day trip, asheville in july

My sister and brother-in-law were going to Asheville for a short trip and we wanted to meet up with them for a couple hours to hang out. Instead of another short weeknight dinner trip, Eric and I decided to get up super early on Saturday morning so we could meet them in Asheville for breakfast and also spend the day up there.  We hit the road bright and early and watched the sun brighten up the sky from behind as […]

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one night, new york city in june

new york city at night from empire state building

One of the unique duties in my day job is managing the nominations my department submits for industry awards. It’s really challenging and often leaves me working all night to write, edit, and submit the best nominations I can by a tight deadline. It’s sort of like college all over again several times a year. I also follow up with any finalists, help coordinate travel, run as a go-between for the awards company and mine, write acceptance speeches, and then […]

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girl’s trip, disney world in may

Late last year, my fellow Disney-loving friend asked if we could do a girls trip to Orlando for her 30th birthday in May. We both love planning Disney trips (uh, hello) and wanted an excuse to buy Annual Passes for 2019, so we booked it in January and began thinking of allllll the girly things we could do.  After my original all-day (but cheap) flight to Orlando got cancelled, I found a new (and cheaper!) nonstop flight that would get […]

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family weekend, georgia in march

Our nephew on Eric’s side had a 4th birthday last Saturday, so we wanted to make it in for a quick weekend in Georgia. We tried leaving early Saturday morning last year and, after getting stuck in traffic and missing the party by three hours, we swore we wouldn’t do that again… but we did. We made sure to wake up before 6:00 this time and be out of the house before 6:45. The year’s drive was foggy but not […]

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eric’s 30th birthday, las vegas in february

eric and jess pendergrass on the LINQ ferris wheel overlooking Las Vegas

Since we did a big trip for my 30th birthday in January, it only felt right to do it again for Eric’s 30th. He couldn’t decide where he wanted to go but, at the last minute, I ended up finding a decent flight deal* to Las Vegas and realized we could get a comped room at the LINQ Hotel though my Caesar’s Awards program. Eric and I had both been to Vegas twice before but never together, so this seemed […]

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dirty thirty girls weekend, charlotte in january

My best girlfriends planned a “surprise” weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday with me here in Charlotte. I say “surprise” because they had been planning it for a months but told me about it right before Christmas so I could be involved a little (like they knew I’d want to haha). My best friend in Charlotte, Ali, reached out to my two best girls in Georgia, Bailey and Beth, and asked if they would fly in for the weekend, then […]

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my 30th birthday, orlando in january

Last summer, when I was feeling stressed about work and life and anxious about being a few months away from 30, I had this sort of pipe dream to go back to my “roots”… whatever that meant. I sat around one night and thought what I really wanted was to feel like a kid again. I had a magical childhood and some of my favorite memories are from trips to Orlando, with my parents and sister a couple times, with […]

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new year’s eve, maryland in december

We don’t normally travel for New Year’s, but someone (me) brightly planned a trip leaving on January 1 right after the busy holidays. Since we would be gone for a full week, we asked my parents to watch Ollie again while we were away and booked our flight out of Baltimore. Eric and I are both fortunate enough to be able to work from anywhere most of the time, so we decided to work that Monday from my parents’ house […]

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christmas, georgia in december

Christmas was, as we expected, a complete nonstop marathon that left us trying to catch our breath. According to our holiday rotation, this year was Christmas in Georgia, but almost all of our families were there within a 15-minute drive of our hotel. My uncle from England even managed to hop the pond again which brought my parents down from Maryland to see him. I unfortunately woke up the Friday morning before we left with a sore throat that I […]

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carrollton in december, UWG fall graduation

On both sides of my family, there’s an eight-year gap of family members around my age. My amazing half-sister is eight years older, and I was the youngest for eight more years… until my first cousin Jonathan came along. My mom and I flew to Scotland shortly after he was born to see him, and I’ll always remember it was the first real interaction I had ever had with a baby. I felt like the coolest kid in the world […]

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