What's the capital of North Carolina?

 Washington DC!

Glenn and I went up to DC a few months ago to visit my friend Hillary, but I don't think I posted any pics except from karaoke. It's so nice having her close by although we'll have to make another trip to see her soon.

While we were in town though, Glenn and I also visited the Natural History museum and saw the WWII memorial. It was beautiful spring weather though and probably many schools' spring break though, because everywhere was packed!

It was nice to see Hillary, catch up with the Rohrings and see our nation's capital. I'm sure we'll be making another trip up there in the future. As long as traffic isn't bad, it's only a 3.5 hr drive!

Harborfest/OpSail 2012

A few weeks ago, Norfolk hosted OpSail 2012 as well as Haborfest. Unfortunately Glenn missed it, but I headed down there with Cara and the Morans. Ships from all over the world sailed in to Norfolk for the 4 day festival. We got to tour boats from different countries and listen to Colbie Callait live from downtown. It was perfect weather and a great night!

We each ordered a deep fried treat: oreos, twinkie and a funnel cake. The oreos were my favorite!

Norfolk always impresses me with their festivals. I love that we live so close (and the Morans even closer!) to downtown that we can take advantage of all of summer fun. Did you notice my hat lights up? Maybe I should have bought it!

What was I thinking?

Why do I start these projects while Glenn is gone? Well... I know the answer to that, but when I envisioned beautiful striped curtain panels for my living room and dining, I didn't know how painful this would be. I am currently almost done seeing the first panel of the first window!

Only 11 more to go!

Party Peeve

I've gotten a few invitation for showers, both baby and bridal, recently where I was asked to bring food and/or drink. Has anyone else experience this? I find it strange that I am not hosting or co-hosting the event, yet I am asked to provide for the party. Am I the only one who friends this strange?

"Hi, thanks for coming and partaking in your own food."

Does this mean I don't have to bring a gift? I am sure I would get more than a few stares if I showed up without an appropriately themed tissue paper filled bag.

When I host a party, I rarely ask people to bring something unless they volunteer it first. In one invitation it said, "Here are the details and here is a list of what you must also bring." I found it a little off-putting but at least informative. The other invitation had no details whatsoever. Should I bring a cake? Should I bring a steak? Who knows? I don't even know what other people are bring or how many people are coming.

I know that hosting a shower can be expensive. A friend and I co-hosted a shower in March and we both spent several hundred dollars. I know not everyone can afford this, but then I ask, why did you volunteer to host a shower?

Perhaps I am wrong. Please tell me if you disagree, but I am already spending money on a gift, now I have to feed myself too?

VAW-120's 642

Glenn's off again for a few day, but this time he's going in style- his own personalized plane!

They rotate names as people leave the squadron and new people come, but in Japan it wasn't until just before we left that his name was added. I guess it helps when there are 5 times as many planes.

See you soon Mr!

Rhode Island

Over Memorial Day weekend, Glenn and I flew up to Rhode Island to visit our dear friends, the Gilberts! We lived a 2 second walk apart in Japan and Stella and often found ourselves there for hours at a time. Watching the kiddos, enjoying margaritas or having a good cry. Whatever the day entailed! I've missed Kristy, Drew and their little Giblettes so much!

We got in late on Friday night and stayed up late chatting. On Saturday, we headed to the Cliff Walk. A gorgeous walking/running path that overlooks the bay and is backed by humungeous old mansions. A perfect combination in my world.
On Sunday, we returned to the same area and checked out The Breakers. A Vanderbilt mansion. Our Vanderbilt world tour continues! It was huge, opulent and over the top, but so cool to see.

On Sunday night, Kristy got a babysitter and we headed out to downtown Newport to a great seafood restaurant and then to one of the bars downtown. Newport is a cute little town with so much history. I loved all the little shops and colonial homes.

The rest of the weekend was a lot of relaxing, donut eating and hanging out with the kiddos. It felt like we were neighbors again. I can't wait til they come down to Virginia in August. Thanks for having us Gilberts!

This is how my garden grows

My mini garden is doing great! I even see my first few green tomatoes. I realized too late that you are suppose to have stakes/cages for the squash so I'm not sure how many yellow squash I will get, but now I know for next year. Also, I should have planted just one or two of the squash and tomatoes. They've gotten big! The herbs are doing great though and I made a margarita pizza with my basil last night. Love that!

We missed you!

Last month was the Norfolk wine festival...always a wonderfully drunken good time. Last time we lived here, I missed it because I was studying for my LEED AP exam for work. Bad planning on my part. I did get to pick up Glenn and then escort him home as he puked out the side of my newish car, but that's a whole other story.

This year's festival was beautiful weather and made all the more fun by the return (to us and Norfolk) of our friends, Chris and Gizelle. We hadn't seen eachother since July 2010 until the beginning of this year.

I love having them so close! We missed you!

Also, side note, doesn't my hubby look gooooood in this pic? Yeah, I thought so too.

Kitchen is painted!

So I've been stinking at this blogging thing, but I spent all 7 of the last 10 days working on the kitchen. I had to revise my plan because, well my arms couldn't handle it. After rolling the kitchen ceiling I decided to stop with ceilings and move on to the walls and trim in the kitchen. It was already a mess anyway. So now we have a nice jagged paint line between the kitchen and the dining room, but that will be fixed in phase 2. I'm guessing when Glenn comes home, that will be sooner than later!

This was my schedule last week:
Monday- edge the ceiling
Tuesday- paint the ceiling
Wednesday- scrape/prep the trim
Thursday- paint the trim (4 doors and a window plus baseboards)
Saturday- edge the walls and paint the trim again
Sunday- roll the walls
Monday- touch ups an clean up

For me, phase 2 is several weeks away!

Here is the best part though- the pics. I painted it a color called Ventana by Pratt and lambert, but I had HD color match it in Behr paint.

Did I mention that the old baseboards were BLACK under all the old paint?
Our house is a little piecemeal with old and new baseboards depending on where walls were removed and added. Who paints baseboards black? I wish I had a few before pictures from before the remodel.

Pinspiration #2

I made these forever ago, but I am currently wishing I had a whole bunch more. They are super easy and only have a few ingredients: cream cheese, vanilla and powered sugar. Whip it up and pipe it in to a hollowed out strawberry. The recipe calls for crushed graham crackers on top but I used a few cookies that we had since I just needed a few.

I loved them because I got the taste of cheesecake without the heaviness or calories of a whole piece of cheesecake. I suppose if I eat a whole plate full, I'm not saving so many calories! Try them!

It begins...

The painting project that I've been avoiding since we moved in begins tomorrow... The downstairs ceiling. We're talking over 1000 sq ft of ceiling, 9 feet in the air. Arms forgive me now. First up is the ceiling, the the trim and lastly, the walls.

I'm starting in the kitchen and working my way towards the living room. I figure it's best if I don't destroy the entire downstairs at once, but Glenn will be gone so I can live with it.

The sooner I start, the sooner I'll be done, right? Wow, this is gonna suck.

Our porch

If our patio wasn't evidence enough, we love spending time outdoors. When we are in town, we love sitting on our porch in the morning and enjoying a cup of coffee.

Our front door faces northish so it's shaded in the morning which is perfect for catching up on my emails and for Stella to watch the passerby.