Weekend trip to Wilmington!

The beautiful weekend called for a trip to visit the Byrd's in Wilmington! Temps were in the 80s with a nice cool breeze along with an amazing dusting of pollen (aahhhh-chhhoooo!).

Hanging with Maggie at the house (after playing the Wii for way too long, still sore, ouch!)


Paul enjoying the porch swing


"Here gator, gator, gator..." Where are the alligators? (near Orton Plantation)

(if you notice, I'm taking the picture from INSIDE the car...)

Feeling the need to learn something new, we stopped at Brunswick Town - Ft. Anderson. It was one of NC's first port cities - sadly, it didn't last long, however, the slide show and personal lecture at the visitor's center did.

Ruins of St. Philip's Church (one of the few remaining 18th century structures, circa 1760)


Earthen fort from the Civil War



Us!


Them!


Rooftop sunset view of the downtown waterfront


The USS North Carolina and the sun setting

spring is making a show!

It feels like spring, smells like spring and looks like spring at our house. The temps have been maxing out around 80 degrees with dappled sunshine this week. Here are a few pictures of the flowers currently in bloom at the house...

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I didn't realize how much we apparently like purple flowers... :)

2 fun weekends in a row

Wow! We've had 2 fun and exhausting weekends in a row. No lazy afternoons or sleep-in mornings for us!

The first weekend in March we hosted our long distance neighbors, Philip & Jennifer (from Wilmington!). Philip celebrated his 31st birthday on March 2nd and we celebrated with cake(s) [it was supposed to be a nice round cake, but after looking forever and not finding my cake pans, we made it rectangle and upon trying to extract it, it broke in 1/2 so we made 2 cakes... one in the shape of "31" and the other was just a mound of cake + icing + sprinkles + random candles + yeah, whatever else we could find!] . They brought their super-sweet, cute and oh-so well mannered pooch, Maggie (yeah, so we're having serious 'doggie-fever' now). On Saturday we took a little field trip out to Frankie's Fun Park where the boys could race go-karts, go head to head in mini-golf (no idea who won, the course was poo!) and of course we gals racked up the tickets on skee-ball. Here's a few pictures from Philip's cake and the adorable Maggie:

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Then, this past weekend we took to the yard. We couldn't resist spending some time outside working ourselves into a sore mess. We finally attacked the 'mound' of dirt that has been collecting in the backyard (from all the other crazy projects we've taken on since we moved in). We also had 2 new trees (corkscrew willow and a ginkgo) that needed a home, so viola! We had our project. Our course we had to make it more complicated by moving around shrubs and moving current plantings and planting new bulbs. So this weekend we planted: 2 trees, moved 2 shrubs, moved a rose bush, planted a tree/shrub & a few other random plants, tilled the garden, moved the herbs, planted 9 cana flowers, 28 gladiolas, and 20 other bulb thingies, patched 2 sections of grass... I think that's it... Oh yeah, we're sore!

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For good measure, here's what we had to work with:

(Our lot, 5/15/2004)

(aww, you can see my old Tribute on the left - good memories!)

When we first planted the 'bird feeder/rose/flowerbed'


I can't wait for the leaves to return and all the flowers start blooming! Believe me, they will be pictures to come! :)

The MADNESS has begun!

"Wolfpack beats Duke in OT, 85-80, at ACC Tournament"

Wooooooooooooooo! Go Pack!



More pictures from the game on the N&O website

Quotes from Sidney Lowe from "Go Pack!":

"I thought we played a very solid ball game, both physically and mentally, but more importantly mentally. We made runs when we had to. We talked about that in the locker room, that we needed to make a couple of runs and these guys did a great job of doing that against pressure defense. We executed our offense extremely well, we didn’t pre-determine who was going to get the shot – we took what was there – and then we got big stops down the stretch. We had some guys that just played a tremendous game for us."

On beating North Carolina, now Duke:

"It’s no secret that it’s great basketball tradition down there and you have three schools that have great basketball tradition, three schools that have won national championships, three schools that have tons of NBA players to come through there. Any time those three lock up it’s a big game and like I told our guys before, it’s not something that I made up, it was something that was there when I got there as a player. Someone told me they were big games so nothing has changed. It’s always exciting when you get a chance to play them and certainly come off with a win."

Frozen smoothie obsession!

Ok, so it's only 34 degrees outside (with a stiff north wind) but I'm currently obsessed with frozen smoothies! Over the weekend I was introduced to the strawberry, banana, soy milk smoothie delight (thanks Jenn B!)! It's so much cheaper (and healthier!) than buying one at the smoothie shop (which is tempting on my treks to campus).

Here's how to make your own:


4-5 frozen strawberries (whole)

1 banana [broken in 1/2 to fit in blender] (on the riper side)

2 cups of vanilla or almond soy milk

squirt of honey (if the banana is a little green)

Mix well in a blender and serve with a straw!

Delish! :) I did run out of bananas this morning (we've gone through 6 since Sunday!) so I made just a pure strawberry one and it was just as tasty!

How cute are they?

I had a nice surprise at work a few weeks ago...


Sleeeeeeeeeeeeepy girls!


Awake & alert! They are pros with the camera around.





John, Jennifer, Kimberly & Kathryn came to visit! They were pretty happy (esp. after they had been fed) although there were a few unhappy moments (as in the last photo!). I was so terribly sore after holding them - not because they were heavy - but because I was so TENSE! I haven't held many babies and I was hoping that a more 'motherly' instinct would kick in... but alas, it did make me kinda-sorta-maybe want to have children in the nearer future (?) I've got to work on my upper body strength first!

Terribly late, but more pictures!

Our last 2 days in Florida

We spent 2 nights in Orlando. It was pretty calm and the weather was PERFECT! We took time to play some more mini-golf, eat and relax.

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On Valentine's Day we went to Walt Disney World (the Magic Kingdom). It was sunny, breezy and warm. We encountered a lot more kids than I expected for a mid-week day in February. However, we were the lucky recipients of a "Dream Fast Pass." Our visit fell during their "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion. While waiting in line at the Jungle Cruise we were one of the lucky few to be 'awarded' this badge. It gave us a "Fast Pass" to head to the front of the line at most of the popular attractions! We were able to ride EVERYTHING at the park! It was awesome (and we looked cool with our special badges).

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We took a sidetrip to Atlanta on our way home to surprise my parents :) They were gracious enough to let us spend 2 nights at their house totally unexpectedly (of course the house was spotless as usual - sometimes I wonder if I'm adopted since I did not inherit the 'keep the house spotless' gene). [JUST KIDDING MOM!] We left Atlanta on Saturday to our final stop in Asheville for UNCA's Homecoming (more importantly to see Shea & Micah, Becky, Jen & John & the girls).

UNCA gals at the famous "El Chaps"


Final moments of the UNCA vs. Radford game (which we won 78-68)


Snow on Paul's truck (while we were in the game)


Snow on the mnts and salt on the road