Chapel Hill/Raleigh Trip.

Hello darlings,

I've been working ahead of schedule on the blog lately, in prep to be away in Haiti for a week. I've noticed the trend is to have guest posts while you're away and I've actually had a few offers I may take them up on it someday but I've actually had plenty to say/share/write about, just need the time to get it down before I'm away. I also expect I will come back with plenty to write about as well. We'll see. Maybe you all would prefer a few guest posts...

First up I wanted to share after my post about crochet sweaters that I found an orange Michael Kors one in Kentucky with Candy and I wasn't lying when I tweeted I planned to wear what I bought the week before instead of doing laundry for North Carolina. This was my favorite purchase of the Kentucky/Indiana weekend trip:

After my tweet a few of you wanted to know where I got it. The answer is TJMaxx and it was $39. I've already worn it twice and I love it.

My weekend in Chapel Hill/Raleigh was incredible. It was so nice to be away, to be with my sister and her family, to reunite with my sweet niece, and extra special that I got to spend Noa's first Easter with both of my sisters and my bro-in-law.

The girls on Easter morning @ church. That's Noa, me, Ruth, and Rachel.


Noey and I before the Good Friday service.

Rae and Ruth at Geer's Garden with our 'pile' o fries.

Noa and I on Easter Sunday.

Reunited! This is Friday after I arrived.

Ruth drove in from Clemson on Thursday night. Chris, my brother-in-law grabbed me from the airport on Friday morning. We all went out to lunch at Geers Garden (near Duke). We also had a fro yo stop immediately following lunch. Thankfully, my sisters love self serve fro yo as much as I do!

Friday night we went to a special Good Friday service put on my Chris's church where he is the Associate Pastor, it's called 'The Gathering Church'. It was so fun to be a part of their church and to meet their friends! Everyone was delightful.

Saturday morning I met Jo and Mia for coffee at Starbucks (actually Mia came got me and bless her heart, got lost!):

These girls have such a special place in my heart. I treasure their friendship and it felt so good to chit chat over coffee and bagels with them. I feel like I've known them forever. And I have to say it's great to have friends who understand the football world. It's really not something you can understand unless you've been part of it, lived it.

I was so excited leading up to this meeting that I was kind of depressed when it was over...BUT they've agreed to let me host a girl weekend in August here in Tampa that will include food, sun, beaches, pools, tans, and shopping. So I will just anxiously await that while obsessively over planning in the meantime.

Saturday afternoon the girls and I hit the mall for a bit. I behaved myself, buying only one top from the Limited that was on sale for $6 (couldn't turn that down, now could I?). That night my sister and bro-in-law cooked an AMAZING Easter dinner for us all plus a few of their friends. We had a blast! And I haven't eaten that good in...well, maybe ever. It was delicious.

Sunday we went to church and celebrated the resurrection of my Savior! What a special thing to celebrate with my precious family. I'm so grateful for the sacrifice and the victory associated with Easter weekend. I hope each of you celebrated it with your families as well.

I feel so blessed to have spent Noa's first Easter with her. It was great to catch up with both of my sisters as well as to be part of Chris's church during this special holiday weekend. It was hard to board that plane back to Tampa and I did so tearfully. But I'm already looking forward to many more weekends like this.

Love,

B

Easter Weekend Recap.

I know this is a few days delayed but I hope you all had as good an Easter weekend as I did. I've shared before that since moving to Tampa holidays are just not the same. With no family within a 5 hour radius, I find that holidays are vastly different. Not bad different necessarily since I have a great church family as well as I great friend base that keeps me from feeling totally alone, but it's not the same as veggie around the house stuffing my face with family, you know?

Well this Easter I didn't get to be with my own family but thankfully Thomas's family drew me into theirs and I was able to spend the Easter weekend with them. Friday night T and I went to my church, Grace Family Church for our Easter weekend service (we did the same service Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and it was so much fun to introduce him to my pastors and friends.

Saturday morning I did make the red velvet pancakes I mentioned here. They were a big hit. They were easy to mix but hard to flip, so if you make them yourselves I recommend making them smaller than you think and cooking them longer before you try to flip them or you'll end up with a bunch of halves! But we topped them with whip cream and chocolate syrup or at T's suggestion - Nutella. The general consensus was that they were delicious AND they tasted great that night when we took them out of the fridge as well. So, we recommend them.

Thomas cleaning up my mess after I turned the whole kitchen red with my pancake mix.

Post pancake lounging.

After the pancake party we ladies let the boy unpack the Uhaul of furniture that Thomas's parents had brought with them from South Carolina to further furnish their place and we headed off for manicures and pedicures. There are few things I'd rather do on a Saturday morning that have my legs massaged, lets me real, but it was also nice to have pretty toes for the Easter weekend - pretty teal toes, that is.

After our pamper trip I headed back to my side of town, grabbed some Yogurtology with Marta and hit the pool for an hour. I flew through the remainder of my book, Baby Proof, took a little nap, and then cooked a dinner for Marta so we could enjoy a night in, in our sweatpants. I made the baked penne recipes I shared on Tuesday and we feasted on a random assortment of items including skittles.

Sunday I headed back up to the northside to do church at Lifepoint with Thomas and family. Both Friday and Sunday it was neat to be able to worship with T for the first (and second) time in our relationship. I enjoyed the worship and message at Lifepoint and meeting some of T's pastors and friends as well as a few of the students in the high school ministry he volunteers with.

We made sandwiches back at the boys place for lunch that day and I managed to eat 5, yes 5, homemade truffles Thomas's mom made that were delicious. I have such a weakness for chocolate it's disturbing. And as Marta pointed out after my consumption of the 5th, no wonder my stomach hurts so often. Fine, caught. I couldn't resist.

I caught up on sleep and started another book that afternoon and at home before getting ready and joining the whole family for dinner at Maggianos. I love Italian food almost as much as I love chocolate so this was basically an epic fail of a day as far as my diet was concerned but it was worth it. I had pesto linguine that changed my life.

It was a wonderful holiday weekend and though it was sad my whole family was spread out across the US (per our usual these days) I felt right at home spending Easter with the Barbians. I've been trying to work those truffles off in the gym ever since...Hmm. I hope each of you had a special Easter holiday as well and that you remembered the reason for the holiday. What an incredible sacrifice was made and better still, to know that our Savior has risen.

Love,

B

Whoever said pale was the new tan...

Three day weekend starts now! Work was generous enough to give us good Friday off this year, which I’ve never had off from a job before. I was pumped for a three day weekend, with not too much on my plate this weekend. My one must accomplish task this weekend that I’m forcing myself to get done at 9am tomorrow is my taxes. Anyone else dread this process? I had a lovely H&R Block rep last year (though he was very flirty with me even though my Mom was present…awk). I have no reason to hate this process since for the second year in a row I have something funky on my taxes (this year it’s a new condo!...qualifying me for the 8K tax credit) so someone else will actually be DOING my taxes this year. I do however, dread this process a bit.

Anyone doing anything fun with their returns this year? A few of my friends have bought fabulous new clothes or purses. I’m taking the responsible route this year and paying down my ‘mortgage’. Ah, being a big girl. Tough stuff. But I do like to make progress and that’ll take a pretty decent sized chunk off what I owe to be house debt free (a goal of mine). Maybe my attitude towards taxes this year is lackluster because I know I won’t get to play with any of the extra money coming back in. Yeah, that’s probably it.

I plan to spend the majority of my weekend by the pool enjoying the high 70s and sunny weather we will be having in the TPA this weekend. Whoever said pale was the new tan (I believe this was Marie Claire?) was ‘seriously disturbed’ (mean girl voice). When I get pale I look ill. Not a fan. I look so much healthier with a glowing tan. Before anyone gives me a skin cancer lecture, I use sunscreen every time I lay out (despite that my Hawaiian skin doesn’t actually burn) and I get my skin checked once per year. So, relax friends.

Some of you know I lead a group for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class (personal finance). I’m going tonight to get a desperately overdue haircut from a group member of mine who just struck out on her own and rented a room. I’m so proud of her and headed up north to show my support after work. If any of my Tampa girl (or guys) want an inexpensive haircut, she’s very reasonably priced and conveniently located at Bearss & Dale Mabry. So let me know if you want her contact info, and I’ll let you know how my hair comes out. ; ]

Other than haircuts, taxes, and tans – I plan to win a few games of Spades against friends late tonight & see my boy Daniel Mogg (he’s a DJ too, if you ever need one) dominate on the baseball fields tomorrow evening at the University of Tampa. Daniel was an intern at Family First in the first round of interns that started after I joined the staff. I’ve missed him every day since he finished his internship in December, he was seriously the most fun guy to have around the office. So, I’ll be hitting up the baseball game with my friend (and coworker) Candace tomorrow night to watch him win.

Last and certainly least selfishly, I will be volunteering at the Laundry Love Project tomorrow morning doing laundry for those going through some hard financial times. The best part about this is that it is entirely less daunting to help someone else do their laundry then to actually face the walk-in closet full of dirty clothes I need to wash at my own place. You can read about my first LL experience here for more deets.

I will spend Sunday celebrating the greatest gift of all – Christ’s son. For me & my fellow Christians easter is about way more than a bunny (and chocolate). I will be celebrating with my home church, Grace Fam as well as spending the day brunching and poolside with my girl Auburn. I hope that as you have a restful weekend you too remember what this weekend is all about. Thank the Lord we don’t always get what deserve…

Love,
B