Easter Rewind

I know I'm a few days late, but I still wanted to share some of our wonderful Easter weekend with y'all!

Friday started off a little different than most Fridays in that we got to have a playdate with our baby friends! The school was on Spring Break so we were able to hang out with some sweet mommas and babes for a bit. It's so much fun to see them toddling around and really getting into things. Gone are the days of quietly meeting in a coffee shop!

They were not having it when we asked for a picture!

That evening my mom came down so David and I could go out on a date. What he didn't know was we weren't going home! While we kicked off the evening with drinks at Carolina Ale House I surprised him and told him there was a suitcase in the back of the car and we were staying the night at his parents' condo on Lake Wylie! He was so excited and we completely changed gears for the night. Instead of a quick evening out Carrabba's and Babies 'R Us (whoooooo), we headed to NoDa to hit the breweries and chow down on some delicious food. We even snuck over to the new outlet mall for a wee bit just to wander around. Gotta love when you're not tied to a baby's bedtime!

The next morning we woke up and ventured over to IHOP for breakfast. David has been talking about getting a stack of their pancakes for about a thousand years so I finally caved. After he drowned them in syrup and thoroughly enjoyed them we returned home to our babe and a busy day of visiting with my side of the family. We've recently discovered all the neat breweries that are pretty much in our backyard! Okay, so maybe they're like 10 minutes away, but that's close enough for us. My dad, brother, and sister-in-law joined us for the trip around town before we all ended up back at the house for supper and yard games. 

The next morning we awoke early and headed to church to celebrate the glorious day! Every Easter Sunday our church comes together for a delicious Easter breakfast and this year was no different. Afterwards we all roll ourselves into the auditorium and fight to stay awake with our full tummies;-) There is always an Easter egg hunt following the service and this year was no different. Amelia Grace even "found" an egg! What that really means is we sat her down next to egg and she picked it up. Hooray! Haha. 

Amelia Grace's first Easter!

After service we headed to the Mobley's for Easter lunch and visiting. We all enjoyed more delicious food and had a great time catching up. 

It was a busy weekend, but a great one as well!

Me on the left in 1989 and Amelia Grace in 2015 wearing the same dress!

Whole 30 Regress-Week 3

Does that say "regress"? Shouldn't it say "progress"?

You read it right the first time, folks, it says regress. As is, we went backwards not forwards on our goals. Please excuse me while I go hang my head in shame. I wish I could say it was just one moment of a mistake, but it was a few. You see, what had happened was. . . 

Thursday night I was making Whole30 compliant fish "tacos". I was so proud of myself for coming up with ways to make this recipe okay for us to eat and still taste good. We sat down to supper, enjoyed our tacos and each other's company. Bliss. Until David got up for seconds and looked at the salsa jar and realized there was sugar in it. *face in palm* Argh! I didn't even think to check! Rookie move! I was so caught up in not using tortillas and any dairy products that I didn't even think about the salsa. Tsk tsk.

Fast forward to Friday evening. David's mom generously offered to watch Amelia Grace so we could go on a date. For some reason we were really excited about this date night. Nothing really to celebrate, but we still wanted to do it up big. Dinner, movie, the whole shebang! Our go-to of Outback just didn't seem right. Our most favorite local restaurant was participating in Charlotte Restaurant Week so we headed over there. We were sucked into the good deal of three courses for $30 which included our favorite appetizer (a combination of pimento cheese and guacamole) and a dessert of peanut butter pie. And of course what date night isn't complete without a little local brew? Yea, folks, we didn't just fall off the wagon-the wagon tipped over and threw us off into a pile of delicious food.

Saturday morning we woke up with full intentions of hitching ourselves back to the wagon and continuing on. Then my sister, her boyfriend, and my mom came down to visit, so my brother and his wife came over as well. Before we knew it we had a rowdy game of Dominoes going and a good time was had by all! Adding to that good time were a few local craft beers from 201 Central. And what's a fun evening without a little dessert? Yea, it was badddddd. 

So, where are we in all of this? Good question. I am bummed we were only a week shy of our goal and we didn't make it, but does that mean we're tossing in the towel completely? Nope. We love the way we feel eating clean and that's not going to go away. We have learned a lot through this and I love how I've been stretched in the kitchen with the meal prep. Our lifestyle and way of viewing food has been altered significantly and for that I am thankful. We are going to continue on with it and keep eating as healthy and clean as we can. We are going to continue to steer clear of processed foods as much as we possibly can and only allow ourselves the occasional treat. 

Te he he, I feel like I've said this a zillion times. . .

26th Birthday Buzz

This past weekend we celebrated my 26th birthday in the best way possible-delicious food and time together! 

One of our plans before Amelia Grace was born was to hit up some of our favorite restaurants we weren't sure we were going to get to after baby. Since she decided to surprise us a few weeks early we missed out on that opportunity, but that meant we had an excuse to go out big for my birthday. We ended up at one of our Charlotte favorites, Cowfish, and were not disappointed!

We dropped baby girl off at David's parent's house and headed out pretty early. When you have a newborn who doesn't sleep in, staying out late is a foreign concept! Then we headed to Cowfish where we began our meal with seared ahi tuna nachos (YUM). Now, if you have never been there you are definitely missing out-everything is good. You cannot go wrong, which is what made it so hard to decide what to eat. David ended up with their pimento cheese burger on toasted rye and I decided on the blue cheese chicken sandwich with caramelized onions and other fixins. Delish.

Afterwards David surprised me with a birthday gift I didn't even know I wanted-the Misfit Shine fitness tracker! I'd been looking at the FitBit for a while, but wasn't quite sold on it. David, knowing me as well as he does, did all the research and found the Shine and learned how much better it is. Two days in and I'm addicted to tracking everything. Need something from upstairs? I'll grab it for the extra steps. Run out to the mailbox? Count me in. A few extra minutes on our walk. Yes, please!

Afterwards we went across the street to Gigi's cupcakes-another delicious favorite! Then we headed over to Southpark Mall to wander around and look at all the crazy things we can't afford. Hello, super expensive Louis Vuitton purse. Hi there, Tiffany's lamp. Hola, Burberry coat.

It was a great birthday all around and will definitely be hard to top!

PS-The entire time I was writing this post my daughter was farting up a storm on her play mat. This is my life now. . .

Saturday Outing

We are fortunate enough to live in a pretty awesome location. We're close to the Lake Norman area and a short drive from Charlotte, which means we're always close to fun things. Coming up with a good restaurant to visit or a neat place to try isn't the hard part; what is hard is deciding where to go! This past Saturday we decided to take advantage of the cooler summer temps and wander outside for a "date". Granted, Amelia Grace joined us, but she was so well-behaved we barely noticed her! So where did we take our wee little one?? Why, a beer festival of course!

A local neighborhood was hosting a small craft beer festival and we knew it would be right up our alley. For $18 you received eighteen 2-oz servings. I knew that I was in no shape to be drinking that much beer, especially heavy beers, so David and I split the ticket. There were nine different breweries to choose from with two samples at each brewery. 

A pretty good turnout for the small, not very well-publicized, shindig

David enjoying a little sip of NoDa's "Woody and Wilcox" brew

Baby girl basking in all the attention

The real star of the show, though? Amelia Grace, of course. Just about every time we turned around people were sneaking peaks at the little miss and asking about her. It was so much fun getting to brag about our little love!

Four Years

I am so excited to be celebrating four years with this handsome fellow today. . .

I cannot wait to celebrate this evening and every day until forever!

5 on Friday [03.28]

Happy Friday!

 *one*

 I am so excited for a cozy date night in tonight. After last weekend's whirlwind trip plus all that we have going on Saturday and Sunday, a night tucked in watching Redbox movies and noshing on pizza is just what we need!

*two*

 We are halfway to meeting our baby girl!! We had a 20-week appointment at the high-risk OB and he said everything looks great. They even snapped a few pictures of her for us:-) We will go back in two weeks and then again two weeks after that just to make sure she is still rocking along.

*three*

Have any of y'all seen The Outsiders movie? I'm watching it with my kiddos this week since we just finished reading the book, and I had forgotten how much I loved it! What a great story and interpretation. Not to mention you get to see a whole slew of actors before they made it to the big times. 

*four*

 It's almost April. Holy canoli! How did that happen?? I'm definitely not complaining because it means we are one month closer to summer and our baby girl, but still. Time is flying this year!

*five* 

Has anyone seen the trailer for The Giver?? I loved the book the first time I read it as a kid, and feel even more in love every time I've taught it. The trailer doesn't look much like the book, but I'm still excited!

Date Night

I've posted on it multiple times, but I love date night! It can come in all shapes and sizes depending on your life stage, but no matter what it looks like it's a special time to celebrate with your love. What's better than that??

We knew we needed to mix it up this week after being trapped inside thanks to Snowmageddon 2014.  We were both pretty antsy and in need of an adventure out and about. David suggested we head over to an upscale outdoor mall to wander around before heading to supper. I'm always game for a little shopping and wandering around, so to Birkdale we went! We mostly windowed shopped, but we each picked up a little something at Barnes & Noble-Crash the Chatterbox by Steven Furtick for him and a clearance pregnancy journal for me. Score!

After some meandering we decided it was time for supper. David suggested we hit up one of my local favorites, 131 Main. I was thrilled! To anyone ever in the Lake Norman/Charlotte area, make time to hit up one of their locations. We've only been a few times since they are on the nicer/pricier side of things, but we've never been disappointed. Ever. 

We kicked it off with the "Double Dip", a tower of half homemade pimento cheese and half homemade guacamole with chunks of avocado. Nom. Then, we moved onto a wedge salad with their own dressing. Double nom. And, as if things couldn't get any better, our meals arrived. Ribeye with loaded smashed red potatoes for him and the Danish Baby Back Ribs with their homemade french fries and cole slaw. Needless to say we needed to roll out of there.

We were home early enough to put on our cozy clothes and catch the heartbreaking NC State vs. Syracuse game. A perfect date night in my book!

Weekend Shenanigans

I just love the weekend, but then again who doesn't?? A couple days to catch up and breathe after a work week are always so nice and this past weekend was no exception!

We kicked Friday evening off with a dinner date to a local favorite, Afton Tavern, where we saw a few friends from church. Not to mention we were able to chow down on delicious homemade chips. Don't worry, Nugget got all his/her veggies with a salad;-) After supper we headed home to watch "Prisoners", which David had been talking about seeing for a long while. I didn't know much about it, but figured it had Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhal so it couldn't be all bad. Holy canoli. I'm still having nightmares!! It was so realistically terrifying I still refuse to go into a dark room almost a week later. It was a good movie, but don't watch it alone!

The next morning we woke up early and headed into Charlotte to visit the newest location of Tupelo Honey Cafe. We fell in love with this place (and their biscuits!) in Asheville and I've been dying to go to the new location since it opened in December. We used David's upcoming birthday as our excuse and joined his parents there for a delicious breakfast. Sorry about being such a bad blogger and not taking pictures. . . it was all gone before I thought about it!

Afterwards we headed to the South Park area of Charlotte where David's mom and I went shopping for some maternity clothes (!) at a great maternity store down there. Being pregnant in a completely different season has posed some challenges already. A lot of the maternity clothes I bought when I was pregnant with Emerson will be good for another month or two, but then I'll start needing warm weather clothes, which I have none of! Even though I can still fit into the majority of my clothes, there is definitely a bump poking through and things are getting tight.

That afternoon called for a nap. I didn't sleep well the night before (an unfortunately common occurrence!) so I snuggled down for a bit before Nugget woke me up in need of nutrition. Around that time my oh, so sweet friend (and maid of honor) Kelley came by with her new fella! Kelley works an amazing job at Outward Bound helping kids from all walks of life, but sadly that means we don't see much of her. That just means we have to make the most of the time we have together!

Sunday was fairly uneventful compared to Saturday. We headed to church where the worship band rocked it out before some of the guys from church played flag football in honor of the Superbowl. I headed home to catch up on school (the work of a teacher is never done. . .) before the big game. We were so excited to see the Seahawks pull out such an amazing win! 

2013 Renaissance Festival

It's that time of year again! What time, you say? Time for turkey legs, Huzzahs, and ridiculously dressed folk-it's time for the Renaissance Festival! Every year we make sure to make time in our busy Fall weekends to attend the Renaissance Festival. The tickets may be a smidge pricey at $22 person, it is more than worth it. Between the crazy shows and delicious food we always have a great time. When you throw in the odd costumed characters it goes to a whole other level!

This year we headed over there bright and early to make the most of our time. The weekend's theme was "Halloween Daze and Spooky Knights" with an offer for a free kid's entrance. We'd never gone on this weekend in year's past so it was neat to see how they celebrated Halloween with the kiddos. 

As soon as we got in we got a salted caramel mocha and settled in for our first show. 

Then we wandered around for a bit before we ran into some friends of ours from Raleigh. We took their advice and saw a crazy acrobatic show. Their strength and tricks had us all watching with our mouths hanging open.

After the acrobatics we wandered around for a bit and took in some more of the oddities there.

A person dressed up like a tree. Sure, why not?

One of these days he is actually going to buy one of the $300 swords he swoons over.

Did the folk of the Renaissance really ride camels around? Probably not, but I couldn't resist catching this guy's face!

Just before we left (after we had eaten our weight in snacks!) we stopped by the Tortuga Twins Show. This show is a classic at the Renaissance Festival and a definite must-see. Seeing them again reminder me of all the time I used to go with my two best friends growing up!

It was a fabulous day all around and I'm already looking forward to next year!