Monday, March 31, 2014

Jay's Golden Birthday

Jay had his golden birthday on Friday! Can you believe he had never heard that phrase before? He turned 28 on the 28th of March. Derrick and I were on our way to Baltimore for the weekend so we were able to make a pit stop in Richmond to have birthday dinner with him. I'm so happy we were able to do that! I don't get to see him enough!

Derrick and I got into town around 7:15 and we all piled on Jay's bed and did "What I Love about Jay" with Mom and Dad on facetime. We weren't really able to plan ahead on this one with Derrick and I not knowing our arrival/departure time so when we Facetimed Jack wasn't available. He ended up calling during dinner though.


Mom and Dad got Jay a Fitbit for his birthday!


Jay had made reservations at 8:00 for a really cool restaurant walking distance from his condo. It was very good and so nice to sit down and hang out for a while. Jay still has a year of his intense MBA schedule but he's 2/3 of the way there! It's crazy impressive and I don't know how he does it.


Derrick and I brought a cake that mom had ordered to Richmond so after dinner we headed back to the condo to enjoy it. This is some of the best cake you will ever eat! Strawberry shortcake from Nantucket Grill!


After a rousing duet of Happy Birthday Derrick presented the cake.


I wish we could have stayed longer but Derrick and I had another 2 1/2 hours on the road to Baltimore. Happy Golden Birthday Jay! I love you and love bragging about you!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Vacation Plans!

Derrick and I have been solidifying our California vacation plans. We're going to California to visit Derrick's family and celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary in May and we're super excited! We want the trip to be pretty laid back but there were a few things we wanted to get planned in advance: Lake Tahoe Lodging and Yosemite climbing!

We are going to be going to Lake Tahoe at the very beginning of our trip for our anniversary. I'm super excited for the cute little place we found to stay. It's called the Franciscan Lakeside Lodge and it's these little lakeside cabins that are all so adorable! May is considered the off-season so we got a great rate! We've booked one of the attached cabins with a wood burning stove. If anyone knows of any must-see hikes or attractions please let us know! We want to make the most of our time there and we are only going to be there 2 nights and 3 days.

On the other side of our trip we have planned a guided climbing trip in Yosemite! We have booked our day through SYMG and are SO excited! It will be an all day trip with just Derrick and I and our guide. He will take us to some great outdoor climbing spots in Yosemite and we'll spend the day climbing and hiking. It was kind of a splurge but we don't know when we'll have this opportunity again so we knew we had to do it! Derrick's family is going to Yosemite with us as well so on the other days that we're not climbing we will be hiking and exploring the park. It's going to be a great trip! We leave in just over a month and I'm so ready to go! We have a few other weekend trips between now and then so I know the time is going to fly by! It can't get here soon enough!



Monday, March 24, 2014

Myrtle Beach Weekend

This weekend my parents and I headed to Myrtle to cheer Jack on at Easterns. Derrick had to stay back and work :( but he was there in spirit and checking in after every game. My parents came up Friday night and we left very early Saturday morning. Very early. I very rarely set my alarm in the 6's but we were out the door by 6:30 and on our way!

They played Harvard in the first game and were up when we got there but ended up losing 15-12. Central Florida was next and they lost 12-9. Wilmington is a very good team but this tournament was hosting some of of the best teams in the Nation! They won their last two games against Georgia and Stanford pretty handily.  This set them up for Quarters on Sunday morning against UNC so we fueled up at an italian restaurant that night.



The weather was AMAZING!!!  I had an inspection Sunday afternoon and Mom had clients to show (realtors never stop working!) so we managed to catch the first game on Sunday before we had to leave. They lost to UNC but finished strong by winning their last two games and taking 5th place overall. Jack is hoping they will be contenders for a bid to nationals!

Jack played amazing! It's so fun to watch him grow as a player. I remember when he didn't know what ultimate was and Derrick and I were teaching him to throw in the cul-de-sac. He picked it up so quickly! He played 1-3 points a game last year. We were always so excited when he got on the field because it was rare. This year he's on 80% of the points and his team has complete faith in him. It's really cool to watch and I'm a very proud sister!


Monday, March 17, 2014

March Madness

Did you hear? NC State just squeaked into the NCAA tournament! Derrick and I had the selection show on mute in the background and were watching something else on the computer. Derrick got airborne leaping off the ground when he saw our name. I, of course, had no idea what was going on and was trying to avoid getting kicked in the face by Derrick's excitement.

Anyways, you know what March Madness means, right? It's bracket time!! I'm actually doing a pretty fun thing this year and hosting my own tournament bracket challenge. It was Derrick's brilliant idea on a date night stroll/brainstorming session. In real estate you call the group of people around you and supporting you your SOI (sphere of influence). My SOI rocks! Seriously. I have so many people supporting me in this endeavor and this is just a teensy-weensy, teeny-tiny way to give back, say "Thanks Everybody!" and have a little fun!

It's free and the winner gets a $25.00 gift card of their choice.


Here's the link to join! Tell your friends!

Password: Sellmyhouse

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=323168&groupp=U2VsbG15aG91c2U%3D&invitesource=facebook&inviteuser=NTMxODEwNzkwA&ex_cid=invite-facebook-tcmen

Here's to hoping I have a really good year this year and can raise the stakes next year! :)

Friday, March 14, 2014

Sleepy Chatter

I have been sleep talking recently and it's super weird! I don't know if my mind is just going 100 miles an hour and it doesn't shut off when I sleep or what but it's been kind of hilarious. I always wake up in the morning and remember doing it but when it's happening I am in this half-awake half-asleep state.  It's affected Derrick's sleep too because I always seem to involve him in the crisis. 

Are you ready for this? It's totally weird!

The first time I was convinced there was  baby seal under the covers and that Derrick was squashing it. Just typing this I laugh out loud because it's so crazy. I of course woke Derrick up and told him to stop and get out of the way and when he asked me why I told him there was a baby seal in the bed. He rolled over and went back to sleep.

The second time I sat straight up in bed and was throwing the covers around. When Derrick asked me what was wrong I told him there was a tiny snake with legs in the bed. He rolled over and went back to sleep.

And the latest time I jerked him out of sleep by grabbing him and turning him over and asking him what he was talking about. He said "nothing" and rolled back and went to sleep.

Thank goodness he's patient!

Anyone else a sleeptalker? Maybe I need to exercise more....

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Friendiversary

Last week Derrick and I celebrated our first Friendiversary with Claire and Travis! I've never celebrated a friendiversary so it was super fun and hilarious! The only way we even knew we had been friends for a year was because our first outing together was dinner to discuss real estate and it was in Claire's calendar. Well, we celebrated big time! We went to the Melting Pot and it was sooo good. I hadn't been to the melting pot since I was in middle school and Derrick had never been so Claire and Travis showed us how to do it right. 

 And we basically had to be rolled out of the restaurant at the end. The first course was bread and cheese and I could have easily been filled up with just that course. 


The second course was meat. It comes out raw and you cook it in the broth at your table. That part took some work and was a little scary at first. I wasn't in the mood for salmonella.


And dessert. Ooooh dessert. We had smores chocolate and fruit, cheesecake, and brownie dippers and it was amazing! Here's to another year, friends!


Monday, March 3, 2014

Estate Sale Gems!

Last week my mom sent me a link to an estate sale that was going on in Raleigh. She noticed there were lots of craft supplies and fabric and thought I might be interested. I had never been to an estate sale before so I had no idea what to expect. Claire came with me in case it was a total bust.

It was awkward. If you go to one, you should count on that. It was worth it though! It was only awkward because I didn't know what to expect and the people running this one kind of followed me around. As long as you are strong enough to stand up and say "No! I do not want that rusty colander, I'm here for craft supplies!" you'll be fine.

I had made my way through most of the house and really  hadn't found anything when the angels started singing in the last room. The estate owner was a costume designer so she had fabric and sewing supplies galore! I went nuts!

My favorite find were these wooden spools of thread!


I LOVE the wooden spools and I got all of it for $12! If you go to Joanne's you're going to pay somewhere between $1.50-$3.50 per spool and they aren't even on cool wooden spools! I geeked out over them for about half an hour after I got home.

I also grabbed this jar of buttons for $2 because you can always find a use for buttons. I used green buttons that I painted black for the Harry Potter pillows I made Nikki. Plus I really liked the little jar :) I was also super excited to find this tomato pin cushion and these two thimbles hidden among the spools of thread after I got home. The tomato pin cushion reminds me of one my mom used to use and who uses thimbles anymore? I love them!


This looks like a bunch of junk but I got this whole tub for $2. It's twine and cord that I can use to pipe furniture.


And I also made out with some pretty good fabric. They were selling them for $2 a yard but they didn't measure anything so I probably got even a better deal than that. The large stuff is pretty basic but I really hope to find a chair to recover in that top grey one. It's really soft and I just think a chair in it would be so cozy! I like that print on the right too. It's only big enough for a pillow but I think the colors are really nice. And finally, my favorite fabric score is that fabric flour sack. How awesome is that? It was hanging on the wall and I think it was getting overlooked. It was the last thing that I grabbed and I would have paid more than $1 for it. I don't know what I'm going to use it for but I really am excited about it.


Needless to say I will be looking for more estate sales in the area. The nice thing about them is they typically put a list online of what will be at the sale so you don't waste your time if you're not interested in what's there. I lost my craft bug for a little while there but between the bench and these finds it's back!