Other September Pictures

When I was planning for our vacation it worked out for us to go the first week of September and since my birthday was the week we got back I decided to take that week off too. So, I had a two week vacation - week 1 at the Outer Banks and week 2 at home. It was really nice. The only downside was that Chad had to leave right after we got home from vacation for a work conference. Thankfully we was flying home on my birthday so we got to spend that evening together. Here are some pictures from my birthday and other September events:

The beautiful birthday flowers Chad got me!

He also got me this cute birthday Pusheen.

Some cat and garden pictures:

The second week that I was off on vacation we decided to hike Crowder's mountain. Chad used to do it all the time a few years ago and I had just successfully climbed Hatteras, so we decided to do it. It was fun for the first bit, but by the time we were actually climbing Crowder's I wasn't having fun. On the way back down the trail to our car I was seriously wishing we hadn't done it at all. It kicked my ass! Then a few days later I woke up with the worst shoulder pain of my life. Thankfully I was able to get a massage and see my chiropractor - he said I had a rib out of alignment and it was from breathing so hard while we were doing Crowder's (seriously.)! Maybe one day we'll do Crowder's again, but for now I think we need to find some easier hiking...


A few weeks after our vacation we had the opportunity to see Jake Shimabukuro in concert in Greensboro. Jake is a Hawaiian ukulele player who is unbelievable. My Mom introduced us to his music and while I did like it and appreciate his talent, I was blown away seeing him perform live. It is almost unbelievable what he is able to do with that one small instrument. It was a great show and I'm really glad we had the opportunity to see him live in concert!