A Whirlwind Weekend Adventure

Prepare for a lengthy read. You don't have to read it all in one sitting.

Sean and I have had this past weekend reserved to go out of town for over a month. It seemed, however, that everyone we knew also reserved this weekend for activities.

Let's start with school: this is one of the two Fridays that I had class. Instead of leaving in the morning, we left at 3 and fortunately made it through rush hour traffic without a hitch. We didn't arrive in Charleston until 9pm so we just settled in and went to sleep.

Other activities planned: a girls' night with my Sunday School class, trying on our bridesmaid dresses, going to a baby shower and the Super Bowl party on Sunday. See, it was going to be a busy weekend.

My weekend, however, involved being exposed to taekwondo and getting to see Sean in all his glory. The reason we went to Charleston is that his former taekwondo teacher has a taekwondo school there and asked Sean to come be a guest judge. In case you didn't know, Sean is a 4th degree black belt and was the world champion in sparring when he was younger. Like I said, big stuff.

His teacher came to pick us up in the morning. The plan was to go to the belt testing and then go tour the city. It was very interesting to see Sean in his environment. He had done taekwondo for most of his life but had stopped competing shortly before we started dating. This would be the first time I would get to see him doing his taekwondo moves. He judged the kids mainly to see who would be awarded the special belt key chains for technique or trying hard. Then came the demo time where Sean got to show off his moves. His facial expressions totally change when he's doing taekwondo - very serious and very scary. Afterward, there was a booth set up for Sean to do autographs. I went with him and sat at the table. Apparently I'm famous from association since several kids asked me to sign their belts and equipment. I don't even know all the rules for bowing in and out of the room.

Then it was time for lunch and a tour. It was not a pretty day; it had rained earlier and still had the grey sky and threatening look of rain again. We walked around the former slave market which is now set up for a flea market. Still selling in the market, just not people. We also walked to the harbor and sat on this wooden swings as well. I learned that in Charleston the first bath tub was made and I saw the house of the man who owns all the Piggly Wigglys. Also, Charleston is apparently on a fault line and the old homes were constructed to withstand the tremors by placing these bolts throughout their houses to keep them upright. Our tour guide, the taekwondo teacher's girlfriend, was extremely informative. We were dropped off and then went to eat dinner and return back to watch Toy Story. How adult are we :)

We woke up and got moving on Sunday. We had a place to be: Paula Deen's restaurant - The Lady and Sons in Savannah. It's only a 2 hour drive but she doesn't take reservations and names start going on list at 9:30 am. We arrived in Savannah around 10 and after navigating the joys of one way streets got our names on the list. We now had an hour to wander around Savannah so we went to River St and saw the Cotton Exchange and City Hall and just walked around the marina.

Time for Paula Deen's buffet - the only option on Sunday. We were there for the opening of the restaurant for the day where we were asked what her favorite ingredient is. Butter, of course. Now it was time to eat yummy fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, creamed corn, yams and other deliciousness. After eating we walked around her store. Some things I expected to see like recipes, cookware but she had food flavored chapsticks as well. I was more excited about this visit then Sean, my Southern man who grew up with Southern cooking.

Anyway it was time to head home. Since we left early to make it to Savannah, we got to attend one of the weekend activities - the Super Bowl with our church friends. What fun! And I even got to hold the baby before we left!

Thank you for reading my essay! That was my busy weekend. What did you do with yours?