The two sisters

The oldest, B, and her husband recently made the move out West from the Carolinas. They are getting accustomed to life in the country and becoming a student once again for the mister. The youngest, A, and her husband made a short move within the Carolinas for the mister to once again, become a student.

When we both found ourselves in similar situations - moving and the misters going back to school - but far apart from one another, we thought a blog would be a great way to still do something together and for family and friends to keep up with us. Follow us as we share our love for cooking, the great outdoors, and home.

Friday, January 28, 2011

so about last night...

W had lots of reading to do as he is in the middle of catching up with classes from the snow days. Did I mention it snowed here..again? Probably not because snow days mean nothing to me since I work from home. Really, I don't like them anymore. Back to last night...

With W reading a million pages, I decided I would catch up on my magazine stack with a glass of wine and candle. Sounds so relaxing, right? Caught up in the moment, I went to put my glass of wine on the table without looking and next thing you know I'm saying screaming "W, I need your help now."

Enter W. The scene - red wine splattered on the light colored cloth ottoman, light colored cloth sectional, and light colored braided rug. oops.

A: "Get damp paper towels and dab, NOT rub"
W: "How did you manage this? Seriously, tell me the truth about what happened."
A: "I don't know. Really, I don't. It just fell out of my hand. You see I was just about to tell you that my hands have been falling asleep and..."

Enough of the play by play, but that was really the convo and it continued in that same fashion. We decided to  break out the Resolve because the dabbing wasn't completely working. After everything was sprayed, I needed to wipe off the table where the glass (unshattered) with a little bit of wine left was still sitting. W stepped out to get more paper towels and before he could return he heard a shatter and "uh oh, I need more towels." Yes, I managed to knock the glass off the table, splatter more red wine on the couch (different cushion) and break the glass this time. My what-else-can-you-do-but-laugh reflex kicked in and let's just say W's did not :) He stepped out of the room for a breather and heard "click/snap." As he walked in, I was taking a picture of the disaster instead of cleaning because it was such an unbelievable series of events that I had to document it. I will refrain from posting those pictures as I don't think that action was viewed favorably.

A roll of papers towels and flashlight inspection of the rug later, we retreated to the two unstained cushions on the sectional with a new glass of red wine.

I have not built up the courage to check out the victims today, but last night they seemed to be healing nicely.

Cheers!
A

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

List

It's been a while since I've done a list post. Here's your randomness for the day.

  • I wish it were Spring or Fall
  • Social Computing. My nerd side often thinks about this concept and how much it has changed or is changing our face to face social skills. With just returning from a conference, I have especially been thinking about it over the past week. Are you different through email, facebook, IM, blog, etc than in person? Does it take you longer to be "yourself" in person than virtually? For me, yes. This bothers me. I dream of a world sometimes without technology. 
  • I know I'm not old but it is amazing how much you learn about yourself and admit to the more mature older you get. Embrace yourself.
  • Getting a little too deep...reverse. There are pros and cons to working from home. One that has been on my mind lately is when your coworkers switch from humans to dogs, the gas levels greatly increase, especially when they sleep under your desk all day. Wooooof
  • My cousin(s) is awesome and adorable. http://www.wistv.com/global/category.asp?c=195964&clipId=5502277&topVideoCatNo=174353&autoStart=true 
  • I miss Winter Break. This slightly contradicts the first bullet. I don't mean this in regards to the weather. I miss it just as much as I will miss summer break come fall.
  • The lack of consistency in punctuation with this post is driving me bananas, but I refuse to go back and edit. 
  • I can't spell "bananas" without singing the song, b-a-n-a-n-a-s
  • I'm craving a second honeymoon. You know, the kind where you do nothing but lay on the beach or a float for seven days straight and eat enough food to gain five pounds. I think the combination of an awesome Vegas vacation and Brit's upcoming adventure (I'll let her provide details) makes me want to just keep living that life. see photo above since it won't cooperate and move down here.

What's the positive version of "when it rains, it pours" because that's how I'm feeling today

I hope to have a great recipe or two to post soon

      A

      Monday, January 24, 2011

      Long Time No Blog

      Let's not even talk about how long it's been.


      Grandma (never tell her I called her that) said it best - this was one of the best Christmases yet. True. We were able to spend time with most of our family - both sides. I am so glad we could make that work. One of the best things about Christmas was W was on break! It was wonderful having a husband again for three weeks. (Thanks for working so hard, W.)

      Visitors and Happy 50th!


      Right after Christmas, Brit and J came back to the East Coast for 10 days and we got to spend every single day with them. Wish we could do that every month, or every day would be great too. We stayed busy seeing family but had plenty of time to take it easy and hang out. Miss you guys so much!

      We headed up to Oak Island for a few days to see mom and dad and celebrate their 50th birthdays! Us kids surprised mom and dad with an evening out on the town in Wilmington.



      We spent lots of time in our pajamas, harvesting oysters and mussels from the backyard, eating lots of yummy food, and playing games.



      Vegas


      I just returned from one of the best vacations. Brit, Dad, and I had work travel scheduled that allowed us to easily meet up in Vegas for a father/daughters vacation. We ate lots of great food, saw awesome shows (Phantom and cirque du soleil mystere), drove past the Hoover Dam, and danced, j-j-just dance. We were enjoying each moment so much that we never remembered our cameras and only got a few pics with Brit's phone.

      Clockwise: fountains at Bellagio, amazing view while at Hoover Dam, Hoover Dam (so busy talking that we drove 15 miles past it the first time), clubbin' it with Pop Daddy and Glee*

      *The cast of Glee was celebrating a birthday at the bar club we went to. While we remained a few tables away and never met any of them, we were still pretty excited to have a celebrity(ies) sighting.

      Thanks, Dad, for an amazing trip. We missed you, Mom!

      Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things and it won't be so long until the next post.

      A

      Tuesday, January 11, 2011

      Under Construction

      Pardon the "oops" as we reconstruct