot tub! (It had gotten chilly so the pool wasn't that appealing, but later I found out it's heated). It was a lot of fun. Dawn got me one of the threadless shirts I've been wanting. Which one? Figure it out! Only one is crossed off, haha.
Anyway, that was my birthday weekend!
Next up: Steppin Out Friday and Saturday! I'm so excited!
~Taylor~
So...this weekend was SO busy with Steppin Out and all. But I had a blast. It didn't rain the entire time! And it was hot, but bearable. Stephanie and Sarah experienced it for the first time. Stephanie had never seen so many people downtown. Haha. It so hard to walk down the street during Steppin Out! I got a t-shirt, it was a youth medium! The best size to fit me they had left! It was that or an XL. Haha. I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while...probably since Steppin Out last year. I'll put pictures up in a little while.
I had my last day at the weather station last night. But I'm probably going to go back during winter break to help out. I'd like to find out the difference between the summer and winter times. Especially when it snows.
I finished Harry Potter this morning! YAY! I'm so excited about the ending, and I can't wait to see the whole book in a movie. It'll be interesting to see how they do it. It'll be out in two years?! Haha. Kevin and I have been watching the movies, we need to watch the fourth one, and then we can go see the fifth in theaters. That'll be fun. :)
That's all for now. Band Camp is next week! I need to get my trombone out and test out my chops!
~Taylor~
So this entry could be directed mostly at Kevin seeing as how our two year anniversary is next month. (yay!) But seeing how Christmas isn't too far away, and can be talked about now that my birthday and July has passed.
Anyway, new threadless shirt that I want is this one, I just think it's adorable and I would totally wear it:

Other shirts that I have been wanting and have not gotten yet:


And this one which is ALMOST GONE! :-O So I might have to just get it myself, haha:

Anyway, I bought a shirt for Kevin today. He has been waiting about two years for this to be reprinted he said:

I got it for $4.40! And that was just shipping costs. Because I had $12 in STP and I used a $3 threadless coupon! :) I love that coupon.
I just love threadless. :)
~Taylor~
Sure...not two things that normally go together...unless it is a movie about doctors...
Anyway, yesterday after my parents went to Bookbinders for their anniversary dinner, they called saying they wanted to go to a movie. I was planning on staying in last night, since I haven't been feeling well, but I figured watching a movie in a reclining chair in the movie theater, would be nearly the same as watching TV in a relining chair in my house. Haha. We went and saw Hairspray. I thought John Travolta was hilarious! He makes a very good fat woman!

If you like musicals, you should go see it, if not...then...I wouldn't recommend it.
Today I went to the doctor...mainly because Kevin made me. Every time I breathe I get a pain in my chest, and it really bugs me. It's been like this for over a week now, so I finally gave in and went today. The doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. He said it might be a virus and it should go away in a couple weeks. He decided to give me a type of inhaler, Advair, that in a couple days if I don't feel any better, to start taking that. If in two weeks I still don't feel better, I have to get an x-ray. Eek! I hope it goes away. I'm tired of this feeling! PLUS, band camp is next week and I can't be having issues breathing when I'm out in the hot sun...and playing the trombone...
Anyway, it should be okay. I hope! I'll let you all know.
Tonight we're having dinner with Brooks and Becca, then we're going to Attitudes to see someone do stand up that Kevin has been working with in the video office. I hope people won't be smoking too much because smoke makes the hurting in my chest worse. I've asked Dawn to come if she wants, she seemed excited about it, so I hope she comes! :)
Have a nice afternoon!
~Taylor~
Let's have something from FOUND! This is found by Arianna Meyer in Kansas:

I just wanted to say that. This week hasn't been the best week for a lot of reason, which I am not going to go into, and I'm so glad it is almost over. Kevin and I are thinking about going to see Harry Potter #5 tonight! That'll be fun. :) We've watched all four that are out, so now to see one in the theater! I really would like to go to an IMAX though and see it in 3D! I bet that would be awesome. So I'm looking forward to tonight.
Kevin's birthday is next week. I can't order him anything until I get paid, which will be on his birthday, so I'll probably just give him pictures of things. Haha. He should be getting that shirt I ordered him on Monday today. So, happy early birthday, right? Haha.
Oh, and for those of you who would like to see a movie, but think to rent one just costs too much of your hard earned money...and for those of you who don't...print out the coupon below! You can only use it once, it gets noted on your Blockbuster account. Thanks to David for sending it to me :)!
~Taylor~
Let's have a FOUND!
This is today's found, found by Mary Ingram in Moore, Oklahoma:

On Saturday was Kyra's birthday party (today is her actual birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYRA!). She's four! Kyra is Amanda's niece. There were a bunch of little kids for party #1. Then the second party was for the adults and family that live near by. So...two cakes! There was a dog show near by and some kids had a little puppy (8 weeks old, possibly a Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix) that someone's friends had found in a dumpster! So he was up for adoption. He was SO adorable. Amanda fell in love with him, and wanted to adopt him, but her mom said they couldn't accommodate another dog (they have two already). So she was really sad. Here is a video of us playing with the puppy:
The party was fun though, I gave Kyra a doll from Mexico and a fun little frog that you put water on it and grass grows where hair would be! Haha. ...though frogs don't have hair...oh well!
Band Camp started on Sunday. We had registration for percussion, and that wasn't too bad since it was just percussion. I had forgotten the TBS board so I ran home and got it so we could have it up as advertisement. Yesterday was new flags, but Dave sent out an email saying that anyone in town should come by and register. So it was a little more busy than it would have been. That night we had a TBS/KKY meeting to go over things we are doing this week and throughout the year. One thing was that our breakfast on game day is going somewhat healthy...This story somehow starts with Michigan State. Their marching band has a nutritionist. Because of that or something our athletic department has decided that in order for us to have the best performance for the football team, that we need a really good breakfast before the games. So apparently that means we need two pieces of fruit, granola bars, pop tarts, orange juice and milk. (Those are the ones I remember). So Dave is giving us (TBS/KKY) $50 a game to take care of all that. So that's cool. :) This morning we had our "Work Day" but since Jason (aka Krusty) and Brian were bored yesterday, we didn't have a lot left to do. YAY! Stephanie and I cleaned off the moldy music holders up on the tower on the MV field. It's so scary to go up on that thing! I was freaking out pretty much the entire time. When we finally finished that, we hurried back over to Squires to wash our hands. We took some pictures of others working and then went to help Krusty clean the instruments. After we finished we were all pretty hungry so Stephanie, Meagan, Krusty, Dre, Logan, Shawn, Robbie, and I went over to Sub Station/McDonald's. We went back and Krusty checked out trombones to Shawn, Robbie and me. We stayed in there for a while, and then went our separate ways. I waited a little while for registration to start, I had to shoo off a bunch of people who got there early. Finally it started but there was just me and Stephanie plus Barbara who works in the music department. There was a big flood of people and we had a lack of materials because no one else was there that usually are. There was a leadership meeting at the same exact time, and leadership people are usually the ones in charge! So we tried our best. I ended up forgetting about my meter in the rush of things and I got a ticket. :( So after registration I went over to Parking Services to take care of that.
Tomorrow will be a big day registration wise because it is when the rookies come and audition! After that we sing for the general meeting (to the likes of "U-V-A sounds like some bullshit to me! to me!") and then head down to the field to cook for the rookies. THEN I'm taking Kevin out to dinner for his BIRTHDAY!!! He's finally catching up to me and turning 20. :) He already has one of his presents for me and one came in today. The rest I'll be ordering tomorrow. (It is when I get paid! :P)
So it should be fun. :)
~Taylor~
And of course a FOUND! This one is by Scott Bramwell in Bedlington, Northumberland, UK:


FIRST DAY OF CLASSES TODAY...ahhh
But anyway, on to last week...
Wednesday was crazy. Registration was from 12-3:30 and we had a steady flow of rookies from about 11:30ish to 3:15. It NEVER let up! Haha. But it was fun. We went and sang for them to. It's not the most pleasant song in the world, but oh well. Haha. Here is a verse for your pleasure:
"If I had the wings of an eagle,
And the ass of a great buffalo,
I'd fly over U-V-A's campus,
And shit on the Wahoo's below!"
It's all for fun in the great rivalry between VT and UVA. But, my rivalryness has lessened up a bit, because they were incredible to us after what happened on April 16th, so yay to them. But...the rivalry is fun, so we've got to keep it up for the funness!!! :)
After we sang, Lindsay and I went to her apartment to get all the burgers and hotdogs and stuff for the Rookie Picnic. That was fun. We mingled and ate and laughed and played...haha.
THEN it was time to take the birthday boy out for his birthday! The birthday boy being Kevin, naturally. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Yummy. Then over to Sonic for some smoothies. We hung out for a bit more, but Kevin was tired from working all day, so I left to let him sleep and went over to the Freshman Hosedown to see how it was going. Haha. It was pretty funny and Lisa brough Lindsay a cake (because it was her birthday too!) so we got to sing happy birthday to her. I only stayed for a little while. I dropped Lynn off at his girlfriend's dorm and went home and fell asleep.
Thursday was registration and auditions for the returning folks. That went well, I suppose. It was good seeing everyone. We had a meeting and played for the rookies in Cassell and then took a break until it was time to have a group playing practice. That went well too.
Friday was a LONG day. Lots of marching and playing and it was HOT. At the end of the day cuts were made, and it was really sad as Stephanie got cut again. I really wanted her to be with me in the MVs! I know she really wanted to be in the MV's. Hopefully next year?!
Saturday wasn't as bad, because we had meet the band. Where we find out who's ranks we are in and get t-shirts. I ended up getting a LARGE because all of the pix and nets got the smalls, but eventually someone traded with me! :) We went over to play at the scrimmage in two different bands for each team. It was weird. Haha. For dinner we got fed food catered by Texas Roadhouse (we got steak and chicken!) so that was good. We had real silver ware and CLOTH napkins, haha, that was an experience. Especially since the knives cut through the paper plates. After dinner we started learning drill for the first game/for the high school football game we are playing for. Yes, we are playing for a high school football game up in Narrows. Haha.
Sunday was the Memorial Dedication for the April 16th victims. It was really sad, but a good way to honor those who lost their lives. Stephen (one of our drum majors) sang the Alma Mater of VT and he did a great job! At the end of President Steger's speech, I fainted...I felt really sick, then my head got really fuzzy and I put my hand up on it and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and Brian was yelling "Taylor? Taylor?" I had not a clue what was happening, he helped me up and Will (our assistant band director) was over helping Brian help me and they took me up the hill out of the crowed, where I almost threw up on a couple of people, but I managed to not, and then I almost passed out again, so Brian picked me up and took me over to a medic vehicle that they use to take injured football players off the field, you know? Haha. He made me drink water and then they took me over to a tree to sit under it for some shade. A medic came over and check me out. I was feeling a lot better by then. I think I really needed to get out of the sun and get some water. I felt so bad though because Will and Brian had to miss the most important part of the ceremony. Will went and got my dad and he came over and then got my mom. After everything was over some people came and checked on me. When Kaitlyn came by she started crying, and I was like, stop! You're making me cry! But I was fine, and I told her that. Of course I remember saying I was fine right after I had fallen. But, Brian went and got my stuff and my dad pulled the car around and they took me to Macados to get some food in me. Kevin joined us there, I was so glad to see him! After Macados I went to practice where I got in trouble for marching, so I sat out the rest of the practice and then didn't play at the Welcome Back Picnic, but I had fun.
After that Kevin and I went to his house and watched the dedication on tivo. I went to a TBS meeting and came back and we finished it and watched some friends. Then I went home and then here we are now!
Work is taking me out to lunch for my birthday. It's a bit belated, but oh well! Haha. It should be fun. :)
~Taylor~
This is a funny find on FOUND, I'm going to include the explanation from the person because it adds to the find:
FOUND by Lauren Vincelli in Richmond, Virginia
I found this on the floor at a restaurant on the day that USC beat Notre Dame 34-31. They beat them by one score in the last SEVEN seconds of the game. Everyone at the bar was so devastated that Notre Dame lost. I thought if they only had some Kool-Aid pie or at least knew what to do with the two extra ounces of whipped cream this recipe called for & maybe they would cheer up.

Update later this day:
We had my birthday lunch. Some waiters sang to me and gave me free ice cream! :) Then I hopped on the bus over to campus for my first class, The Earth and Life Through Time. I found Whittemore 300 quite easily. The chairs are attached to the legs of the desk and swing front and back, I thought it was weird. Anyway, the teacher, Xiao, I think it is has a very interesting accent. He is Asian, but it's like an asian accent with a british twist. So, who knows where he is from, haha. He said textbook SO many times, but he says it "taxbook." And he said Evolution like Eve-olution. So, it's kind of hard to understand him, but I'm sure I'll get use to it. His class sounds like it'll be easy, it's a 1000 level class too, and the topic really interests me, so I'm excited about it! Even though the textbook looks like a 3rd graders text book about dinosaurs! Haha.

The bus ride isn't too bad either. I get off on the first stop after I get on, same as going back. (When I leave from work). The walk from the bus stop isn't too bad either, but I'm not looking forward to walking it in the cold! BRRR! I still need to decide which bus stop is closer, but right now I'll stick to the one I'm using. Oh, and for the Earth and Life Through Time lab, it doesn't start until next week! YAY! One class on Friday! (...Which is still Earth and Life Through Time, haha)
You all have no idea how happy I am that it is Friday. This has been the longest week ever and I am so ready for it to be over. Haha. I would be having Earth and Life Through Time lab right now, but we don't have it this week! YAY! I pretty much like all my classes. But Geology...we'll see about that one. The teacher drives me crazy, but hopefully it is an easy class. It's freshman level anyway! Haha. On Wednesday a guy in my Earth and Life class pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote "Hi :)" on it. I was like, wtf, dude? But I said hi back. Then he continued and wrote, "How are you?" I said "I'm fine, you?" And he did a thumbs up and left me alone for a while. I was like, thank goodness that is over. BUT THEN, he wrote, "How are classes going?" I'm thinking, why in the world are you doing something so childish as to be writing notes in class? Is this the 7th grade? So we had a little more conversation, I was so glad when class was over. He introduced himself and I told him my name, shook hands, and I bolted. Haha. That was a weird experience.
The Marching Virginians are going to Narrows tonight to play at a high school football game. That should be interesting. I might fall asleep on the field, haha.
~Taylor~
The trip to Narrows was actually amazing. They were SO glad we were there, and we were very well recieved. There are a couple articles in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph about us that are very well written and almost bring me to tears. This is Saturday's, and here is Sunday's. There are also some videos of us performing on youtube, here are a few!
Us running on into the state of Virginia and playing Superman:
Playing "Amazing Grace":
And VT Power Closer with the big VT:
There are more you can see if you click on his link, and he has some videos from last year too.
It was a lot of fun, and everyone kept thanking us for being there. It was awesome.
Saturday, I went with my parents up to Charlottesville to meet up with my grandparents for lunch. Naturally I went decked out in hokie colors to ensure that I would not be confused for a Wahoo. But still our waiter asked us if we were there for freshman move in. NO! We ate at Chili's and they are doing this thing called "Create-a-pepper" for a cause to help out St. Jude's. So my brother and I colored little chili peppers that they put up on their wall, and we hokie-fied them. :-D HAHA! :-P It was fun. It was good seeing my grandparents too. I haven't seen them since Christmas or something. Then we headed back and after I got back Kevin and I went over to Dawn's house because she was throwing a party for her bridal party as a thank you for being in her wedding. It was a lot of fun! And I got to see her new furniture! I can't wait until I get to have my own house!
Sunday was relaxing, I got to sleep in and just chill. My mom took me to Dick's and got me some under armor to wear under my uniform at the games to keep me cool. When it starts getting colder, I'll go and get the warm under armor. I hope it gives me a little relief in those wool uniforms! I'm told I can't pass out anymore. Haha. Later I got some pizza with Kevin and we watched Friends. Then I had to go to a TBS meeting. But I went back over to see him again afterwards and we played a couple games of Wheel-of-Fortune that Kevin's little brother got him for his birthday. I won once, and he beat me the second time. GOSH. Haha. So we'll have to have a tie breaker at some point.
Now it's another week of classes...but Saturday is the first football game, and Gameday will be here! That will be FUN. So stay tuned to hear about that!
~Taylor~
FOUND by Melissa Kramer in Tucson, Arizona:

and check out Kevin in the HokieCast!
Three of the six shirts below are now out of stock. And one of them had just come out last week! I may cry.
Hurry up tomorrow!!!
~Taylor~
UPDATE!!!: Kevin got me two of the three I wanted. :) YAY! And with STP's I can probably get the other shirt for pretty cheap! (..er than $10) I just need to put up pictures of Kevin in the shirt I got him, and me in the shirt Dawn got me! YAY!
FOUND by Becky Kornegay in Cullowhee, North Carolina:
