Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope all of you had a wonderful day and got to spend time with family and friends. Patrick and I drove to see his family and then later in the day my mom and sister, Bethany, joined us there for dinner. My mother-in-law, Chris, put together a beautiful dinner with a million different selections for side items. There were so many choices that I was stuffed well before it was time for dessert (my favorite part!) We had a big group this year which was really nice – my family is so small that we never really had big family holidays so I love having a full house. It’s also nice that since our families are so close, Patrick and I usually get to celebrate with both of our families.

Here’s a funny Thanksgiving story for you – so everybody is having a glass of wine before dinner and they offer my mom a glass which she accepts. (I should probably tell you now that my mother rarely, if ever, drinks.) She drinks most of her first glass and everybody is refilling for their second when she proceeds to (LOUDLY) exclaim that she is drunk (and has maybe had most of one glass of wine) and from her seated position at the kitchen table announces that she needs to go sit down and promptly stands up. I was so embarrassed. Fortunately my in-laws are pretty fun and nobody made a big deal about it but my sister and I were laughing (while dying inside at the same time!)

We got to visit with a lot of Patrick’s side of the family and I’m really glad that my sister-in-law Brooke was there. She is so nice and we haven’t gotten to see each in person in a long time (maybe since her wedding????) so I’m really glad that we had a chance to catch up. I hope I can convince Patrick that we need to drive down to Atlanta to visit them sometime soon! The boys were running around and trying to stay out of trouble (they are absolutely precious!) and it was a lot of fun to have them around. There’s just something about a holiday with children that makes it seem even better. All in all it was a great day spent with family and I am very thankful to have each of them in my life.

Weekend in Asheville

This past weekend my friend Lindsay and I went up to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate and we had a great time! We met up around lunch time on Saturday and headed over to the grounds so that we could grab something to eat in time for our daytime visit of the house. We didn't have lots of time so we got some soup from the bakery on the grounds and promptly decided that we would revisit the bakery after our tour for some of the delicious looking goodies!

After our tour we left the grounds to go eat dinner in downtown Asheville which proved to be an adventure. We kept driving up and down the main street in search of two restaurants recommended to us, and after realizing that we could not find either one we decided to just park and walk around to see what we could find. What was directly in front of us as soon as we parked the car? The restaurant that we had been looking for - it was right in front of us the whole time! I should have known that would be a sign of things to come later in the evening....

After dinner we headed back to the Biltmore grounds for our candlelight tour of the house. I love how every room is completely decorated for Christmas - it is beautiful! No pictures are allowed to be taken inside the house, so we got there early so we could take a bunch of pictures outside first. The front lawn had a huge Christmas tree with a circle of smaller Christmas trees around it with speakers and Christmas music playing only loud enough to hear once you made it over to that part of the lawn. Since I am completely unfamiliar with how to use my camera (I only recently entered the digital age!) Lindsay was showing me what all the different settings on my camera could do. I ended up with some really funny looking pictures but I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of when I need to use what setting to get a better looking picture. I definitely have a lot to learn!

After we were done taking pictures outside, it was time for us to enter the house for our tour. Pretty simple, right? So this is where I have my dumb moment for the day. (Yes, dumber than not seeing a restaurant right in front of my face!) I put our tickets in the inner pocket of my jacket (since I had gloves and a hat in my regular pockets) and made a big production about how our tickets would be safe there. When we were walking back up the drive towards the house, I noticed some folded paper on the ground (our tickets are printed out on an 8x10 piece of paper by the way, which I had folded to fit into my "secret" pocket) but didn't think much about it and kept on walking. While we were waiting by our Nutcracker friend to enter the house, I reached in my pocket for the tickets to find that it was empty. No tickets!

At this point we had covered a lot of ground taking lots of pictures and so it would seem hopeless. However, I remembered the folded paper that I had seen on the drive about 30 minutes prior - it had to be our tickets! Now why I didn't look at the paper the first time I saw it on the ground or why I remembered that I had glanced down and seen it at that moment is beyond me, but I took off in a sprint down the long drive to see if by some miracle the paper was still there. It was still there and it was our tickets. I don't know if Lindsay was more surprised that I managed to lose or tickets or subsequently find them, but since this story had a happy ending it was pretty funny! (We were also planning to come back to the estate on Sunday to tour the winery and farm, and had our tickets actually been lost, we would not have been able to re-enter the property so our Sunday plans would have been ruined as well.) We made it to the doors of the house right on time for our entry (there is timed entry during the peak season) and got to see the ballerinas perform in the winter garden before touring the rest of the house.

The following morning we ate breakfast and then were off to the Biltmore grounds again. The whole weekend I kept misplacing things (my keys, my hat, my gloves, my sunglasses...pretty much everything which isn't really like me) so when the kid working the register gave me back my change and I knew it was wrong I doubted myself for awhile before politely asking if I could have my correct change. He kept telling me I was wrong and I was almost ready to break out a calculator for him until he finally realized that he was counting it wrong and corrected the problem. He almost had me convinced that I was wrong until logic kicked it and I realized that if my total ended in .19 and I gave him .25 there was no way I should end up with 90 cents in change in my pocket!

We started the day off with a tour of the River Bend Farm and then did a tour and wine tasting at the winery. I had never been down to the farm area of the estate and it was beautiful. We also got to see some baby animals (and a one month old cow which for some reason I thought was a goat - go figure!)

I'm so glad that Lindsay and I got to not only see this absolutely gorgeous place, but got to spend some time together as well. We're going through a very similar situation right now (very different causes, but both with the same outcome) so it was especially good timing to get to hang out in person. We only live 3 hours apart, but we definitely don't get to see each other as often as I would like so I'm really glad that we got to have such a fun weekend together!

Catching Up...

I'm starting to realize that I'm not very good about keeping this blog up to date. I have things I mean to write in here, and then I forget or get busy with something else and before I know it a week or two have gone by! Last Friday was a really great day. It was the last day our headquarters in Raleigh was open and it was such a great, positive send off for everybody there.

The day started off with a great breakfast (you really can't beat the chicken minis from Chick-fil-A and doughnuts!) and then we broke into teams for a scavenger hunt. The two girls that put the scavenger hunt together did an awesome job. Our office was in a mixed use shopping center so most of the items we needed to collect were from the various stores and restaurants there. It was so detailed - we needed to get things like an item a store was going to throw away (a restaurant gave us a bathroom stall latch that was broken!), find out who was on the cover of some obscure video game, print a wedding registry, find out what the sandwich special was at Harris Teeter, count the number of parking spaces beside JC Penney, take a picture of the entire team on one treadmill at the gym, find the brand of shampoo that was $67.49 (available at a hair salon and yes, this does exist!), and the list just keeps going. We had a blast and my team ended up winning!

All throughout the day there was a silent auction going on for a lot of the fixed assets in the office and I was involved in several written bidding wars. I ended up with three paintings from the office (for a very reasonable price!) and so I'm excited that there will be a piece of our old office at home with me in my new office when I make the switch to working from home full time in January. There were also trivia games to see how much we knew about each other and our company history and fun facts. (One question was what do Melanie and Alli have hanging on their office wall. A huge Carolina Panthers flag of course!) We also got to guess who the employee was in the baby pictures that were brought in and play a few other games before it was time to leave.

I'm really glad that the last day in the office was such a fun one. It was a fitting way for a company that was based on "working to live, not living to work" to close its doors. I will certainly miss all of these incredible people, but I know that the future is bright for each of these talented individuals.

On Sunday Patrick and I went to the Carolina Panthers game. We played the Detroit Lions (who are terrible!) but they gave us a scare early on when they took an early lead. Of course the Panthers came back and defeated them and now the team is 8-2. The hard part of the schedule is coming up and we face our division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, on Sunday so now is the time to really show everybody what Panthers football is all about. For having such a good record so far, nobody really ever pays attention to the Panthers which makes it a fun team to cheer for - you really want to see the underdog succeed!

Earlier tonight Patrick and I went to the hospital to visit a friend of mine who just had a baby. This was an experience unlike any other - I got to hold a tiny, precious, perfect 2 day old infant. I could have watched her sleep all night! I'm really glad that Patrick got to come too, but he was too scared to hold the baby. He said his rule is that if it can't support its own head, he refuses to touch it. He looked genuinely frightened at the idea of holding the baby. She was such a beautiful baby (and I usually don't think babies are all that cute.) Maybe one day he'll change his mind about babies....but until that time I will continue to spoil my pets which they don't seem to mind one bit!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Asheville to spend the weekend with my dear friend Lindsay. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to remember my camera (I hope!) so I should have some pictures to post when I get back. Lindsay and I have known each other for years, and became especially close when we were in graduate school, bonding over ex-boyfriend woes and studying all hours of the day and night for the CPA exam. We seem to always go through major life events at the same time (engagements, job changes, death of a pet, the list goes on!) so it's really nice to be able to share these things together. I can't wait to see her tomorrow and for all the fun things we have planned!

So You Think You Can Dance

Last night was a lot of fun! I'm hooked on the show "So You Think You Can Dance" (I guess I wish that I had been that talented back in my dancing days) so when we heard that the tour was making a stop in Charlotte a group of us decided to make it a girl's night out to see them live. They are even better in person than on the show! There were 6 of us total that went (my sisters and myself, and my friends Alli, Tracey, and Rebecca.) They performed most of my favorite dances from the show, and I really enjoyed the hip hop routines best. Why wasn't I blessed with such an amzing gift?!

We went to dinner first and then headed over to Bobcats Arena for the show. Here are a couple pictures from the show:

All in all it was a very fun night. I'm so glad my sisters were able to make the drive to Charlotte because I really miss having them around all the time! It was also good to be able to have a stress free evening because Friday is going to be a pretty hard day. It's the last day our Raleigh headquarters is going to be open to we're all heading to Raleigh for a farewell celebration day. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody but not looking forward to it really being over....

I'll Be Loving Them Forever

So I’m sure that many of you may want to disown me after reading this, but I can live with that because last night was one of the best nights of my life! My sister, Carolyn, came to town so that the two of us could attend the New Kids on the Block concert together. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to put into words how much fun we had or how much this meant to us. We are lifelong (well, from the age of 8) New Kids fans and loved them well beyond their heyday, after they were no longer cool, and followed each of their individual projects in and out of the spotlight for the many years before this reunion. I even went so far as to attend the “Dancing with the Stars” tour two years ago for the sole purpose of meeting Joey McIntyre (which I did!) Five years ago I had “The Right Stuff” as my cell phone ringtone and only changed it after I switched phones and no longer had the option to download that song. So I tell you all of this embarrassing information so that you will have some idea of how much of a dream come true last night was for us.

Carolyn brought our old NKOTB nightshirts with her that my mom had safely packed away for us 20 (yes, 20!) years ago. How she still had them is kind of a mystery, but fortunately we grew enough over the past 20 years that we could now wear them as shirts. At first I was slightly embarrassed, but when we went out to dinner and at the concert itself we got so many comments about our great shirts and one girl begged me to put it on Ebay for her so she could buy it. We saw some other old school shirts there, but most people were wearing the new stuff so we were pretty proud that we were so obviously original fans.

We had a great dinner downtown and then it was off to the show. We totally should have brought our cameras into the show, but our tickets had “NO CAMERAS ALLOWED” printed in bold letters on the face of the ticket so we followed the rules. We evidently could have ignored that rule because EVERYBODY had their camera. I took a few shots with my cell phone but it is not the same. But living in this technology age has its perks…there are clips on You Tube already from the concert in Charlotte I can go and watch the exact performances that I saw over and over again.

Here’s a link to a clip of Hangin’ Tough which they did as their encore (and it is totally worth checking out because they did some really cool stuff during the song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOoXCYcHgA

I have never been to a show with this much energy before. It really felt like they put something together to be a true treat for their fans. Everybody was on their feet for the entire show (I am not kidding!) and at one point all arms were in the air. It was the coolest feeling to look around the packed Bobcats arena and see everybody totally in the moment and singing together at the top of their lungs.

The show very obviously catered to their female fan base (which they joked are now very legal 25-35 years old since we were so young the first time around!) On the first floor of the arena every bathroom except one was a female bathroom (signs hung over the male restroom signs to turn them all into female bathrooms) due to the ratio of men to women at the show. It really was a girl’s night out! They also joked about how we all left our husbands at home for the night. It was pretty funny! You kind of had to feel bad for the husbands who somehow got dragged there.

I want to share everything that I can remember about the show right now before it fades into memory but today is Halloween and I need to get ready for all the trick or treaters. We get a bunch of kids in our neighborhood which makes it really fun. I’ll try to add more very soon because as silly as it may sound this was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. My sister and I screamed, danced, and sang along at the top of our lungs, fulfilling our dream to FINALLY see NKOTB live and in concert. As great as this show was, it was totally worth a 20 year wait!

The Right Stuff

So I know I need to update you about the wedding this past weekend, but I have such big plans tonight that any updating is going to have to wait. My sister is on her way to Charlotte as we speak and….wait for it…..we are going to the New Kids on the Block concert together tonight!!!!!!! While this may seem ridiculous to many of you (go ahead and laugh, I can take it!) I was one of their biggest fans 20 years ago and was forbidden from attending their concerts. Why you might ask? I was 9 and 10 years old during all the NKOTB mayhem and evidently my mother thought that there would be teenagers at the concerts smoking cigarettes. Gasp! What my mother may never realize is that I have never even tried a cigarette, not once, in all of my 29 years. I was heartbroken then and vowed to one day meet the man of my dreams, Joey McIntyre. That dream came true two years ago when I actually did meet him and now the fact that they have reunited and added a concert date at the last minute in my hometown is just icing on the cake.

Carolyn is bringing our old nightshirts that my mom still had so that we can wear them tonight. They are evidently small enough to wear as a regular shirt now. We’re going out to eat together downtown before the concert though, so I might have to wear a big jacket so that I don’t completely embarrass myself. I do still have to live here and show my face in public after tonight! (So, no, I will not be crimping my hair, tight rolling my jeans, or digging out the oh so fabulous scrunchies.) We’ll try to take some pictures ahead of time! No cameras are allowed inside of Bobcats arena so we probably won’t have any pics of ourselves at the actual event, but I can’t believe that my birthday wish when I turned 10 is actually coming true. (And for those of you that haven’t heard this before, my cake that year read, “Happy Birthday to a New 10 Year Old Kid on the Block.” I do not lie, my mom has the pictures to prove it!!)

I’ll update you about the actual event soon, but until then you’ll just have to “hang tough!” I can’t wait!

Tag, I’m It!

I have been tagged by my wonderful friend Jennifer to share 6 totally random things about myself so perhaps this will help liven up the blog funk that I have been in.

1. I am an absolute ice cream junkie. I eat ice cream almost every single day. I like most every flavor (although peppermint is my absolute favorite and is only available for a limited time around the holidays!) I love milkshakes, sundaes, floats, malts…pretty much everything. Peanut butter ice cream from Coldstone is the best! I’m also a huge fan of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food. I am slightly worried that one morning I will wake up and this most unhealthy addiction will have manifested itself in uncontrollable weight gain overnight, but until that happens I will continue on with this addiction!

2. My dream job (you are going to love this one, Jen!) is to be a wedding planner/event coordinator. Since my background is in accounting that probably sounds a little funny, but I am extremely organized and love all the details that go into pulling an event together. My husband has actually forbidden me from throwing any wedding/baby showers for awhile since I went through a stretch where I was hosting a ton of parties. The schedule would work out well with Patrick’s schedule too since he is really busy on the weekends already. If only I knew how to actually make this come true…

3. I am terrified of flying. Terrified. I have to review my Fear of Flying materials and do simulation flights on the computer before any trip. I hate the feeling of flying. I’m not so much scared about crashing (I know all the statistics about it being safer than driving a car, etc. etc.) as I am about the actual sensation of flying. I hate all the sounds, the movements, the way I feel like I’m going to yack (and incidentally, the passengers beside me who inevitably get airsick and have to use their barf bags while sitting right beside me…eww!) There is not one thing I enjoy about getting on a plane. (Although I can hide my fear fairly well nowadays, I was silently crying when I got on a plane to Chicago about 5 years ago since that was my first flight in about 20 years. I think the guy that sat down beside me was an air marshal since he commented that he knew I was crying – before he saw me – which was odd, he was about my age, he told me he flew in the military so he talked me through the take off and landing, and he had a book bag he kept in his lap throughout the flight…There were a lot of clues that my co-worker put together after that flight. Holy crap, the airlines thought I was going to lose it mid-flight!)

4. I am an absolute bookworm. I have been my entire life. I tear into books when I get them (Patrick call me a ferocious reader!) and usually finish them very quickly. I can’t read just a couple of pages and put a book down. When I find an author I like I usually end up reading everything that I can get my hands on by that author. I love to read!

5. While I am a complete neat freak, the inside of my drawers are surprisingly unorganized and cluttered. For some reason I cannot motivate myself to organize the drawers in my kitchen or the clothes drawers in my dresser. In fact, there are drawers in my coffee table that are a wreck too. I have organized closets so I’m not sure where this one comes from, but I have never been able to keep drawers clean and organized. So anytime any of you come to visit, be forewarned before you open any drawer in the house!

6. I love shows on MTV and VH1. This is totally embarrassing! I know I am way too old to care about most of these shows, but I can get sucked into spending an afternoon catching up on The Hills, Rock of Love, America’s Next Top Model…nothing that I would proudly claim as a television show I watch.

So now you know a couple of embarrassing things about me (I watch television shows designed for a high school audience and I’m afraid to fly), a couple things I love (ice cream and good books) and some that don’t fit with the rest of my personality (like wanting to plan events and having messy drawers.) There are 6 totally random things about me…enjoy!