Wednesday, February 29, 2012

girls night out

Because Bryan and I spend so many months out of town, we miss out on a lot of friend time. Nurturing new friendships is hard when you spend 3-4 months in a row 1,000 miles from your new friends. So when we are home that's really all we want to do - make up for lost time and create new memories with all of our friends here.

***

Bryan went back to California last week, so I did what I always do when he's out of town. I packed my schedule full of non-stop girl time. Cheers to a successful weekend in the burbs!


The next morning we went to the best breakfast restaurant around, Toast. The Cali Benny is my must have!


Happy Leap Day!

Monday, February 27, 2012

a once in a lifetime friendship

Have you ever had a once in a lifetime kind of friendship? 

The kind of friendship that when referring to each other as "close friend" or "best friend" trivializes the friendship, because in actuality, it is on such a deeper level than those words convey.

The kind of friendship that when you send out an e-mail to only family members she's the only friend included also. 

 The kind of friendship where you become each others family. And not only is this friend family to me, but my family considers her part of our extended family. And you know each others aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

The kind of friendship where you don't need to do a thing when around each other because all you want to do is sit and talk. 

The kind of friendship when you have piles... no, mounds of dirt on each other.

The kind of friendship that you have an 'anniversary' of the day you met... because it was a life changing day.

The kind of friendship where you know that if they were the opposite sex you could spend the rest of your life with them.

The kind of friendship when you know that it doesn't matter where life takes you or how long you go without talking, your friendship will never weaken.

That kind of friendship.


Renee drove out from Nashville last week to spend a few "girls only" days together. As much as we love our men, it was nice not having either of them around - it was just her and I, like old times.

We...
ate pizza for dinner 2 nights in a row
ran around my house thinking up decorating ideas
drank 6 bottles of wine in 2 nights
awoke with headaches
sipped morning coffee on my rocking chairs
crocked lunch
stayed up to 1:30am just talking
took Cali on walks at Ramsey Creek Park, Jetton State Park and Latta Plantation
relaxed on a bench swing overlooking the lake
sat on the sand and watched the water crash into the shoreline
picnicked in my backyard
people watched in Birkdale Village
had lunch on the lake
talked, talked and talked!

***

Renee's good friend from high school lives near me, so we all met up for lunch.


The most amazingly wrapped house warming gift ever! A crazy handmade card, including a drawing, is standard from Renee. It's hard to imagine, but what's inside is even better than the outside!


Renee's visit was full of quality together time. She is, easily, my favorite person on earth, therefore I just adore and cherish every minute when we're together. 

Friday, February 24, 2012

cali and the iPad

On Christmas night we gave Cali a little extra present - a doggy friend on my parents iPad... Now she always does this to the tv, but she's never been this close to the dog. Check out how hilarious her reaction was!


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

friends come to visit & our 1st snow of the year

We had some friends in town from Missouri last weekend and did our best to show them some southern hospitality.

We...
ate New York pizza
 had lunch on the lake
went wine tasting at a local vineyard
played basketball (the boys)
shopped at Birkdale Village (the girls)
grabbed drinks at a wine bar
crocked dinner
baked cupcakes
played Mexican Train for 4 hours straight (I won!)

Anna and Brandon are such a great couple and we really enjoyed showing them around our neck of the woods. 


The very next day Charlotte got it's 1st snowfall of the day. (I swear I was just wearing flip flops and sipping a mimosa at an outdoor lakefront patio the afternoon before) This was our 1st snow in our new house and we think it looks just beautiful!

Monday, February 20, 2012

a sleepover in greenville, sc

Last Thursday I hopped in my car and headed two hours south to Greenville, SC. Beth and I had a planned dinner date with her friend at Smoke on the Water and then we headed off to Stellar, a wine bar on Main St. The next afternoon she showed me around her beautiful town followed by the most picture perfect lunch spot, Brick Street Cafe. To say I'm obsessed with Greenville would be a complete understatement. I had never been there before and was thrilled to realize that, not only do I have an awesome friend here, but that this trendy charming city is an easy day trip away. I'll be back the first chance I get! 






Thursday, February 16, 2012

we kinda love each other. like, a lot.

I'm not going to lie, being married and celebrating Valentine's Day is pretty fun. This was never a holiday that I loved, nor is it up there as one of my favorites. But a day scheduled on the calendar where we have to put bickering and stresses aside so that we can concentrate, solely, on each other. Yeah, it's awesome and such an important day!


We don't go all out, get each other gifts or do anything "major" for Valentine's Day. No. To us, it is a day that we spend together celebrating our relationship... and our love of food. Our tradition is that I make a nice, hearty breakfast and Bryan makes an elaborate 5* dinner. 

To read about last years Valentine's Day click here.

The homemade dinner menu I awoke to. Yes, Bryan came up with the menu items and even found fancy scissors (that aren't mine) to cut the edges with.

Breakfast



 Love my man working hard in the kitchen!

We gorged... and it was amazing!

Beautiful presentation courtesy of Chef Bryan

Mini cannoli's and chocolate covered strawberry's accompanied by a bottle of Cab

We went to a matinee showing of The Vow. We both cried like babies, came out of the theater even more appreciative and in love with each other than when we went in and just loved the overall message of the movie.

That night, after cleaning up mounds and mounds of Cali's vomit, we snuggled on the couch and watched the 3rd reunion episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills followed by our girls, the Real Housewives of Orange County and of course, the Teen Mom finale.

Perfection.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

when so cal comes to clt, we're there with bells!

I'm pretty sure that we are the only ones in Charlotte, the Carolina's and quite possible the entire south who is rollin' around with a Clippers license plate on the front of our car. I come from a Laker's family, so I can't stand it, but Bryan loves the Clippers, so I'm trying. 


When we saw that the Clippers were coming to Charlotte to play the Bobcats, without hesitation we made sure to get ourselves tickets. I mean, a little bit of home in our neck of the woods? Sold!

I'm not going to lie - the game was awesome! The Bobcats are real bad, but the Clippers are 1st place in the western conference (ahead of the Lakers). They have this guy, Blake Griffin, and holy crap - he's a power dunking machine! Although we were in a crowd full of Bobcats fans, the crowd went cRaZy when Griffin dunked. I mean screaming, clapping, standing and roaring from every which way. The man is loved as a true pro. And I'm pretty sure the stadium was packed just for him. 

These 2 clips were the #1 and #2 hightlights of the day on ESPN's Sports Center!

They're not called Lob City for nothin'! 
Oh, and #3 on the Clippers has a house on Lake Norman. Just sayin'!

*It was a crowded game. This was in the last 2 minutes, so many had left to beat traffic*

And if you were ever wondering what color eyes we have, here's an extreme close up. Scary...