Killer Ants Attack

We completed the week with date night at Del Frisco's. We got all gussied up and headed to SouthPark for a nice dinner. When we got there they sat us at our table... in the corner and Philip was facing a wall and truly could not see anyone in the restaurant. As much as he loves me staring at a wall for an hour long dinner at one of the more expensive restaurants in Charlotte did not appease him. The food however we delicious and we even got to enjoy Oysters which is one of our favorites. After dinner we visited the Home Depot Design Center. This place is awesome. I am so glad he didn't take me there when we were building our house or the first few months we were busy with home projects because I could've gotten carried away in there.

We returned home and I finished my book. I might have read this in record time...at least for me. 400+ pages in 10 days! It was a great read - The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. I really wanted to pick up another book but I guess I need to finish the stack of books on my bed side table that include: Those Who Saved Us and Loving Frank. If only I could get into one of these books...

I have found a love for yard work. I am not sure what it is about it that I love but I find it so rewarding. I love watching everything grow and bloom and knowing that we had a hand in making it happen. We have definitely had our fair share of learning experiences. I ripped out all of the pansies in the front that had been blooming since March because they were fading. We also ripped out the tall erect bush that we truly despised since we moved in and replaced all of the flowers and bushses in the front with Pink and Yellow Lantanna's to blend well with our yellow mums that are popping back up from the fall! While I was leaning over the flower bed I felt this instant sting and realize I had just leaned my shin/ calf/leg into a MASSIVE KILLER ANT HILL that had made it home in our flower bed. My calf area was covered with killer red ants! I was attacked by killer ants a few weeks ago in my neighbors yard and it was pretty harmless however this was much different. I can't explain to you the fear and panic that I had this time. I have developed a phobia of KILLER ANTS and ANTS in general. By that evening my leg had swollen and welts had formed on my leg....that have progessed to puss filled welts that itch, burn and throb. Damn you ants....The next day we went back out to take a look at what was really there. WOW... I wish I had my camera. Thousands of frantic ants. Hopefully we killed the entire COLONY.

Welts before they got really swollen

Philip mowed the VERY LONG grass while I tore the pinestraw off the remaining beds in the backyard that didnt have weed protection, laid the weed control fabric and re-fluffed the pinestraw. While I was doing this I decded to de-weed the backyard....what a job! We realized over the past few weeks that one of our four butterfly bushes was dead and another was on its way. I dug it up and brought it back to the nursery for some feedback. Where did we go wrong? As I approached the nursery the gentleman said...."How in the heck did you kill a butterfly bush?" I was thinking, "Genius, if I knew I wouldn't be here!" It turned out that our landscaper smothered the ROOT BALL of the bush and the branches/root ball rotted. In an attempt to save the dying bush Philip put the gator bag around it and drowned the bush. The nursery employees got a kick out of it and kept the bush to show customers what NOT to do....obviously we are still learning. I purchased a dwarf blood red crape myrtle to replace the butterfly bush and am convinced we will enjoy this much more than the butterfly bushes. Good laughs for everyone.

The dead bush compared to the flowering bush

Our good friend's Summer and Matt Minchew are moving to DC in the next few weeks and we went to their going away party on Saturday. We are sad to see them go but know that DC will bring many new beginnings for them. Matt will be attending Maryland for his MBA and Summer located a new job working for a Design Firm. They will be greatly missed over the next two years but they won't be strangers with all of their family here in Charlotte.

Summer, Jenny (her sister-in-law) and I

We got in some great pool time this weekend and even indulged in our favorite dinner, Taco Night with my parents to wrap up the weekend!

Foie Gras?

I had been looking forward to dinner at Zebra for two weeks since I made the reservations. This week is Restaurant week in Charlotte.

Picture this....
Handful of restaurants (some of the best of the best in Charlotte)
3 course meal
$30

Sign me up!

Reservations booked up really far in advanced however I was able to snag one for
Zebra and another for Del Frisco's for Friday night (we have a gift certificate too)

Sarah and Jill joined me for dinner.
I was looking forward to this evening all day....my girls and great food.

Fast Forward to our dinner...
We sat down to dinner and had many questions about the French cuisine menu.
One item of contention was the Foie Gras....
Jill guessed what it was and she was right on the dot.

For those that are clueless...as I was:
Foie gras (pronounced /fwɑːˈgrɑː/ in English; French for "fat liver") is "the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage" (as defined by French law[1]).
Foie gras is one of the most popular and well-known delicacies in French cuisine and its flavour is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras can be sold whole, or prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and is typically served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as toast or steak.

Needless to say none of us ordered Foie Gras.
Lobster Bisque, Beef Tenderloin (probably one of the best I had ever had) and Coconut Souffle.
All absolutely delicious.

Although, I didnt appreciate the extra $5 charge for the souffle that they didnt tell me about when I ordered it from their special restaurant week menu. I was about to put up a stink but kept my mouth closed and just enjoyed the lovely evening.

I enjoyed my dinner and thought the food presentation was beautiful.
I don't know if I would go back for dinner and pay the regular high prices, but it was definitely a treat and spending time with Jill and Sarah made it that much better.

Thank you for being my dates and spending the evening with me.

LOVE YOU BOTH LOTS!

Segway Surprise

This past week we celebrated my parents 30th Wedding Anniversary.

My parents decided that they wanted to do a surprise "family adventure activity" for their anniversary. My sister flew in from D.C. and her boyfriend Rich drove in from Raleigh to spend the weekend with us. My poor sister hates to fly and she was terrified the entire trip, but thankfully she made it one piece.

We received an email the week prior to the "mystery adventure" with the following instructions:
Be at our house at 7:30 AM
Wear light clothes, bring a hat and/or sunglasses and wear sneakers.

Our minds wandered for days and we threw out ideas such as : white water rafting, hiking, horse back riding etc. My mom was so excited that she kept this surprise from us!

Off we went Saturday morning bright and early. We drove to Huntersville (still clueless) and ended up at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve. Gorgeous grounds. As we approached the end of the park we saw Segways and found out that we were going to be riding Segways throughout the nature preserve on a guided tour. After 45 minutes of saftey training and lessons on how to manuver the Segways (this is not a natural movement and takes time to adjust to) we were off and away. THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN... We didn't realize how much fun this was going to be initially and were definitely a little weary. Only the photos can capture the memories and the great time we had.

After the ride we ate a picnic lunch Bass style at the Preserve. Mom made pasta salad and we ate it out of CUPS. We used to do this back in my sister's dance competition days so it was a real treat and a blast from the past. I am sure Rich and Philip thought we were crazy :)

After 3 hours in the park we returned home exhausted. After our much needed naps we hosted a big cook out at our house, played croquet, ate on our new patio furniture and celebrated with my parents!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad - 30 amazing years of love and laughter!

I love Charlotte, let me count the ways...

There are many reasons that I love Charlotte and as you know I am not afraid to share them.

Thanks to my girl Sarah Kaplan I have some fantastic new information published by Center City Partners to share with you all.

As Sarah best put it:
For those of us who are here: Just a few more reasons to love this city!
For those of you who are leaving: Just a few more reasons for why you should think twice about that decision ;)
For those of you who have yet to move down here: Just a few more reasons for why you should be coming!!

Charlotte tops lists across the country
Over the last month, Charlotte has shown up in the top ten of some of the country's most prestigious lists. Here's a sample:

Charlotte's uptown has the lowest office vacancy rate in the country...CBRE says we are at 1.2%. The next lowest is Manhattan with 5.0%. Atlanta has 20.5%.

Money Magazine just named Charlotte the Best Place to live:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/snapshots/PL3712000.html

Charlotte is number one on Relocate-America's top 100 list:
http://top100.relocate-america.com/

We're number 7 on the Business Journal's list of "Best Places for Young Adults":
http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/slideshow/45.html?page=7

Forbes Magazine says Charlotte is one of ten "recession-proof" cities in the country.
http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas-recession-proof-cities.html

Charlotte was the only U.S. metropolitan area to record a first-quarter gain in housing prices among the 20 markets tracked by Standard & Poor's:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/05/26/daily4.html

Charlotte is the most walkable city in North Carolina, named by Prevention Magazine:
http://www.prevention.com/bestcities/

And a very cool press release outlining the vision of the future of Uptown Charlotte: http://www.charlottecentercity.org/files/Documents/Retail%20Press%20Release%20Final%20.pdf?CFID=1619156&CFTOKEN=86372038

Good Ole' Days

Last night was mother - daughter night.
One of the many reasons why I love living in the same city as my parents.

Even though we live 3/10 of a mile from each other we don't see them as often as you would think....so we planned to work out and go to dinner together.

My mom is cute. She did 10 minutes on the bike, 10 on the treadmill and 10 on the elliptical. It was her first day back to the gym in quite some time and she made me proud. I went early so i could get in an extra 30 minutes to complete my 1 hour of cardio. We love working out side by side so that we can catch up on what is going on for more than two minutes like we do when we talk on the phone. Our phone calls always seem so quick. Hi, What's going on? Ok Bye. We talk on the phone a lot. I mean...not normal a lot. Like oh, maybe 3+ times a day. Call me crazy...my sister does. My sister could go days without calling. I am obviously quite different. When on vacation I go through withdrawal and think of all of these times I wish I could call my mom to tell her something.

We went to eat dinner at this place called Good Ole' Days. Pretty suiting. Spending time with my mom reminds me of my childhood so much....those were the Good Ole' Days.

As I digress I must tell you about this woman or whatever she wants to call herself that sat behind us in the booth at the restaurant. She walked in with two kids. This isn't relevant but I need to paint the picture. She is white (possibly somewhat albino), the children are definitely mixed but pretty dark skinned. They looked to be about 18-24 months and 4 or 5 (two kids). She walked in on her cell phone. Put the kids in the booth and continued talking on her cell phone. The kids were good for the first 20 minutes...YUP 20 minutes. THAT MOTHER had the audacity to sit there at a restaurant with her kids on her cell for 20 minutes and IGNORE THEM. My mom and I were so pissed. I know it was none of our business but this really bothered us. The waitress came over to take her order three times....none of which she gave an order. Then while on the phone one of the kids told her he wanted pancakes and she snapped, "They don't make pancakes here, sit down and be quiet!" HELLO... obviously you didn't look at the menu. They have the biggest menu in town lady to include all breakfast food. Get off your freaking cell phone and pay attention to your children! Let's note the conversation she was having went something like this, " I dont know but I call that weak, if she ain't gonna step up to me and tell me like it is....I ain't playin games girl. You know... shooooot!"

My mom was so tempted to say something as we exited the restaurant but we kept to ourselves. As we walked out we saw a sign. Kids eat FREE Thursday nights.

Everything made sense.

God Bless America....
I love my mother...she raised me just right. Thanks mom for a fun night together catching up.

I love newness

I got a new phone tonight (Blackberry Pearl) and I am excited that I can now get real time email on my phone. Now it is time for my company to jump on the exchange server bandwagon and I will be set with everything I need in the palm of my hand ....

After a few days of BLAH....this was the pick me up I needed. PATHETIC I know...

Welcome to 2008 Renee... I am your new best friend.

Snap Crackle Pop...

Three straight days of fireworks...

Three full firework shows.

We love fireworks.

One of the many reasons I love living in Charlotte.

Only 5 miles to the SC border to get the real deal.

Neighbors spent upwards of 1k+ to put on shows in our neighborhood and we sat back with our new neighbors Eryn and Paige and watched the shows take off.

Anxious and Panting Bella with her daddy as the fireworks go off!

Eryn and Daisy watching fireworks on our patio

Why our neighbors chose to put on their firework show in the middle of the street vs the empty lot with no house is still unknown? They created so much mess a street clean up crew had to come through the next morning to wash the streets in addition to my neighbor who had to mow his lawn with the bagger to lift up most (note: not all) of the fireworks...

Ffireworks tossed into the the sewer... I can't imagine what kind of holes they put in our lovely sewage system all because they thought it was cool to toss the fireworks into the sewer and let them go off inside so that they could hear them ricochet in the sewer pipes. An audience of about 20 adults and 20 kids watched as this adults performed such foolish acts. Great examples we are setting in America these days :) Needless to say thank you for the free show.

Bella hated every minute of every evening over the 4th of July weekend. She flat out despises fireworks and would rather be in the closet shaking, panting and freaked out then watching the beautiful colors in the sky.

Despite some of the gloomy weather we hit up the pool twice, spent too much money (what else is new?), ate lots of good food and spent time with friends and family. I dont think we rested enough but what else is new?

We did however buy new teak wood patio furniture that I am slightly obsessed with.


I am however upset with Pottery Barn. Why?...Ahh... well I wanted these gorgeous apple green and white stripped cushions and when I went to click ORDER they changed to NO LONGER AVAILABLE!?! After spending all weekend looking for cusions for my hard teak wood chairs I am left speechless and without cusions to order. I finally found what I wanted ON SALE. Oh pity me....


Catch up: I failed to mention that this past week my friend Sarah Kaplan (who has been a dear friend of mine since I moved to Charlotte) was in the hospital for 6 grueling days. She had been sick for over a month with an unknown diagnosis and once she broke down and went to the hospital found out that not only did she have an appendictis but she was somewhat of a superwoman. Her appendix had ruptured/perforated 3 weeks prior and she had been walking around like that!?! Yes... that is unheard of and she could've died....but she is superwoman. Her body decided to create a shell around the perforation and protect it from the rest of her body until she couldnt take the pain anymore which led her to the ER. Sadly Sarah was supposed to go on a trip to Poland and Israel that leaves tomorrow and she had to cancel her participation on the trip that she worked so hard to plan (This is her full time job). She spent 6 days in the hospital and we tried my very best to take care of her until her parents came from Ohio. I am so glad that she is feeling so much better and back at home. I couldn't imagine being in Charlotte without her.

Since Sarah was still in no shape to leave the house we decided to bring Jill's 32nd brirthday to Sarah's house on Sunday night to celebrate. Sarah, Pamela, Tania and I brought in Eggplant Parm, Salad, Pizza and Birthday cake to celebrate with Jill for her birthday. We had a great time being together and were so glad that Sarah was able to hang out with us!

Happy 4th of July weekend... an entire 3 day weekend dedicated to those that serve our Country or have served our Country....we salute you!

Coaster. Shuffle. Rock. Rock

When Karen (mom's friend) recommended taking Sara (mom) Country Western Line dancing as a surprise girl's night to celebrate her 60th I was a little hesitant. Philip was excited it was an excuse for me to wear my cowboy boots he bought me for Hanukkah 2 years ago that I had not touched. The last time I tried to do organized dancing I made a fool of myself (on our anniversary trip).

We gathered a group of Sara's friend and met at the Temple. We dressed Sara in her Country Western outfit, courtesy of Mike's (Dad) Cowboy shooting wardrobe and ate SouthWestern Cheesecake and Texas Caviar for appetizers with Mojito's to drink. Fully fed and dressed we hit the road in our "out fits"!

Caution...she is 60!

We looked ridiculous and we loved it! Short skirt, eh?

We gathered a group of Sara's friends and headed down to Coyote Joes for ladies night and country western line dancing lessons from 7-9 PM. We had a great time! The instructor was slow and patient and they drew quite a crowd for a Wednesday. This was an opportunity for some great photos and most importantly a video of the birthday girl line dancing, but I can't post it because its sideways!?!? If anyone knows how to fix this so I can post it please leave a comment below....We laughed a lot and have a lot of fun so our girls night was a success.

Mom and Karen outside Coyote Joes

As you can tell I got into it and my boots came off....they were killing my feet!

Country Dancing Girls!

Thank you to everyone for a fun night. I will definitely go back at some point with friends or maybe even Philip :)

Couldn't resist.

Sixty Years Young

Sara (aka Mom) turned 60 on Tuesday!

She is sixty years young. To celebrate Philip and I had a family cook-out at the house and the weather could not have been anymore perfect!

The guys started off the evening with a game of croquet in the backyard...while me and the mom's chatted on the patio, listened to music and ate this fantastic Greek Appetizer that I put together. Layered yogurt dip, hummus, tomatoes, cuc's, green onions, pitted kalamata's and fat free feta.... YUMMMMM! (recipe courtesy of a contest for the magazine Better Homes and Gardens)

Philip tended to the grill. Flank Steak pinwheels filled with spinach, feta cheese or Gorgonzola, bacon (yes...we are bad!) and some Greek seasoning. They looked amazing and tasted pretty darn fantastic. We made these ourselves the night before and let them sit overnight so they would keep their shape! We enjoyed sweet potatoes and salad and flank steak pinwheels.

For dessert I made a blueberry bread pudding, momma Linda brought Tiramasu and Dunker's from Trader Joes. Yummmm....We celebrated Sara's birthday all evening and we all enjoyed spending time together.

Happy Birthday Mom, we love you!

Next week is my parent's 30th anniversary! July is a busy month for celebrating!

Bella on the other hand is in a funk.
She spent the majority of yesterday in my bedroom closet. As you know Bella spends her days sitting next to me in my office in her bed or by my side. She wanted to be IN MY LAP all day yesterday. Something is wrong with her. After searching the whole house in a panic for her yesterday I found her laying in my closet panting.

WE THINK....she is scared from us swatting at flies. UGH....go figure.
This is her favorite position and I can't deny that I don't LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Poor Boo Boo...