Happenings

*blogger sucks these days. I'm not sure what is up with the spacing but I can't seem to fix it. Does anyone know how I can fix it????????? It's been going on all week.

Hey friends! Just a quick update to let you know what's up here in Dee's World.

*I took today off from work to attend a local charity fashion show luncheon. It's sort of a big deal here in town and my friend is trying to get me to join the group, The Charity League of Charlotte.

My first reaction was...really? Do I need something else on my plate? But.. after meeting the ladies and hearing about the commitment(which isn't anything like the Jr. League), I'm signing up. Great organization that does great things for children in our area. The luncheon was fabulous!

It was held at Carmel Country Club and was by far the best silent auction I have ever seen. I bid on a lot of items but ended up with carpet cleaning, which we need so desperately!

Here we are -- my friend Amanda that you hear so much about on here. This woman is involved in so may things here in town that it blows my mind!

Good times! Come to find out I made the news by being at the luncheon. My cousin texted me and said she saw me. I have yet to see it.
Moving on...

* Brad and I have started a weekly 'date night'. We are only in our second week but I'm convinced it's one of the best things we've done since we got married. Last week we went to an area called Baxter Village that's not far from us in South Carolina.

We live in a part of Charlotte that has us only 5 miles from the SC border.

This week we hit a semi-new Cajun restaurant called in town. We munched on boudin balls, alligator chili and barbecue cajun shrimp. Washed it down with Abita Strawberry beers. Good times! Here's a few of the stickers they had at the bar inside. Gotta love it! Baton Rouge -- where I grew up and went to college.

And.. you have to love this sticker! I'll never forget the time I said coonass in front of my in-laws. They looked at my like I was a freak. I then explained to them the term. HA! For those of you that don't know what a coonass is --it's basically a cajun redneck.
 

Other news..

* We're getting pumped for SIL Robyn's 'Beat Cancer Bash'. It's the first weekend in May and it will be one hell of a partee'.

*I'm taking tomorrow off too and heading to VA for a weekend of hiking and the outdoors with bestie Kelli. Brad is hanging with friends from DC watching basketball and drinking beers.

* Because of our trips(next weekend we're biking in the VA mountains), I met the in-laws halfway today and handed off The Buddy. The pooch is stoked about being with the grandparents and hunting squirrels.

That's it for now but I'll be back this next week with a full report on my mountain weekend!! Tootles!

Wordless Wednesday

This is my first Wordless Wednesday! On this rainy, dreary day here in NC I thought I would leave you with this picture of our pooch on his 4th birthday. He'll be 6 in May! Tootles

I Confess..I like Britney Spears

Yes, she's been a train wreck and half but I confess I like her music and her dancing. I never have wanted to admit it too much but yet everytime she launches a new album I'm one of the first ones in line to buy her CD.

Ridiculous or what? I know I'm not the only one. Bloggy friend Allyson has seen her several times in concert just in the past couple years of me reading her blog! She loves her! In case you don't know it -- Britney's new album Femme Fatale hits tomorrow and it's happening with an MTV special as well a segment on tomorrow's GMA on ABC. I love the new song and can't wait to see if she's coming to Charlotte. For years I've talked about wanting to go and see her and this time if she comes here I'm going! MARK.MY.WORDS. I truly love her dancing, costumes, showmanship. Brad won't admit it but he likes her too. HAHA! Are you a fan of Britney?

Jr. Leaguing It

Most of you know that I’m an active member in the Junior League of Charlotte.

For years and years I chose writing for the magazine as my placement. I did this because after leaving TV news I wanted to continue to write.

But, this year I was approached by the nominating committee to step up and act as the first ever League historian. They decided it was time to create this position especially since the League is celebrating its 85th anniversary, 75th anniversary of the Jr. League thrift shop, and 50th anniversary of our building that sits in one of Charlotte’s most prestigious neighborhoods.

Which leads me into today’s post. Friday night they had an open house at our building to celebrate 50 years! I should have taken a picture of the building but forgot! So you get the sign that sits in front of the building.

My co-chair and I worked with the 85th anniversary committee in getting a few things ready for the open house including the first of our decade boards.

This was our President’s idea – she got the inspiration from the Nashville League who has them in their building.

Since the JLC was started in 1926 we got the 20’s ready for the open house but plan to have all the decades done by October! We dug out the pictures, wrote the copy and one our member’s designed it! She did an awesome job!

They had a harpist when you walked in. Nice touch.

Brad came with me. He was so nervous their wouldn't be any other 'dudes' there but there was! It was nice for everyone to meet him and likewise. I have spent a lot of time with these ladies this year!

One of our members bought and arranged the flowers. I think they turned out beautiful!

Of course there was wine! Everyone mingled and they had the history video that my co-chair and I help produce running on a loop.

We also set out old magazines and other historical pictures. The dress was a shout out to the Junior League Wearhouse(thrift shop).

So good to catch up with friends and celebrate 50-years of our building that started out as a boy scout hut on the property of a local church.

Are any of you involved in the Junior League in your area? I find it totally rewarding but it is a true time commitment. Happy Sunday!

*SORRY FOR THE WEIRD SPACING - BLOGGER WON'T LET ME FIX IT**

Dee A to Z

TGIF! Today - you get Me A to Z
Because...
Everyone else is doing it..

A. Age: 35
B. Bed size: King
C. Chore you dislike: cleaning bathtubs and showers
D. Dogs: Buddy the beagle
E. Essential start to your day: brushing my teeth
F. Favorite color: hot pink
G. Gold or silver: I'm into more gold these days but I have a lot of silver too
H. Height: 5'4 1/2"(yes I have to get that 1/2 in there!)
I. Instruments you play(ed): I took piano for a year and hated it.
J. Job title: television/video producer
K. Kids: canine kid - see D
L. Live: Charlotte, NC
M. Mom’s name: Linda
N. Nicknames: DeNanner
O. Overnight hospital stays: No
P. Pet peeves: people backing into parking spots. Don't even get me started
Q. Quote from a movie: "My babies alls grows up' -Swingers
R. Righty or lefty: Right
S. Siblings: 1 older brother
T. Time you wake up: 6:30am - eat breakfast then get ready
U. Underwear: Sometimes. HA!
V. Vegetables you don’t like: Turnip Greens
W.What makes you run late: trying to find something to wear
X. X-rays you’ve had: A ton
Y. Yummy food you make: cookies
Z. Zoo animal favorites: giraffe

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friends

The weather has been really nice here in Charlotte this week and because of it I have made an effort to leave my high-rise office building each day and eat outside.

It just helps my attitude and overall outlook on the rest of the day. When walking out yesterday with a co-worker another co-worker asked what we were doing and then responded with 'Hippies'.

???
Really?

I don't mind being called a hippy but eating outside makes you a hippy? Whatever! HA!

The point of this post is that today when eating lunch with a co-worker we got on the conversation of friends and friendships.

I haven't talked about it much on here, but Brad and I are really making an effort to meet new people and couples to hang out with.
Not that we don't like the ones we have it's just nice to have new people to go on adventures with and cultivate new friendships.

I was also talking to her about how I have been reevaluating some of my current friendships.

Then she shared this saying with me, that her Mother shared with her:

There Are
Friends for a Reason
Friends for a Season
Then There Are
Friends for Life

Pretty on point, don't you think?
That's all I have for today. Happy Thursday!

Vacations: Big vs. Small

Tis’ the season – the season to start planning spring and summer and even fall vacations! Last year took the cake. We traveled to California twice, Arkansas, Bahamas and the mountains and beach more than I can count.

This year we don’t have any ‘big’ vacations planned……YET..
I say ‘yet’, because who knows what friend will get engaged and we’ll be back on a plane on our way back to California. HAHA!

Anyway – we have mini trips around the area planned so far. I’m sure in the fall we’ll get to Ohio to see our friends on Lake Erie and for sure we’re going to NOLA and Baton Rouge for an LSU game!

But…until then here’s what we have planned for the month of April.

Next weekend – my hiking buddy K and I are headed to Virginia to hike in the Grayson Highlands State Park – click here to read more. I have never hiked in VA at all so this should be great!

We are actually going to stay in West Jefferson, North Carolina. It's on the border of VA and is said to be loaded with cute shops, galleries, wine and more. That's what I'm talking about!
It's K's birthday weekend too and I think it's going to be perfect!

Then the next weekend Brad and I are finally going to bike the Virginia Creeper Trail in Abingdon, VA.
34-miles downhill!
Can't wait! Read more about it by clicking here.

Our plan is to stay in a bed and breakfast but Brad won't let me book it yet until we see if it's going to rain. The B&B has a 10-day cancellation policy.
Cross Your Fingers!

So, that's the start of our mini-vacations for the year. We also have two weddings that will take us back to VA. One in Richmond the other in the DC area. Yes.. yes.. I'll be looking up you bloggies that live in that area. I've already talked to I Do Declare.
Not to mention a beach trip with the Stephens clan.

All in all -- I'm excited about our mini-getaways versus something big this year. It will give us a chance to explore more of the region we live in.
What do you prefer? One or two big vacations or a bunch of mini ones?

First Lake Weekend of 2011!

Happy Spring! Today's the first full day of it and I have the fever!

Remember this picture?
They drained the lake that my in-laws live on a few months ago and this is what it looked like.
They did it for some energy related reason.

Well, now look at it!

Giving that the water was up and it was 80-degrees we cleaned the pontoon boat and went for our first boat ride of 2011! AWESOME!

It wasn't quite warm enough to get in our swimsuits and cruise around but it still felt good!

Buddy loves to pontoon!

When packing up for our lake weekend I remembered the Virginia Tech sunhat my MIL got him for Christmas.

He actually didn't mind it!

I think the reason it doesn't bother him is that it has slots for his ears. Cute or what?

When we got back to the house my MIL was excited to see the ducks wanting to be fed. If you've been reading this blog long at all you know she's obsessed with these ducks.

While up at the lake house we also got to see where an addition is getting ready to be built. That will mean a bigger kitchen and a sitting room.

I can't wait to show you all pictures of the before and after! Stay tuned...

And...Buddy got to sport his new name tag I got for him to wear when at the lake. It's blurry but I didn't really want to post the address on the worldwide web for everyone to see.

Typically when Buddy is up there for long periods of time my MIL sticks an address label for an envelope on him in case he wanders off. Now she won't have to do this anymore.

Thanks to T from DSS for the pointing me towards the Etsy store where I bought it. Check out her post here.

Aside from ducks, my MIL is also obsessed with garden flags. She said her goal is have one for every season.

She's pretty close. She even had a Mardi Gras flag up and they aren't from Louisiana! LOVE.THIS!

Speaking of obsessions -- Budster has one for squirrels. Here is he eyeing one in a tree.

While he did that - we enjoyed cocktails and Brad cooked us a dinner of kabobs! In my book - kabobs on the grill = Spring/Summer is here!

And.. the night wrapped up with a late night snack of peanut butter and crackers for FIL and Buddy.

What a spoiled dog!

We can't wait for more fun lake weekends to come!

Yesterday we went for a walk, ran errands, did laundry and watched a movie on DVD.

How was your weekend?

Bloggers that don't Blog Anymore?

As many of you know I have been at this blogging thing for just over 2-years. I've gotten so much out of it and made some really cool friends. It would be cooler to actually meet a lot of you in person and hopefully in time I will.

But -- in looking through my blog roll today I can't help and notice several people who I was in touch with when I first started blogging that haven't posted in weeks, months, even a year. It makes me sad.

Is that weird?

I think I'm going to send a few of them emails to see what they've been up to and why they quit or are taking a break.

The same goes with friends who I know in real life that have started blogs. Some of them only posted once and their blog sits there empty.

I guess it does take a lot of time to do this blogging thing and maybe I have more time than the average person?

Am I the only one who has experienced this or feels this way?

As for what's going on here --the weather is awesome here today! 80-degrees! We're meeting up with a new couple tonight that just moved to town -- very excited about making new friends! Then tomorrow we're heading up to the lake for our first pontoon ride of 2011. Buddy is already gearing up for it! And..so are we!
TGIF!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day blogging peeps! I like St. Patrick’s Day but over the past few years I haven’t felt the need to go ‘all out’ or anything. Last year we went out the weekend before much like we did this year, even though I didn’t wear green.
Tonight we might hit a happy hour with Brad’s work people then call it a night and cook dinner at home.
In past years though St. Patrick’s Day was always one to look forward to.

Here’s me in 2008 – before I met Brad. I went all out this year celebrating with a group of people.

The St. Patrick’s Day I remember the most though is 2000 or 2001 in Las Vegas. My bestie, Cathy, worked for Gu*ness at the time and always had work events planned around the holiday.
I worked in TV news at the time and being the good friend that I was – I had my weather gal(also, another bestie – Dawn) to go live at her event and do the weather.
That’s right – 11 o’clock news, Las Vegas, St. Patrick’s Day, Irish pub – doing the weather? Can you say MAYHEM?! Umm..yes. It was loud and crazy and she was giving temps for the Vegas Valley.
SHENANIGANS…!!

After the news I was suppose to go and meet up with them but I got sick. Literally. I went home and went to bed.

The next day I was BUMMED!

WHY?

Cathy and Dawn ended up at the Hard Rock Center Bar that night and ran into Matt Damon and other celebrities who were in town filming Oceans 11. Dawn walked right up to Matt and started talking to him.
Can you believe? Cathy then joined in and told him that she worked for Gu*ness and how she knew his buddy Ben was a big fan.

What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day memory?
Hope you have a good one and drink some good beer(s)!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

If you’ve been reading my blog for long you know that I have an obsession with hats. For some girls it’s shoes, some it’s handbags but for me it is HATS!

To refresh your memory – click here.

I also love anything monogrammed!

So giving that – I’m teaming up with Jamie and blog buddy Annie for ‘What I’m Loving Wednesday’.
Keep in mind this is NOT a paid post but just my personal opinion!

What I’m loving are these Marley Lilly monogrammed floppy hats!

I saw these on another blog a few weeks ago and haven't quit thinking about them! Actually, the ML site in general is full of fun monogrammed items Click here to see more.

My problem with these hats are -- which one to choose?

As you know we spend a lot of time at the beach and lake during the Spring and Summer so one of these would be fun to add to my collection.

The colors are fun but most of my swimsuits have some sort of black in them so I'm leaning towards the black and tan. I'm a weirdo about matching.

What do you think?

Don't you just love these?

Brad knows I get good use out of my hats and this one isn't even that expensive!

What are you loving this Wednesday?

The Vegan Lifestyle

Is it just me or is there a lot of talk about ‘vegan’ lifestyles these days? I have a friend out West that called me a few weeks back and told me she was going to give a vegan diet a try after reading the book Skinny Bitch. I told her – do you really know what all is involved in that?

No eggs, cheese, milk, butter. Nothing even made with any of those ingredients. That means – no bread unless you find that brown rice bread in a store near you – a lot of salad dressings are even made with eggs.
It’s not just giving up chicken, fish, pork and beef. It’s a TOTAL lifestyle change.

I know this not just from what I’ve read and heard but by seeing it first-hand. My 18-year old niece turned vegan about a year and half ago and her decision came from her beliefs about animal cruelty. She’s a die-hard animal rights girl who won’t even wear or use makeup, perfumes, hair products tested on animals. As she might say - she doesn't eat puppies or kitties.

Because of her strong beliefs she has no problems sticking to this lifestyle –and get this – since she switched to this diet she has lost 100-pounds!

I don’t have the most recent photo of her but you would be AMAZED. I'll do a follow up post so you can see.

Going back to the vegan trend though – I watched the documentary, Food Inc. a couple of weekends ago and almost got sick during the chicken portion.
I thought for a minute that I might quit eating chicken all together. Vegetarian lifestyle actually crossed my mind for a few hours. I’m just not sure I could do it. I think I would eat my weight in cheese and dairy then gain 50-pounds.

As for my West coast friend who tried vegan? I haven’t talked to her recently but I do know her and hubby tried it for a week and then decided to splurge on Valentine’s Day at a fancy Vegas restaurant and they both got sick.sick.sick.(BTW-Cat -- if you're reading this call me!)

What are your thoughts on vegan or vegetarian lifestyles? Have you tried it? Considered? Stories?

Meeting the Bloggers

Hope you all had a great weekend!?
The weather was beautiful here in Charlotte and Brad and I tried our best to enjoy it. It included a trip to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning only to find that it's not quite that time of the year yet.
The time where all the local farmers come out with the spring veggies and fruits. I'm thinking it will be a few more weeks.

Sunday included a brunch with a bunch of bloggers here in town. Hopsy, from Monograms and Manicures, was in town for Beantown Prepsters wedding and organized the brunch.

We met up at Cafe Monte in Southpark. Out of the group I had only met Classic Annie in person so it was fun to meet the rest of the bloggers!

L to R - April, Hopsy, me, Annie, Sara, Rosemary, Lauren

Before the brunch I read four of the girl's blogs so now I've found a couple new ones.

This was my first blogger group meet up. Now I'm ready for a trip to Texas to meet all my Dallas/Fort Worth/Hill Country friends, a trip to NYC to meet up with all the fun chicas there and of course.. a West Coast trek to meet and see blog buds out there.
Bring it on!

Time to Cheer Things Up

Thanks for all your kind words regarding my Grandmother. She really lived a long life and I'm glad I got as much time with her as I did. Most people don't live to be 95!

I'm not traveling to Arkansas giving that I was here with her this past week. I got to see her Friday before she quit responding and I got to see her last night before they shipped her off to Arkansas.
My Dad has been here with us too for the better part of a week and we've really been here for him as well.

So, as we enter the weekend I'm trying to celebrate her life and be more cheery! It's time to turn the frowns upside down. This past 3 weeks have been crazy around here with me having the shingles and the loss of loved ones.

I'll start with our new Bob Timberlake piece that we got for our one year anniversary. Brad went and picked it up last week.
I love it! As Brad said -- it's everything I love about NC. The mountains -- especially Grandfather Mountain.

Our friends Beth and DJ sent us a one-year anniversary gift. Buddy LOVES gifts, packages, you name it.
I think he thinks they are for him. Here he is last week when it arrived. (Notice Brad playing PS3 in the background)

Gotta sniff it out!!

TA DAH!! Monogrammed toilet paper in honor of our 1st anniversary. The first anniversary is paper-hence why she decided on this. HA!!

Check Buddy still trying to sniff it out.

Perfect for the guest bathroom! Brad says it looks good but it's not any Charmin!! HAHA! I guess they are not worried about how it feels on your bum.

Also, last week -- we went out for one of our bowling teammate's birthday. Guess what!? Brad was the only guy!

Oops! He actually didn't mind. He's taking this picture.

We enjoyed sushi at a fairly new restaurant in town named Cowfish. Pretty fun place!

And guess who was there? The wrestler, Ric Flair.

Most of you are probably asking yourself -- who? Well, he's sorta famous in this neck of the woods.

WOOOO!!!!

Click here to read about who he is.

Cheesy but funny.

We're laying low this weekend. I plan on making this tonight from my favorite blog. Gina's Skinny Taste.

If you haven't checked it out do so now.

Again, thanks again for all your kind words. It means a lot.