June 2022

After a weekend in Savannah celebrating TC’s birthday, we headed back to Raleigh to prep for a wedding! Our first day back, we spent the afternoon working from one of our favorite parks! I put out the awning and worked outside. It was quirky to be so close to our brick and mortar house. This park is accessible from the greenway behind our house. We walked there almost daily during the pandemic, and it was the first place I ran on, several occasions, when I got bad news. This park means a lot to us, and we were excited to be back for a few hours.

The next day, we also stopped by Lake Lynn to cook dinner and go for a walk. We’ve driven past this park so many times and never stopped in. It was a beautiful evening and the weather was perfect!

We love being back in NC, but it is very exhausting. We have lots of people to see in a short amount of time while we are also still working, so we try to take time to rest in the outdoors to rejuvenate.

On Thursday night, we hit the town! We only had one Thursday night in Raleigh this summer, so we went to our favorite Thursday night activity-beach music at North Hills! We used to go dance to beach music every Thursday in the summers. We even frequented beach music when we were just friends. It’s partly responsible for our friendship and partly what got us here today. We absolutely love beach music and we had the best time!!

Wedding Weekend

On Friday, we headed to the venue to begin setting up for the wedding. T worked from the bridal suite while I setup tables and chairs and decor. There is nothing I love more than being a wedding planner, so I was in my element all day!

After rehearsal we headed to see one of our favorite local bands!! Chatham Rabbits was holding an album release in Saxapahaw, NC. We originally thought we were going to have to work, but plans changed and we were able to go! I’ve been obsessed with Chatham Rabbits for a while, so I was beside myself with excitement! They played at The Haw River Ballroom, which is a venue I had been to before. I worked a wedding years ago in the ballroom and I loved the vibes of the place. I was excited to tell TC about the logistics of the wedding. T is the best wedding/event partner. After many events, he now understands my job and loves being part of it, so he was asking all the questions about the setup and event flow.

That night, T started feeling bad, so I had to call in one of my former coworkers to assist me at the wedding. As mentioned before, leaving my job was hard. Partly because I loved who I worked with. I was thankful Amanda could step in on such short notice, but even more thankful for another day of working an event with her!

The wedding went beautifully! It was my largest one of the year. The bride is a friend of mine from college. We were in the same small group. We’ve spent many nights together laughing and playing games. We even traveled to Spain together! It was a great day of catching up with old friends and helping such a special friend have the best day!

Mancation + Girl’s Weekend

The next weekend was Mancation and Girl’s Weekend! For seven years, TC and his guy friends have held Mancation at the cabin. In past years, T usually planned it on a weekend that I had a wedding at work. I loved mancation weekend because it meant I had the entire house to myself since all my boys were there!

This year, we figured this was a perfect time for my sisters, MooMoo and I to get together for a girl’s weekend! We headed to Carolina Beach for the weekend. My sisters and Moo and I are very close. My sisters and I have lived in Raleigh together for years, so as we have gone separate ways, it has been an adjustment. We were thankful for our time together. We laid on the beach, read our books uninterrupted, ate ice cream, and even snuggled in bed and watched Dateline-a Shuford girls tradition.

One of the most important things I have learned in the van is the importance of spending quality time with people. We don’t see our people often, but we take every chance we get and are thankful for every second!

Bonnaroo 2022

After a fun weekend, we were off on the next adventure – Bonnaroo 2022!! TC has gone to Bonnaroo twice when he was in his teens, but I had never been. I was SO excited!! It was a HOT week in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This was when we learned the popsicle trick! We put freezee pops in our freezer to help cool ourselves off. This was the best decision ever! Now we are addicted to popsicles, but it helps us on hot nights to cool off before bed. We also kept ourselves cool by freezing water bottles and putting them on our neck. We slept outside for a few hours a night to help cool off before getting in bed. It was a wild weekend, but worth it!

When we first got there, we worked from the campsite. The next morning, we ate breakfast while listening to The Knotty G’s play Grateful Dead songs. What a dream morning! The Knotty G’s are from Asheville, NC. This was our first time hearing them, and we loved them! Such a fun start to the festival! We setup a great camp spot complete with a party light. When T and I lived in a brick and mortar house, the party light was connected to a light switch when you walked in the door. I often turned on the party light instead of the house lights. We are serious about our party lighting. haha It was fun to hang out in chairs outside-enjoying the breeze. A few other favs of the weekend - our beloved Billy Strings, Goose, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Lettuce, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Chicks, and Stevie Nicks.

My personal favorite besides Billy Strings, was the silent disco!! I had heard great things about silent discos, but had never been to one. We were having trouble finding the right spot and then realized it was because there wasn’t music playing outloud-it was silent! Ha We are made for silent discos, and had an absolute blast!!

Other highlights, we saw the US’s biggest disco ball. That was a dream for this disco-loving gal!! I was in heaven! Right after that, we made best friendship bracelets. I love being ‘festie besties’ with this guy! We had the best time and cannot wait for the next festival!!

Back to Raleigh

After Bonnaroo, we headed back to Raleigh for one more week. I saw a few more special friends and even stopped back by the museum for the first time. I wasn’t sure I was ready, but it was actually really good for my soul. I stopped in at a party for the CEO and was able to see so many old friends! It was refreshing. I miss the museum so much, but being back in the building was soothing. TC was glad to be able to go to the party as well. T was one of our best volunteers. He spent many, many hours at the museum helping me finish up projects and volunteering at events. He even got a shout out from the CEO about how when you marry into the Marbles family, you become part of the family. They love TC and were excited to see him!

Our very fav band, Billy Strings was doing a three-day run in Cary. When we found out, we bought tickets to the pit for Thursday and Friday. We got very little sleep that week, but it was worth it! On Thursday night, we convinced our Joey to go with us to the concert!! We gave him one of our best Hawaiian shirts to wear, and after the concert, we stood in the van and ate popsicles.

On Friday, we had lunch at a spot that is very near and dear to us-MoJoe’s. MoJoe’s is where T and I went on our first-first date many years ago. We like to go back occasionally and reminisce about the night that got us here today. The wings were amazing as usual!

The Friday night concert was just as great as Thursday! We blew bubbles in the parking lot, wore our bestie friendship bracelets, and sang at the top of our lungs.

After the concert, we booked it up the mountain. We were able to have a quick paddle in the lake at his TC’s mom’s house on Saturday morning. I absolutely LOVE to paddleboard. After a few minutes in the water, we quickly got ready for Papaw’s birthday party! TC’s PaPaw turned 100 on June 22, so we had a big shindig! PaPaw is the sweetest, happiest man on the planet. He was so tickled the whole day! It was so precious to see how happy he was! We were thankful to be in town to celebrate with him!

That evening, we headed to Greensboro to have dinner with my family before we left town. We got some sweet nephew snuggles, and I got to hug my MooMoo before I left town for several months!

We listened to Billy Strings final night in Raleigh as we headed out of NC and on to VA. June was a wonderful month filled with music and our favorite people!