A Southern Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for me was spent eagerly awaiting Nate's arrival in Biloxi, MS. He arrived around 4pm at the Beau Rivage Hotel/Casino, where I took a super sketchy cab ride that was only a few miles, but ended up being $20 to meet him there.

I was so nervous and excited to finally see Nate after 4 months...it was like I was used to just hearing his voice on the phone and seeing him occasionally on skype, but seeing him in person and being able to give him a hug was amazing! Thursday evening, we went over to Joe's house (one of my site supervisors) with a couple other people who didn't have any real Thanksgiving meal plans and he cooked an amazing turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans for us! He even had some sweet tea and a few delicious desserts too :) I've gotta say, just Nate being with me was all I needed for Thanksgiving, but having a real home-cooked meal, including an actual turkey made it that much better and more like a true holiday :) On Friday, we started off our day eating breakfast at Waffle House, a southern version of IHOP that is on ever corner. Nate got the traditional southern biscuit with sausage gravy, he's so good about trying all the true southern things down here that I, myself am too grossed out to try haha. After breakfast we did a little shopping in the $10 boutique in the Beau Rivage, where Nate bought me a new watch/bracelet because I keep breaking mine! We then had a couple's massage, which was the greatest thing ever...Nate totally spoiled me! We finished the day with dinner next door at the Hard Rock Cafe

and started watching Eat, Pray, Love in the hotel room until I accidentally hit the wrong button on the remote and we lost the $15 movie 45 minutes in :( Ooops! So we switched to watching Everybody Loves Raymond instead. Saturday was quite an adventure! We made up for our laziness the day before by spontaneously getting a rental car and going across the bridge to Ocean Springs so I could show Nate around Camp Victor, where I live down here and we also went to the beach I run to almost everyday and put our feet in the warm water :)

We then went to lunch at Hooters, because Nate had never been to one before, and I have gone several times, so it was only fair that he finally got to experience it haha. Next we drove 45 minutes to Pascagoula where I showed him 3 of the houses that I have been working on, doing flooring, touch-ups, and starting a new build. It was really exciting for me to actually get to show sometime from home what I have been doing, not just telling them about it, so I loved it! Nate commented on how great it was hearing me be so excited about what I do down here, it makes him feel better that I am enjoying what I'm doing down here, even though I am far away from home. We also went over to the beach there, where we walked down the super-long pier and looked for dolphins, but didn't see any.

We then headed 2 hours to New Orleans to walk through Bourbon Street, so Nate could just see how crazy it is, even at 7pm then we headed to the safer part in the French Quarter for a nice southern dinner, where Nate got the waiter-recommended "bayou bowl" with cajun shrimp---yuck!

But he really liked it, so that's all that matters! Then we hit up the famous Cafe du Monde and waited in line for at least a half hour so Nate could try one of their famous beignets. Needless to say, it was a very eventful day/weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it! It was so awesome for me to finally have some of my home life and AmeriLife collide :) Nate left at 9am on Sunday, which was really hard...but at least we have the comfort of knowing that I will be home for winter break in just a few weeks! We don't have to wait 4 months again!