Daufuskie Island Vacation!

I'm really behind in updating things we've been up to this summer, but that's because we've been really busy!  Since our anniversary (and for several weeks before that) we haven't been home for a weekend.  Actually, for the past month and a half, we've spent every weekend gone somewhere or another.  Whew! Anyway, I have several posts that are due, but this one is going to be about our Hanlin/Heath vacation on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.  For those who don't know, Daufuskie is a small island near Savannah, Georgia and right off of Hilton Head, South Carolina.  You have to take a ferry to get out there, and you pretty much have to take anything you would possibly need for a week away, including all food, and drinks. And, also drinks.  Ahem. So anyway, Jared and I got up crack of dawn early on Friday, June 17th to fly to Atlanta to meet up with Jared's dad, who picked us up from the airport.


We (including the Hanlin dogs) drove over to Pop and Bibby's house for lunch, and it was wonderful to just spend a little time with Jared's (and my recently inherited) grandparents, as well as Scotty and Steve Coleman.  After a while we packed up in the car and drove to Augusta, GA (where Mike and Janie live) and met up with the rest of the fam.  Jared and I finally got to experience TakoSushi, the most amazing sushi/gourmet mexican food you've had in your whole life. (Well...it's possible I just get easily excited about good food, but it really was awesome.)  


We head out early for Hilton Head and the ferry, and by noon, we were at the house! Ahhh vacation.  We stayed in a beautiful, (huge) beach house with lots of room to hang out and talk, a great screened-in back porch, and our own bathroom! 

We spent a fantastic week of relaxing, hanging out at the pool, going to the beach, eating good food, (please see deviled crabs insert)
driving around on golf carts, and playing family sports like volleyball and tennis.  We ended the week by driving back to Atlanta and spending the night with Pop and Bibby, and Jared and I flew back to Arkansas Sunday morning.  Nothing wild or crazy, but after school and unending shows for Jared and work for me, getting away to relax with family at the beach was exactly what we needed.  

One Year!

Exactly one year ago today, all of our friends and family were toughing the heat to see us tie the knot. Woo hoo! I can't even believe it's been a whole year, but at the same time I feel as if Jared and I have been married always. (in a good way, I promise!) To celebrate our first anniversary, Jared and I booked a weekend in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and stayed at the beautiful Heartstone Inn Bed & Breakfast.










We drove up to Eureka after I got off work on Friday, in time to get there, check in, and head out for a drink at Stonehouse Wine Bar and dinner at Local Flavor.  If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend both. Stonehouse for the wonderful live music and extensive wine and beer list, and Local Flavor especially for the crab cakes, although everything was delicious.  We then headed back to Heartstone and got to bed relatively early, as we both had a long week.  We had a fantastic gourmet breakfast in the morning, and proceeded to drive to the historic downtown area to walk around and see the neat shops.  We had lunch at the Mud Street Cafe, and enjoyed the cool stone basement underground seating to get out of the hot sun for just a bit.  After lunch stopped back by the inn for lemonade and a cookie on the deck, then we drove out to see the largest Jesus statue in North America (Christ of the Ozarks...not sure what the story on that is) and on the way back we happened on a piece of the Berlin Wall in a small churchyard.  (again, no idea how that came to be there) Afterwards we headed back to the inn (for a small old people nap) and changed to go out to the Sky Bar at the famous Crescent Hotel.

We didn't see any ghosts, but we did see two weddings back to back, and children in a bar.  The hotel was gorgeous, and the views from the balcony of the bar were fantastic.  We finished our drinks, and drove back down to the historic district for our dinner reservations at the Grand Taverne.  We went back, had some coffee on the second floor porch off our room, and enjoyed relaxing! (This doesn't occur often with Jared's busy school schedule even during the summer, and my working) We got up early again Sunday morning on our actual anniversary and had another wonderful breakfast in the inn's dining room before packing up and checking out.  We took the scenic route back to Fayetteville, and now we're just relaxing until our anniversary dinner tonight!

We've already had a wonderful weekend, and look forward to spending the rest of the day together, relaxing and enjoying each other's company.  Here's to a wonderful first year of marriage, and looking forward to many, many more.  

Float Trip 2011

For Memorial Day weekend this year, we floated on the Buffalo River.  This would be the first time we had heard "canoeing" referred to as "floating", and also the first time we agreed to canoe without first knowing the distance ahead of time.  We "floated" (paddled and tried not to flip) 20 miles in two days, with a break of camping on rocks in between.  Turns out, east nowhere Arkansas is gorgeous, and we didn't hear a single banjo. We put in at Hasty, Arkansas in the afternoon on Sunday.  About two minutes in to the trip, three of the four canoes flipped, flinging food, drink, and personal items out to be claimed by the river. Thankfully, my eagle scout husband managed to keep his bride out of the water, for which I was extremely grateful.  Although the trip began on a down note, our buoyant attitudes insisted on fun being had by all, wet or dry.  

We saw beautiful scenery, including a gorgeous waterfall we found by scaling a steep, muddy incline.  Pictures really don't do it justice.  After paddling about 10 miles, we made camp on a rock beach and built a campfire.  We managed to still have a delicious dinner of cold fried chicken, "rock steak", hot dogs, chips and s'mores, and we more or less all slept poorly in our tents on rocks.  But what an experience!  The stars were crazy bright in the sky, and the sound of rushing water while we slept was fantastic.  (except when I half-way woke up in the night, afraid we were going to be washed away, but was comforted strangely with the idea that several of the others would be washed away first and we could use their screams as warning...lol) We woke up with the sun, reloaded the canoes, and continued with the last half of the trip.  Only one more canoe flip happened, we saw lots of sunning turtles, and one horrifically large snake.  Some people swam out to a rope swing over the water and risked a jump out of a tree, and we saw/canoed to small caves at the bottom of cliff faces.  Finally, we got to the end point in Wollum, Arkansas, and after a few hours of waiting for some of the guys to go get cars from the put in point and then loading up the cars, we drove the two hours home.  Fast food, a hot shower, and aloe for our radiating sun burns later, and I passed out in my soft, rock-less bed.  Adventure complete!

Viva Las Vegas!

Things have been pretty busy in the Hanlin household lately, with school, work, shows, training, etc. Often when things get hectic, I like to look ahead to the next "event", which usually consists of visiting with family, a vacation, or even the next time I get to sleep in.  Most recently, our "looking forward to" occasion was a weekend trip to Las Vegas with the Hanlins.  Man, did I have a count down going!  Although we love Arkansas and what we're doing here, we were just in need of a break.  So really early in the morning on Friday, April 1st (no joke) we flew out to Las Vegas, Nevada to meet up with Sandy, Phil, Leslie and her boyfriend Josh to celebrate Leslie's 21st birthday.  We stayed in the Venetian hotel (so big, they gave out maps of the hotel so people wouldn't get lost), and the picture at the top is the view from our room. Gorgeous!  Friday we ate lunch and saw Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum.  Found our man Paul hanging out in the Racing section (as shown) and we took pictures with celebrities we approved or disapproved of, for various reasons.

We walked around, laid out in the sun (after the cold and rain we had in Arkansas in the last few weeks, I was in love with sun!) hung out and went out for a delicious sushi dinner in the Bellagio at a restaurant called Yellowfin.  Then we saw Cirque du Soleil's "O".  Jared and I both watched with our mouths hanging open pretty much the whole time.  It was amazing.  Saturday, we got lunch at Serendipity 3, caught the Bellagio fountains, and did enough walking on the Strip to persuade the group to stay in the hotel the rest of the night.  Had another great dinner and watched UK lose to UConn (first time sports betting, Jared lost $30, Josh won near $140).  We played a little blackjack and heard that Jared's dad won $1000 on a slot machine.  Jared's mom hit a hot streak on a machine and regained some of her losses.  Apparently 5 watermelons gets you $20 (as pictured). Get 'em Sandy!! So after much fun, walking around, sunshine,

food and entertainment, we tried to go to bed just a little early since we were getting up at 3:30am to make our flight.  We made it back to Arkansas in time for lunch, and when we got home I took my place on the couch with the cat to nap, while Jared went to rehearsal.  Alright Hanlins, so how much longer until Daufuskie? Can't wait.  

Been A While

So, news!  Arcadia closes and I almost immediately get invited into the Othello cast, Shannon got a new job at the bank that she starts next week, and I got baptized!  Been a busy couple of weeks for us, but now I'm on Spring Break (wooo!) and get to tell you all about it.

Arcadia had a pretty good run, really enjoyed the time with the cast, but a part of me was looking forward to being at home with my wife at night when it was over.  But theater calls.  Because a cast member needed to drop out of Othello, director Michael Landman asked me to audition for the open roles, so I did.  And now I will be playing Brabantio (Desdemona's prejudiced Senator father) and his brother Gratiano, as well as various ensemble roles.  So far, I've just been thrust into a couple of run-throughs with rough blocking, but everyone's been super forgiving, which is good.  When we get back from spring break, I'll be ready to not suck so bad.  Between Othello and Supermen (a new work by Adam Douglas) I will be a very busy bee for the rest of the semester.  Busy and grateful that people think highly of my work.

Shannon is going to be a Deposit Counselor at the Crossover branch!  She's exciting to be learning more and working with customers face to face.  She gets her own business cards!  Looking forward to passing those out.

Most importantly, I have finally been baptized.  The weekend Arcadia closed, my parents and Shannon's mother were able to come see the show and then see my baptism at Fellowship early the next morning.  We have been so blessed that Christ has brought us to Fellowship and the small group we have through it.  I've been particularly grateful for the leadership of Michael and Mandi Collyar in the group.  I asked Michael if he would baptize me, and he was happy to do it.  Shannon took pictures, but it was too dark in the worship center, they just didn't turn out.  This one did though:

There's our proof.  It was a really special day, and God affirmed my obedience with a joy and peace I was not expecting.  Really happy to share it with family.

Jared asked for some chocolate cake

Its your typical Sunday in the Hanlin household.  We went to church this morning, came home and ate some lunch, and now we're being lazy well in to the afternoon.  I love Sundays when Jared isn't in a show. Anyway, we had just finished eating the omelets Jared made from random leftovers we had in the fridge (yum!) and I had settled in to looking up new recipes to try for dinners this week.  While searching and making notes on my grocery list, I ask Jared if he has any sort of sweet in mind that he would like me to make.  With half of his attention on Super Mario Bros Wii and the other on trying to answer my question, he (without breaking visual contact with the television) says, "um...chocolate." "Ok...chocolate pie, chocolate cookies, chocolate cake... " I say in an attempt to draw a more detailed response.  "cake."  I had my answer.  So I start going though recipes on my favorite food blogs, and find one that sounds interesting on Delish-blog.com.  Texas Sheet Cake.  hmm.  I glance through the ingredient list, and wouldn't you know, I had everything needed.  God must want me to make this cake.  (Or maybe because I'm starting to bake more frequently, I am acquiring more ingredients...you choose, but I'm leaning towards destiny)  I go about mixing, boiling, sifting and pouring, and in no time I'm pouring the icing (more like a glaze) over the fresh-from-the-oven cake.  I sit back down on the oversized chair in our wee little living room, and appreciate the chocolatey-goodness smells that are lingering in the air.  (although I have a peanut-sized nose, I actually have a very keen sense of smell.  Thats probably why I focus on this sense when describing food, even though it wouldn't take giftedness in the olfactory department to appreciate the smells of this cake)

After waiting a few minutes for the cake to cool down a bit and for the icing to really sink its way in, I dish up two plates so Jared and I can give it a test.  And....oh baby.  The cinnamon, which I was a little curious about, really enhances the chocolate, and the pecans in the icing give just a little crunch to compliment the density of the cake.  Someone (or a group of people) should come help us eat this cake, because I feel like I just gained a pound over a pretty small slice.  (Please notice both the Mellow Mushroom pizza box in the first picture from dinner Friday night, and also the goofy grin Jared is making after eating his specially requested chocolate cake.  My weekend is now complete.)

Here's the link if you want to check out this recipe:

http://www.delish-blog.com/2007/07/cake-this-good-well-it-must-be-from-texas/

Baking/Cooking is a tasty obsession

I don't know if its because I'm bored, or I need a little excitement in my life, but I've become more and more interested in baking and cooking.  But not just interested, more like excited.  Like, I get excited about looking up new recipes to try, utilizing wonderful baking and cooking blogs.  Is there something wrong with me? Probably.  I've never pretended to be entirely normal.  But that would be lame, right? So anyway, I find these recipes with beautiful illustrations and jot them down, drag Jared to the grocery store, and work my experiments in the kitchen, often late into the night (for me, that means around midnight.)  This past week I made a delicious Mexican Casserole, I nurtured a homemade Beef Stroganoff, and lastly, last night I made some pretty awesome Fresh Strawberry Bread.  Jared is the only one who can attest to the dinners, but I've gotten some pretty good feedback from my co-workers on the strawberry bread.  Or maybe they lied. Either way, I choose to take the compliments.


So, in preparation to begin my bread adventure, I laid out all the ingredients and realized my obsession with Great Value brand products.  Wal-Mart brand, for those non-Arkansans/purveyors of regular grocery stores.  Wal-Mart is king around here, especially since there aren't really any other comparable options.  But hey, its good, and its cheap! A newly married's friend.  Foodwise, that is.

While I'm diligently mixing and chopping, I look up from my "work" to see what the rest of my little family is doing, and I find Jared enjoying his Christmas present, boxing away on our Wii and MiMi, our little fur child, hoping I'm going to drop something on the floor for her to eat.

She always thinks she wants what I'm making, but I can't seem to convince her that I don't live off lunchmeat (her favorite).  Poor mimi.  After much persistence I gave her a small piece of strawberry, and she lunged, then recoiled, at my offering.  Oh well.







So, the finished product smelled heavenly, tasted pretty fantastic, and photographed poorly.  Can't win them all I guess.  But, other people ate it, even asked for some, without me pushing it on them or without them feeling like they have to lie to me.  I think.  Well, in one day I'm already down half a loaf, so if you want to come by and make up your own mind, you'd better do it fast.