Aaron's First Post

Aaron's first post... As you can see, the Jeep is getting seriously ready for some summer fun... no doors, no top, no worries. BUT wait, did you see something fly out?? Oops.. better buckle up, double check those cargo pockets, and safely stow your belongings. Stacey doesn't seem to appreciate sudden scavenger hunts involving her credit cards.

It is early peak season at our semi-tropical oasis. Fresh fragrance from our jasmine, nicotiana, and sweetbay magnolia are finding smiles on our faces while we hideaway from the summer's sun. Considering our options for vining vegetation to compliment the nearly finished pergola. Tangerine trumpets with chocolate throats and mocha fragrance are tops the list for the time being.. Possibly some carnivorous climbing beauties with hefty heartshaped foliage.

Ferocious foo dogs to guard the front. We happened upon these impressive little Fitzi's while at the last Palm Society meeting in Beaufort SC.

Will do my best to keep you posted between tending my tropicals and hanging out in my new hammock. -Aaron

Home Improvement

Many of you have requested pics of some of the interior improvements we have made so here they are. We have been able to make some great purchases through our neighbor Carson who has been kind enough to pass on her designer discount, our friend Richard who was also kind enough to pass on his discount at Pottery Barn (the drapes!) as well as take advantage of the perks of living in the furniture capital of the U.S. (I swear I didn't know that when we moved here!) There are great discount houses for all of the major brands in all of these small towns around here. I love a bargain!!



Most of the accessories we have picked up in Charleston and Savannah like the mirrors over the mantel and the drum table next to the chair. You can see Aaron looking at the yard - he gets to decorate that part! Just kidding. I love that he has an opinion about the inside of the house (unless he disagrees with me!) The couch pillows are from Target!!

This is MY chair (don't worry - Aaron has HIS chair,too). I had picked it out in a store in Atlanta but found it at one of the discount stores in NC for hundreds less!!
Aaron had the fun job of hanging these mirrors and he did a great job! You can't see the nail holes where I tried to hang them without him!










This was pure luck. Our friend Carson could have bought this for us with her discount but we found it at a store in Raleigh and it was less than her wholesale price for some reason. I think it was a mistake!

Working Girl

Here is a picture of Fitzi hard at work with her daddy. Everyone at the college knows her by name and loves to see her coming now. Unfortunately our dog-daughter doesn't want to work anymore. When she sees we are ready for work she puts herself in her crate! I guess we'll have to find another way for her to earn her keep. We were comparing pics now with baby pics and can't believe how big she's gotten!

Memorial Weekend

These are pics from our industrious Memorial weekend. We have been wanting to build a pergola over our back patio for some time but Aaron has been very busy with improvements at Meredith College so we got started this past weekend. Again, these pics are a testament to having good neighbors. We had lots of help and between all of our friends - lots of tools! You can see Todd, Richard, and Dwayne pitching in and Aaron posing next to his prized banana tree. My job was to keep the lemonade, beer, and snacks coming and to prepare dinner. Small price to pay! The frame is completely built so we just need to add the rafters to the top. So far it looks great! We will probably finish it this week so we'll post finished pics along with other home improvements soon.

Random Pic To Make You Laugh (Or Not!)

Okay, I feel a little validated about affectionately calling Aaron's Palm Society friends "Plant Nerds". This is a picture of the vehicle of one of the members. At the beginning of the meeting people bring plants to trade and sell. This person decided to display his plants on his sweet ride. He has somehow made his car more aerodynamic (?) by adding heavy duty plastic to the back and what looks like taping styrofoam or board of some sort over the wheel area which you cannot see well in this picture. I'm sure that cuts waaaay down on wind resistance. I don't think I need to say anything else.

Soggy Cinco de Mayo

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo last weekend and unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so we were forced to fiesta inside but as you can tell it didn't dampen our spirits. Aaron andI grilled chicken quesadillas and made pina coladas and margaritas for everyone. We also made everyone Spanish name tags in case you were wondering why everyone is wearing starbursts. Todd (Dogberto) and Kevin (Roberto) are in top pic (Todd is the one in sombrero - he wears this all the time!) Harrison (Javier) was patient as usual while we posed him just to crack ourselves up. He also looks cute wearing a baby toupee of Julie's (Shakira's) hair and breakdancing. Not sure what Richard (Ricard0) was doing in above pic but it cracked me up so it goes in (sorry, Ricardo!). We absolutely love having friends so close who are so much fun to hang out with. It is also important that our friends like Mexican food since we get together for Mexican food every Wednesday night! What awesome neighbors! If anyone else wants to be our neighbor the houses on either side of us are for sale! I hope it wasn't something we said!

Weekend Trip to Beautfort, SC

The Southeastern Palm Society reunited in Beaufort, SC a couple of weekends ago and we had a great time! Beaufort is a great little town - a miniature version of Charleston or Savannah which are both about 45 minutes away. Great little shops and restaurants and a spectacular state park called Hunting Island where we secured an amazing camping spot. It is uncommon for me to say the words "camping" and "spectacular" in the same sentence but you might be able to get a very small idea in the above pictures. The top pic is approximately where our campsite was - about 25 yards from the ocean. We were able to hear waves crashing all night. This came in handy the first night when our air mattress sprung a slow leak. So at least I was able to alternate thoughts of "I'm so uncomfortable" with "the waves sound amazing". The best thing about not sleeping at all is that you are awake to enjoy amazing sunrises. We walked on the beach to wear out the dogs morning and night. You can see they enjoyed it very much.

The meeting was nice as well. We saw some great formal backyards that we wouldn't have been able to see without trespassing and some very coastal, casual gardens right on the water. Some garden owners had dogs which I enjoyed. I am a huge fan of the Akita since I used to have one. One gardener had 2 - Cajun and Ronan (Japanese for Rogue!) and they were a lot of fun to play with.

We plan to visit Beaufort again this summer when we take a belated anniversary trip to Charleston. It was a great town to tour in Aaron's jeep and the people were very friendly. We would go again for the meal we had at Panini's. Aaron had iron skillet mac and cheese with prosciutto and shrimp! Wow! Unfortunately we were also there at the time of the air show that took place where the Blue Angel tragically went down. We did not see it happen but saw the planes flying over the historic streets all day.

Working Dogs!

I had to include these pics of the dogs. In the top shot, Aaron had taken them (remember they are shih tzus not labs!) into the creek behind my parent's house in Kentucky. Judging from the gleeful barks and massive amounts of mud on them, they had a great time! Needless to say they were hosed down ASAP which wasn't as much fun as the water in the creek for some reason. Theh bottom shot shows them at work with mom in the car. This is pretty much what they contribute work-wise to my day. Fitzi was very sneaky trying to get into the bed with JoJo so he wouldn't move. She managed to squeeze herself in very quietly. She really likes to snuggle. He'll do it when he thinks no one is watching.

Now Its a Party!

This past weekend Aaron and I went to Kentucky to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday! We had a great visit. The highlight was his suprise present - Sharon, my sister-in-law, was cool enough to fly in with Jacob, their only granchild even though my brother couldn't come! Dad had no idea and we are TERRIBLE at keeping secrets so it was a miracle that we pulled it off. The look on his face when he walked into the living room where we had Jake was worth it all! Mom and Dad hadn't seen him since he was around 8 wks or so and now he's 7 months! He was so much fun! He's crawling like a champ and standing/pulling up. He endured the Antique Show at the Tobacco Barns and he went out for Dad's birthday dinner without complaint! What a trooper!

The Dog Days of ...... Spring

This is a great time to be anywhere but we love NC in Spring! One of our favorite things about the triangle area is Duke Gardens. These pics are from the Sarah P. Duke Gardens last weekend. There were a million people out with their kids and dogs enjoying a beautiful day and the height of tulip season. You can see JoJo and Fitzi playing with new friend Yurby, a red chihuahua. Anyone who has visited us has seen the gardens at Duke. Frederick Law Olmstead helped design it years ago. He is the same person who designed Central Park in NY. It is an enchanting place year round. We have been known to picnic here with the dogs quite often.

Angel Baby!!

A few weekends ago we had the honor of attending the baptism of our friends Jeff and Julie's son, Harrison. It was such a special day getting to see 12 different babies get baptized. Of course, Harrison was the cutest and best-behaved of all even when the priest decided to sneeze on him! This must mean he is extra-blessed. The second pic looks like J & J gave him a bink-a-tini to get him to behave but he redeems himself in the next picture with his beautiful baptism outfit. After the ceremony we went to a neighborhood Italian restaurant to celebrate. Many of J & J's family and friends were in attendance and most of our neighborhood gang. I have attempted to capture these friends on film and most were cooperative. You can see me with Aaron and Todd in the first one. Jeff and Julie looking proud and then some made me promise to wait until they could produce an incredible picture simulataneously before posting them. Everyone gets one pass, Richard and Dwayne!! It was a great day!

Cumberland Island Pics

Last month Aaron and I attended his SouthEastern Palm Nerd Society meeting in St. Mary's, Georgia. Okay, its not really called that but probably should be. Just kidding (kind of). The people are so friendly and it attracts the most diverse group of which we were by far the youngest. These people really love their plants so Aaron fits in quite well. It usually starts off with a meeting and plant auction. I took this time to catch up with Lindsay on cell phone but Aaron participated. After the meeting we took a ferry to Cumberland Island to take a beach hike and check out the plant life out there. It was a lot of fun. Cumberland Island was home to the Carnegie Family at one time before it was devastated in a fire years ago. It is a fairly large island - 17 miles across or so and is really lovely. We dodged jelly fish corpses on the beach hike and took a tour through a very Alice -in -Wonderland- like area filled with hallucinogenic coastal oak trees that were quite a trip. The island is also home to many wild Spanish ponies that have been there for a very long time. They are fairly small and will come quite close to you. You can actually camp on the island. We tried to do this but were far too late to get a spot. Instead Aaron tried to get us a spot in a park that sounded fine on the phone but turned out to be a trailer park with a boarded up house that was a dead ringer for the one on Psycho. It also had a biker bar. The 150 cats in residence there seemed to be very happy but we chose other digs.

Aaron's New Toy

This is what happens when you ask your husband to sell his 2-door truck for a more family friendly 4-door vehicle. It actually was a great compromise. We get the 4 doors and extra room and still have a fun car to go to the beach and camp in. Aaron has never had a brand new car and this was a really fun one with which to have that experience! We got both the hard top and a soft top so there are a million ways to configure the roof so that you have varying levels of messed up hair. Mine seems to get messed up no matter what configuration Aaron chooses. There will be no picture documenting this.

INTRODUCING JOJO AND FITZI!

We want to introduce you to our "kids" JoJo and Fitzi. JoJo is our 3 year old shih tzu. He is our first small dog and we are SOLD! He has always gone everywhere with us and is such a great traveler and companion! Anyone who knows JoJo will tell you he LOVES to play with other dogs so we decided to get him a little friend. The day after my birthday this year we picked up Fitzi, our little brown shih tzu. She has a dark mask and white belly and is a hoot! She weighs about 4 pounds right now but still manages to hold her own with JoJo. They love to play together!

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG!

Aaron and I have decided to start a blog to keep our family and friends in touch with things we are doing week to week here and to share fun pictures of us, friends, visitors, travels, projects, etc. This way you can see what is keeping us busy at any given time!

We have really enjoyed visiting the blogs of our friends and have found that it really is nice to see what people are doing all the time instead of the down and dirty version you get by exchanging emails and phone calls. We will try to keep it updated every week so visit often! We hope you enjoy it!