Memorial Day Weekend Fun 2011

Aside from the party at the ranch we also spent time with other friends and family.

On Friday night we hit up Speed Street to hear country music star Josh Turner.

The weather was TERRIBLE here in Charlotte early in the day but it finally cleared off.

We met up with our friends Katie and Josh.

 The streets were pretty packed.  We didn't even get near the stage.

 Well, this is as close as we got.  Good Times!

Sunday and Monday were lake days and our nephew Reed's 5th birthday!

Here the punkins are on the pontoon boat.

They are both loving the lake this summer.

If you're new here - my in-laws live on a lake about an hour north of Charlotte.

Most weekends you can find us on the pontoon, ski boat or jet-skiing.

Buddy loves it too even though part of the weekend was super HOT!

On Sunday the Boat and Ski Club, that my in-laws are members of, had an outdoor party and concert. A little fun in the sun. We stayed for a bit then headed back out.

When we got back to the house Reed decided he was going to start jumping off the dock for the very first time. He started out at the top of the dock and would run as fast as he could.

Then JUMP in! He would say 'Aunt Dee, do you want to see the biggest jump ever?' I would say.. OF COURSE! Over and over again.

Paige, who will be three at the end of the summer, does anything and everything that big brother Reed does so of course she was jumping too.

While the kids were jumping we were enjoying frozen adult beverages.  Our friend Mike was in town from DC over the weekend so he joined in on the fun.

Later dinner consisted of burgers and dogs.

I made the picnic potato salad that I made last year. It's one I pulled out of Southern Living magazine.

It's always a huge hit.

Then it was time for Reeder's birthday. (notice the new renovated/expanded kitchen in the back..more on that in another post).

YAY for Five!

He is all about Toy Story stuff right now!

After dinner and gifts it was time for more boat rides.

And, I'll leave you with my favorite picture of the entire weekend. Paige loves Buddy.  It's so cute!

Fun weekend with more to come this summer!

Ten Years

Get ready for picture overload on what I am going to call the 'ultimate' 10th wedding anniversary party.

Our friends A and S hosted around 60 of their closest friends at their family ranch in a town about an hour north of Charlotte.

They chartered buses transporting everyone from the Queen City to the sprawling estate.

Keep in mind that this was a sort of 'recreation' of their wedding rehearsal dinner in the NC mountains 10-years ago.

When arriving we were welcomed with a stocked bar that included two signature cocktails.  Love Potion Number 9 that was made up of fruit juices and vodka and a sweet tea vodka drink.

 The tent and decor was breathtaking.  Again, a recreation of what they had 10-years ago. Even those monogrammed napkins.  That's what they had at their original shin-dig.

Everything matched the ranch setting.

 Touches of burlap.  Love it!

 Hydrangeas. I couldn't get enough of the centerpieces.

 The chandelier in the tent was spectacular too.

 Dinner buffet.  They had it all -- everything from chicken to a prime rib bison.

 Wedding Anniversary Cake.  Yep.. they thought of it all.

 There's a man-made lake on the property.  One side is their barn with their horses and on the other side their party house. I had been up here once before but it was Brad's first visit.

 A bluegrass band played at the cocktail hour.

 This is the party house.  It's where the food and wait staff set up but there is a swing and rocking chairs inside and of course restrooms.

 There are gazebos like this all over the property.

 Here we are as guests.  You can't see my cowboy boots.  More on that later.

 Cocktail hour included yummy bruschetta with goat cheese, sliders and these venison meatballs in shooter glasses.

 Love these little touches.  Again, they did this at their wedding 10-years ago.

 S read A a poem he wrote for her and read to her on their big day 10-years ago.  So sweet.

 The musical entertainment? AMAZING.  Two Grammy award winning country music stars performed.  They both performed at their wedding as well.

One of them was just in the movie Country Strong.

 Not sure why blogger doesn't want to cooperate for this one.  Here's M. who A and I worked/work with at Fox.

You Charlotte peeps probably recognize both M and A.

 Dessert + cake.

 Party favors.  Their favorite bottle of wine they found on their honeymoon to S. Africa 10-years ago.  Generous if you ask me!

 And cookies were also part of our favors.  Love this idea. Yummy too.

 And.. a shot of my boots.

Shouldn't everyone celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this way? I think so!

Tomorrow will be the recap of the rest of our holiday weekend.  Lake, concerts, cocktails and fun!

Ready for the Holiday weekend

I'm ready for the long weekend.  Aren't you?

If you've been following this blog for long you know that my favorite holiday is July 4th but Memorial Day also holds a special place in my heart because of my devotion and love for our Troops and their families.

Thank a soldier this weekend!

We have a pretty packed agenda starting with tonight.  It's NASCAR Race weekend here in Charlotte and every year they throw a big festival in downtown Charlotte with concerts, food, drinks, all sorts of shenanigans.

Last night Pat Green was suppose to play but it got canceled because of a tornado warning.  I'm not going to lie -- I was at home watching the coverage and I was ready to run to the basement and hide under the stairs with Buddy and Brad.  So scary giving all the recent events.  Joplin just breaks my heart.

So - going back to the festival -- it's called Speed Street.  So, Brad and I are planning on heading down tonight to see a few concerts --one is EverClear and several others too. Brad has a friend in town so we'll meet up with her along with our neighbors and another couple.

Tomorrow -- we have a ton of errands to do then we will head the lake and drop Budster off and then get ready and head to our friend's 10th wedding anniversary party at their family ranch in Statesville, NC.  I've been to the ranch once before and there's only one word for it.

AWESOME!

They have a tent, band, food drinks.  Should be good times.  I have a cute little dress to wear and I borrowed a pair of cowboy boots to wear.  I thought about buying a pair but I don't want to spend the money right now.

After the party we'll head back to the lake and celebrate our nephew Reed's 5th birthday!

And.. as you know...at the lake we will boat, swim, drink, sunbath and eat.

I'm thinking I might talk Brad into even buying some fireworks for the weekend.

Sounds perfect to me.

What are your big plans for the weekend?

Fascinating!!

Has anyone else heard the story of Huguette Clark?

A millionaire heiress who had not been seen in 22 years.

She died at 104-years old earlier this week.

My cousin sent me the links and I can't seem to get enough of this story.

This is the last known picture taken of her in 1931 - one year after her divorce.

She never had kids and she has no heirs but there is $500-million dollars left behind.
Click  here  for her obit and here for an awesome article that MSNBC'S Bill Dedman wrote. The photo above came from the MSNBC site too.

I'm not exaggerating.  You have to stop and read Bill's report.  Then read this article talking about her burial yesterday.

I think this should be a book then a movie but who knows if it ever will be? There's not a lot of information to date.
Please check it out and post your comments.  Again, I'm obsessed with this story now!

Keeping Dogs on a Leash

I’m surprised I haven’t done a post of this before because it’s one of my BIG pet peeves.  I know I will offend some people but I really don’t care.

KEEP YOUR DOG ON A LEASH when in an unfenced area!

Reasons:

#1. It’s the law in most places

#2. Safety of humans and other dogs. True story – someone I know let their 6-year old daughter take their tiny toy dog out to use the bathroom.  She opens the door and the dog runs out off a leash.  A BIG dog being walked on a leash is nearby and lunges at the tiny dog knocking the woman down and busting her two front teeth out.   Not to mention the big dog snapped the neck of the little dog and killed her.  In front of the 6-year old child.

If the dog had been on a leash it might have been a different story? I don't know but they weren't able to file any charges because their dog WASN'T on a leash and it's the law here in NC.

Buddy is always on a leash when not in a fenced in area.  I would never just open the door and watch while he uses the bathroom with people walking by, cars driving by and who knows what else.

This morning I was walking Budster and all of a sudden there is this big black dog right on top of us jumping on me while I’m in my work clothes, and distracting my dog from using the bathroom while I’m under tight deadline to get to work.

The owner? At the door yelling for the dog to come back.

Get off your lazy butt and walk your dog.

It’s just rude.

I have experienced this time and time again and it totally drives me crazy. 

One time I was enjoying a walk around my parents neighborhood in suburban Atlanta and a door pops open and a pit bull runs up to Buddy.  The owner proceeds to yell and tell the dog to come back.  Are you freaking serious? I was PISSED off. 

That’s my rant for today.  What are your thoughts on people letting their dogs out without being on a leash?

Later tonight I’ll try and post an update on our gas spill in the JEEP.  Interesting indeed.

And yes, note this picture below. Buddy IS on a leash.

I ALWAYS.ALWAYS have him on a leash when hiking as well.  I should have mentioned that at the top of this post.

It's really risky to not keep them on a leash when on trails.  I heard of one person's dog jumping off the top of the summit at Crowder's Mountain in Gaston County.

Tootles.

Lake Weekend and other Stuff

The Summer is almost officially here!

I consider Memorial Day the start even though the calendar says something else.

This weekend Brad and I spent the weekend at the lake and a few of our friends joined us.

Low-key and nice.

Blogger isn't cooperating but here's a picture of Amanda who brought the cutest fish cookies from her favorite bakery in Charlotte.

 Perfect for the lake - don't you think?

 We really just chilled out.

Floated, took boat rides, grilled, drank, talked and soaked up the sun.

 The only 'sucky' part of the weekend was a gas can tipping over in my JEEP.

It was an accident but wow..wow..oh..wow does it stink.

Brad put baking soda on it, among other things but it doesn't seem to have solved the odor.

Any ideas?

Let me know.

 'Captain Brad'.  Good Times.

 The weather was great too even though it's starting to get really hot here!

In other news:

* Our tenants in my old condo near downtown told us Friday that they're moving out.  They are breaking their lease early. So, we're putting the place but up for rent on August 1st.  Great.  Just a pain in the butt.  It is what it is though. (Update:they called this morning and said they're not moving out after all. Thank Heavens!)

* It's a big weekend here in Charlotte.  It is race week! There are three NASCAR races held in Charlotte each year and one was this weekend and next weekend.  There is even a big festival with concerts in downtown Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

* Speaking of this next weekend.  We have a packed agenda.  One of those concerts on Friday, a friend's 10th wedding anniversary party at their ranch, the lake and our nephew Reed's 5th birthday!

* Our Summer calendar is starting to book up.  I think we have plans for the next 3 weekends.

* Actually our calendar for the Fall is starting to get booked too.  Two LSU games are part of our plans.  LSU plays West Virginia in Morgantown and two sets of our friends are WVU fans so we'll go with them.  Also, LSU plays TN in Knoxville.  Brad has family there.

Good Times Ahead!!

* I've been catching up on Housewives tonight and I have to say that the Jersey season opener with the brawl at the baptism reception IS RIDICULOUS!!

Well, that's all I have for tonight.  Happy Sunday!