San Francisco

I recently attended a CLE in San Francisco so we took the opportunity to do some of the touristy stuff while we were out there.  We visited Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, rode the trolleys, took in fisherman's wharf (and some clam chowder), and walked Lombard Street.  Below are some random photos from the trip.

Lizard Licked

On a recent trip to eastern North Carolina, we stopped off on the east side of our county to see the shop where Lizard Lick Towing is filmed (TruTV - All Worked Up).  You might have seen the little hut set up in the parking lot on television...well, that is a small gift shop.  We stopped in, entered the door and began looking around when to our surprise Amy Shirley was sitting behind the counter.  We struck up a conversation, got invited to meet up with the rest of the cast that afternoon and took some photos.  Really nice folks.  Below are some photos from our adventures.

Selma Train Station

I recently made one of my usual runs to Selma to look for antique signs/license plates and decided to stop over at the historic train station.  The station, including Selma itself, has quite a history.  I would invite everyone to read some of the history of this station and town.  The most amazing fact is that one of the residents of Selma invented the salve that is now known as Vick's Vapo Rub.  It was sold out of Joshua Vick's Drugstore in downtown Selma.

Here of some pics of the train station - nicely preserved, museum-like appearance.

Oaky Grove Church / Mial Plantation - Clayton, North Carolina

As one that is fascinated with any historical structure, I visited the Oaky Grove Church in Clayton, North Carolina yesterday.  After hearing about this place from a friend, we did a little research and found some interesting events in North Carolina history have taken place here.  The general area is often referred to as Mial Plantation.  Mial Plantation was one of the original land grants in North Carolina - the land acquired by Mallichi Hinton in 1761 "from Lord Granville of England."  The farm became one of the largest post-Civil War agricultural operations in Wake County, with over 2,700 acres and at least twelve tenant families growing cotton, corn, and some tobacco in the late nineteenth century. A local Raleigh resident retains a lion's share of the land that has not been sold off for residential development - a tract of 345 acres.

The plantation, owned and operated by members of the interrelated Mial and Williamson families since 1775, was one of Wake County's largest and most prominent cotton plantations throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although the main house was destroyed by fire in 1973, many of the plantation's core buildings still survive.  One structure, Oaky Grove Methodist Church, is a shining example of Greek Revival architecture and served the plantation land and its neighbors from its construction in 1876 for a then-staggering sum of $600.  Interestingly, the church was relocated to this current spot.  Many folks report that the church was built by request of a man's fiance.  She claimed that she would not marry him until he built the church. 
In some disrepair it stands proudly guarding its small cemetery out back and is flanked by some outbuildings some distance away. One of these served as one of the first schools in the county (Frog Pond Academy). 

This area was the encampment of General Johnston during the Civil War, as it is the highest point in Eastern Wake County. 

The steeple on the church is not original. The steeple now crowns a Catholic Church in Salisbury, NC (allegedly).  The steeple was destroyed by fire in the early twentieth century. 


Overall, this is a beautiful area enriched with history.  I'll be back to visit again.

Giving it up.....(or at least backing off)

Well, I'm not Catholic, but since I'm hearing my Catholic friends "giving something up for Lent" maybe I will too (sort of).  I have an addiction:  coffee.  And I don't mean a little addiction.  I drink two large cups full every morning, which probably equals about four regular cups.  And what do I like in it?  LOTS of cream and splenda.  So, by the time I drink all of that I have probably had the calories equivalent to a piece of cheesecake.  Even writing this out makes me realize that I need to back off.

So!  For the next 5 weeks, until Easter, I am limiting myself to a total of five cups of coffee.  That's one cup per week.  Wow.  I hope I don't have withdrawal headaches coming off of the caffeine.

Are any of you TOTALLY addicted to coffee too?

Church

Well, after ten years of searching for a church home since we've been married (and moving around 7 times hasn't helped) we finally found one in North Raleigh Church of Christ.  Finding a rather conservative church that reflected our beliefs was actually a lot harder to find than one would have thought.  And then when you finally find that, is it a place where you feel that you belong?

I will be honest, the first four or five months we went there, we were sporatically attending.  It then dawned on me that if we wanted to become part of the church family that we needed to jump in and participate in things.  This church is not a huge church.  I think maybe for church (not Sunday School) that there are usually about 200 on the attendance report.  So, maybe a tad bigger than the churches we grew up in, but still small enough for my liking.  And of course, we don't have kids, so it made it a little harder to really jump in and meet people.

We joined the church a few weeks ago, and then an interesting thing happened.  And honestly, I thought it was a GREAT idea that they did.  Did you know that about 20% of the people in a church do about 80% of the work?  Really, it's probably true.  So, they wanted to get other people involved.  What did they do?  They held a "job fair" in place of Sunday School last week called "All In Sunday".  Each ministry set up a table and you could read about it and the ministry leader would answer questions and you could sign up to help with any of the ministries that you felt led to do.

So, I signed up to keep the nursery, to be on the meals ministry (take meals to the sick, new babies, after funerals, etc), the card ministry, to be involved in the ladies' book club, go to the ladies Tues morning groups and Wed night groups (when I'm not working--which is more than 50% of the time).  Mark signed up to help mow the church property, do carpentry work, serve communion and help with the offering plates on Sundays, and on the Habitat for Humanity building team.  Had they not had this, I'm not so sure we would have done all of that.  I think that is true for a lot of other people as well.

So, you'll probably be hearing me blog a bit on the different things we're doing with the church family.  I am excited to have these people in our life here.

And I would walk five hundred miles.......

Remember that song?  I used to love it, and really, it was a stupid song.  But I have decided that during the month of March I am going to walk, not 500, but 100 miles.  Now, for runners I'm sure this doesn't seem like much.  But I've been pretty sedentary for a while, so this is a big deal.  But the weather is getting nicer and I'm quite tired of gaining weight.  I'm one of those "when I get stressed, I eat" people.  And lately?  I've been stressed a bit.  So, time to do something about all of these extra pounds before summer gets here.

So, now that I've blogged about it......you all have to hold me accountable!  (Thanks for that idea Arika!)

San Antonio, TX (Part II)

New Year's Eve in San Antonio

We celebrated NYE in San Antonio with our friends, the Hoffmans.  We enjoyed a dinner at a great local Mexican restaurant.  We had (I know you all are dying to know what we ate) sweet potato tacos (actually I think they were called something different, but same idea).  Sounds gross, but they were gooood.

We decided to venture out to the Haagen Dazs for ice cream, only to find that they were closed.  :(  But! We found a neat little place that had frozen yogurts/ice cream.  I laughed so hard when my friend Joy told me that she asked if they had mint chocolate chip.  The young guy looked and scraped enough to to give her a sample and then proceeded to tell her that he was out of it. hahaha  Her response "Great.  So, I can taste what I'm NOT having."

We ate dinner New Year's night at a great little Texas BBQ place on the Riverwalk.  You have to understand that this riverwalk is extremely narrow and has no guard rails.  The path is mostly right at the edge of the river, but occassionally winds inward a bit and allows for some restaurant seating right at the river's edge.  So this restaurant had a small seating area right at the river's edge, which is where we sat.  At the end of the meal, we got ready to leave and I pushed my chair back and heard a gasp!  My dining chair fell into the river and was sinking and flowing away.  A nice man helped me pull the chair out of the river.  But oh, my.   Where else would I lose a dining chair in a river?

We were also very lucky that we ended up leaving on Jan 3rd because you know what was happening on Jan 3rd?  They were draining the river and cleaning it.  They get out all of the cameras, cell phones, and I bet some chairs too! LOL  Actually, it would have been pretty darn interesting to see what all was in the bottom of the three foot deep river.

San Antonio, TX (Days 1 and 2)

At least every other year we try to plan a little vacation with our close friends from Memphis.  This year we met up with them in San Antonio, TX.  A place Mark and I have been wanting to visit for a while.  The Riverwalk was fascinating to us.  We stayed at a hotel right on the Riverwalk so we had quick and easy access to eating (most important!) and were pretty central to the attractions.  

 Mark took these first two pictures in the early morning before anybody was up!

 The second day we drove up to Austin, the state capitol.  We were very impressed with their visitor's center.

 Yes, I am even surprised I am posting this one on the blog. LOL

 A picture of us with the Capitol in the background.

 And our friends, the Hoffmans.

 Apparently I did a lot of this as well.  Who isn't addicted to their phone?

Christmas Party

We hosted the monthly dinner party at our house this past December with a Christmas theme. I'm late posting these.  We played the "dirty santa" game with really bad gifts everyone was looking to unload (not quite gag gifts).  

Dinner with Neighbors

I think these pics were taken mid-December.  Our neighbors came over for dinner and we enjoyed spending time with them.

 And there is a new baby on the way for the Quinn Family!

Happy New Year!

As you may have guessed, my husband has been doing some of the last few posts on some renovations he has done around the house.  Don't they look great?!!  I have been so impressed with what he has accomplished.

So, how many of you made New Year resolutions?  I asked Mark what his were and he replied "I don't believe in them."  LOL  I LOVE making lists, more than actually following through with the lists, really.  I feel like the new year is a time that you get to hit the reset button and try and do better.  And you know there are millions of people doing it with you too!  Well, I have some that I'll share with you.

1.  To Eat Better.  I don't eat a very balanced diet.  I frequently eat what is convenient, which has blessed me with the new cushioning I have attached to my thighs.  I am not resolving to lose weight (while I am hoping that will be an added bonus) but to eat healthier.  I started wondering if grocery stores see a boost in their fresh foods or diet foods in January since I know a bunch of people are wanting to lose weight.

2.  To Waste Less Time.  I work fewer days of the week than most.  But on the days I do work I work LONG days.  Hence, the convenience foods.  So, on the days that I have off, I tend to relax for extended periods of time. Such as staying in my pajamas and sipping coffee until 1 p.m.  I suppose it is healthy to a certain degree, but I feel like I should be doing something more productive.  So, "waste less time" is a general resolution.  Maybe I should just say "get out of my pajamas by 10 a.m."  which is a 3 hour improvement, ey?

3.  Study God's Word.  I bought a book a couple of months ago on understanding the Bible.  It goes through each book of the Bible and helps you pull together all of those stories that you've heard a million times, and see the bigger picture.  I want to try to apply His word to my life on a daily basis.

4. Keep In Touch.  This will be the year that I do a much better job of keeping in touch with friends and family.  I have done a embarrassingly poor job of that the past couple of years.  I read emails that people send me right away, and think "I'll write them back in just a minute" and that turns into days which then is taken over by my forgetfulness.

5. Post Comments On Blogs.  I read so many blogs and never post comments.  Why?  I really don't know why.  I LOVE to get comments on my blog and I know other people do too.  So, this will be the year that I post comments (not always, but more frequently) on blogs or Facebook statuses.

6. Be Better.  Try to be a better wife, daughter, friend, practitioner.  Just in general.  I want to be better.

7. Projects.  I want to start finishing up on the projects we have for the house.  This year I want to finish the office/study, and possibly the master bathroom.  I want to do a better job of organizing as well.

8. Blog.  I really love to blog.  But I am a horrible procrastinator.  I am pledging to blog at least once a week.  And it will still count if my husband guest blogs!!  But I enjoy so much of reading old posts and seeing what we do throughout the year.

What are YOUR resolutions?  I am interested to hear!!