05.06.08
Raleigh Flea Market… take 2
Found a few pictures from the Flea Market from 2 weekends ago…
05.01.08
Moving right along…
Okay… let’s see…
I have a new zip code, a new routine which is slowly forming, new things to see out my office window (oh, and an office window), a new bed (which is really taking some getting used to)… really…. most everything is different. It’s scary, frankly.
We were able to visit the Raleigh flea market over the weekend… I was semi-impressed after a good walk around. I took pictures but then found out I had a bunk memory stick in my camera. So, we got a new memory stick then visited Revival Antiques in Raleigh.
Oh. Mi. Gosh. They had AWESOME stuff at California Swap Meet-ish (give or take) prices. They had about 10 old built-in cabinets from the early 20’s from an old apartment building in Knoxville… one woman was buying 3 of them for her store. I was jealous.
They had two shop cats which were adorable and climbed into Nathan’s lap. Now, with my photographer distracted and your blog host distracted by gobs and gobs of awesome furniture, we didn’t get more pictures of their other warehouse which is about 10 times as big as the one above. No kidding. There were stacks of chairs, rows of built-ins, towers of desks and dressers, all of them waiting to be taken home… like a furniture orphanage. Joe, the owner, said that it was a side business that just took off so he quit his day job. Awesome. They have all sorts of stuff… mostly farmhouse-looking antique pieces in need of love… and they refinish them. The hot color right now is black, which I chose for our dining room table. I was going to get something smaller but I got whisked into the adventure and excitement that is Revival furniture and ordered 10 shield back chairs from the 1800’s and a table (similar to the one in the link although those aren’t ours) that matches… and they are painting them black for us. Wow. So cool :)
So, we’ll be able to entertain everyone we know in North Carolina… in one room ;)
01.22.08
You don’t need to drive 4 hours through the desert…
Curiously, these banquet halls and auto repair center are within 20 minutes of us…
To see them side-by-side for the full effect, click here :)
Ceasar’s Palace |
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Ceasar’s Palace Las Vegas, NV |
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Ceasar Palace Tujunga, CA |
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The Bellagio |
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The Bellagio Las Vegas, NV |
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Bellaj Burbank, CA |
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The Flamingo Hilton |
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The Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas, NV |
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The Flamingo Banquet Hall Tujunga, CA |
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Imperial Palace |
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Imperial Palace Las Vegas, NV |
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Imperial Palace Hall Pasadena, CA |
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Luxor |
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Luxor Las Vegas, NV |
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Luxor Auto Sales & Body North Hollywood, CA |
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MGM Grand |
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MGM Grand Las Vegas, NV |
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MGM Banquet Hall Glendale, CA |
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The Mirage |
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The Mirage Las Vegas, NV |
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Kaffe Mirage Banquet Hall North Hollywood, CA |
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Monte Carlo |
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Monte Carlo Las Vegas, NV |
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Monte Carlo Restaurant & Banquet Hall North Hollywood, CA |
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Las Vegas images courtesy of various users on Flickr.
Click on those images to access the source material.
10.14.07
October 1st at Sue’s…
For those of you who know Sue T. and her amazing gift for finding vintage treasures, decorating, entertaining… and the sheer *wow* factor you get when you step into her house… you’ll realize that this blog does not do her home justice. Also, this was only one month into her Halloween decorating. She spends over 8 weeks preparing for her favorite holiday but her house is always set like a stage… as you will see :) Every little nook and cranny has a spooky surprise waiting for you…
This is the end of her downstairs hallway… fun little touches everywhere…
| As you walk into her living room…. |
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more living room… |
| One of her many *incredible* finds… a child’s vintage costume… complete with little pointy hat! |
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Oh, and there’s another… in amazing condition. C. 1910’s or 20’s. This one also has a little hat with silvery curly-q’s. |
| An old black and white print with owls… I love this artwork! Wouldn’t this be cool as pajamas (for some reason)? |
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Not spooky… but her Parisian guest room is just too cool!! I want 50 of those Eiffel Tower lamps for the shop!! How can I whisk myself back to 1950-something and purchase them?? :) |
Typewriters, cats, candelabras and a book of spells!
| Sue’s son is very involved in the selection of decor each Halloween. He was very excited to show me his collection of mummies and archaeological dig ephemera! I’ve promised to come back and help paint hieroglyphics on a wall or two to help with the Egyptian/mummy theme. Of course he was digging in the dirt and making stone etchings… it has to look authentic :) |
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I got the full mummy tour in the most awesome of tree houses I’ve ever seen (Well, it’s more like a playhouse on stilts but completely awesome none-the-less)! You have to cross a bridge/plank to get inside and it has a second story! I really really want a tree house! (these pictures do not do it justice, I must take more!)
| I can’t wait to see everything when it’s all put together with low-lights, rolling fog and spooky sounds :) I’ll be sure to share those pictures, too! I’m pretty sure Sue should charge admission but it truly is a labor of love :) |
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08.26.07
How I spent my Summer Vacation….
and spring one, too…
Since I’m so behind, I’m going to post 5 months worth of pictures… here.
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My Mom’s Birthday in Las Vegas. The birthday girl, along with Pam, made US cupcakes for the ride out through the desert, I guess that would make it dessert in the desert. (I never said I was hilarious… or did I?) This one is for ME! See, a “C”! |
| I don’t know why I thought this was so amusing… a bunch of guys and a TON of beer… being wheeled in on a nice bellhop’s cart. Neat. (Identities have been carefully altered to protect the innocent.) |
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THIS is what we came to see!!! |
| We stayed at the Mirage. The entry has a wonderful tropical garden theme going on. Your hard-earned gambling dollars at work. |
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More lush gardens… “oooh… ahhhhh”. Uh-huh. Where’s Siegfried? |
| Mirage’s lovely pool. We read that they have the best pool on the strip… |
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The back side of water!!! You can walk underneath the waterfall (which is quite deafening, btw) to the other side of the pool! |
The view from our room
Our little dining companion
Very cool entry…
Okay… just need to say this… I LOVE Cirque Du Soleil. O is amazing, Ka… anything in a tent in Santa Monica, I love it. I guess… growing up with the Beatles and naming stuffed animals after their song characters put a very definite image in my head of each song. Combine that with emotions and love for the boys and bam, you have a recipe for disaster a la king. I expected the performances to be the little stories and animations in my head come to life. Somehow, I figured that everyone saw the same thing that I did and related to their music in the same way. It’s like… take the most magical music, stick the most whimsical sets in as a backdrop, throw in some acrobatics and put them together. You think… out of body experience, right? But… alas… we came to the conclusion that this was more interpretive dance than true Cirque. Moments of beauty, moments of cliche and moments of… “what the…?!?!” If you go in with an open mind, you will love it. I, on the other hand, am a brat. I won’t talk specifics but… all I have to say… lucy was in the sky, and indeed, there were diamonds.
Next…
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This is a normal Sunday (when Nathan is not on call) around here. We stop being lazy at about 3:30 then get reaaallly bored. “Hey… what do you want to do?” “I dunno, what do YOU want to do?” We do that for about another 30 minutes then leash the hound and head out on the open road. This particular Sunday we ended up at Sequoia National Forest. I’ve never been… and with 80 full minutes of sunlight to see the magnificent trees, it made our adventure even… more… errr… abbreviated, yet memorable. Oh, the picture… cherries on the side of the road on the way up. |
| The hike down to see General Sherman. It’s not kidding. |
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I didn’t know trees came in XXXXXL. |
| And here is the main attraction… the General. Top Half. |
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Bottom Half. |
| Moss! |
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Okay, I thought these only existed at California Adventure. (p.s… I think we should do the gnome-around-the-world gag with our dog)
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I didn’t believe the postcards… That’s a truck nestled between those trees. |
| And an attractive porcelain deer… although, this one is real. |
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And on to our next adventure in July… LA to Florida to NC via 3 other states…
Our first adventure on this trip was us nearly missing our flight… We had a stop-over for what should have been 45 minutes. I’m not going to say anything, you can just look at the pictures…
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Can anyone take a wild guess? But we were up in “vegas” for the second time… ever.
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We stayed at the Yacht Club while in Walt Disney World… only my favorite place in the whole wide world. The Yacht Club hasn’t been my favorite resort destination on their property… but I’m glad we got to try it out. |
| A very lovely shot that Nathan took at the Yacht Club Dock to get into Epcot. |
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Ahh… Epcot… how we love you so. But, alas… on this trip, we almost had a date with disaster (I’m thinking in the tone of E!’s true Hollywood story narrator). |
| It was here at the World Showcase Mexican restaurant that the horrifying event occured… (although, this place looks awesome!) |
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THIS rock was in Nathan’s refried black beans. Holy Frijoles! (there I go again) In the darkness, he thought he had broken his front tooth. It was horrible. We got this mystery solid out into the light and we couldn’t believe it… a rock. This ruined our day. I contacted customer care and got a call back from a guy who… well… thinks mole-hills are still big. “Where I come from, finding a rock in your food tells you that it’s FRESH! So, you know that we use fresh food… although, this was an outside vendor and… **lame excuse here**” I love Disney. I mean… love them. This phone call… well… Disney thinks I’m an idiot. They think Nathan’s teeth aren’t important. This guy must not have any teeth because he comes from the land of quarry-a gratin. My Disney Love… down a few notches. That’s all. And I hope they read this, and that mouse, too. |
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We still had fun, despite the rock… on the people mover… which is being retired (rumor has it). |
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We always see the strangest things on or near Tom Sawyer’s Island. Last time, a gator (I need to dig up that picture and share!), this year… a very evil crane! Hard to see him, he’s on top of the wagon o’ beverages staring RIGHT at you in an evil-ish sort of way.
Okay… so we left WDW with all of our marbles and ran to the airport to go to NC. Delta had a pilot, but not a first captain. Then they had a first captain but no pilot. We ended up not having a crew so the flight was cancelled. They weren’t going to guarantee us a flight… only say… “errrr, maybe you’ll get there tomorrow??” So, we took matters into our own hands and rented a car!
“You’ll drive the first half and I’ll drive the second!” I said.
I slept through all of Georgia. I was way too tired to drive, Nathan was chivalrous enough to finish the 8 hour drive. We got to Durham, talked to our friends for 15 minutes then passed out. The day was a blur. And I had pictures from that day but they are lost in camera-land. Boo.
We did, however… have some pictures of our visit with Martha Stewart…. her homes, that is! In conjunction with KB homes, Ms. Stewart designed (or whatever) some lovely homes in the Raleigh area. Do you think she had anything to do with this besides point to that color green she always picks? I’m skeptical, but I loved the houses.
We didn’t get any pictures of the outsides for some reason… but we did get some interior shots…
First of all, this is my Cousin’s little girl, Kate… she should be a little spokesperson for KB because, let’s face it… babies sell. (isn’t she pretty darn adorable?)
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I have to admit, the homes were nicely decorated but I hope that’s not why people were buying them. The interiors and floorplans were okay, one was bad (bedroom directly off the front entry). They all had a craftsman-feel inside. And I really only saw three exterior designs: Craftsman, farmhouse and one beachy/cottage-farmhouse. Again… some impressive details but… the planes flying loudly overhead, would have detoured me quickly. |
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| My cousin Allison in one of the model kitchens. |
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Allison’s 2 youngest… Riley and Kate! |
| Back in Cary, NC, Mojo the french bulldog was dreaming about… treats and cooler weather. |
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The Q Shack. How I miss thee. I had some hush puppies, a chicken sandwich and Cheer Wine. Some good stuff. A bit o’ trivia… in the south and south-ish, you have to ask for your iced tea “unsweetened” if you don’t want a sugar syrup in it. By default, your tea will come loaded with sugar. Now you know. |
| Armadillos are funny. Even funnier when they are right under the menu holding a beer and… stuffed. |
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Nathan snapped this and said I should post it in the store! |
This is how I will remember North Carolina… being lost. Even with our little GPS we couldn’t find anything… but a waffle house (dang it, they are everywhere!). We had a great time seeing everyone and are really looking forward to our second trip out this next week (yes, we missed them that much). We’re staying at the beach for a few days, should be a lot of fun :)
Jiminy Crickets! It’s 5:30 am!!! See, this is why I don’t blog… I get carried away ;) Have a great rest of the weekend everyone! :)
07.21.07
our trip, day five
we crashed on scott and alicia’s couch for 4 hours,had our first meal in 24 hours then checked into our awesome hotel at duke university’s golf course. we got to wander around durham’s historical downtown and have coffee and eclairs at the mad hatter bakery. we returned our rental car (one-way rate) for a new one then got totally lost. turns out our gps unit is not updated with the area’s new roads, and there is construction everywhere. so a 1 hr trip took 3. with little sleep and a low tolerance for more time in the car, i sort of turned evil. but we just had room service and i’m in my jammies,so this monster is subdued, for now ;)
our trip, day four
started the day with a trip to epcot. stopped in mexico at the world showcase to have lunch. we had a deep conversation about how mexican food is so much better in california and CRUNCH! nathan bit down on a ROCK embedded in his refried beans. we discussed this with the manager, who was nice but not very concerned. we were relieved no teeth were broken, but it sure was scary!
delta, oh boy, have you made 40 people very unhappy with you. first, disney scheduled us for the wrong time to depart on the airport shuttle, twice then our shuttle was delayed 30 minutes… everyone was nervous and irritated as we made our was to the orlando int’l airport. then we got 3 different emails from delta that our 5:50pm flight to North Carolina would be delayed, ultimately until 10:45 pm. after lots of waiting, our flight was cancelled. our entertainment for the evening was a highly entoxicated female executive who would slur her explitives at the front desk staff. as the story was told, the pilot finally showed up but then the first officer could not be found so we didn’t have a crew, yet it took them almost 4hours to figure this out. very unorganized. there were only 40 or so angry passengers, so nathan and i decided to wait to be last. we listened to each passenger argue their way into the hotel of their own choice…mostly the nicer hyatt hotel in the airport. when it was our turn we were offered the quality inn on the highway and the possibility to get on a plane bound for raleigh/durham at 11:45 am, but no guarantee. we discussed our options, other flights (they wouldn’t put us on a non-delta plane) and their “absolutely no guarantee” approach and decided we would leave our marbles in orlando and rent a car. we started driving and just over 9 hours later, we landed at scott and alicia’s. needless to say, delta will be getting a call and letter from us the second we get back. again, another over 24 hour day on this trip. ugh. quite the adventure though, 4 states in one night :)
our trip, day three
very busy going on assorted rides at the magic kingdom and epcot. we had a wonderful dinner at Ohana at the polynesian resort then run back to epcot to go on test track. so much fun! collectively, we have about 15 blisters, but that’s the small price to pay for fun in florida. lightning and rain storms don’t phase any of the park goers… wow.
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