Can you say long weekend? It's been a crazy few days here in South Carolina folks.  Let me first back up and update you all about Friday.  My day began about 8:45 when I got to MS (Mann-Simons).  I didn't really know what to expect upon arrival but I met Fielding and Jake as I walked into the basement.  By this time Jake had taken down all of the old panels and pictures and cleared all of the cases of artifacts for safe keeping.  Fielding handed me a hammer and Jake took a very ceremonious yank to rip a ledge off of a wall and we started demo.  All in all it only took about two hours (especially once john arrived with the drill) to complete the demolition of the old exhibit and what was revealed was fabulous.  Two large fireplaces (one very obviously used as the main cooking fireplace), two large windows, and so much beautiful brick.

In the middle of demo

Pulling finish nails out

GRAAAHHH I’m so strong

Fireplace number one (the cooking fireplace)

Almost finished!

Friday night after work Wes and I drove up to Raleigh.  We were picking Austin up from the airport which gave me an excuse to see Wes's roommates and grab a few things from the apartment.  Friday night was very low key.  We went to get a drink at one of Wes's favorite places The Village Drafthouse and then made our way to the hookah lounge.  It was really good to see everyone and I love getting to see David.  It's always good to see old friends.  

Saturday was spent by the pool with David, Whit, and Wes.  It was in the upper eighties lower nineties and the pool felt great.  I also got my first good tan of the season (please note that I said "tan" not "burn"; I'm so proud of myself for not burning!).  After that we headed to the airport to pick up Austin and then made our way to The Pit.  If you are ever in Raleigh you HAVE to go there to eat.  It's so freaking good!  I always get the chop bbq plate with cheesy bacon grits and either mac 'n' cheese or bbq beans.  I'm pretty sure that the first things I say when I get to Raleigh are "when can we go to the pit?" and "what's David doing?" so it was a pretty successful weekend if you ask me.  

We spent a lazy Sunday in Raleigh and then started on our way back to Cola.  This is where our fabulous weekend took a turn.  About an hour and a half outside of Cola we got into a car mishap.  The SUV in front of us ran over a blown semi tire and it landed directly in front of the car.  Luckily we were both fine and Wes made the right decision by trying to straddle it rather than swerve out of the way however the tire managed to tear up the bottom half of the bumper and the radiator.  We made it to the next exit and called AAA.  AAA led to a tow that led to a very crappy hotel for the night and eventually we managed to get a rental car and made it back to Cola a day late and having missed a full day of my life.

Damage to the car

Poor bumper :(

Today I finally got back into the swing of things and got to HCF at about 8:15.  I spent the beginning of my day doing some more reading on MS and then headed to the site for a volunteer orientation of the new exhibit.  

The finished product

Since I’m uploading pictures, here is one of MS.