Ba"bee" Showers!!

Babies, babies and more babies!
If you're not chasing them around your house, you've got a bun in the oven, or you're busy trying to make one (or just practicing).  I've got a handful of friends that are currently pregnant and another handful desperately trying!  Don't even look my way.  I'm not drinking that water!  Kevin and I aren't ready to start a family quite yet.  There's more traveling to be done before we settle down for those long 18 years.  HA!

Three weekends ago, I helped host a baby shower for Ashley, a friend from a previous Bible study group I was in.  She and husband Tim are waiting to learn the sex of the baby, giving us the question, "What will the baby be?"  Add in a few bumble bees and it turned out pretty cute!

The shower was a brunch at Lucky 32, which lent a lovely backdrop to a really special day for Ashley!

 We started with a chance to guess how many honeycombs were in the jar!

Guests added their fingerprints to the fingerprint beehive.

Ladies left notes for baby Grady.

Beautiful flowers ran down the center of the table...

...and brunch was FANTASTIC!

 

Next came gifts.  Man, were there gifts!  This baby is going to have all the best things!

We took a break for cake, which had to be the best cake I've ever eaten!  Thanks to Whole Foods for the amazing cake with lemon pudding in the middle!  Yumm!

We couldn't go home without taking a group picture and a few pics with the "Mommy-to-Bee."

Congratulations Ashley and Tim!  I can't wait to meet your bundle of joy in August!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I made the Strawberry Pretzel Salad for the Brew-A-Que this year and got rave reviews, so here it is so you can make it this summer and win the favor of everyone who partakes!

Ingredients:
-1 stick of butter
-sugar
-pretzels
-8 oz. cream cheese
-cool whip
-6 oz. package of strawberry jello
-10 oz. package of frozen strawberries (I suggest sliced strawberries, not whole strawberries)


Directions:

For Top Layer:

1. Boil 2 cups of water

2. Mix jello with water and stir until dissolved.

3. Stir in strawberries and chill until slightly congealed.

For Bottom Layer (as soon as the top layer goes in the fridge):

1. Crush 2 cups of pretzels

2. Melt the stick of butter

3. Mix butter, pretzels and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the bottom of a baking dish (9 x 13).

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

5. Take out of oven and let cool.

As the top layer is congealing and the bottom layer is cooling, start working on the middle layer.

For Middle Layer:

1. Mix together cream cheese (softened) and 1 cup of sugar

2. Fold in 2 cups of cool whip

Then put it all together:

1. Spread the middle layer on top of the pretzel layer and then spread the jello layer on top of it all.

2. Place in the fridge to chill completely (I made it the day before so it had an entire day to chill.)

Because it was the 4th, I added blueberries and blackberries on top for a splash of blue in that sea of red and white.  Plus with all of the fruit, it's healthy, right?

Whip this up!  You won't be sorry!  It's a people pleaser!

The 1st Ever, 5th Annual American Brew-A-Que

The 4th has come and gone.  Happy Birthday 'Merica!  And we had a FABULOUS weekend!  This year was the 5th Brew-A-Que, on the 5th of July, and it was a blast!

This year we started at Raleigh Brewing Company for a tour and a sample of their beers.  Disclaimer: If you haven't visited Raleigh Brewing Company...umm, you should!  There are picnic tables and corn hole boards outside to relax and play with friends.  Inside, it's air conditioned in the "drinking room" and patrons are welcome to bring their dogs inside as they sit at high-tops enjoying their brews or playing darts.  It's a cool set-up!  They even offer a home-brew store, so if you're a home-brewer, you must check it out!  Not to mention they have food trucks on site all the time, so you can eat, drink and be merry!

Our tour took us into the back rooms where we got a history of the brewery and the brew-making process while we sampled 6 beers in our mini Raleigh Brewing glasses we were able to keep.

My favorite is Hell Yes Ma'am, a Belgian Golden, whose name is a tribute to the co-owner of the brewery, the only female brewery owner in North Carolina.  It's also 9.2% alcohol by volume...so maybe that's why I liked it so much!  HA!

After the brewery, we popped back over to the house and put the finishing touches on the party before our 24 guests started arriving! 

Kevin fired up the grill and the "que" portion was in motion.

After our delicious burgers and dogs, and a speech from Kevin to kick off the festivities, we started the annual cornhole tournament.

Lindsey Laughlin, I stole some of your photos...thank you!

We played until the sun went down, not even taking a break for dessert.  Although, those who were craving something sweet, had their fill.

In the end, "Fire in the Hole" took home the Golden Hole and we celebrated with sparklers.

Currently we have Golden Holes in North Carolina (Foxybutt and Sand Baggin'), Texas (Tandice), Vermont (MCPOBID), and soon Hawaii.  "Fire in the Hole", Mick and Leah Parker, are soon to be moving to Hawaii.  Pretty amazing!

Keep your eyes peeled...you may just see a golden hole in the sands of Hawaii!  Until next year...Will you be there?

Michael and Megan Get Hitched

Friday was once again a beach day, which was amazing because the water had calmed down and we could actually get it.  I can't say I spent a long time in the ocean...it was freezing...but at least we waded in a few times!  We also took a little walk down the beach to check out the condemned houses.  Can you believe there was once a road in front of these houses?  The ocean took that for it's own many years ago.  These poor homeowners!!!  The city has condemned the houses, but the insurance companies won't pay out one penny until the ocean claims them.  It's just a waiting game.

In the end the wind was too strong and we packed up our gear and headed back to the house right around lunch.  Which was great, because we had friends coming that evening and we needed to tidy up the beach house.  Kevin's college buddy Wes, and his girlfriend and her daughter, came down from Virginia Beach for the weekend and our Bible study friends John and Elena came on down from Raleigh as well.  We went from two to a full house!

Kevin and Wes cooked burgers on the grill for dinner and we spent the dusk hour playing bocce around the house before it got too buggy and we had to go inside.  We spent the evening chatting in the house and catching up...that's where the memories are made!

Saturday was WEDDING DAY!  We woke up to a full breakfast of bacon and eggs, delish!  Thanks Christina!  As John and Elena left for their adventure and the rest of the crew headed out to the beach, I finished my book and putzed around the house before getting myself ready.  I had the honor and privilege of taking Hayden, my best friend's daughter, to get her hair done to be the flower girl in Michael and Megan's wedding.  I was super nervous to drive with her in the car.  I'm a cautious driver anyway, but I was very aware I had precious cargo in tow.

We went over to Hairoics in Kill Devil Hills and got pampered!  Hayden was a little shy when she got in the car, but as soon as we got in the salon, she opened right up.  Here's my pre-hair entertainment!

Hayden's never gotten her hair done before, so I could tell by her quietness in the chair that she was nervous and taking in every single movement the hairstylist made.  She looked so grown-up and has to be the prettiest flower girl I've ever seen!  We may have a few inside jokes just from our salon experience.  I can't tell, but the funny is responsible for the big smiles in these pictures!

After loading her up in the car, it was off to Manteo to meet up with the wedding party.  However, first we took a pit stop in front of Jockey's Ridge to check out the kite festival going on that weekend.  Hayden was excited to spot the different kites. 

We got into Manteo and after fighting for a parking space (there was a festival going on), I delivered Hayden to the salon with the girls and then headed back to the beach house to get changed and pick up my hubby.  Then it was off to the wedding at the Aquarium in Manteo. 

The ceremony was outside on a covered dock and was perfect!  Megan and Michael said "I Do"!

Found another turtle friend...what can I say?

The cocktail hour included free reign of the aquarium.  It was fun to take our time checking out all the animals.

The reception was in the shark room.  It was pretty amazing to watch these large fish swim by as we enjoyed dinner (from the Black Pelican), good drinks, and great conversation with friends.

After the toasts, cake cutting, the first dance and some intense dancing with my buddy Hayden, we ate cake.  I don't know if it was the massive amounts of food I was eating, but my skirt was WAY too tight and we had to call it a night earlier than we would have liked because I was miserable and feeling super icky!

Congrats Michael and Megan!  We wish you many years of happiness and we were so honored to be part of your special day!!

Sunday we packed up the house as fast as we could and drove on over to Stack'em High Pancakes for breakfast.  It was delicious!!  After a quick bathroom break at Jeanette's Pier, it was time to hit the road for home.

Vacations are never long enough.  It was so hard to leave the relaxing beach, but I was beyond pumped to sleep in my own bed that night.  There's no place like home!

From Manteo to Dirty Dicks

Wednesday, we spent the entire day in Manteo.
After breakfast at the beach house, and stopping by Dunkin Donuts for a coffee, we hit up the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.  I have to admit it wasn't much to see, but it was cool to read the story of how it was moved inland from it's position way out in the sound.  The fact that it was actually used as a lighthouse for the marshes made up for the fact that it was little and not so exciting.  And it was crazy to think that someone lived in it way out in the middle of the sound, only reachable by boat.

As we were walking along the waterfront, a pirate ship filled with little kids moved by and we spotted the Elizabeth II, a ship replica over across the water.  We decided to walk over to Roanoke Island and the Festival Park to check out the Elizabeth II.  However, when we got over there and realized you had to pay just to enter the area, and it looked geared towards kids, we turned around and walked back across the bridge and straight on over to our lunch spot.

Poor Richard's is a spot I visited as a child.  We decided to try it for lunch along with every other person hanging out in Manteo that day.  Kevin got a crab-cake sandwich and I decided on the BLT with vegetable chicken soup (which I have to admit, I was a little scared to try).  Well, it was AMAZING!  We stuffed ourselves to the brim and headed out on adventure again.

It was hot and after a bit of wandering around and checking out the shops downtown, we decided to head back over to Fort Raleigh (where we had seen the Lost Colony the night before), because we knew we'd be able to explore in the shade.

Well, we found the fort and then started walking the trails.  It was peaceful in the woods!  One path lead down to the water's edge, while another had a water view with a bench.  We took our time and read the placards along the way-although most were annoyingly written in olde English and we couldn't understand them.

The last thing I was interested in before we headed back to Nags Head was the Christmas Shop...so we started driving in that direction, but had to take a pit stop at the Duke of Dare.  Now closed forever, it's a spot my mom stayed with my dad way back in the day (maybe on their honeymoon).  When we were little, mama took my sister and me down to Manteo and we stayed at the Duke of Dare, but not for long.  It was run down by this point and there was water dripping from the ceiling onto our bed.  I don't know if we even lasted one night, before changing hotels.  We both laughed back then because we couldn't imagine it being anything magnificent.  So, a bit of nostalgia ran through me and it was a little sad to see that it's officially closed.  I decided I needed some pictures for old times sake.  So, there was that, and the Christmas Shop (which did nothing for us) and then we headed back over the bridge.

We decided to check out Jeanette's Pier.  We didn't want to pay just to walk on the pier, so we sat in the shade on the side and watched the waves and people on the beach for awhile.  It was super relaxing.  We went in and got ice cream cones and I rode the turtle before heading back to the beach house.

Sometime between getting back to the house and leaving for dinner, there was a rain shower and this lovely rainbow greeted us on the deck of the Pier House Restaurant before we sat down for dinner.

Oh the seafood was so good!  We had hot crab dip and fried shrimp with slaw and hushpuppies for dinner.  Yum!  Dinner came with a free walk on the pier, so we took our walk before heading out towards Jockey's Ridge.

In the many times I've been down to the Outer Banks, I've never actually been to Jockey's Ridge.  We always just drove by "the huge sand dune on the wrong side of the road".  So, I was really excited to get out and have the chance to hike to the top.  We went right at sunset and found a park ranger at the top, who we chatted with until the sun sunk below the sound.  It was gorgeous and a perfect way to end a very busy, but relaxing day!

I had to add these two photos separately because they are some of my favorite that I've ever taken!  It was a beautiful night!

 

Thursday morning we got up and headed over to Sam & Omies for breakfast.  Another "staple" that been in Nags Head forever.  My mama enjoyed a good meal at Sam & Omies back in the day and took us there for dinner one night when we were a little older (a separate trip from the Duke of Dare) only to find it taken over by bikers.  We were quickly loaded back up in the car and ate dinner somewhere else.  Hard to believe based on the breakfast clientele we found.  The food was AMAZING and we enjoyed just sitting, talking and savoring each bite!

We left breakfast and went back to the beach house ready for a day on the beach.  However, that's when the rain started.  It poured and poured and poured.  Thank goodness for CMT and a show called Party Down South (a trashy mix between Jersey Shore and The Real World, with some redneck thrown in there).  As it rained, we proceeded to watch about 8 episodes of Party Down South until we were both addicted!  It was horribly delightful and made the day perfect!

Our view for at least 8 hours that day!

Our friends and parts of the wedding party started arriving Thursday night, so we pried ourselves away from the tv to join them for dinner at Dirty Dicks.  The service was great and the food was enough for an army!  Seriously, Billy's burger was as big as his head.

After dinner we went back to their condo and hung out until it was time to go catch some z's.

I'll wrap up our trip in the next post, so check back soon!

Beach Trip

Sorry for my blogging absence, I'm back..let's get to recounting life!

One of our bucket list items is visiting all of the lighthouses in NC and climbing them.  In 2012, we climbed Cape Lookout.  Last year, we saw Old Baldy and Oak Island Lighthouse (and a bonus Tybee Island in SC).  This year, we were invited to a wedding in Manteo, the perfect place to visit Bodie Island Lighthouse-that just opened for climbing for the first time last year! YAY!  So, we planned a week down at the beach with a special trip to the lighthouse on our first day!

How is it that when vacation is almost here, the days just drag by?  We got off work on Friday-it was time for vacation!!!-NOPE...we weren't going down until Sunday.  Between Friday evening and our Sunday drive to the beach I had goodbye drinks for a co-worker, we had dinner out at Moonlight Pizza, Kevin had his last Miracle League Game of the season, we visited my mama (who's still recovering from surgery), we attended a surprise 30th birthday party, and packed and parked cars at church Sunday morning and loaded the car and finally, FINALLY, it was time for the 3 hour drive to Nags Head.

After settling into our beach house and taking a quick walk to the beach, I made spaghetti for dinner and we prepared ourselves for a relaxing week!

Monday morning, bright and early, we woke up to eat a cereal breakfast before driving over to Bodie Island (pronounced Body).  We got tickets for the 2nd tour of the day, which started 15 minutes from our arrival time.  After wandering the grounds a bit, we met our park ranger on the brick path to the lighthouse and started our climb.  With all of the ocean deaths, we had to sit through an info session on rip currents before learning a bit of the history of the lighthouse.  There were a few kids in our group.  We knew that meant excitement and that they'd be anxious to get to the top.  So, we opted to walk a little slower and stay at the back of the pack for more alone time and better pictures at the top.

I think the lighthouse has 7 levels and I was very happy to reach the top!  It was a gorgeous day!

After our climb down, we walked over to the marsh area to explore a bit.

It was only 10:30am, but we were starving, so it was time to leave Bodie and venture into town for some lunch.  We drove, and drove, and Kevin didn't believe there were any restaurants anywhere.  Finally, I remembered friends recommending the OBX Brewing Station, so we headed in that direction.  We arrived around 11am and it wasn't open until 11:30, but I knew just what to do!  We rounded the corner for a pre-lunch snack at Duck Donuts.  Maple for Kevin and Maple Bacon for me-and it hit the spot!

The brewery was fun!  We each got a beer...Lemongrass for me and Knucklehead for Kevin, and some lunch and relaxed a bit!  We happened to run into the groom for Saturday's wedding and a groomsman too, which was an added bonus!

After our meal, we went over to explore the Wright Brothers Memorial.  I've been here before, but it was fun showing Kevin the ropes!  It was neat to see the memorial and pretty surreal to see planes taking off right beside us, knowing that only 100 years prior Orville and Wilbur were flying only 120 feet.  We've come a long way!  My favorite part was a statue at the base of the memorial that depicts the iconic picture of the Wright brother's first flight.  I think it's newer-at least I don't remember it from my last visit.

After a jam-packed day, it was time to relax on the beach!  We threw on our suits and headed out to relax in the setting sun!

Tuesday, I had plans for us, but Kevin was super pumped for a beach day, so I postponed my plans and we geared up for an entire day at the beach.  Gearing up consisted of me making pancakes for breakfast (complete with mimosas and bloody Marys), lathering the sunscreen, preparing sandwiches and snacks for lunch, packing the radio flyer with beach chairs, cooler, beach umbrella, towels, etc. and rolling out to the beach.  The rip tides were bad, so we had a no-swimming sign up all day, which didn't bother me because the water was freezing!  The day was spent reading in the shade of the umbrella and watching a school of about 12 dolphins play in front of us for about 2 hours.  Surfers were allowed in the water and a group of them came by exclaiming they had seen a huge splash about 30 feet from where they were and it was the school of dolphins attacking a shark.  In the words of the gnarly surfer, "they folded the shark like a taco man, it was rad!"

Tuesday evening we showered and had some dinner at the house before driving into Manteo to see The Lost Colony-the longest-running symphonic outdoor drama-in it's 77th season.  I've seen it years ago, so I made sure we were seated center stage in the middle of the aisle so "the Indians couldn't get me".  The play is the historical story of the Englishmen, led by Sir Walter Raleigh, coming over to America for the first time to settle here and how the attempt failed.  The colony disappeared.  This version didn't explain Croatoan or how it was carved on the tree, but I know the real story!  You can't fool a North Carolinian!

Stay tuned for more of our adventures!