Doozer, Waylon and Gratitude to Start 2017

Once we got back from PA, we had less than 24 hours until my sister and Waylon her puppy dog arrived from FL. We ate, we hung out,we watched movies, went to a restaurant that was voted to have some of the best tacos in the country...and rang in 2017!

For our first brunch of 2017, I made a hybrid of eggs Benedict...they had scrambled eggs, roasted asparagus, prosciutto and hollandaise sauce over an English muffin...so good!

Later in the day we read the slips from our Gratitude Jar.

I set the table for dinner...

...and we all enjoyed heaping plates of pork and sauerkraut.

It was an awesome way to start the new year!

Overnight in Charleston

My friend loves the South. And Charleston is as beautiful and Southern as they come! And she had never been! So Hubby and I decided to take her to Charleston for a quick weekend trip. We drove down to Charleston, had lunch, checked-in to our hotel in the historic district and then drove to Magnolia Plantation. We took a tour of the plantation house and the gardens. I thought I'd share some of the best photos with you!

We enjoyed dinner after that, and my friend and I had a night out on the town. The next day highlights? Lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co...see Little Man posing as Forrest Gump?

And then, we introduced her to The Battery.

The waterfront, the homes, the park...it took her breath away, just like it takes mine every time I see it!

It was a great part of the visit.

What A Visit!

I'm happy to carve out a few minutes to finish this post.  I've been working crazy hours and it's taken me several days to get this together.  I wanted to share all about the fabulous visit I had with my best friend.  We've known each other since 1993, when we were both exchange students in Germany.  We reconnected in 1995 when we were both in the Army and stationed at Fort Jackson.  You may remember her from a few years ago when I went to Vegas.  Well with the first house not selling (we've now had three contracts go bad) a trip to Vegas just wasn't happening this year, so she came to visit us.  She got to spend quality time with Little Man and Hubby, and she loved seeing all the green of North Carolina.

We started the trip with a relaxing evening of my spaghetti with homemade meatballs and sauce...with yummy wine of course.  We sat on the deck, enjoyed the air, and turned in at a decent time.

The next morning we got up, ate and headed for pedicures and lunch before heading to the Spa at Rock Barn.  We luxuriated in the outdoor hot tub, me sipping a smoothie while she enjoyed wine...both of us soaking in the air and beautiful view. We loved the sauna, waterfall pool and the massages.

We drove home (it took about 75 minutes to drive there), met the fellas at the house, and headed to dinner at one of our favorite places, Boudreaux's!!!!  We stuffed ourselves with mojitos and beyond fabulous Cajun food, then Hubby dropped us off at a neighborhood spot where we sipped drinks and relaxed some more (with very full bellies).

Saturday, we made breakfast, looked at photo albums, and then went to a pole fit class.  Yes, that's right, we spun our sassy selves around poles while wearing 6 inch heels!  We had a great time, then played with Little Man and hung out while Hubby went to a football game.  Mexican dinner and a movie followed, and, too soon, it was Sunday, our last full day together.

We went to Boudreaux's again for their fabulous brunch...and then headed to the National Whitewater Center.  

First we went kayaking...a first for all of us.  I went in the kayak with Little Man...I can't lie, it started out very frustrating.  He moved around a lot and I was nervous he'd tip us over.  But about half an hour in, we all relaxed and were able to enjoy the river and the scenery.

We even saw some turtles sunning on branches!

Afterwards we cooled off and enjoyed watching the whitewater rafters...we have to go back and do it...I've only done it once but it was a lot of fun.

Hubby and I waited in line with Little Man for quite a while to do the zip line, but I decided to sit with Tenasha once I realized how long the wait would be.  I'm glad I did...the guys really bonded, and I got some video of them zip lining together...the zip line is approximately 1300 ft long.  We were really impressed that Little Man wasn't scared.  I can't say the same, I was nervous for him.  He's wearing the orange helmet.

 After the zipline!

The rest of the day was eating some more with good wine and fabulous steaks, with crab stuffed mushroom appetizers.  We also recuperated.  The next day she and I had lunch at a local restaurant that's known for its Southern cooking, and then I sadly took her to the airport.  I so look forward to seeing her again!

Necessary Craftiness

In the 12 years we've been married, my husband and I have realized that we have a disturbing trend when we find out overnight company is coming...we fix things.  Not little things either...we've been known to paint multiple rooms, paint furniture, buy furniture...anything ridiculous and we've probably done it.  

This last year we were able to do a lot of the things we wanted to with the basement project (which I just realized I need to post about...hmmm...may need to do a weekend post on that for the holiday), but some other things just had to be put off because of money.  Having two houses has been draining us financially, and so extras like curtains or bookshelves just didn't seem important enough to make the cut.  We don't have people over often, and, well, we figured they would just have to understand.  Until I found out my best friend ever was coming to visit from Arizona.  My pride just wanted the house to look a little less thrown together.  I pondered the dilemma and did nothing for months.  Here was the problem...

Our great room is 2-stories.  We have windows on top of windows and to tie the space together I wanted curtains from the top of the upper windows....that meant I needed curtains that were 126" long.  The windows were also only 33" wide...so custom was the only way to go.  After pricing how much it would cost to have curtains made, I knew that wasn't a possibility... all the companies I checked with quoted $500-800.  

I also wanted a big painting for over the mantle that no one else would have.  With blues.  I went on Pinterest (if you're not on there yet, seriously, check it out) and pinned paintings that I liked the look of...then bought the biggest canvas A.C. Moore had with a 50% off coupon...cost of the painting (with paint and new brush) = less than $30.

The painting was a breeze.  The colors look a little washed out in this photo...but it really lends itself to getting lost in in real life.

The curtains on the other hand, wound up being a monumental undertaking.  Here's what I did.  I bought curtain panels that were 57" wide and 98" long from IKEA for $25 a pair. I set up a table in the great room and went to work first adding the length to each panel, then cutting each panel in half and then hemming the raw edges where they had been cut.  I had to do three panels like that to make 6 smaller panels for three windows. There was tons of measuring.  When it comes to sewing my best rule is: measure twice, cut once. 

With the cutting and pinning done upstairs I took the panels downstairs when I had to sew.

Hubby put up the curtain rods and we both worked together to steam the wrinkles out of them.  Total cost for the curtains = $50 (I used three panels that I split and then one extra to use on the other three for length). I also bought 2 other pairs for the library and dining room once we put up rods in there.  Obviously I saved a lot of money making curtains myself.  Since we have blinds they didn't need to be lined, and they aren't fancy, but they really make the room look put-together.  The curtains took me about 2 days to do (14-15 hours).

The other eye-sore of the house was the front living room that we plan to use as a library.  There were 23 boxes sitting in the corner filled with books and decorative items that we had no shelves for.  Well, we got a debit card as a reward from our bank and used them to get the majority of the bookcases for the library.  Hubby put them together and I spent the day before Tenasha arrived unpacking 18 boxes of books.  My back was sore that day! Eventually the bookshelves will have another row of shelves up top and will go over the window...but for now, no more boxes!!!  And my Kennedy book collection is out where I can see it!  It was like Christmas seeing all those books that have been boxed up for so long!

We put a lot of work into the home projects, but it's been so nice looking at the improvements.  We're fortunate that we're handy enough to tackle these things so we can save money. 

Now a shout-out...

To My Mother, for the seriously pimp sewing scissors that cut that fabric like butter...and for teaching me to clean the windows before you put up nice new curtains...even if you have to wash each blind individually...and it takes you 4.5 hours...and you want to cry.  Because when Tenasha came she actually touched one of the blinds to see what material it was made out of, and all I could think was thank GOD I had cleaned it and greasy dust didn't get all over her fingers thereby letting her know her best friend was a dirty pig who spent days making curtains just to have someone stay in a dirty house...because that may have been embarrassing!

I Said I Had Lots to Share!

If I'm quiet here in blogland it's usually because there's loads going on in the real world.  That's definitely been the case this year.  Here are some more highlights!

Hubby, Little Man and I all took our first trip to Fort Sumter while we were visiting Charleston.  A beautiful ferry ride took us over, and on the way we enjoyed watching the dolphins playing.

See that big ol' bridge in the photo above? Yeah, that's the one I ran over!

During the trip over and back Little Man worked on the Junior Ranger booklet, learning answers along the way (with our help) so that when we got back to the center, he got a badge!  He's an official Junior Ranger!

Before we headed to PA we decorated our Easter eggs so they would be ready for the Easter bunny.  This year we went with Angry Birds...I drew faces, cut them out and then passed them through my sticker maker (except for the eyes...a good old hole puncher did the trick for them).

In PA, my Mom, Hubby and I had a great time taking Little Man and my nephew to the planetarium and museum.  It was so cute hearing the boys interpret art when I asked them what some of the pieces made them think of.

A special treat was the Andy Warhol exhibit...part of which was the the Mylar balloons interactive exhibit.  The museum had a fun scavenger hunt for the exhibit that we all worked together to find the answers to also.

We did our first family 5k (and Little Man's first 5k ever!) to benefit the Pawz Too Run charity.  Little Man struggled a bit for the last mile or so, it'll be a while before we do it again...but we all felt great when we finished!

Another first? I took the NC Concealed Weapons Class with two of my co-workers.  We had a blast....literally!!!

December Highlights Part 2!

Since January is already over (where did the whole month go?!?) I thought I better quick fill you in on the rest of our fabulous December!

I got some crafting in when I used the Cricut to make a sleigh card for Little Man's teacher and I put a gift card and some candy in it.

Little Man got pajamas made by his Crafty Grandma (hmmm, may need to come up with a suitable Craft Chick nickname).  The pajamas say I love grandma...very cute and comfy!

I had a great birthday filled with family, food (we ate a LOT), cards and gifts.  I even got some time to myself to squeeze in a run! It all started with a great breakfast at a local diner where the waitresses sang 'Happy Birthday' and brought me a muffin with a candle in it.  We went to the memorial garden, ran some errands, and my brother and his family came to help me celebrate.

My brother also decorated my cake, and wrote a message about me being so old.  That's how he is, ever the jokester!

Christmas morning was filled with surprises for everyone!

And more crafty goodness from Grandma North.

And some cool new gadgets!

Then we headed to my brother's house to do it all again! And we hung out and had dinner.

And, we opened our traditional Christmas crackers.

And the kids were too cute in personalized Santa hats that my sister-in-law had for them!

The kids always have a great time together.

The day after Christmas my brother, James and I had some fun deep in the woods.  We went for a hike...

...and then we went shooting.  We had so much fun shooting up glass bottles and a spinning target.

Bet you weren't expecting that kind of an end to the Christmas festivities post, were you?