Not-So-Hostel

The girls and I took a trip to Charleston this weekend. What a fabulous city! There is so much to do and so much to see! But I’ll get back to how amazing it was in a minute...

Being poor recently college graduates and living off of our 100$ per week stipend, naturally we attempted at making this the cheapest little vacation ever. We decided to save our money for shopping and instead of splitting a hotel room so we split a private room at a local hostel called Not-So-Hostel. It was only 60$ total for one night so 20$ a piece; sounds like a pretty sweet deal right? Wrong! Because it was a private room rather than staying in the larger room with bunks and a bunch of randoms, we thought it wouldn’t be so bad. It was pretty bad. I walked in the entry way to check us in and imagine this as my first impression of where we were to be staying that night: 1.) An elderly woman sitting on the couch complaining to the lady at the check in desk (if you can call a coffee table with a laptop on in a check in desk) about her bags being stolen. 2.) A guy walking around the corner claiming to have seen a strange man walking upstairs with bags that could have possibly been the woman’s things. 3.) The lady at the ‘check in desk’ offering to call the police. I reluctantly took our room key and walked outside to meet the girls to grab our things. After sharing with them my lovely little encounter we couldn’t help but burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. We said we wanted an adventure, and an adventure is what we got!

So back to how amazing Charleston is. Check in time wasn’t until after 5pm so when we drove into town around noon we found street parking and made our way to Kings Street. We had been told Kings Street was where all the prime shopping was and I had read that it was supposed to be the happening place. So of course that’s where we were headed first. We pit-stopped at a Starbucks and you will never guess who I met…. MICHAEL JORDAN! … Ok, just kidding, but at least I know you’re still reading :-) The guy working at the counter said he was from Seattle so I said ‘oh me too!’ Then he proceeded to tell me he is really from Cle Elum but always says Seattle because no one has ever heard of it. I was like ‘no way! I’m really from Bainbridge Island but always just say Seattle too!’ I told him I went to CWU in Ellensburg and was just there a month ago for graduation! We couldn’t believe it, we both knew where the other was from, and I had spent time in his town/in another small town right near his. I swear this world continues to get smaller and smaller.

Kings Street was phenomenal; shops lining both sides of the street for miles. The girls and I literally shopped until we dropped. I’m pretty sure we went non-stop from noon until 5 and finally sat down somewhere for dinner. We then headed to our Not-So-Hostel to check in, and you already know what happened next. We napped for a couple hours in our Oh-So-Hostel, puny room (with one twin bed for the three of us) then decided to see what the Charleston nightlife was all about. Long story short, the nightlife there is spectacular! So many different clubs, bars, lounges, etc… No matter what you’re in the mood for there is somewhere to go and something to do. We had a blast!

Sunday morning we didn’t waste any time peacing out of our luxurious accommodations and continued exploring the beautiful city. I took about 100 photos between Saturday and Sunday. We saw so many things; the city has so much to offer I wanted to document it all. The homes are spectacular! We walked along the seaside boardwalk looking at all of the side-by-side mansions. The parks were so green with fun statues and fountains. I wish I could post all of my fun photos but my laptop is still out of commission!

That’s all for now, keep it touch y’all!

PS: please pray for me that after my internship I end up exactly wherever I’m supposed to be. As of now I have a couple places interested in talking/meeting with me in San Diego and in Portland. This is a very fun, exciting, and scary time for me and just could use some extra guidance!

Surreal

Another week down here on Hilton Head Island; I still can’t believe I only have 5 weeks left! This whole experience has, and continues, to fly by. I have created a bucket list of things I must do before I leave this beautiful and fun area. I can’t believe how much there is to do, how much I have done, and that there is still so much on the list!

As usual this weekend was loads of fun. For the 4th the girls and I headed to Harbor Town which is right on the water where a bunch of yachts are docked. The sizes of these yachts are, for a lack of a better term, amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing! I’m not sure they can even be qualified as yachts; “mansion that happens to float on the water” would suffice. A friend of mine that I met down here said that one year he saw a “yacht” that had two jet-skis and a HELICPOTOR on it! Ridiculous.

We spent the evening walking around the marina and popped into all of the cute, touristy shops. There was live music, fun games, and plenty of food to celebrate the holiday. Before the fireworks we watched the sunset over the horizon. I have some incredible photos that I will try to upload ASAP! This sunset was like no other one I had seen before; truly stunning. Vibrant blues, pinks, and yellows streaked across the sky as though I had dipped my finger in paint and pressed it directly over the clouds.

There is so much going on here at the institute it is near impossible to sneak away for some alone time. Every couple of days when I bike down to the beach after work and see that the sand and ocean is once again waiting for me I can’t help but smile. This is the most incredible way to spend a summer; lots of work accompanied by lots of play! The sand feels like flour between my toes and the water as warm as bath water. As I watch the waves crash over evening swimmers and the diving pelicans chasing their dinner, I can’t help but think how surreal this whole experience has been. Before I left Washington I kept saying, “it hasn’t hit me yet that I’ve been accepted to something this amazing, I can’t believe I’m going there!” Now that I’m here, and have been here for 11 weeks I find myself continually saying “I can’t believe I have been accepted to something this amazing, I can’t believe I AM here!”

Be looking for photos, I’m going to try and post them soon! Love and miss everyone bunches!

Store Bought Jam

Hey y'all!

Last week completed my 10th week here at Hilton Head Health. I can't believe I have been here that long already and only have 6 more weeks to go! Throughout the 10 weeks I have spent time in the different departments of the company; fitness, nutrition, lifestyle management, guest services, marketing, and program development. Starting this week I get to choose which department I'd like to spend the remainder of my time here. I have chosen to stay in the fitness department so I am excited to see what new things I continue to learn and be exposed to. Each intern is also responsible for coming up with, and completing a final project. I haven't decided what I'll be doing yet but some ideas have been tossed out there, so we'll see what I can come up with!

The girls and I continued to have a blast this weekend with nights out meeting new and interesting people. We met people from Holland, Norway, Argentina, and more from places all around the United States! It continues to amaze me how far people come to vacation in such an amazing place. I guess Americans travel all over outside of the U.S. but it seems different to be meeting people who are coming to our country instead of us going to theirs.

As most of you know, the institute provides meals for the interns. These meals are spectacular but sometimes during the week all we crave is something simple and easy to throw together. We're never without the ingredients for a quality snack; pb and j are essentials in the intern house. Over the last 10 weeks I have been eating store bought jam... I know, big news. All my life I have had the pleasure of being spoiled by my mother's AMAZING homemade jam. Even during college I would bring jam back to school with me after visiting home; heaven forbid I would ever have to purchase jam from a store! *gasp!* Anyway, my point is store bought jam just doesn't cut it. Yes it gets the job done; when a pb and j is needed store bought jam will suffice. However, the sandwich just isn't the same!

My Fellow Wahing-tonians

If I can’t come to Washington, Washington will come to me! Last week a woman approached me and asked if I was Laura. I told her yes and she proceeded to hold up her name tag and ask “can you pronounce this?” Underneath everyone’s name is the state and city of which they are from. However their name is in large bold writing where their hometown is in smaller, regular text. Naturally my eyes focus on her name. Her name was a short, simple name and easy to pronounce. I won’t mention her real name but for story purposes lets use the name Liz. I looked at her confused and responded “uh…Liz?” She shakes the name tag (as if I was I was completely missing the point) so I redirected my attention to her hometown. E… e-num…ENUMCLAW! I shouted in disbelief. She started laughing and said “nobody has 1. ever heard of it, and 2. can never pronounce it.” Somebody had told her I was also from Washington so I was able to share with her that I too am from a place people have never heard of. Finally somebody who knows where I’m really from! I told her I had just graduated from CWU and used to play basketball tournaments in Enumclaw; she was thrilled to hear that I had spent time in eastern Washington.

The fun doesn’t stop there. This week as I’m doing arriving guest’s screenings, there were FIVE people from Washington! Three from Spokane, one from Vashon Island, and one from Port Orchard! I couldn’t believe it. Besides those from Spokane, people were arriving that were from places closer and closer to my home! I was so excited to tell them I was from Bainbridge Island and that I know people from the places where they are from. They thought it was so cool I found my way all the way here to Hilton Head. Besides the lady from Redmond my first couple weeks here, I was yet to meet anyone else that had come from as far as I had (within the country.)

I had to share that with y’all. It was too exciting! : -) Yayyy Washington!

Nerd Alert

So just in case y'all thought I was exaggerating about just how hot and humid it is down here, check this out. Monday: heat index was 110, Tuesday heat index was 112; need I go on? For those of you that wear, or have ever worn, glasses know that occasionally when you walk INside the lenses fog up for a few seconds before they clear up. Well not in South Carolina. My glasses fog up when I step OUTside; and not just for a few seconds. We're talkin' minutes here. Sunglasses, eye glasses, anything with a lens will take at least 5 minutes for the fog to subside. Quality nerd alert I tell yeah when I ask people to wait up so I can see while we walk.

H3I has a company blog and there is a new posting every week Monday - Friday. Each day a different staff member is responsible for the posting. For this week's rotation I am in the marketing department; whoever was in charge of this Monday's posting doesn't have a free moment to post their blog so I was asked to come up with something. It won't be posted until Monday 6/21 but I submitted it to the marketing coordinator yesterday. Here is the link to the H3I blog, so if you have the chance, check out my posting on Monday! http://www.h3daily.com/

I also recommend checking out this blog every few days because there are awesome postings about everything you can think of health and fitness related! I'm excited to have some of my work posted on the company site!

Anyway, here are the rest of the photos from graduation! : -) Again, it was so much fun sharing the day with my family and friends. We had an amazing time and it felt so great to see everybody!

Graduation Weekend

I have just experienced the quickest, yet at times slowest, 48 hours of my life. How is this possible you might ask? Well, my journey started at 5am Friday morning when I got up to go to the Hilton Head Island airport for my 6:50am flight to my connecting flight and then on to Seattle. Long story short, my flight got canceled, causing me to miss my connecting flight. I was shuttled to the Savannah airport in Georgia where my plane finally took off at 12:30pm (by noon I was supposed to have already landed in Seattle and have been on my way to Ellensburg). At 6:00pm I finally landed in Seattle and got picked up by my wonderful parents and brother! Couple hours later we were in Ellensburg and I was able to spend time with my wonderful girls! I can’t explain how good it was to see them and be able to catch up. The passed 8 weeks have flown by but at the same time I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to catch up with and hang out with my friends.

Saturday morning was graduation! I have posted photos of Kristen, Sarah and I waiting in line to walk into the stadium as well as while we were sitting through the ceremony. We had a beautiful day for an outside graduation. It wasn’t too hot; sunny with blue skies, no wind, no rain. I’m so happy that I was able to come home for this experience. It was amazing sharing the moment with my family and closest friends. I couldn’t stop smiling and yes, there were a couple glistening tears here and there. After graduation we joined Kristen and her family at her boyfriend Jason’s house for sandwiches. It was so hard to say goodbye to Sarah and Kristen and their families : -( I miss everyone so much; it was such a treat to come back even for just one day. After all of the photos were taken, and most of the food was gone, we traveled back to the Westside to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening at my Grandparents house on Lake Washington. What a treat to see both sets of grandparents on my graduation day! It was fabulous lying out in the sun, sipping on lemonade, and catching up with Grandma and Papa. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end this short and sweet visit to Washington State. (When in the south one must clarify they are talking about Washington State rather than Washington D.C.)

At 9pm Saturday evening there I was at the airport once again flying south. I didn’t want to leave Washington; I wasn’t ready to leave the Pacific Northwest during this beautiful time of year. These are my favorite months to be in Seattle; on the lake, walking around the city, on the ferries… I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my friends and to college. Even though I haven’t been in Ellensburg since December, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the last 4 years of my life that have been so good to me. I have missed Washington State more than I ever thought that I would. Even though I was only back for a short time, it was what I needed; it was refreshing and a tiny break that I needed to push me through the next 8 weeks away. Thank you so much to my family and friends for making it a phenomenal 24 hours and a fantastic experience! I love you all so very much.

Anyway, my redeye flight heading south went smoothly. Left Seattle Saturday night at 11:30pm and arrived at Hilton Head Island at noon on Sunday. The time on the planes and waiting in all the different airports went by painfully slow, but the time I had with my friends and family went all too quickly. I couldn’t believe I’d flown across the country, graduated, and flown back all in just over 24 hours. On that note, I’m exhausted and am going to bed. Enjoy the photos, there are more to come of me and the fam once my daddy e-mails them to me : -)

WOOT WOOT Central Washington University Alumni!

Y'all listen up!

Because I am returning to Seattle tomorrow I thought it would be appropriate to blog about slash warn y’all about one of my new found southern habits. I say y’all. There. That’s it. My big news. So y’all better get used to it! It’s definitely not one of those things where I was like “that sounds really cool, I want to start saying that.” It just started happening without me even realizing it. The first time it came out of my mouth it honestly surprised me and I stopped for a moment, waiting for someone to point out the fact that I had just said the word y’all. Then I remembered that I am in fact in the south where people would be more inclined to look at you funny if you say “you all” rather than y’all. So yes, I am expecting a few giggles, smiles, or snickers here and there when I’m trying to get everyone’s attention or ask what y’all have been up to. But at least now you can’t say that I didn’t warn you : -)

That said, I am SOOOO beyond excited to be coming to Washington TOMORROW! And I most certainly can’t wait to graduate and see my family and friends!

See y’all TOMORROW! YAY!!