OBX

I lied.  Well I didn't lie...I just didn't follow through on my plan to blog at least once while on vacation!  I had every intention to, but amidst the 15 people, the fun, and the lack of quick internet, it just didn't happen!  In fact...I didn't even tweet, instagram, update my facebook, or pin any interests.  It was kind of a technology break if you will.

But guess what!?  Break is OVER!  I'm back =)  And with a VERY long post...you've been warned!  I completely understand if you skip til the end, ha.

So a week ago Friday afternoon, Brandon and I began our trek to Corolla, NC in the OBX with an overnight stop in Durham, NC for a Durham Bulls game!

Notice our over packed car!  Ha, we thought we needed sheets & bath towels in addition to our beach towels.  The former not so much needed.  Oh well!

The Durham Bulls Stadium is right next to a cool area called the American Tobacco Historic District.  It has many cool restaurants to choose from, so we chose Tyler's Restaurant & Taproom.  We grabbed a seat at the bar and got some good eats before the game!

As you can see, the weather was looking a little less than perfect for baseball.  We tried to remain optimistic, though  After all....its VACATION!  So I threw my hair up and we waited out the rain :)

The rain let up for a bit and we got to see about 3.5 innings of baseball before they called another rain delay :( We waited it out long enough to split a drink and then called it a night.  

The next morning, we set off bright and early (for real) for Corolla!  Early as it was, it did not prevent us from running into Outer Banks traffic!  Our GPS said we should be at the house by 11:02.  We we watched our GPS creep up minute by minute and we finally arrived at 12!  A whole hour added cause of fun, fun traffic.  The week was definitely worth it though. 

Here is a picture dump from my camera.  I'll add a few captions to narrate :)

Ashley & Richard

Ryan & Roen in deep conversation

Wells wasn't so sure about the sun screen application

Brandon: "Roen, I'm digging this hole to burry you in."  Roen: "Good!  I wanted to be buried!"

Roen & Jude cheesin'

Ha, Ro loved being buried!!  She stayed there for a good 10 mins.

Wells liked eating sand :)

Brandon's attempts at surfing!  He finally got up for a decent amount of time and I chopped his head off...whoops!  I have never, nor will I ever, claim to be a good photographer :)

Ashley schooled was a lot better than the boys!  Haha...as were my photography skills this time.

B & me catching some waves!  So much fun, you feel like you're 10 again!

Uncle Scott tryin' to catch a crab!  I do not have a single beach trip memory without Uncle Scott trying to catch a crab, sand critter, etc :)

The next pictures come with some background.....just north of Corolla, there is a wild horse preserve.  A fence along the beach as well as a few cattle guards keep the horses to a confined area in Currituck county.  Not until 1984 was there even a paved road all the way to Corolla, hwy 12 just stopped in the town of Duck, and the horses roamed freely in Corolla.  Well not too long after the road was built, several horses were struck and killed by cars.  So it was controversially decided to build the fence.

They allow you to drive onto the beach up there, though, and there tons of houses up there that you can rent as long as you have 4-wheel drive to get to them.  So one day, we packed the whole house and parked right on the beach. Its a little nerve racking with little ones, though.  Its like a road right on the beach and the ocean seems to drown out the sound of approaching cars.

We were enjoying the beach (the water was FREEEEZING that day!) and low and behold horses are just coming down the beach!!

It was SO crazy to see them up close, just walking around!  They would stop every now and then, its almost like they were posing.  And then one proceeded to poop and another peed, right on the beach!  Haha, mother nature at its finest I guess!  But still, very cool!

Each night at the beach, one family cooked!  We had some awesome meals (that fat girl in me lived it up :)  

-Josh & Callie made delicious Mexican beans & rice with all the fixins and chips and salsa, etc!

-B & I made turkey burgers with corn on the cob, sweet potato/tater tot/zesty fries, and ramen noodle salad! (It was a success despite the corn never actually boiling & a tater tot falling to the bottom of the oven and burning.  It all turned out somehow!  I'm still a relatively new cook ok!? Hah)

-Tuesday night we ate out and got sea food.  Ashley, Richard, and I participated in our own all you can eat crab leg challenge!  Pretty sure I ate about 2 and a half pounds of crab...and it was goood!!

-My Mom and Aunt Stacy cooked some deliciouso Italian food complete with meat ball marinara sauce, chicken alfredo, and shrimp alfredo!  Talk about stuffed!

-Rob and Gale made their awesome chicken enchiladas!  That's right, Mexican two nights in one week...one very happy fat kid :)  ha

-Friday, every one left!  Aunt Stacy & Uncle Scott and Brandon & I were the only ones staying the final night.  We ate at a restaurant called Sundogs and Brandon attempted The Pound and a Half Burger Challenge!  Compete with a mound of chili cheese fries and pickle spear and 1 hour to down it all for a tshirt & his picture on the wall of fame!  I only got these pictures on my iPhone so the lighting is a little funny.

He started strong!  Lickin' his fingers and everything!!

Even smiling...mmmm, tastes so good!!

35 minutes later....he's feeling it!

And after 45 minutes, he threw in the towel!  It was those dern chili cheese fries that got 'em!  He just couldn't put 'em back...but it was a strong, good effort!

The things I failed to capture this past week: nights on the porch, the big family dinners, crowded in the living room watching True Grit, the all you can eat crab leg challenge, naps on the beach, Wells being the ham of the family, the list goes on and on :)  It was such a great trip and a part of me always wants to cry leaving the beach and my family.  

Just as I posted to twitter and facebook as we left...So long OBX :( the pleasure was all mine!  Until we meet again....

via

Midweek Randoms

1 - How is it even the middle of the week??  Between summer & the long weekend, my days are all kinds of mixed up!  But that's ok, cause it's later in the week than it actually feels & that puts me even closer to...

2 - OBX!!!  Friday my family and I leave for Corolla, NC in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a whole week!!

I've lived in NC my whole life and have never been to the OBX!  It takes about 6 or so hours to get to Corolla, and even longer to get to some other Outer Banks towns, so growing up it was always easier for my family of 5 to drive to Myrtle Beach or Ocean Isle just 4 short hours away.

Our most recent family beach trip was in 2007!  Ro was just about 1 and 1/2!!

This will be my first beach trip without my partner in crime, though :(  Erin has a big girl job since she's all graduated now and recently started, so she will be working this year!  We will miss her!

Just a few pics from 2006 as well :)  This will be Jude & Wells' (the nephews) first family beach trip!!

Anyway....this Friday, we're all driving half way to split the trip up a bit.  I'm VERY excited for this first & can't wait for 7 days of sand, sun, and my family!  There's 16 of us going and this is Brandon's first WHOLE family trip...hope he survives ;)

3 - I got off to a pretty slow start with Pinterest.  I know I've mentioned it before, but in one sentence -

Pinterest is a website of virtual bulletin boards of different themes (you can choose your own board themes or use ones they give you) to which you pin your interests and things you like.  

I can send you an invite if you'd like, but be warned...its very addicting! :) Anyway (man I get off on tangents often!), I joined and pinned a few things, but between reading so many blogs and writing mine, I never got fully into it!  But now....I'm fully into it!  Here are a few of my board names and things I've pinned to each board:

All That is Delicious

A Girl Can Dream

For the Home

Holiday Celebrate

Look at all those great ideas on my boards!!  Addicting, right!?! 

4 - Right now I have unpainted fingernails and toes!!  Oh.my.goodness. it is enough to drive me crazy!  Not so much that my fingernails are unpainted, I can live with that.  But I cannot STAND having unpainted toenails, no matter the season, but especially in summer!!  My toes are out all the time and I want them to look cute, but they were looking pretty bad, so I broke down and took the chipped stuff off.  Now normally I would just repaint them and have a little "at home pedi", but I'm planning to get the real kit and caboodle, the whole shebang, a full mani and pedi tomorrow in prep for the beach =) So as crazy as it may make me, I'll just have to survive one more day of unpainted nails.  I'm sure it'll be worth it!

5 - I'm watching The View while writing this so a) its taking waayyy longer than it should for me to write this and b) they are interviewing the prosecutor from the Casey Anthony trail so its very interesting!!  So I'm signing off!

Happy hump day y'all!

Happy Birthday America!!

July 4th is one of my very favorite holidays!!  It's right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving!  I just love a good opportunity to be overly patriotic, play at the pool, grill out, and watch fireworks :)

I love this!!  It really says it all.  I'm very thankful for all the military men and women giving of themselves for our country!  And of course their families who sacrifice their spouse, dad, mom, brother, sister, daughter, son, etc, while they go defend our nation!  God Bless!!

FYI...this is a bit of a longer post :) At least I warned you!

This was Brandon and I's third July 4th together!!  Can you believe it? Where does the time go!?  The past 2 years we've spent it with big groups of our friends at someone's pool making lots of food and hanging out.  But this year it seems most of our typical July 4th crew was out of town.  It was ok, though, because B and I didn't see each other much last weekend and well we just plain like hanging out together :)

Friday night we had a little date night and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Cajun Yard Dog!

They have awesome New Orleans' style food and decor and is kind of a little whole in the wall restaurant.  They're always packed so we usually grab a seat at the bar!  We always say they should expand, but it just wouldn't have the same atmosphere and feel if they did! After dinner we grabbed some froyo & caught a movie too :)

Saturday our apartment complex was having a pool party for all the residents!  That's definitely a plus about our complex, the office staff is always hosting little parties, leaving treats in baggies hanging on our door, or giving out goody bags on the way out of the garage...pretty sweet, huh!?

They hired a DJ and supplied some good BBQ and eats for the day!  The DJ held a hula hooping contest, among other trivia contests and such, for prizes! Here I am practicing for the hula hooping contest!

Once we started the real contest, it got down rather quickly to me and one other girl and the DJ thought the contest could go on forever.....so she thought we needed 2 hula hoops!

This was quickly my demise as you can see and I missed out on winning the awesome prize of a cool t-shirt and a pass for a cruise around lake norman! Ughh, I was so close!!  I wanted a rematch, but no one else cared it was on to the next contest!  We didn't really participate in any of the others as our TV show theme song knowledge isn't exactly up to par and we just hung by the pool!  After a nap, we went out for some dinner and a couple drinks.  I think all of downtown's friends were out of town, too!  We felt like we were the only ones in the restaurant!

Sunday was rather lazy!  We slept in, then went to the pool but decided we were pooled out cause it's so stinkin' hot!!  We attempted a work out, then stopped by the grocery store to pick up some food!  We were feeling fajitas and some chips and salsa and then just laid around and watched a movie.

Monday was pretty much more of the same =) went to the pool for a bit, worked out for a bit, watched some tube, then put on our red, white & blue to go celebrate America!!  We hadn't done anything overly 4th-of-July-ish all weekend and I was itchin' to celebrate my USA!!!  Downtown Charlotte has a great fireworks show (that cannot be seen from the rooftop of our building, btw!  Learned that the hard way last year!) so we headed to Elizabeth Ave which is a prime spot to watch!

Woke up to this crazy kitty on my head Monday morning!

We were hoping to hit up some Nothin' but Noodles but they were closed :( the only open restaurant on the street was....1800 Mexican Grill!  Ha, what better way to be patriotic than to eat Mexican on July 4th (and two nights in a row!)!?!  Shortly before we left, the heavens decided to open up and it was storming just a bit, but we figured we'd still give it a go!  Just our luck, the only other open place on Elizabeth Ave was Elizabeth Creamery!!  We got some ice cream and headed to the car to wait out the rain & religiously check the radar on my iPhone :)

When I saw the rainbow, I knew God would allow for fireworks!!!  And that He did!  There were the cutest little girls in the parking lot with us & B had a hard time differentiating their squeals, wows, and oohs and ahhhs with mine!  Haha, I just love fireworks and feel about 7 when I see them!

I put B on camera duty, but it's hard to capture a firework at the exact right time, try as he might!!  These don't do it justice!  They were so awesome, I thought, and lasted a good 20 minutes!  So worth our 90 minute wait!

I sure hope you and yours had a most spectacular 4th of July....full of fireworks, red, white & blue and those you love the most :)

My new favorite show

Have y'all been watching this show yet this summer??

We've been watching here at our house and it is my new favorite show!!  Well really it ends up, B and I watching it "together" while talking on the phone since he's traveling on Monday nights.  Hah, whatever works right!?

We've been fans of The Biggest Loser for a while now and avidly watched the past few seasons!  Plus I heart Bob & Jillian!!  I have Jillian's "30 Day Shred" DVD (which I highly recommend!) and she kicks my boo-tay whenever I can't make it to the gym!

But Biggest Loser is 1- a commitment and 2- a contest!  If you wanna see the change in these people, you are committed to the season to see how much they lose.  And these people are trying to win cash money, honey.  That's definitely a large motivator for many and they really play it like a game sometimes!

Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition, however, is not quite the commitment (for the viewer that is ;) and it's not a contest!  In 60 minutes, you get to see day 1 to day 365 and all the sweat, blood, and tears in between!  There is no cash prize at the end per say, but the trainer, Chris Powell, does motivate them with prizes such as a home gym or a new car, etc, at the end of each 90 day challenge.

Chris (I'm on a first name basis with all the trainers, clearly) moves in with his "trainee" for the first 90 days to get them started.  The transformations these people make is truly amazing!!  They sometimes lose like two whole me's in a year! Whoa!

I think I love this show in part, though, because it may be my dream job!  Not to be a trainer on a television show/contest for morbidly obese people so much......but to be a trainer/life coach/motivator/teacher!  I think as a personal trainer all of those jobs kind of get rolled in to one.  I'm a people person and obviously I enjoy teaching and helping people (I'm a special education teacher, remember!? :) and I think I could still teach and help people as a personal trainer, just in a slightly different way.

Now let's be real, I've mentioned my love/hate relationship with working out & food and I definitely don't have it all figured out when it comes to weight loss and training!  And clearly I am not exactly qualified at this point...I'm pretty sure, Bob, Jillian, & Chris all have schooling in exercise science, nutrition, and whatever else health wise is available.  So, I would probably need a lot more schooling! 

Nutrition, exercise, and overall healthfulness, though, have really become an interest of mine as I've grown up.  For now this is just an idea/dream that I think I could do part time or on the side once I have kiddos if I don't venture back to conventional teaching!  

So don't be surprised if one day I'm working in a gym as a personal trainer....but don't be surprised if I'm not ;)

Recap & a Peek Ahead

Phew!  I've been to 3 bachelorette parties in the last 6 weeks and am still living to tell about it!! :)  haha

My friend Dana's party was this past weekend in Banner Elk, NC which is in the mountains.  We kept saying, "What happens in the Elk, stays in the Elk!"  Haha, nothing too crazy really happened, we just thought it was an appropriate saying for a Bachelorette party ;) We had an amazing house with 13 girls and all of us had a bed!  It was an awesome house, I would go back for sure!

Saturday started out pretty chilly, but turned out to be a gorgeous mountain day! Upper 70s, all sun, no humidity....perfect for tubing down the river just relaxing!

That night we had dinner at a great tapas restaurant!  It was such a great weekend and I'm SO excited for Dana!  The wedding is just over 4 weeks away now...woo hoo!!

I got home and spent some much needed time with the hubs before he left for work again on Monday.  I'm CAN'T WAIT for our loooong weekend coming up! And, the 4th is probably my second favorite holiday after Christmas, but that's whole other post :)

And just for fun...here's my countdown list as of late:  (you know I have one ;)

-2 days til hubs is home from work!

-3 days til a 3 day weekend!

-5 days til the 4th of July!!!  Happy bday America!!

-10 days til we're off to Durham for a little baseball (at least hopefully, still tentative for now)

-11 days til we are BEACH BOUND!!!  Toes in the water, toes in the sand :)

Bring it on!!  Be blessed y'all!