So dedicated...

The McHusband has a big test coming up on October 24th, and he took a couple books with him to Dallas so he could still study while we were traveling. I, of course, documented this momentous occasion for everyone to see.

Ode to Fish City

Fish City, how I love thee
With your margaritas so yummy.
And those fish tacos -
Divine, scrumptious, downright heavenly.
Fish City, won't you please come to Raleigh?

Okay, so that was a plea shamelessly and not very well hidden in my ode. Seriously, Fish City, I'm down on my knees begging you to bring your margaritas and delicious spicy tartar fish taco sauce to North Carolina. I'm just not sure I can go another two years without one of your fish tacos.

And I'm not the only one who loves Fish City. The McInlaws ate there the night they arrived in Dallas and they were kind enough to bring leftovers home so that the McHusband and I could have some for a late-night snack after our flight from NC to Dallas. And guess where we went to lunch the next day? Fish City! See, we just can't get enough.

I noticed my picture of the outside of the restaurant is a little off center. Well, if you'd had three margaritas, your pictures might be a tad off, too.

Down to 2 people, 2 dogs, and 2 cats...

...but we're still up to 2 houses. We sold both fish tanks and the fish. The dining room looked so nice this past weekend with the fish tank gone and the huge dog crate moved out into the garage for the open house.














We also bagged some store-bought cookies and tied them closed with a tag I'd made that had a picture of our house and some of the important info listed on it. If only we'd had more visitors, I know someone would've bought the house based solely on my marketing efforts. See for yourself:





























Certain information has been blacked out to protect the innocent. I don't want any crazy internet stalkers showing up saying they saw my house on the internet. Wait, isn't that exactly what happens when we have a showing...?

More pictures of Chase

Cuz you never get tired of baby pictures, right?

Check out his spiffy going-home outfit.

Happy Three-Month Birthday, Lyla!

My mom, Bri, and Lyla met me in Asheboro, a good halfway point between Charlotte and Raleigh, last Sunday, which happened to be Lyla's three-month birthday. Asheboro doesn't have much going for it except for a zoo and the fact that it's a good halfway point. I have a feeling I'll be visiting Asheboro pretty frequently in the future.

Anyway, we had lunch at Chili's and I pretty much hogged Lyla the whole time. Well, until our food came, then she had to go into her carseat. I mean, an aunt's gotta eat, right?

I think this picture was taken right before Lyla threw up half her bottle. Lucky for Chili's, I caught most of it in my hands. Lyla later threw up some on my left shoulder, then she evened me out by puking some on my right shoulder. I wasn't too worried about it, my shirt could be washed. What I didn't consider is the fact that I had to drive an hour and a half home with a baby puke-smelling shirt. It wasn't too bad as long as I didn't turn my head. Thankfully the drive home is mostly a straight shot.




















Check out Lyla's MC Hammer pants. How 'bout some "U Can't Touch This" lyrics?














Break it down
Stop, Hammer time

Go with the funk, it is said
If you can't groove to this
Then you probably are dead.

Wow, MC Hammer obviously has a way with words (and that's not necessarily a compliment). Am I the only one who had no idea that was one of the verses?

Battle of the Snakes

When we were in Texas, the McHusband got to see AND drive his uncle's Viper.














It's just a shame that he didn't enjoy driving that car...

There's not much room in a Viper for what belongs in it (you know, stuff like seats) let alone for tall people as the McFather-in-Law can attest to. The seat doesn't go back any further, and his knees are basically in the glove compartment. By the way, "glove compartment" is accurate in this car's case - it's only big enough for a pair of gloves.














And for those of you who are more interested in the car than the people, here's one of the McHusband's glamour shots of the car.














For those of you who aren't into cars, the subject line refers to the McHusband's Cobra (see the earlier post about the Blue Racecar) and the Viper. For the record, he says his Cobra could beat the Viper, but a Viper will always have a soft spot in his heart even if it never has a parking spot in our garage.

Nanny

The McHusband's grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer's for some time, passed away last Saturday. We traveled to Texas for the funeral and were very happy to see it attended by so many people who loved Nanny and her family.

This picture was taken at Kevin and Jenny's wedding in April '05. This was Nanny's last trip to NC and everyone was so glad she was able to make it. She, along with her son and his wife, flew out of Raleigh after the wedding so we were lucky to have her visit our home, where Nanny quickly made friends with our Great Dane, Morgan. She might not have known whose house she was in, but she was happy to be sitting in canine company.

Big News!!!

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted - we've been to Texas, scrambled to get the house ready for the open house, and...hmmm, I know there was something else... Oh yeah, we've become an aunt and uncle to an adorable nephew! :)

Jenny went into the hospital Thursday night/Friday morning around 4 am, and Chase Milton finally made his debut at 2:06 Friday afternoon. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 20.5" long.

The McHusband and I can't wait to meet our first nephew. In the meantime, we'll look forward to every picture the new parents and grandparents want to send us.

You know what I just realized? "Aunt" can be reworked to say "a nut." Interesting...

The Blue Racecar

Toren lives across the street with his parents, Ryan and Sandra, and little sister, Sophia. Today is his fourth birthday so his gift from us was a ride in the Cobra, or the "blue racecar" as he calls it. Last Christmas when he was in Germany visiting extended family, Toren drew pictures of the blue racecar and apparently he talked about it nonstop. Toren's dad, Ryan, went along on the ride and when they got back, he said, "I've never been so fast so fast." I'm thinkin' he liked the get up and go of the Cobra, and I'm not sure who enjoyed the ride more: him or Toren.

Look at those muscles! A muscle pose for a muscle car.

Crack is whack!

I just wanted to share something that the McHusband and I were lucky enough to witness on our way to meet Bronwyn, Mike, and Gavin at the Olive Garden for lunch a few Saturdays ago. Don't be alarmed, even though it's pretty gross, we didn't let it ruin our appetites. Hope the same can be said for yours...

You'd have thought he would've noticed the "air conditioning" his bike suddenly had, but he appeared to be blissfully unaware while we, on the other hand, scrambled for the camera so we could document this momentous occasion.

We were off to Vegas the next day and do you know what? I don't think we saw as much derriere there as we did on this afternoon in Cary.

Roses are red...

So my mom and I have a tradition. I don't buy her flowers for Mother's Day; instead, I make her drive to Raleigh from Charlotte and then I put her to work helping me plant flowers in and around my yard all weekend. We've done this four years in a row. It's a win-win situation because I get to make my yard pretty AND we get to spend quality time together...sweaty, dirty quality time.

Anyway, my madre wanted to see pictures of how some of the flowers are looking at the end of the summer so instead of just sending her an email with those pictures, I'm going to post them here for all the world to see. (And by "all the world," I mean my regular readers, which, well, is probably just my mom. Hmmm, maybe I should've gone with the email after all...)

My mom got me this little cat planter for my birthday.






































My mom also brought up a whole carload of flowers for my new "area" on the side of the house. She brought two elephant ear plants, several day lillies, lots of snapdragons, a daisy, and wild pink daisy-like flowers that I can't recall the name of. Everything on the side of the house will come back - that's called a perennial. See, I've learned some fancy landscaping lingo during our sweaty, dirty quality time. My mom thought ahead to next year and got stuff that'll come back so we don't have to redo that area next spring. Good idea, right? Except guess what? We're moving. I hope the new owners appreciate all my mom has done for their yard.





























I have planters on the fence thanks to my mother-in-law - thanks, McMom! Some of the flowers in them thrived and some hung on for dear life through the summer and some just jumped ship the day after my mom left.





























That lighter green bushy stuff coming out the sides is asparagus fern. It does great in the hot NC summers. I can grow asparagus fern like nobody's business. Verbena (the pink stuff from the before picture - notice there's just one speck of it in the after picture) on the other hand...

So, Mom, are you already looking forward to starting fresh at the new house? I'm thinking we might need an extra day of sweaty, dirty quality time.

Mellow Mushroom

We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom last night. We went there for Ben's birthday and were joined by his brother and sister, his wife, Robin, and friends including Kevin, Byron, Lisa, and Melaney. By the way, Ben, thanks for being born when you were. It was great how that coincided with Mellow Mushroom's $3 pint night. We all appreciated it.

I don't have any pictures from last night, but I'll leave you with a few web sites.

• Mellow Mushroom - I had the white pizza (minus the fresh tomatoes) and it was delicious.
• The Cupcake Shoppe - Robin picked up assorted cupcakes from here and mine, chocolate with cream cheese icing, was very good. Looks like the web site is under construction, which is disappointing, but I'm going to include it anyway. I mean, just like the highways here in NC, construction on the site will be done someday. That day may not be in the forseeable future, but it's coming.
• Armadillo Grill - I'm on a restaurants-in-downtown-Raleigh kick so I'm going to include this one, too. Ben's sister got him a gift certificate to the Armadillo Grill so that's the connection. What, you thought I was just going to add some random restaurant to the list? We've been there a few times for a late-night snack after being out downtown and it really hits the spot.

Cutie patootie

I had to lead with the picture for this post because I couldn't wait to have that beautiful face in front of me. This is my niece, Lyla. She's almost three months old, and I just adore her. Those cheeks! That nose! I can't wait to see her on Sunday.

Goin' to the chapel...

Congrats to Rick and Sabrina on their engagement! My vote's definitely for an October wedding, especially if you ever want to celebrate your anniversary in Charleston. Charleston's beautiful in October. See, your future anniversaries probably aren't something you're considering right now while you're trying to set a date so I'm helping you out.

I don't have a picture of them so I'll just have to go with a picture of The McHusband and me at our October wedding. Sorry we're so pink. Must be the flush of love. Or margaritas.

Say "Queso!"

We had dinner with Rick, Sabrina, Byron, and Melaney on Saturday. Lisa was away for what was, I'm sure, a much-deserved girls' weekend on the lake so Byron and Melaney were on their own.

Melaney was shy, as usual, during the first half of dinner, but she opened up after a bit. I think it had something to do with the queso dip that Rick ordered and shared. There's just something about warm melty cheese that makes everything right in the world, you know? And if you combine that with a couple margaritas, well, the world's just about perfect. (Note: I meant that my world, not Melaney's, was just about perfect because I had some warm melty cheese dip and two margaritas. As far as I know, Melaney's sippy cup did not contain a margarita.)

While the boys were paying, Melaney and I headed outside for some girl talk and to count light fixtures, then it was time for Byron and Melaney to head home cuz she had a case of the toots, and Byron didn't want to have to stop at a gas station on the way home. We understand, Mexican food has that effect on lots of us.

Here's Melaney saying, "Seeeeeeeeze!" I didn't even prompt her to "Say cheese," I just pulled out the camera and she reacted like a pro. Watch out, Byron, you could have a runway walker on your hands.

Rub-a-dub-dub

I gave both dogs baths yesterday. They were like a couple of stinky kids who've been at the playground on a hot day - they didn't think they smelled bad, but I couldn't stand it any longer. Tucker doesn't like getting bathed too much and he fights a little. Morgan doesn't love it, but she's resigned to it.

I don't have any pictures of yesterday's baths, but I have a couple of Tucker from shortly after we got him. The McHusband and I put him in the sink in the garage and cleaned him up.

Dog Tired

We took the dogs to the Dog Day in the Park yesterday and they had fun making lots of new friends of both the human and canine varieties. It was so humid yesterday that they didn't last too long. Remember, we were able to walk up to the park so Morgan and Tucker were almost totally spent by the time we got to the event.

Side note: We had seen one set of neighbors, Gina and Bob, walking past our house with their bassett hound, Bella, about 30 minutes before we left. On our way to the park, we ran into Bob heading home by himself and asked where Gina and Bella were. He said he left them both "panting at the park" to go get the car. See, Gina's about 9 months pregnant (remember, a pregnancy is more like 40 weeks) and what Bella makes up in ear length she lacks in stamina on hot, humid days. So Bob had to walk home to get the car then drive up there - about half a mile - to pick them up. Too bad our timing wasn't better, we could've caught a ride, too.

Anyway, the most exciting thing we saw up there were a couple of 8-week-old Bullmastiff puppies that were "available for adoption to a good home." I clarified with the kid hawking them that that actually meant they were for sale to whoever could afford them.

Here are some pictures of all of us when we got home.














Then it was time to lay down. There's an AC vent under the sink so Tucker had the right idea.














Look, his tongue had to be on the linoleum floor for maximum cooling.














And then we all moved into the den. The McHusband and I were pretty hot, too, but we refrained from laying down on the kitchen floor.

Boy, supervisin' is hard work! Tori had to cool off on the kitchen floor, too.

TGIF!!!

Is there a better weekday than Friday? I mean, other days have their merits, but they can't hold a candle to Fridays.

• Tuesdays don't suck the most because they're not Mondays


• Wednesdays are okay because of the food section in the newspaper


• Thursdays are good because they come right before Fridays and there's some really good TV on in the evenings

Weekend plans? The Dog Day in the Park is tomorrow up at the Parrish Womble Park outside our neighborhood so we'll be taking Morgan and Tucker up there. It'll be Tucker's first DDITP and he's really looking forward to it. All those butts to sniff and treats to beg for - it's his version of heaven on earth.

The McHusband will go to the office to study (he'll be taking the PE again on 10.24), and I'll hopefully be leaving the house with the dogs for a showing or two. In a perfect world, someone would want to see the house WHILE we were up at the park and already gone with the dogs. And in that perfect world, those people would want to buy our house. Some people say perfection's overrated, but in this case I think it'd be, well, perfect. Keep all appendages crossed for us...

We have someone coming to look at the Death Tank tonight. He wants to use it for a saltwater tank, though, so he wouldn't want the fish we have in it, which means we'd have to find good homes (i.e. NOT toilets) for all of them. The McHusband's already talked to a fish store that'd pay us for them so that's good news. The bad news is that before they can pay us, we have to get the fish to them, which entails catching not-wanting-to-be-caught fish, putting them into five-gallon buckets from Home Depot, and lugging those into the fish store. Of course, I use the term "we" loosely since Ryan'll be doing much of the dirty work.

The Death Tank

The Not-Death Tank

No Solicitors!

Ugh, I hate it when solicitors come knocking on our door here at work. Actually, they don't knock, they just come right in. They're rarely selling anything we're interested in, but they always ask for one of our business cards "for their records," which means we'll probably have to field a follow-up call within a week.

Foy and I have talked about putting up a "No Soliciting" sign outside our door, but what we really mean is "No soliciting unless you have good food to give us," and we don't think Jim would approve that sign. So, we'll suffer the treatless solicitors and keep our fingers crossed that the next one through the door has cookies, or at least a coupon for free cookies.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

Okay, as promised, I have pictures from our trip to Vegas. I won't bore you with my babbling, I'll just get straight to the pictures. Enjoy!

Look at those excited faces...

And here we are on our first field trip at Red Rock Canyon. Can you find Vanessa?

Unfortunately, that's not a rare bird.

Look, our very own mountain men. The boys climbed waaaaaaay up the rocks.

Adios, Red Rock!

We went to the Shelby factory for a tour and got to sign a wall inside.

After the car stuff, we went to the Hoover Dam. Here's the McHusband and me on our way to the dam when we stopped for a photo op and then at the dam during our tour. Hmmm, guess the McHubby wanted to see what the dam was like with the lights out.

We had a nice dinner at Postrio in the Venetian before our Cirque du Soleil shows. Our waiter was kind enough to take a group photo when we left. Then we took pictures on the bridge that the gondolas floated under.

After dinner, we ran into a couple of familiar faces. Jeremy, watch that right hand...

And Nic, watch your left hand! Sheesh, celebrities!

We ventured into the Secret Garden at the Mirage (and by "venture," I mean we paid $15 per ticket to be allowed in) and saw dolphins, white tigers and lions, and four tiger cubs (three white ones and one gold one) at feeding time. It was worth the $15 just to see the cubs so active.

I count three bellies in this picture...

The End. Sorry, I couldn't resist. The McHusband took this picture of Vanessa and me in the Bellagio.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip, check out my Shutterfly album.