When in WV . . .

My in-laws came to visit West Virginia for the first time over the 4th of July weekend. They were probably expecting banjo-playing, toothless rednecks like most people do and, yes, we have our fair share of those. But so do Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Luckily they both enjoy the outdoors, so we were able to show them a lot of what WV has to offer.


The first night they came, we stayed at the Dian Lee House in Bluefield:





Brad and I stayed in the Abe Lincoln Room. It was awesome.






Over the course of the 5 days they were here, we did a lot of this:

And Brad and his dad even did some of this:

We spent some time in Fayetteville, ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Diogi's, and I purchased a pair of Merrell Pace Gloves (which I ran in for the first time today and LOVE). We hiked, drank, ate at a fancy restaurant, visited the Capitol Market, and hiked some more.

While we were showing them around our lovely new(ish) home state, I felt proud of WV. There are so many beautiful places to go and gorgeous natural things to see. So Charleston has very few good restaurants and there isn't a Whole Foods or a Lululemon in the whole state. So no good bands ever play here (outside of Mountain Stage, of course) and the theater is limited. So we're not a major city and we don't have a professional sports team. We have met wonderful people, are making great friendships, and we can get anywhere in the city in 10 minutes. There's never any traffic to speak of. You can hike up a mountain 5 minutes from your house. The air is clean (if you're not near a coalmine) and the trees are big. I've become a trail runner, and Brad a better cyclist. Mountains do that to you -- they make you strong.

Life is Good

Flew into the Central Wisconsin Airport last night on the smallest plane I have ever seen. It seemed that all of the large, heavy people were sitting on one side, and I felt like, as we flew, there was a slight tilt in that direction. Maybe not. My parents picked me up and we went to Applebee's for dinner, which is one of those places that I would never go to unless it was with my parents.

This morning, my cell phone rang and it was a job offer. During my job search, I applied, interviewed, and was rejected for a lot of jobs that I am very overqualified for. Every time the rejection came, I felt so bad about myself. The job that I accepted today is in the same industry that I worked in while we lived in Pittsburgh, and I loved my job there. For the first time in my life, I will be starting a new position with directly-applicable experience. The best part about it is this: they were not hiring. When I arrived in Charleston, I sent my resume, thinking that nothing would come of it, really. But they are creating a position for me. That's never happened for me before.

Up next, a WI fish fry, Labor Day, and a week of pre-wedding madness leading up to wedded bliss. Stay tuned.