Monday, August 8, 2011

our vacation & american idol experience.

I know, I know…. I have been very bad at updating my lovely blog. And speaking of, I had my 1st Blogiversary last month! One year of blogging and I’m so happy I started. It’s been awesome looking back at the first posts and seeing how much I’ve grown and how I have become stronger with each day with the move away from home. (You can see my very first post HERE)

A few weeks ago David and I drove to Charleston, South Carolina for our first vacation just the two of us since our honeymoon. While there, we auditioned for American Idol which was a lot of fun, and no, we didn’t make it to the next round (but it’s okay). We also stopped in Savannah, Georgia on the way there. It was such a beautiful city, and we will definitely be going back in the fall.
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In Savannah we walked the streets
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We ate at Paula Deen’s restaurant called The Lady & Sons
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piggin' out

We went to the park where Forrest Gump was filmed
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Run Forrest, run!

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& we saw so many horses and carriages!
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From there, it was a two hour drive to Charleston.
The first day in Charleston was registration for the American Idol auditions. We got there at 2 am, realizing that many people had gotten there at 11 pm (now that’s just crazy). While waiting for the doors to open, we enjoyed the sounds of people singing all around us (a little bit of sarcasm there), and David used my Coach purse as a pillow so he could sleep. We were told not to bring chairs or blankets but so many people did anyway, and I was quite jealous staring at them in their nice chairs while we were on concrete all morning.
Fast forward 7 hours and 3 cockroaches later (they were running around all the people), they finally started opening the doors! By that time, the video crew of American Idol had been conducting little interviews with random people in the crowd, and taking group shots. There were a LOT of people there and it was only the FIRST day of registration (so it was half the amount of people who actually showed up for audition day). Here’s a video I shot from the front of the line to the back:




Yep, it was crazy.

The next day in Charleston was the best. We just walked around the city exploring and discovering where certain movies were filmed. We are movie fanatics and love going to famous sights. Many well-known movies have been filmed in Charleston - The Notebook, The Patriot, & Dear John to name a few.
We walked down King Street, the street in which they filmed many of Allie and Noah’s scenes in The Notebook
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We went to an old Theatre with birds (my favorite) on the wall
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Hung out by the beautiful Charleston Place Hotel
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We stopped for a drink at a bar that was on the ROOF of a hotel and had a SWIMMING POOL up there (freakin’ cool)
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I love this picture. This is David's art.

Went to Wet Willie’s (Daiquiri bar with a TON of flavors) and had a “Call a Cab” which was the strongest drink on the menu, and the most popular
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Enjoyed more scenery
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Got a cigar
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The next day, the auditions took place. We arrived at about 5 AM and waited in line until 8 or 9. We met some cool people, though. Once we got in the Coliseum, we could see more clearly how many people were actually there. Almost the whole Coliseum was full.

Once we were settled Ryan Seacrest came out and gave us all a 2 minute pep talk. It was weird seeing him in person and not on television and, yes, he’s short and very pretty. Then, they told everybody to sing Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” in unison and took a few crowd shots. They also took crowd shots of people saying, “I’m the mouth of the south!” This took about an hour.

And then the coolest thing happened. They shut off all the lights and told everyone to take a picture at the same time. Eeryone went, “Oooh, ahhh.” Let me tell you, it was the most beautiful thing! It was like thousands of twinkling stars all at once! It was amazing.

After this, they set up the audition tables and the executive producers came out. It only took about an hour for our audition because we had gotten there early on registration two days earlier. When our time came, we lined up at the table with two other people. I went first. I sang 45 seconds of “You and I Both”, until they motioned me to stop.
David went next singing “In Love With a Girl.”
After the two girls after us were done, the producers talked a little bit to each other, making sure we couldn’t hear it. They asked us to step forward and said, “There were some good voices in this group, but your voices aren’t strong enough this year for the show. Thank you.”
And then we walked away, getting our wristbands cut off and exiting out the “non-winners” door as they call it. It was a cool experience, and it was one step closer to getting rid of my fears so I was proud of myself for trying and giving it my all. There will be more opportunities!

Towards the end of the week we decided to be brave and went out in the heat for a whole day. Mind you, the heat index was 115 so we wanted to stay in the hotel, but we knew we should experience Charleston more. I’m glad that we went to Middleton Place. It was rich in history and breathtakingly beautiful in some parts.
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There were animals wandering around the open land
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It was an overall wonderful day
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slave cabins
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The only original statue from the 1700's
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The restaurant
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Leaf lips.


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My best friend, Bethany, made my vintage headband! I just love it!

We loved relaxing with each other and enjoying the vacation! There will definitely be more of these since we don't have kids yet!


News:
*My brother left for basic training for the Air Force today. Please keep my family in your prayers as they watch another child leave home
*We are auditioning for The Voice on Thursday!
*Our friend Aaron G is staying with us right now!

Happy Tuesday to all, and to all a good night (or should I say morning?)

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful pics! Glad you both had a fun vacation and I am very proud of you both for trying out for American Idol. You are brave! Love you guys, Mom Logan

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