WAY behind!

Once again, I find myself behind in my attempts to blog all our latest happenings. So instead of doing one big mega post, I'm going to try and do a few posts to catch up on the last few weeks. Here goes!

Summer Vacation

I just got back from a week long trip to the mountains and it was awesome. The weather was just so perfect the whole time we were there and it was very relaxing. The house we stayed in was so cool! Beach houses have got to step it up a notch if they want to compare with mountain houses. This house had a pool table, foosball table, hot tub, satellite tv in every room and even wireless internet (we are not a family that likes to rough it on vacay). Plus it had an awesome deck that was gated so our adventure dogs could hang out while we were gone without wandering off.

We stayed about 10 minutes from downtown Boone, which was nice for Sarah, who is staying in her apartment there for the summer. We did lots of shopping in Boone and Blowing Rock (I racked up at the Baby Gap and Osh Gosh outlets!), a tiny bit of hiking and ate at some yummy restaurants in Boone. Note to other carnivores- might want to stay away from Melanie's on King St- especially if the word "soysage" scares you as much as it scares me. However, if you are a normal person who enjoys healthful eating, I hear it is quite delish. Mike, Dad, Sarah and Kat had a lot of fun white water rafting on Monday, and although no one stayed dry, they all made it down the river with sunburn being the only problem (and really only for Mike, who still hasn't mastered the art of proper sunscreen application).

All in all, it was a great time- good for me and Mike since it will likely be the last vacation we take for a long time! Here are a few of our pics from the trip. I miss you mountain weather!!!

Dad, Kat and Mom at Howard's Knob

Me and Mike at Howard's Knob- such a pretty view!

On King St (at least he has a Carolina shirt on!)

Me and Kat at the Mast Store- we're thinking
of bringing back the bonnet.

Mom up to no good in the woods

Dad, me and Mom at Howard's Knob

I didn't take any pics of Sarah in the mtns (she
was working when I was taking the other pics!) so
here's one just for her :P.

Shelfari

I have to share my excitement about a site I discovered (thanks to some nesties!) today. It's www.shelfari.com and it's like a virtual bookshelf. What's the point of having a virtual bookshelf, you may ask? Well, you can rate all of your books, mark your favorites, and browse the site for reviews, popular books, etc. You can browse other people's bookshelves to see what they have read/liked, which is particularly helpful if that person has similar tastes to you in books. And I like that you have a shelf for books that you are planning on buying/renting/reading. So when it's time to go on vacation, you can jot down a list to take with you instead of wandering aimlessly around the bookstore/library like I usually do.

So my sample bookshelf (containing some of my favorite books) is now on the right hand side of my blog. Sign up yourself, it's addictive! And make sure to add me as your friend so that I can get more good book recommendations :).

Weekend Warrior

So, I caught a little bug and got sick, so the powers that be in Chapel Hill decided it was time for me to do 2 weeks of IV's. Fun! At least I have yet to get that nasty flu that's going around. Anyway, since I'm sick my mom, aka Mary Poppins, decided to pack up her bag of magical remedies (which of course included lots of beef and cheese) and fly on up to Raleigh to take care of me for a few days. The magical bag must've worked, because my house is now clean, I'm feeling better and I think I even gained a couple of pounds!

But since my mom is the energizer bunny and can never sit still (unless of course there's an ACC basketball game on), she also decided to paint our hallway and guest bathroom, so our house got a mini-makeover too! Here's a pic of the "before" bathroom:

You can't really see it, but the walls were a tan color with kind of a greenish tint, and weren't painted well at all. Very streaky. And my pink/white stuff didn't really match the walls at all.

But noooow ::drumroll please:: here's the new bathroom!So those that come visit, be prepared for a much sexier bathroom.

Tack-ay!

Had to include a couple of pics from the 2007 Nestie Tacky Sweater/Cookie Exchange Extravaganza! It was SO much fun, Dizz's house was gorgeous, everyone made delicious food, we all looked extremely tacky (especially Pami!) and most importantly, I came home with 3 dozen yummy cookies.

Here's my (well technically my mom's!) Ginger Snap recipe for those that want it. Sorry I forgot to take a picture. I was so bummed that I only had 4 leftover!

Ginger Snaps
3/4 C shortening
1 1/4 C sugar, divided
1/4 C molasses
1 egg
2 C flour
2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ginger

1. Cream 1 cup sugar and shortening.
2. Add molasses and egg, beat well.
3. Sift dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture and mix well.
4. Roll into small balls and dip balls in 1/4 cup sugar.
5. Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet.
6.Bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes (chewy) or 15 minutes (crispy).

When I took mine out, they didn't look cooked all the way, but I let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 mintues after I took them out and the hardened up! I also sprinkled a little extra sugar over the tops right after they came out of the oven.

Baltimore

Mike and I just got back from a very quick, but very fun trip to Baltimore. He had a meeting there on Monday, so we left Raleigh at about 8 am Sunday morning so we could have a little fun there Sunday afternoon/evening. We really wanted to go to the aquarium, but we ended up not getting there until about an hour and a half before it closed, and decided it wasn't worth $45 for that short a visit.

So we just wandered around the Inner Harbor area, which is really cool (and cold...but I guess it is November!). I discovered a store called Filene's Basement, and I probably could've spent the entire trip shopping in there. Mike decided to spend some time over at the ESPN Zone while I shopped there for a bit.

::side note::
Unlike many women, I do not care about expensive purses. Or expensive shoes. I've never bought a purse for more than $25 and my most expensive shoes are my Uggs, which I pretty much wear every day during every winter. But I do love dresses. Not just normal dresses, but fancy dresses. So I ended up trying on half a dozen at Filene's. One in particular caught my eye, it was $80, marked down from $288. Amazing deal. It was gold with sequins and a bubble skirt (sounds ugly but it was so adorable) and it fit me like a glove. Oh, and when I put it on, my favorite Michael Buble song started playing over the speakers. It was fate. But alas, I decided that even though it was an incredible deal, I just couldn't justify $80 for something I'd probably only get to wear 3-4 times. Sigh. I should've bought it. I miss that dress.
::end site note::

So then we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner real quick. I had lots of cool suggestions for dinner, but ended up choosing a local place that Mike's client suggested, called Petit Louis . It. Was. Amazing. I had the best French Onion Soup I've ever had, including when I had it in France. The rest of the meal was very good too (I got Steak Frites, Mike got pork, we split some gratin de pomme de terre, and for dessert he got sorbet and I got a pot de chocolat), but that soup...oh man...that was some awesome soup. We split a bottle of yummy red wine, and it really was just a perfect meal. Very comfortable, intimate restaurant with wonderful service.

So all in all, it was a great trip! I really wanted to stop at Ikea on the way home, but Mike's meeting ran late and we had to be back in Raleigh by 9 to pick the pups up from boarding. Guess I'll have to wait until the Charlotte store opens! Oh, here are the pictures we took.....perhaps it was too dark, lol.

First Entry

So I'm starting a blog because my life is just that interesting! Ok, not really. This will mostly be a cooking/dog blog. But definitely not a blog about cooking dogs. That's gross.