MY Happiest Place on Earth

Since my grandparents have run away to South America, Dalaney and I are trying to compensate for their lack of presence (physically and monetarily) at our favorite place in the world.....TREASURE HUNT/DIRT CHEAP/HUDSONS Salvage Store.

Similar to various Disney locations, there are many dependent facets to South Mississippi salvage shopping.

Treasure Hunt (formerly known as Hudson's or Hudson's Treasure Hunt) is definitely the Disney World of salvage shopping: vast, breath taking, and always unforgettable.

Then there's Dirt Cheap representing Disney Land: definitely more expensive (it is CA after all), smaller scale, and only fun 68.3% of the time.

Outside of the mainstream salvage stores here, there are now radical places such as Hudson's Outlet or Salvage World which are just like DisneyLand Paris: similar names, language barriers, and places we'd like to visit but probably never will.

All 92.7% relative.

Mayan Ruins

Getting here was a disaster!!! We drove an hour on the empty toll road only to be turned away on arrival because we couldn't pay the $20 (yes, $20 USD) toll. We had no cash, no ATM access, and no debit card machines. So, after tacking 2 hours on our excursion we finally made it to Chichen Itza before closing!!

Let's Make A Deal Costumes

Made the morning of using safety pins, silk flowers, and tacky astro-turfish grass squares.

Chicago Food Tour

Dalaney waged a battle: Chicago deep dish vs. NY's thin crust pizza. In Chicago, the sauce was on the top of the pizza and that freaked me out. In my opinion, NY wins all the way. Chicago's hotdog wins the battle hands down though, complete with a crunchy full-size pickle and cucumber. Yummm

Lost in paradise

We're safe and sound in an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico. We took the red-eye from LA last night and arrived in Cancun at noon to sunshine and intense humidity, despite the dreary weather outlook. Tonight, I ate the most delicious skewer of grilled shrimp and indulged on bottomless guacamole. More pictures tomorrow! :)

5:40pm lounging in lush Chicago park.

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ATTENTION! True story. We witnessed a robbery in the heart of downtown Chicago. While ordering at Fat Johnnie's (yes, that is a trailor in front of someone's home), an African American man grabbed a teenage boy's wallet and ran into the distance. Unfortunately, these pictures were taken after the aforementioned crime and contain no hard evidence of the perp.

Where in the world is Oprah?

Home of "The Winfrey Show"

We love NYC and would love it even more if we lived there, however, we have to confess that we're relieved to finally be GONE. Our stay was extended almost 2 days longer than we'd originally desired due to poor planning on my behalf. Now that we're settled and able to physically recoup in Chicago, our plans are 110% clearer and organized. With trial and error out of the way, we're confident about the remaining cities which OFFICIALLY stand as (in order as they appear): LA, Cancun, DC, SLC, San Juan, & Boston.

Relieved to have independent transportation after arriving in Chicago, we quickly caught the Advantage rental car shuttle. After asking for our confirmation number, the native Chicago employee asked "Would you like economy?"
Thinking nothing about their accents, I was bewildered.
"What is academy?"
"Economy."
"Academy???? Ohhhh...Economy. I get it."

And speaking of language barriers... Today, we attended a Spanish ward in Chicago, and I literally caught 3 words (familia, englasis, and nombre). I texted my mom, "Spanish ward today, I feel for Grandma and Gramps." But only until they learn the language.

Some imagery

Staten Ferry Island
We watched The Fantastiks!

Love this show. It's soooo addictive.


Our luxury transporation during NYC Fashion Night Out, courtesy of Volkswagen.


Highly recommended pizza. Yes, those are meatballs. And yes, we ate the entire thing. In one sitting. Red carpet (ignore the homelessesque backpacks)!!

We're still alive!!!!

**Picture=inside joke.

I once read an article about an adventerous guy in search of a decent night's sleep at the following:
a. Central Park
b. Brooklyn Bridge
c. Bronx Zoo

If you find this article romanticizing in any way, I can personally attest from first-hand experience that you must be crazy.

Its true: I survived sleeping in Central Park, sans stabbing.

Later that night/morning, on sidewalk, as we dutifully anticipated pending tickets to The Regis & Kelly Show.

And they're off...

We spent the weekend with my Aunt Beth, Uncle Ronnie, and Rebecca. Delicious food, card game domination, and Scantron bubbles were enjoyed by all. Then, post-Sonic-Happy-Hour, these Hammondites dropped of us at the New Orleans airport where this picture was quickly snapped. Then off to the Big Apple we went!!

Time FLIES when you're having fun

We've never been very good with plans, so thankfully the pass allows you to change flights until three days before. I've crunched numbers and time to work out our current plan. But, the plan could still do a 360 since now I'm convinced we need to visit Bogota, Columbia.

On another note, we sold two text books on Amazon today! And...Groupon wants to feature Serendipity PhotoBooths in New Orleans!

Shaking our money makers

Despite the harrowing heat, we dutifully set up the photobooth at two high school football games this weekend. We charged $2 for 2 photo strips and quickly noticed a trend among Caucasian preteen girls. Overall, we made a $175 profit (every little bit helps..) and hope that the photobooth trend eventually catches on in Mississippi.

Thankfully, Dalaney is headed out to Utah this weekend (planned ahead of our 30-days of travel) to do two BIG events. And during this week I've received two inquires about pending events during the time that he'll be visiting. Miraclessssss!!! Never, ever have we done four events in one week. Yessssss, I, Hannah Mecham, am a believer!!!

So, we're happy campers (cross your fingers that the 2 events follow through) and are looking forward to the ginormous vacay.

ps. Did you know ginormous is a legitimate word in spellcheck?

Itinerary must-do's

1. Attend a second taping of CBS's Let's Make a Deal. We went in Vegas last year and Dalaney won $4k. Best. day. ever. Can't wait to show yall what I'm planning on wearing. Two words: nasty hot.

2. At least one day at Disney World. Dalaney's never been. We're considering attending a Timeshare presentation to score tickets.

3. Smithsonian, White House, Holocaust museum. ect.

4. Manhattan LDS temple.

5. Eat all the delicious food in Chicago that Dalaney raves about.

6. ELLEN SHOW. I requested tickets online but never heard from the show reps. Does anyone know how hard it is to get in standby?

7. Statue of Liberty. We didn't have time during our 15 hour trip.

8. Lay on the beach all day on an exotic island (location pending).

9. Visit Mechams, Lauren, Crystal, Dani, Hannah, ect. in Utah.

10. Crash MTV VMAs on Sept. 12th and go star sighting.

How will you save $$$ traveling?

Since purchasing our AYCJ passes, I’ve decided to watch Groupon for discounted restaurant, entertainment, ect. gift certificates in all the cities we plan on visiting.

Have you ever used Groupon? You never know what you are going to find, so if you know your itinerary check it out and plan ahead!

Today, NYC's groupon caught my eye:

$15 for one of three boat tours (Skyline, twilight, or historical) with NY Waterway Tours, $26 value

The night tour sounds majestic, but after buying two passes I think it is still exceeds our budget. I'm going to continue watching daily though so we can eat and play cheaper.

Join here so they’ll know I referred you!

Wait....what are yall doing??!

While we (both Americans) were completing an internship in the Scottish Parliament, Dalaney and I met and became the best of friends. So, it seems completely fitting that, now married, we would continue our traveling tradition. We've been married since January and have already traveled to the Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Marteen, Dominican Republic (all on our honeymoon cruise) and Costa Rica (a summer vacation with my family). AND NOW WE'LL UTILIZE THE AYCJ PASS.
After graduating from BYU in April, we both have determined that our degrees (him: political science and spanish, me: print journalism) are seemingly useless. So, our plans include venturing back to school, most likely in January.

In June we made the move from Provo, UT to my hometown, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to reside behind my parents home and save money. To earn money, I work at my dad's school uniform store, and Dalaney recently built a second photobooth which we rent out. We are also avid salvage shoppers and sale items on Amazon & eBay. Although we haven't saved as much money as we ideally anticipated, we are going to take advantage of this time in our lives and travel!!!

Follow us in our upcoming wild adventures :)

Oh Thanks Jet Blue

Back in May, Jet Blue surprised the public with its $10 one-way flights. Although a handful of strict stipulations surrounded the discounted flights, Dalaney and I dropped everything, drove six hours to Las Vegas (since we couldn't find any flights out of Salt Lake) and flew to NYC. Dalaney had never been and mom and aunt were also flying there from New Orleans. In total, we spent approximately 14 hours in the city (dinner and breakfast in the Big Apple) and 15 hours traveling. Yet, totally worth it.
I exclaimed, "Oh, Dalaney, we have to go to New York City!! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!!!! Never again can we go there for so cheap!!!!!!"

And now, Jet Blue has done it again.

"Oh, Dalaney!! PLEASEEEEEEEEE. We have to buy All-You-Can-Jet passes!!! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

So now, three months later, we're planning a second trip to New York City.

Living the loser post-grad dream

As the crazy-married couple that we are, Dalaney & I purchased JetBlue's $499 All-You-Can-Jet tickets (AYCJ) for unlimited travel through the month of September. Since this is probably the most exciting trip that I could ever envision, I am committed to blogging about every destination, activity, cuisine, ect. ect.
Our itinerary is going to look something like this (yet in no particular order...)

New Orleans
Chicago (I'll finally get to see his old mission stomping ground!)
Boston
NYC
Washington DC (neither of us have ever been...)
Seattle
SLC (I'm actually dying to visit!!!)
Los Angeles
San Juan, PR
Orlando (maybe?)

If you have any ideas about what we should do in any of the above cities, please share!! Oh, and buy your pass and come escape with us.

ps. I've already made Dalaney promise me that we can attend another taping of Let's Make a Deal (now filmed in LA). Pray we win some $$ to support our lifestyle!

Easter Bunny

Apparently, my mother forgot to ship my esteemed, annual Easter basket.

You might be wondering...Does marriage nullify one from receiving a goody-filled basket? Dalaney proposed this silly assumption too.

You see, that's the problem I've noticed about this whole marriage thing. People automatically assume that you no longer enjoy the simple things in life -- Easter baskets, week-long birthday celebrations, lavish Christmas presents.

For me -- the answer is a firm NO, marriage does not disqualify the innocent from celebrating holidays ideally. Traditions, people!

Well, at least until the marrieds have their own offspring. After a heated debate and analysis, this is the conclusion that we arrived at.

I'm not making any promises, but at that point in life, I will commit to reevaluating my expectations. Until then, however, I will continue to anticipate Cadbury creme-filled eggs and milk cartons of Whopper malted balls.

Don't fret about the quality of my 2010 Easter, though. Or place unfavorable judgement on Jenny Martin.

Begging for my forgiveness, she generously granted temporary spending privileges with her Wachovia debit card. So, Dalaney and I sped to Walmart Supercenter where we bought $18 worth of Reese's eggs, chocolate bunnies...you know, all of the Easter essentials.

Thanks skinny momma!

(Even Ryan understands...)