Day 13 -- Moving Day #1

Our first day in church as a newlywed couple!

Here's us, all spiffy and dressed up outside our new apartment.

Not much else to report about today. We went to sacrament meeting, went home and joined my parents in the unpacking process, and are now going to bed, exhausted.

Day 12 -- Happy Birthday?

AUGUST 22nd -- MY 20TH BIRTHDAY!

WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN:

• Get up at 6 AM
• Finish cleaning and last-minute packing
• Get on the road by 9 AM
• Be home to BV by 3 in the afternoon
• Relax and start unpacking
• Take pictures with the family at 6
• Reception/Open House in the ballroom at 7
• Go home and sleep in our own bed

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

• Got up at 8 AM
• Had way more laundry to do than realized (required laundry. had to wash all the towels and dry and fold them for the next people who would use the beach house.)
• Found it entirely impossible to get all the sand off of the hardwood floor
• Ate cake for breakfast
• Got on the road at 11:30 AM
• Hurricane hit, flooding the roads
• Two hours into our six-hour drive the truck broke down
• Somehow made it to the conveniently placed gas station out in the middle of nowhere
• Called AAA
• Waited an hour for a tow truck
• MEANWHILE : Nice young redneck named Bob inspects our engine and all of the trucks inner workings. He has no idea what's wrong with it, but suggests his friend Donny as a mechanic to fix it
• MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE RANCH: The Bellamy and Cluff clans are circling the wagons. They call rental car companies, cab companies, airports, train stations, the national guard...
• No luck
• Got picked up by the tow truck. His GPS couldn't even find the street where this elusive Donny lived
• Found it eventually
• He was closed on Saturdays, but took it anyway
• Aunt Kit called to tell me that her brother just happened to live in the town where we were stranded. So this uncle once removed that I had never met was coming to get us
• He came to get us in his big yellow truck (the plan was that he would take us halfway. Then Buck and Whitni Watkins, who were conveniently in Roanoke at the time, would meet and take us the home stretch)
• Rode about three hours
• Got pulled over by a cop for going about 84 MPH
• Cop let us off when he heard our story ("These kids are on their way to their wedding reception, officer. They've had a rough day.")
• Five miles down the road, the truck stopped working. No, I'm not kidding
• Pulled into a gas station
• Buck and Whitni drove the extra miles out to come rescue us
• We left "Uncle Ben" there, where he occupied himself with the beautiful Virginia scenery and a camera, until that same cop happened upon him half an hour later. The cop was amused, and they passed the three hours in friendly conversation while Ben waited for Aunt Kit's husband Scotty to come get him
• MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH: The band that played at the reception was receiving updates of our status from my mom, and announcing them to the crowd
• Rode with Buck and Whitni for a few hours
• Were forced to go excruciatingly slowly on the mountain road into town
• Hit EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT when we actually got into town
• Had to go to the apartment and shower and put on makeup
• Rushed to campus and got changed into our dress and tuxedo in record time
• Were announced and entered to standing ovation and a drumroll, a full hour and a half late to our two hour reception

Later, Buck and Whitni got their own warm welcome and were hailed as those who "rescued the bride and groom!" We mixed and mingled sort of like a blender, exchanging the most minimum of pleasantries before moving on with a "thankyouforcomingandhopetoseeyouagainsoon."

Crazy, crazy day. But, as Brayden kept reminding me while I was having hysterics about how many things were going wrong, "But just think of all the STORIES!" It does make a great story. Weirdest birthday I've ever had.

**PICTURES TO COME! CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR SO!**

Day 11 -- Aloe Vera

Almost drowned today. Twice. We went to the beach, despite my ridiculous sunburn. The hurricane was only 200 miles off the coast, so the waves were crashing in from three directions at once and they were stronger than they'd been before. Apparently, I couldn't handle them.

After that, I finally succumbed to the agony of my sunburn. We went back to the beach house and watched movies all day.

It was wonderful :)

Brayden had never ever used Aloe Vera before Wednesday. But in the past two days, he's decided that it is a sacred nectar of healing. He's perfectly fine and burn free now.

I, on the other hand, am swollen and sick and can't sit back against anything or eat anything substantial. But, I slaughtered him in Scrabble!

We also went on a midnight beach walk. By this point, the tide was encroaching upon the boardwalk, which was a good 500 yards away from the usual shoreline. The whole thing was incredibly surreal. The sound of the waves and the wind. The city lights far off on the horizon.

Couldn't capture it on film. Need a new camera.

Day 10 -- Fulfillment of a Dream

This day truly cannot be conveyed in words. So, the SparkNotes version:

I rode a horse on the beach at sunset.

I literally rode off into the sunset. It was Brayden's early birthday gift to me. It was perfect, wonderful, and amazing. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Thank you Brayden, for fulfilling a dream.

Day 9 -- Catamaran

6 hours on the sea + no sunscreen = REALLY STUPID!

We're sunburned.

We can't even hug.

Moving in any way shape or form is excruciatingly painful.

And this is nothing compared to what we'll be feeling in the morning.

But there is no better way to get sunburned! We went on a catamaran cruise this afternoon, compliments of Aunt Beth. We sailed out to this beautiful little island where the surf was clear and the fish were bold and playful. We collected two bags of shells, then got to sail out to the Cape Lookout lighthouse.

And I saw wild dolphins! They were swimming and jumping alongside the boat! I couldn't get my camera out in time, but they were beautiful.

On the way back, Brayden got the hoist the sails (something it took two boys to do on the way there. He's so buff.)

I fell asleep for most of the ride back. This time, I stayed in the shade, instead of out on deck.

As we were pulling into the harbor, we saw wild horses. Brayden woke me up to see them.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AUNT BETH FOR THE WONDERFUL WEDDING GIFT! The cruise was amazing.

Next time, I'll wear sunscreen.

"If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience."

Day 8 -- Spork

We had our fancy "One Week Anniversary" dinner today. And by fancy, we mean cheeseburgers. On plasticware. But the whole evening inspired a delightfully hilarious question.

"WHICH SIDE DOES THE SPORK GO ON?!?!?"

We were doing the whole dinner with paper and plastic, so that I wouldn't have to do dishes. We had plates and cups and napkins and knives, spoons ... but no forks. But, because I'm a rotten little thief, I'd rescued a handful of sporks from Taco Bell when we stopped for lunch on Friday. They were in the glove compartment in the truck. But when Brayden brought them in and started setting the table (trying to follow proper table etiquette) he got stuck. Is it a fork? Is it a spoon? In a proper table setting, where the heck do you put the spork?

In the end, he ditched the spoons altogether and let the spork fulfill its full potential.

Day 7 -- Julio

Today, we had a race against time as we tried to build our sand castle. Brayden was on the front line, gallantly digging moats and ditches to protect our pile of sand from the rapidly rising tide.

Unfortunately, he put me on building duty. And I can't build sand castles. Instead, all I could come up with was this sand turtle.

His name is Julio. And he tragically perished just minutes after this was taken. But we loved him while he was with us. Even though he wasn't a castle.

Tide, you may have won this one, but one day, we will defeat you!

On a side note, Brayden is an awesome boogie boarder. I hope to achieve his level of awesomeness someday.

Day 6 -- SPIDERS!

There are GIANT SPIDERS everywhere!!! Brayden says they keep them around to eat the mosquitoes. They must be doing their job, because I don't have a single bug bite. But ... I think I'd rather have the bites. *shudder*

This is one of the pictures I took of them. All of the little black smudges are actually 3 inch horrors. But I wanted you to see what I had to see every day when I walked outside.

So, I found this close-up online.

Absolutely nightmare-inducing.

Day 5 -- Stir Fry

Today was a very special day for us.

*drumroll*

I prepared my first HOME COOKED MEAL for Brayden!

Now, note here that when I say "home cooked" I really mean "from a bag." But there was cooking involved! No fast food, no microwave. Me, with a pan and a spatula!

It was a very fulfilling moment.

Day 4 -- Mr. and Mrs. Cluff

The Governor's Palace has a MAZE in the back gardens! And fresh fruit trees! And a room with leather wallpaper!

Brayden and I played hide-and-seek in the maze for a good while, but then, sadly, we had to leave Colonial Williamsburg behind. And we went on our way to Reception #1.

WHICH.WAS.AWESOME!!!

**Pictures below courtesey of Laura Johnson. See more at http://www.laurajohnson.smugmug.com/

From the bottom left going clockwise: Arielle Tanner, quasi roommate from last year. Zina Card, cousin and "little sister I never had." Ashley Colton, one of my best friends from church. Chelsea Smith, my best friend since sixth grade and maid of honor.

"DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS" (those are grapes she's tossing, by the way)

Me with my maid of honor.

Cutting the

cake with a sword. Which Brayden promptly tried to

steal afterwards.

Our first dance! Ain't we cute?

Day 3 -- 1774

Here we are (wearing completely authentic period clothing) in our CARRIAGE RIDE! I have the best husband, he spoils me. End of story.

Brayden and I spent today walking around Colonial Williamsburg. Lots of walking. But it was worth it. The weather was PERFECT. We went to another tavern for lunch, we saw the armory (much drooling from Brayden) and the stables (much drooling from me) and all these awesome little gift shops. We also got to spend some time with Brayden's sister Amaree, who works there as a historical interpreter. We got to see one of her scenes, which was quite amazing.

And then, that night, Brayden took me to the best store in the world. YANKEE CANDLE! It's two stories tall, and three buildings long. There are fountains and

lamp posts and a FUDGERY! You can dip your own candles.

And yes. This is inside. Where it snows.

IT SNOWS! In the back, there are about 10 rooms ALL of Christmas stuff. And it snows. When I finally own my dream house, we're installing a snow machine for Christmas.

And here's Brayden, with a life-sized Playmobile cop. It was basically a dream come true for him.

Day 2 -- In which everyone is well fed

If you've never been to Colonial Williamsburg, I am telling you now : go. If only for the food. (I shouldn't blog when I'm hungry. Everything always comes out in cornbread and tacos. I should be telling you about the wonderful little town, but all I can think about is the Brunswick stew.)

Brunswick stew is possibly the most delicious thing I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Today we drove from DC to Williamsburg, and tonight Brayden and I went wandering about Colonial Williamsburg around dinner time. He took me to Chowning's Tavern. It was all manner of authentic. Candlelight, dark wood, musicians wandering around the rooms playing. And, poss

ibly the most interesting feature, "common seating." It's when they put you at a table with total strangers. We sat with another couple (Jeff and Heather) and had a remarkabley wonderful time. Brayden and Jeff found they had alot in common, and we all stayed for over an hour after we were done. The waitress brought us a game to play called "Shut the Box", which Brayden and I now have to get for ourselves, because it was a blast.

When we got home this evening, we discovered that our hotel has a 24/7

mini golf course on the premises. Brayden beat me 60 to 40. And then, when we got back to our room, we found that the hotel had left us a care package! Two bottles of this AMAZING apple cider, a bag of peanuts (from the tavern we'd just left) and a "Congratulations on your recent nuptials" card.

Tomorrow is the tour day. We're seeing as much of Colonial Williamsburg as we can before we have to leave on Friday morning.

Day 1 -- THE WEDDING!

Today, Kaitlin Bellamy became Kaitlin Bellamy Cluff. Brayden Cluff was stripped of his bachelorhood. Another happy couple got to change their facebook relationship status to "married," and I got to wear a pretty pretty dress :)

All is well with the world. And here's the first day of our "Every Day an Adventure Project 365." Although I REALLY have to think of a better title for it. I tried "EDAP" for short but that just sounds weird.

Anyway, the first "adventure" (and I classif

y "adventure" in this blog as anything odd, o

ut of the ordinary, generally interesting, amusing, worthy of discussion, or possibly deadly) came when we got to the hotel and opened our suitcases.

This is what greeted us. Someone in Brayden's family had filled our luggage with rice. Thousands upon thousands of grains of rice. Instead of throwing it to send us off ... well, let's just say we'll be finding rice in our pockets for the next six years.

Project 365

Project 365 : The task of taking one picture a day for an entire year. Usually a year of significance, i.e baby's first year, freshman year of college.

A large part of newlywed life involves creating your own family traditions. In the few days Brayden and I have been married, several have already sprung to life on their own. We also set goals (family prayer and scripture study, etc) and try to mesh our different lifestyles together.

This Project 365 is a goal established to solidify a tradition. The tradition of taking pictures. I took no pictures when I was younger, or even as many as I would have liked in high school and the first two years of college. So Brayden and I are going to have pictures. Every day for the first year of married life, we are taking at least one picture. Of anything. Sometimes it's a picture of us, sometimes it's a picture of the unusually large spiders nesting outside the beach house (trust me, you'll get that story later).

My hope is that we will get into the habit of taking pictures, so that even when we're done with this year, we'll be able to continue to capture our memories together.

And more important than the actual taking of pictures is looking for the right picture to take. Already we've learned that we go out of our way to make things adventurous if it's for the camera (especially me:) So we set out into this first year looking not only for a picture a day, but for an adventure a day.

Wish us luck!

~Katydid

P.S: These first few posts are me playing catch-up. I've only just now been able to find the time (and the wireless internet) necessary to post days 1-6.

Public Restrooms ...

... are sleazy, slimy, smelly, crowded, cramped and all-around gross. And women are insane when it comes to restrooms. Every one of them seems to think that their needs are far superior to the needs of everyone else in the thirty-foot line. And they let their kids run around and look under doors and wreak havoc with the automatic dryers.

And really, how hard is it to keep the countertops clean and dry? You're grabbing a paper towel to dry your hands anyway. An extra second and a half and you can wipe up the soapy scummy wet mess you made while washing your hands.

Public restrooms are messy, and in constant disrepair. Why? Because they are built to be that way. I mean really, think about it. I can't speak for the guys (having only been in a men's bathroom on a few choice occasions) but when women's restrooms are built nicer, they stay clean. When they put wallpaper up and put a "lounge" area just outside them. When it smells nice, because the company has spent the extra three bucks a month and gotten automatic air fresheners. The purpose of the restroom hasn't changed, and yet no doors are ripped off hinges. Toilet paper isn't trailing all over the floor. The countertops aren't wet and gooey. But grey tile and grey doors and two inches of wiggle room in every direction, and no wonder the ordinary public restrooms are treated as they are.

The best public restroom I've ever been to was in New York City, at a restaurant called Mars 2112 . It was clean, it was "themed" without being glitzy and tacky, and it had an attendant. Someone who was paid to stay there and clean up after every single use. She refilled toilet paper the second it was out. She was constantly wiping the countertops and cleaning the mirrors, and she was actually pretty fun to talk to. For a position like that, you've really got to get someone with personality. But she had it, and she made going to the bathroom in a public venue, something I generally avoid, tolerable.

I'll be honest. The food itself was nothing to write home about. But I'd rather go to Mars 2112 again than some of the other places we went that trip. Not because of the theme necessarily (although it was cute and fun) but because I respect a company who cares about all aspects of its business. A friend in the fast food industry once told me, "You wanna know where to eat, you check their bathrooms first. Because I guarantee you they'll be cleaner than the kitchen." Now that is a scary thought.

Public restrooms freak me out. But the bright side to all this is that the particular restroom that triggered this rant was at Union Station. In DC. Which means, I'M IN WASHINGTON DC! Which means I'm getting married tomorrow. Which means that none of this is really important in the grand scheme of things, because tomorrow at this time I'll be at the temple getting dressed, about to marry the most wonderful man on the planet.