Sunday, April 29, 2012

Weekend in Raleigh


This past weekend, David and I took a short trip to Raleigh to visit my cousin Scott!  He has a new apartment and we hadn't seen it yet, plus we wanted to see Raleigh!  We left Friday morning and a certain little boy was invited to come, too:




He did so good in the car.  He normally whines the entire time, but he finally settled down in his favorite spot- Daddy's shoulders!




He got in to Raleigh around 3:30pm and it was a gorgeous day.  There is a wonderful nature park 10 minutes from Scott's apartment so we took Marley on a little walk.




I, of course, brought my camera to take pictures, but you know boys!  This was the best I could get:




Even Marley wouldn't cooperate!




After our walk, we got ready to head to downtown Durham to grab a bite to eat and go to the Durham Bulls baseball game.  This is the only picture of me from this weekend.  Just to prove I was there!  And to show off my cute outfit.  This was my birthday gift from my Aunt Diane!



We went to dinner at a place called Tyler's.  We ate outside, the weather was so nice!  There were so many people out.  They had a band playing, lots of people were sitting in chairs watching and talking, and kids were running around everywhere.




We headed to the game and got there in the 3rd inning.  The bulls were already losing 8-1 and by the 5th inning they were losing 12-1, so we decided to head on home.  We had a busy day planned the next day!

On Saturday, we got up early to go run in the park.  Scott is up to 6 miles on his training and I was set back a little when I got sick in March.  David and Scott ran together and I was on my own.  Well, actually I had Marley.  I ended up running about 4 miles and Marley made it most of the way!  He loves to walk and run.  I was impressed with his little self. :)  He pooped out close to the end so I carried him the last 10 minutes.  We got showered and headed to lunch at Jason's Deli.  I had never been there before and I got the chicken salad sandwich with pineapple in it and a side of fruit and it was so delicious!  Scott's apartment complex is right in the middle of pure awesome-ness.  There are 3 pods of shopping areas right next to each other and there are so many stores: Barnes and Noble, Target, Petsmart, Staples, Starbucks, Lowes food, Michaels, Caribou Coffee...etc.  Basically anything you could have wanted!



I'm a Starbucks girl, but Scott has really gotten into Caribou Coffee so after lunch we stopped by so I could see what all the fuss was about.  I ended up getting a turtle white mocha and it was delicous!  It was made with real white chocolate chips so that was neat.




We grabbed our coffee and headed to downtown Raleigh to the new Museum of Natural Science that just recently opened up.



  It was so cool!  There were 3 levels and so many interesting things relating to humans, oceanography, technology, animals, and space.  I learned some pretty interesting things.  For example:

Last summer when I wad salmonella poisoning, this is what had invaded my body:




It just looks like an evil bacteria!

The huge Right Whale they had hanging from the ceiling was named "Stumpy" and was found dead a couple years ago in the ocean.  They did an autopsy and discovered she died from being hit by a boat.  The research they did from her death (including how fast a boat can be going before it breaks bones) helped lead to new boat speed regulations.  Unfortunately Stumpy's death was a double-blow because she was actually pregnant.  The skeleton of Stumpy hanging on the ceiling also had her skeleton baby as well.



And probably the grossest thing we learned was about the extinct gastric brooding frog which laid eggs, then swallowed them, shut off its gastric juices so as not to kill the babies, and then when they were ready to be born (fully formed froglets...) they would be "birthed"....from her mouth.





Yep, I gagged a little when I read that.  I'm not sure I would appreciate birthing a baby out my mouth. Ha!

We also spent about an hour in the Museum of History before it closed, but I didn't get any pictures there.  It was a quick tour anyway.  When we left, we freshened up a bit before our dinner at Mez!  If you ever go to Raleigh, you have to go to Mez!  It is one of the best mexican restaurants I have ever been to.  We went last year when Scott graduated from Duke, so I couldn't wait to go back again this time around!


Here is a picture of 2 of my favorite guys on the way back from dinner :)


We ended our evening at home with some drinks and movies.  We watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall (always a favorite go-to!) and Step Brothers.  We got almost all the way through Step Brothers before we were ready for bed!  

We slept in this morning and then grabbed lunch at Jimmy John's before we headed back to Greenville.   We were sad to go, we had so much fun!  Scott is one of Marley's favorite people and as such, he left Scott one of his bones from the weekend:


Scott, we had so much fun and we can't wait to come back!  Thanks for being such a great host and planning some awesome activities for us! :)


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Baby Shower #2

On Saturday, David and I hosted another baby shower for some friends.  But this time we had the help of more friends- Phil and Emily!  



I worked the night before (why do I keep doing that to myself?!) so I was glad to have the extra help this time around!  We hosted the shower at Brian and Marybeth's house (the soon-to-be mommy and daddy!) so we got there about 12:45pm to set everything up!  When we got there, this pretty thing was already on the table!  Brian's mom made this diaper cake.  Isn't is so cute?!


Their house is already so pretty, we didn't have to do too much to decorate!  Brian and Marybeth are having a little girl and her room is orange and pink, so we stuck with that for our color theme!  We added streamers, a banner, and had pretty pink and orange plates and flowers, thanks to Emily!



David and I got the cake made at Couture Cakes of Greenville and we got it to match the invitations that David made.  They did a wonderful job!  Brian and Marybeth decided on the name Evelyn Felicity, so we thought it was fitting to add her initials to the cake. :)


The soon-to-be parents, Brian and Marybeth.  They are so happy and we are so thrilled for them!


We had a very special little guest.  Remember the baby shower we gave Casey and Jayma?  They brought sweet Nolynn to the party!  Isn't she so big--and absolutely beautiful?!


Aunt Erin had to get some lovin' in on the sweet girl!  Doesn't it look like I need a baby?!  Haha!
I just love this girl so much!


Emily had some great games set up!  For the first game, she printed out some pictures of babies making funny faces and everyone had to come up with a caption.  The guys really got into this game!  They all went to separate corners so no one could cheat off of them.  It was too funny!



They came up with some pretty funny captions!  We also played a game where you had to fill in the blanks on baby rhymes.  Some of them were pretty old and hard to remember!  I think Brian's mom won that game, haha!

Brian was excited to open gifts ;)    They racked up on a bunch of great stuff!


Both Brian and Marybeth went to Auburn so little miss got a onesie for football season! (It's okay, our friendship has survived despite the fact that they are Auburn fans ;) Just kidding!!....)


Brian's mom makes baby bibs, so they got a slew of those in a bunch of different, cute, girly patterns!  I'm thinking I'm going to need to get some of those when it's time for us to have a little one!



I hope Brian knows what he's getting himself into with a little girl!  That girl is already so spoiled!  She got so many wonderful things at her shower, including adorable clothes!


Beautiful Jayma and baby Nolynn!



We can't wait to meet you, Evie!  



Thursday, April 19, 2012

In the Mean Time...

I'm currently towards the end of my few days off of work and I've gotten some stuff done on my never-ending list. (That list is such a tease!  Every time you finish one task, 5 more pop up!)  David and I got out and did a little more yard work.  Yes, I did do some yard work!  It wasn't without some screeching and swatting at bugs...  We also had an escapee:


Jovie is an indoor cat, but could hardly stand it that Marley was always getting to go outside!  She had to see what the fuss was all about.  I looked up from the yard to make sure Marley was still there and saw an addition, haha :)

I've also been working a lot on our wedding album.  We received the copyright to all of our pictures, but because of that, we had to print them all off and make our own wedding album etc.  So, I've had 400+ pictures printed out for a while now and had no idea how I was going to tackle this project.


But I got on a roll yesterday and got through the pre-ceremony, ceremony, and family pictures after the ceremony.  I haven't gotten to the reception or get-away yet.  But I think I might need a few more scrapbook pages!

I've really enjoyed going through my wedding pictures so would it surprise you that I popped my wedding dvd in?!  Ha!  Yes, yes I did.  And I'm quite enjoying it! :)  

 

I've also started tackling our laundry.  It isn't so bad, I try to do a couple loads a week so it doesn't ever pile up!  Unfortunately, it's the clean clothes at our house that pile up!  Haha!


And just for good measure- here's a picture of my handsome boy.  His hair is getting so long- yesterday his "bangs" were all pushed over to the right.  I told him he looked like a member of OneDirection! Ha!


I apologize in advance if I don't post for a week or so!  I work Friday night, am hosting a baby shower Saturday, work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night and I'm on call Wednesday night!  Whew, that's a mouthful... but I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week! :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Honeymoon: Day 10

Oh, our last full day in beautiful Maui.  Our last day was pretty low-key.  We didn't plan anything except shopping and a luau for dinner.  We figured we'd better come home with some good stuff for our families!  And we wanted to bring something home that was special to us from each island we stayed on as well.  So for most of the morning and early afternoon, we shopped!  And actually, that's what we were doing when we found out Steve Jobs had passed away.  We were in the Maui Brewing Company t-shirt shop when my mom called.  Y'all, he holds a very weird place in my heart, haha!  My entire family had microsoft computers before David came into the picture, and once he came along, he changed all of our tunes. :)  First me, then slowly the rest of my family.  (Not totally, thanks to my Grandmom, we had the first ipod that ever came out.  That thing is huge, by the way!)  So we spent the better part of the afternoon talking and then saying, "gosh, I can't believe he's dead!"

We did that even as we ate lunch.  And lunch?  This was our view:


Ughh, I could not believe we were leaving the next day!  I tried and tried to talk David into staying an extra week, to moving there permanently....but since we're back in good ole' Simpsonville, my begging didn't work! ;)  But really, people...can you imagine waking up anywhere more beautiful than this everyday?!



I also got a flower to bring home!  I still love it and I know it's going to get some great use this summer. :)

We really didn't take too many pictures during the day, we just enjoyed being with each other.  But we did take some at the luau!  David and I spent 5 days on Oahu and 5 days on Maui.  We made the decision before we even booked our trip that we wanted to experience a luau on each island we visited.  I know this is part of the "draw" for "mainland" Americans when they come to Hawaii, but it's also part of their rich culture that "mainland" Americans tried to force out for decades.  So, for our last excursion on our honeymoon, we attended the Old Lahaina Luau!

Of course we had our "before dinner" pictures. :)  It's just tradition at this point!


 Didn't my hubby look so handsome?!

When we arrived, they gave us our admission packet, with our names on it!  My new name!  Excited was an understatement.  I had to have proof!  And yes, I saved it for a scrapbook. :)


The girls were also offered a flower to place behind our ear-- but not just any ear!  If you are married, or taken, then the flower goes behind your left ear.  If you are single, or approachable, the flower goes behind your right ear!  Well, I'm taken!! My flower was worn proudly behind my left ear! :)


 We were shown to our seats and then left to roam the grounds.  They had a lot of craft areas where you could learn about Hawaiian culture or watch natives making unique things.  David and I still hadn't found that "something special" from Maui until we came upon this guy:


Making these:

 

We knew we had to have one.  We had been one of the few on our snorkel trip to see a sea turtle so we knew this would always be special to us.  The man even engraved the bottom of the sea turtle for us:


One of our few pictures together. :)  I love this picture for more than the fact that it has both of us in it! (Although I do love it because of that, haha!) But all of the boats in the background?  The Old Lahaina Luau is situated right on the coastline and boat after boat came in and settled to watch the luau from the sea.  It must have been so peaceful for them to be rocked by the calm waves at sundown, listening to the traditional Hawaiian music and seeing the traditional Hawaiian dances.  I bet they also really liked seeing all of the honeymooners come down to the front to dance. ;)



The show is a "must-see" if you ever visit Maui.  It was beautifully done, the food was delicious, and the dancers were magical.  It was the perfect way to end our honeymoon and say "aloha" to wonderful Maui.