Stormy afternoon in the Triangle

Yesterday the day started off a bit overcast, but by the afternoon it was pouring! As I walked back to my office from class, the rain got progressively worse, and by the time I headed for the bus a half hour later, some of the streets were flooding. I had to walk through puddles up to a foot deep! I was told that when it rains here, it pours--That certainly seems to be the case.

Across the street from my bus stop (which is uncovered!) a pretty large tree was knocked down.

A nothing kind of weekend

It has been nearly a month since we last posted--I wish this was out of the ordinary, but it's not. School has started up for me, and Shawn is keeping busy with work. We thought we would do something exciting this weekend, but instead, we pretty much did nothing. Although it wasn't "exciting" per say, it was nice! Here's a glimpse of a nothing kind of Sunday in our household.

There was sleeping-in for everyone, including the pets. They continued to nap and sleep throughout the day.

There was cleaning (with Shawn, there is always cleaning! He likes things neat.). We even went as far as cleaning out the fridge and pantry.

There was gaming. I played a new video game with Shawn about worms. You have a little army of worms that competes against another army of worms and tries to destroy them with grenades, dynamite, machine guns and blow torches. It is not excessively violent, so please don't be alarmed. No real worms were injured in the making of the game (at least I hope not since it is a cartoon).

And that's about it. I will try to come up with something more exciting for the next post. Happy Wednesday!

A new look--that's now a bit old

So a few weeks back I had a conference to attend in Georgia. Before I headed to the conference I had a few meetings, and for all these events I wanted to put my best foot forward. I decided one way to do that was to get a hair cut. My hair had been getting pretty long over the last few months, and although I liked it, it took more time in the morning to style it, which led to many braids and pony tails. I felt that cutting it off would help curb that, at least to some extent. It also seemed like a good idea with the crazy heat we have been having this summer. Although I did this in early August, here are some pics of the old and new looks.

Before: 

After:

Papa Spuds

Durham, North Carolina and all the surrounding areas offer a variety of fresh produce. Durham has a farmer's market. Raleigh has multiple farmer's markets. Other towns around the area have them as well. However, Shawn isn't a big fan of farmer's markets. He will go, but he doesn't particularly enjoy weaving through the crowds of people to pick out a loaf of bread or a bunch of grapes. I do like the idea of buying local produce though. So I did a little research and learned about Papa Spuds.

Papa Spuds is an organization in the Triangle that allows you to place an order online for the local and even organic produce you want for the week and then delivers it to your house. They work with a variety of local vendors to provide everything from acorn squash to kale to peaches and zucchini. I decided to try them out a few weeks ago, and have been pleasantly surprised. For about twenty dollars a week I get at least one box of produce, sometimes my order requires two boxes. My typical order consists of green peppers, red peppers, peaches, cucumbers, another thing of peaches (I love the peaches that they offer!), some sort of squash and then at least one, sometimes two, "new" items. These "new" items aren't new to most people, but there are new to me. I am trying to broaden Shawn's and my vegetable knowledge. For example, one week I got kale. Another week I got spaghetti squash. This week I am giving acorn squash and eggplant a try. We will see how I do.

Overall, it's a really convenient system that bring me great, fresh produce every week!

An anniversary in Asheville--or thirty minutes from it!

I wrote this almost a month ago but forgot to add pictures and post. I will try to be a better blogger in the future for the few of you that follow...

Shawn and I planned a weekend away in the mountains for our one year anniversary. I looked at a variety of different locations, and we settled on Asheville when we learned what a dog-friendly town it was. All the better--we could take Bella with us on our little weekend getaway.

So we packed up and headed out for the mountains. Turns out the place we booked was a little further from Asheville than it publicized, about thirty minutes to be more accurate. This wasn't a huge problem. We hadn't really had any big plans for the trip. We wanted to hike and see the mountains, so being further from a major city was only really a problem when we wanted to find some food.

When we got there Friday evening, we checked in to the B&B and headed into the town of Weaverville. A small town with awfully nice people. While waiting to be seated at the little pizza place that was highly recommended we talked to the locals about the area, Durham and all sorts of things. We had a great meal--The Obama, a pizza that included BBQ sauce, chicken, pineapple, red onion and jalapenos and some garlic knots, which the place is "known for." Then we headed back to our little B&B to play with Bella and watch a movie.

Saturday we decided to explore the area. After breakfast (cheese grits with scrambled eggs and tomatillo salsa) we took the advice of our lovely innkeeper and headed out toward a hiking trail. Bella had a great time as the trail was just along the water. It had nice views and was really peaceful.

Then we decided to drive a little further to get to this outlook that supposedly provided spectacular views. An hour later, we were still traveling toward it. We were on what some refer to as "country roads." This means the speed limit sign really has no bearing because no matter what, you aren't going to get above 30 with all the twists, turns and switch-backs. I am not one to get car sick, at least not since I used to read in the back row of an Expedition, but I did not find the drive particularly enjoyable. The view along the way was of course nice, however. And when we did finally get there and hike to the top, the views were pretty amazing.

After that, we were pretty tired, but we wanted to head to Asheville. Of course, the weather in the mountains can be unpredictable, and it seemed ready to pour. We drove around a bit--by the Biltmore and some other attractions--but decided to head back to Weaverville to just get some take out and go back to our room. Of course by the time we hit Weaverville, it really was pouring. We managed to walk over to a restaurant before the sky opened up, so Bella and I sat out in the rain for a bit while Shawn placed a food order.

After that, we called it a night and headed back to our B&B. We were all pretty tired.

The next morning, we pretty much ate breakfast and headed out for the four hour drive home. We had a nice time in the mountains, but next time we will stay in a place that is closer to an actual town--and hope for better weather!