I’m looking forward to…

-having a kitchen again! Can't wait to be able scramble eggs and bake bread. My summer without a kitchen has convinced and motivated me to cook more often and make more homemade (not from a box) meals. I'm super excited about my cooking magazine subscription Renae got me for my wedding!
-the pool at our apartment complex! And weather warm enough to swim!
-the gym at our complex! Even though I walk a few miles a day at work, I still feel like a lazy bum and can't wait to get back to the gym. (Ha! I say that like I'm a gym rat or something. Jared usually has to drag me to the gym, where I end up pretending to bike while actually reading magazines. But it's going to be different from now on!)
-having a shower that doesn't take 15 minutes to get warm. (The other day, we got home from work, turned the shower on, walked to the bank to get a form notarized, walked home, and the shower was still not hot enough to get in. This is a true story.)
-taking walks and slacklining in the park next to our apartment. We have an amazing and beautiful trail system that begins right at the edge of our complex.
-going mountain biking again! We've biked around town quite a bit here, but we haven't found any trails nearby.
-restaurants where they season their food. We've tried to not eat out too much, but when we don't have a kitchen and there's not much else to do in town, we've succumbed to the temptation quite a few times. Unfortunately, the food here in our neck of the woods has been disappointing. We've gone to: (1) the favorite local fast food, Maid-Rite, which makes a sloppy hamburger that people seriously line up for. But we both thought it was very bland. (2) the "best restaurant in Greenville," the Bistro off Broadway. Several people have told us this is the nicest restaurant in town, but we weren't impressed. The food tasted like it was frozen and reheated and there was honestly not a stitch of seasoning on my chicken. (3) the "best restaurant in the county," The Inn at Versailles. This place is supposed to be as fancy as it gets around here, so we made the 30 minute drive there for our 1-month anniversary. When you live in the country, your idea of fancy apparently gets a little skewed, though. For starters, the hostess was wearing shorts and flip flops. I got chicken marsala, which I usually LOVE, but it was so disgusting I couldn't even eat it. Jared finished it for me and I picked at his dish, which was only slightly better. I really like going to original, non-chain restaurants, but after these disappointing and overpriced experiences, I'm ready to go back to the city where I can find some good chain food restaurants like On the Border, Cheesecake Factory, and Carrabbas. And we can't wait to try this bbq place in Raleigh that we've seen featured on the travel channel on 2 different shows!

Oh! But I have to mention that we did find a wonderful ice cream shop in Ohio called Graeters. Sadly, the closest one to us is an hour away but they have awesome ice cream - some of the best mint chocolate chip I have ever tasted. Score one point for Ohio!

No offense to cute little Greenville, Ohio. It really is a quaint little town that could be quite nice if it fits your style, but I just can't wait to get HOME to the good ol' South.

Countdown to North Carolina: 11 days! Hooray!