Signs of Spring: Cherry Blossoms

Another picture from my walk through the Gardens. This one dedicated to my mother, whose birthday is today.

Read Full Post »

Signs of Spring: Redbuds

The blooming trees around here haven’t actually gotten me to run my car off the road yet, but not for lack of trying. I took a walk through the Gardens before I left work today and took a few pictures. I thought this very close-up shot of a redbud branch was interesting. It certainly does [...]

Read Full Post »

Interruption: Fourth of July Beach Trip

Sorry for the four day interruption in my trip narrative, especially after leaving you with the teaser of just the first day, but it was for a good cause. I had to go to our family beach cottage at Nags Head for the weekend, because it was Fourth of July, and I am supposed to [...]

Read Full Post »

Congratulations, Zack!

I’m a little bit late, but my brother still deserves congratulations on his college graduation, back on December 15. His major was Parks & Recreation Management, so I like to envision him doing things like he is in this picture all the time from now on. He took us on a very awesome hike when [...]

Read Full Post »

Europeans at the Beach

First, a picture of the newly painted beach cottage, which I finally downloaded from my camera:

I want to go back… We’ve been having perfect beach weather all week, and I’ve had to go to work. Not fair!
Okay, enough whining. While I was at the beach this time, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Being a predominantly [...]

Read Full Post »

Ridgewood Art

The small shopping center very close to my parents’ house (and not very far from where I live as well) is called Ridgewood. It contains a Whole Foods, a wine store, a yarn store, a bike store, and our favorite independent bookstore, Quail Ridge Books, amongst other things. It also has an art gallery. On [...]

Read Full Post »

Cup A Joe’s

Across the street from the Ballet Bulldozer, next door to one of the long-standing used bookstores on Hillsborough St., is my family’s favorite local coffee place, Cup A Joe. My parents have started going there every Saturday morning (my mom gets chai), and the main barrista already knows their orders, and mine when I go [...]

Read Full Post »

The Ballet Bulldozer

When I was in elementary school, I took ballet. Our ballet studio was in a building on Hillsborough Street, a main drag in Raleigh that runs along the front of NC State’s campus, as well as past the state fairgrounds. It’s a very long street. In the area past the campus but still in the very [...]

Read Full Post »

Rose Garden In Bloom

Just over a week ago, my friend Kevin came into town, ostensibly to help Mark unload all his stuff, but he came earlier in the week to see the area. Because I’ve been playing hostess and trying to encourage my friends to move here, I’ve been thinking about all the things I like about my hometown. So [...]

Read Full Post »

Azalea Festival

As it turns out, the reason for my family’s impromptu (at least, from my perspective) trip to the beach, was to go to the North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC. My aunt and uncle own a beach house on Topsail Island, which is only about 30 minutes away from Wilmington. They invited my parents, [...]

Read Full Post »