A month later, but we've been having fun

Wow. A month later and I'm writing another blog. I promise to get better at this.

Here's some of the fun things we've been up to:

1.  Sweet Crooning by Austin Chiasson:  We spent the night out at the Music Initiative watching our very talented friend (Darryl's Best Man) Austin Chiasson do his thing.  And by doing his thing I mean singing some of  his original songs and covers for friends and family (and fans).  This place is really cool. It features up and coming artists.  Musicians sing, artwork is featured, and a live mural is done in the background while the set is being played.

2.  Charleston's Brewvival:  We were so pumped to have so many of Darryl's college friends in town one weekend.  We all headed out to Coast Brewery for a day long beer festival featuring a ton of great beers, pretzel necklaces, food trucks, live music, etc. Darryl was beside himself to have so many of his Kappa Sigma brothers in town (Josh, Gio, Carlos, and Matt)...and I was of course so pumped to see the girls (Audrey, Becka, Whipple).  But even better was that we got to spend some time with some friends that went to high school with us (Justin, Tanner, & Tanner's awesome girlfriend Ashley).  We're so lucky to have such great people in our lives.

Darryl & the boys (Josh, Gio, Carlos, Corleon, Darryl)

The gals (Kelly, Audrey, Whipple, Ashley)

Food trucks!  That I spent over an hour in line to get doughnuts from...

The doughnuts (chocolate potato chip and peanut butter Siracha)

Carlos & our prized pretzel necklace

Hitting up the Tattooed Moose later that night

Tanner & Justin (Tanner's eyes are closed in sheer delight)

Kelly & Audrey (LOVE this girl)

3.  Avenue Q:  Darryl and I got tickets for this show that was being put on at Dockstreet Theatre.  This was one of Darryl's dreams to see this show (it's probably the only musical I'll not have to bribe him to go to).  It's a show...with puppets.  Yeah you read that right.  But, it's for grown ups & it's wildly inappropriate.  Therefore, we LOVED it.  If it's being done near you I highly suggest going to see it!

4.  Second Sunday:  This has quickly become one of our favorite monthly activities.  Charleston shuts down King Street for one day.  People (and their dogs) come out in droves to enjoy good food and live street music.  If you haven't been yet, you must go!  It's every Second Sunday of the month.  Get it?

Our popsicles from The King of Pops (honey lavender milk & cookies & creme)

I promise to blog more often!  Have a great week, y'all!

25 Random Acts of Kindness

...also read as "The Best Birthday Ever"

I found a blog through Pinterest.com that talked about a woman who spent her 35th Birthday doing 35 Random Acts of Kindness.  As soon as I read about this woman's fantastic idea, I just knew I had to steal it.  So, this my friends...is how I spent my 25th Birthday.

I spent three days (one day would have been really hard) doing random acts of kindness for other people.


1) Returned carts from the parking lot back into the store.

2) Left a wonderful waiter a 75% tip.

3) Sent a dessert (the torte of course!) to a stranger's table at a restaurant. (a cute pregnant gal and her husband)

4) Bought a round of drinks for some of my favorite people.

5) Paid for the person's Starbucks in the drive thru behind you.

6) Sent your best friends a card just because.

7) Donated coloring books and crayons to the pediatric wing of a hospital.

8)Hid dollar bills in the toy aisle at the dollar store.

9) Donated food to the local animal shelter.

10) Donated canned goods to the local soup kitchen.

11) Bought a homeless man a meal. (This is actually a pretty good story. He approached me at a gas station and asked for money. Instead I drove across the street and bought him Bojangles. Then we talked about his life and how he got where he was. He ended up giving me his grandmother's phone number, and told me to check in on him every once in a while)

12) Took cookies to local firemen.

13) Left a special treat for the mail lady (cookies).

14) Left a surprise for the law students I mentor in their mailboxes at the school.

15) Left a dollar on a drink machine. (this was gone in about 2 minutes)

16) Donated school supplies to a local after school tutoring program for children from low income families.

17) Put money in an expired parking meter.

18) Made team posters for a youth basketball league.

19) Put positive sticky notes on mirrors wherever I went. Notes that said things like 
"Your are important" and "You are beautiful."

20) Left wipes and disposable diaper bags on a public baby changing table.

21) Put inspirational post-it notes in books at a bookstore. Notes that said "Do what make YOU happy" and "Love IS possible."

22) Placed flowers on graves that don't have any at a cemetery.

23) Donated 10 jackets to a coat drive.

24) Bought my pals a traditional southern party favor for coming to my birthday dinner.

25) Delivered sunflowers to the beautiful ladies in the Alzheimer's ward of an assisted living home (Southfork Assisted Living in Winston-Salem, NC).

This was truly the best birthday I have ever had.  I feel so incredibly blessed and grateful for all that I have been given in my 25 years.  This felt like the perfect way to show exactly how thankful I am.  I highly suggest that you consider doing something like this for your birthday!  Darryl and I even decided to incorporate this into our anniversary every year.  

Here's to the next quarter century!

I always wanted a blog....

....but I waited until he put a ring on it.

Hello blogger world.  I'm so excited to get this thing started.  I've wanted a family blog for so long (ask Ashley Gould), so I promise to make this blog an interesting read.  Here's to chronicling our year adventure of becoming Mr. & Mrs. LaPlante!