A backyard with a view

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last blogged--I better get back to work. Today's post will be rather short, but it will help get me back in the habit of blogging and hopefully some of you back in the habit of reading.

The other day while I was upstairs, Bella started barking downstairs. She has taken to barking when she sees people walking through our yard or even out front through a window. Of course the second you let her near the people, she wants to play and lick them, but she sure sounds intimidating. :-)

Anyway, Bella was barking, and I just assumed someone was walking by the water or using our backyard as a walk-through, the usual. However, when I went downstairs to look, it was two guys from the lawn crew that keep the little patch of land along the water looking nice. They had taken a weed whackers and hacked down the bush that sat along our property line. At first I was a bit confused--why were they there? How would this look? Shawn and I had talked about hiring someone to remove it awhile ago. Apparently there had been brush like that all along the property lines but some residents had previously gotten together and paid to have most of it removed. Only the portion by our house had remained.

I had to head out to a dentist appointment, so I didn't have time to wait and see the finished result, but here it is:

At first I was a bit upset, feeling that it now just looked like we had a big hole in the back yard. But as Shawn pointed out, once it starts to green over, it will look like the rest of the area by the water. And we now have a water view from the kitchen sink and a few places we previously couldn't see the water from!

I don't know why the homeowners association decided to remove it, but I am sure glad we didn't have to make the decision, and even more glad we didn't have to hire and pay someone to remove it.

Upstream's new blog

I have some posts I have been meaning to write. We found a new hiking spot we are very fond of. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until after this week. School has just been incredibly busy. As I write this I can feel the guilt starting to build over the fact that these minutes aren't going to writing my history paper. Guess that is where I am off to next.

In the mean time, I wanted to invite you all to take a look at the new Upstream blog and let me know what you think. Upsteam is the health communication blog that I write for and help run. We recently revamped the site (meaning the new look went live yesterday!). Let me know your thoughts. It should look something like the screen shot below. Check it out here: upstreamdownstream.org. 

Planting a pizza garden...in a container...

Shawn and I decided to spend last weekend doing a few outdoor projects. We started off by visiting the Home and Garden Expo at the convention center in Raleigh.  We had a great time exploring the backyard vendors' booths. There were full backyards set up to look at that included giant pools with beautiful stonework. I should have gotten a picture of those. It all just made my desire to have a hot tub that much stronger. Parties on the patio and hanging out in the hot tub in the evening, yes please!

With all that inspiration, we headed to Lowe's. Shawn wanted to work on the lawn a bit, and I wanted to plant some strawberries. We started out purchasing just some items for the lawn, a strawberry pot, and some items necessary to plant strawberries. While there we picked up a Lowe's catalog, and from that we of course got some more ideas.

There was an article on creating a pizza container garden. Shawn and I enjoy making our own pizza, so I decided we should certainly have a pizza garden. We headed back to Lowe's for the necessary items. (Thank goodness Lowe's is only a mile away).

We now have three nice containers on our back patio.

One is growing strawberries, and the other two are our pizza garden. We have red and green peppers in one, and tomatoes and a variety of herbs in the other.

Here's hoping that in a few months time we are making pizza with our own toppings as well!

A fun-filled family visit

My wonderful parents and awesome brother came down from Washington last weekend. We had a blast showing them some sights, but overall, we just enjoyed spending time with them. Here is a recap of some of the highlights from their stay.

They came in late Thursday night, so nothing except a lot of catching up over pizza rolls and wine was done. Friday we hit Lake Crabtree, luckily the weather had partially held out. We then had a trip to Caribou Coffee (I love their hot chocolates!) and spent the evening eating homemade pizza with my friend Laura while watching the UNC game.

Saturday we decided to take in another UNC game, this time a baseball game. It was a bit chilly, but nothing a cup of hot chocolate couldn't fix. We also had some good ball park food while there. My pretzel was good as pretzels usually are, but one of the stars food wise was the chicken strip basket.  I couldn't believe how good they were, especially considering they came from a concession stand.

After the game we went on a hunt for some UNC gear and souvenirs for the family to take back home. We had some luck. It was then time to head back to Durham. Jeff, Shawn and my Dad then watched some basketball while my Mom and I went on a fun shopping excursion to Southpoint Mall. We always have a great time shopping together and, of course, I ended up with a few nice things. :-) Always a great bonus!

The next day we went to Raleigh to the history museum. We explored some exhibits Shawn and I had enjoyed before such as the Thomas Day furniture exhibit and the War and North Carolina exhibit, but we also checked out some news ones like the Sports Hall of Fame.

\

After that, it was off to find some North Carolina BBQ. We went to the Pit and had a great lunch. This was our second trip to the Pit, and it hasn't disappointed yet.

Monday we hung out at the house and everyone watched episodes of Dexter (Shawn was trying to introduce my parents to the show) while I did homework. We then went back to Chapel Hill so we could walk around the UNC campus and look for more UNC gear. I got a great new mug! Shawn grilled up some steaks and salmon for dinner, and we all just spent some more time talking and hanging out before it was time to head to bed because of the scheduled early morning Tuesday departure.


Overall, it was a great extended weekend. We had a lot of fun checking out new places, but I also enjoyed the time we just spent hanging out, eating pizza, and playing board games. Can't wait to see the family again!

Jordan Lake provides place for fun!

Leading up to the weekend we were fortunate enough to experience some wonderful weather (read 80 plus degrees on Friday), so we decided to spend our Saturday outdoors. First on the list, a trip out to Jordan Lake. We meant to head there a few weekends back but ended up at Falls Lake instead. Falls Lake was nice (I think I even have a drafted post I never used), but we weren't completely impressed.

Jordan Lake, however, was much more impressive. We went to one of the few different recreation areas available and found a playground, grills, and a sand volleyball court. They also had a beach along the water where people could just pull up a chair or blanket and relax. We brought Bella with us so we didn't head out into the sand. Instead we hit a walking trail. The trail was a 1.4 mile loop that took you around various parts of the lake and some ponds. Overall, it was a nice walk and a nice place to go to enjoy the beautiful weather!