channeling

Today I went to the Goodwill. I like thrifting in general but today I was on a mission. Dan needed a hawaiian shirt (meh) because next week we have a "mando fun" hawaiian themed party to go to. The military loves hawaiian theme. I have a dress that is beautiful and it had big flowers on it so I was going to pass it off as hawaiian. All I needed was to find Dan a shirt that would kinda "go" with it. The ones online were way to expensive to get for one party so off to the thrift store I went. Surprise surprise, none of the hawaiian shirts there in any way, shape, or form "went" with my dress. So, feeling a little bummed out I went to thrift in my section -- I deserved a treat for a job well-attempted. I found this shirt. Which oddly enough reminded me of Sydney's shirt (I'm almost positive it's the same one). So, I grabbed it to try on, thinking, "I'm not Sydney, this won't look good on me." And then. I loved it. Yep. And that sweater too. So, I guess you were right Aunt Laur, shoulder pads are cool. Oh! And I found a pretty sweet terrible hawaiian-ish dress which completely "went" with a men's hawaiian shirt in the store (oh, believe me, you'll see pictures later). Perfect day. And while I was channeling Sydney, Houston was channeling a big tiger. Look at his paws!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Yep, I wish I was a Brit.

I told Dan last night, "I'm getting up early to watch the wedding." To which he replied, "I knew it." Which I found amusing because I hadn't really thought about it. And then, suddenly I realized I wanted to watch it. It's historic. I love that I didn't miss it. They are a beautiful couple. And that dress... she looked classically beautiful. Congratulations Cate and Will!

Did you watch? 

you can't handle the truth!

Daniel had his first major trial this week. All on his own. He has been working so hard on it (and losing sleep over it). The trial lasted two days, yesterday and today. And... the client was found Not Guilty on all charges!!! Dan's the Defense Counsel, so, that's a good thing. I am so proud of him, words cannot express. I decided to prepare a little Mexican fiesta-feast for tonight, because whether he won or lost, we were going to need some Margaritas! I love celebrating his success and am so glad we aren't drinking sad margaritas. Home made mexican food is the best!

she taught be how to climb and I taught her how to dangle

I appreciate people coming to see me out here on the East Coast, if only to prove to the greater Wilmington Area that I have friends. And man, do I have great ones. Case in point: Kelly. She was passing through Wilmington and I got to spend the day with her, my only wish is that it would've lasted longer. We did a super fast tour of Wilmington. The beach (the main reason people come here ), lunch downtown, and of course the One Tree Hill store front, Clothes Over Bros. I knew Kelly would like that last one. And, in the words of Forrest Gump, just like that she was gone. My only question is, who's next? 

thank you yet again, Chili's

Dress/Sweater: Target, Shoes: Payless

hair sticking to neck = #1 reason why i hate humidity

Note the cat attempting to forage for the empty tuna can in the background. Classy, Houston. 

It is humid. 

To be fair, I am in the south so I guess I should've seen that coming. I prefer my dry-er heat back in California but seeing as my brilliant idea of going back to the sunshine state (or is that Florida?) didn't go over well with my husband or my summer class schedule I guess I'll be roughing it in this wet, sticky heat. You probably won't see my hair down again for the next 4 months.

Better news: when we were trying to assemble items for margaritas last night we could not find sugar crystals for the rim of my glass. When we stopped by Chili's to pick me up some fries (yes, I know, I have a problem) I asked the nice girl at the counter where they got the sugar crystals for their strawbery margaritas. She didn't know the precise location but she did go grab my a take home cup FULL of sugar crystals that taste like vanilla! Oh. My. Lord.  I have decided that there is no other way to drink a diet pepsi than to have vanilla flavored sugar crystals on the rim. Seriously, try it. It will change your life.

Easter Monday

Dress: Anthropologie, Sweater: f21, Sandals: f21

Daniel works for the government and they get weird holidays, so instead of getting Friday off, he got today, Monday, off. Which is pretty awesome because in between classes we went to lunch and I got to hear him do all of his lawyer-y things like prepare his client and practice his cross-examination questions.   It was so cool to get to see a bit of what he does everyday. Then after my afternoon classes we hit the park to feed the turtles. And then he showed off for me -- or maybe he was training for his next physical fitness test. We'll never know. 

Also, Athena (the cat) is sitting on the arm of our overstuffed chair, scratching the television in an attempt to scratch the monkeys jumping around making noise. She is a genius. 

p.s. do you have ABC stores in your state? We can't buy hard liquor, like tequila for margaritas, anywhere but at the ABC store. The liquor laws here are a bit extreme but we've gotten used to most of them. For example, you can't buy beer before noon on Sundays, in other words: "go to church you drunk." Today however, today no alcohol can be purchased because it is Easter Monday. I thought Jesus rose on the third day.

Easter Parade

Sweater: Target, Dress: H&M, Shoes: Urban Outfitters, Belt: Modcloth

The other day I looked on Netflix to see if they had Easter Parade on instant watch, you know to get in the spirit, but they didn't. However, Meet Me in St. Louis was available so I watched that instead. Judy Garland is amazing.
See that bucket up there? That is what the Easter Bunny brings to grown ups. Or at least, that's what we bring to the people hosting us for Easter lunch. The other couple, Pete and Lindsey, and their son, William, are also from the West Coast, up in Washington. Seeing as Easter, a great holiday, is not plane-ticket-home worthy, they invited us over for lunch which was great. We also spent Thanksgiving with them and I must say it is great to have people to spend these holidays with. Oh, and she made those cupcakes from scratch and they were amazing.  Happy Easter! He is risen indeed!

agua para los elefantes

Date Night! Actually, every night seems like date night. Even when all we do is make dinner and watch a movie or play scrabble. Last night we went to see Water for Elephants. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. But here are my thoughts in a nut shell: 

1. The infidelity aspect of Marlena and Jacob's relationship seemed much more apparent in the movie than in the book. 

2. I hate any form of animal brutality and those parts brought tears to my eyes.

3. Marlena's clothes are awesome and I want them. 

4. I had never been to the circus before (I don't think) and it was spectacular. 

5. The book, as always, was better. But they gave it a fair shake, and it was still fun to watch. Especially when the Elephant does tricks. 

Eggplant Steaks

It's what's for dinner. Dan really wanted to try eggplant steaks, again I was switzerland because I'd never even tasted eggplant in my life. Ever. Aside from the few mistakes that we learned from (ex. don't marinate them overnight, they will get soggy), they were actually pretty good. I don't think I'll be giving up corn-fed Iowa beef for a purple vegetable, but I was pleasantly surprised by this meal. I like the skin the best. The only major downside was that about 40 minutes later I was hungry again. Which is unfortunate becaues I was legitimately full when I left the table, like, could not have put another bite in my mouth, it would come back out, full. So, maybe we need to find some more satisfying vegetables. I never feel hungry after eating filet mignon. At least, not until the next meal time comes around. 

In other news, I had to go out to the base yesterday to take him home after to a pre-op appointment for his lasik. I got there early so we could register my car at the base. We were meeting at the visitors center and just before you go in there is a huge sign with information on what you need as a visitor to come on base and who is not allowed on base at all. My favorite reason for denial of access was "is on the national terrorist watch list." All I was thinking was, if they want to get in they probably wouldn't use the front gate. 

p.s. Bossypants by Tina Fey is making me laugh out loud. If you haven't read it, get it. 

you know you live in the south when...

Sweet Tea is available at every establishment. But really, let's just call it sugar water. Call it what it is. We tried it. Dan likes it. I prefer my tea to be black and unsweetened. Call me old fashioned. Just one of the many glorious pastimes I've encountered here in the south. 

sometimes people are nice.

Dan and I have decided to go Vegetarian for the week and see how it goes. Dan loves vegetables, I'm Switzerland on the subject. I wish I loved vegetables, I mean, they're good for you, but if I'm being honest, I have the taste buds of a 7 year old. Anyway, we've been having a lot of meat in our diet lately like steak, mmmm. And we are trying to cut back. Yesterday was our first day and since we didn't have a chance to go grocery shopping we just had salad with some naan. Very vegetarian of us. Well since I have been so good with my salad and all I decided I deserved french fries for lunch -- still technically vegetarian, right? Just not healthy. All of this leads me to the fact that I went to Chili's To Go for a side of fries. I ordered them (with a side of ranch because that's how you eat french fries, duh) and she gave them to me and said "Have a nice day." When I explained that I hadn't paid yet she said "Eh, have a nice day." Which completely restored my faith in the kindness of humanity seeing as it was destroyed on Sunday when husband and I walked out to go to church and we see the right side of my car completely dented. With no little note on the windshield containing insurance information. Nope. Just a hit and run. So, thank you Chili's for making my day, I knew patronized you for a reason.

Also, anyone have any super yummy Vegetarian recipes they want to share?

bowlin, bowlin, bowlin

I love bowling. Maybe because I'm not all that bad at it, I mean I'm not a pro but I usually get a couple strikes a game, that's good, right? We did the all you can bowl deal at Ten Pin and then came home and watched Buffy. Dan introduced me to Buffy and I am a little obsessed right now (I wasn't allowed to watch it as a kid, along with Rugrats and Sabrina the Teenage Witch -- blame my parents ;) I also signed up for classes today and luckily I got up early and looked over my list of classes to add otherwise I would've missed the huge mistake my advisor made by not giving me a seminar (research) class next semester. And I really thought I had found the one advisor I could trust... guess there are none. Oh well, that's why you always leave a note. Arrested Development, anyone?

fun with my ma-in-law

Since Dan and I had somewhat of a whirlwind romance I didn't get to know his family too well before we got married. Luckily, I got to spend some quality time with Lisa (coincidentally, our moms have the same first name) while Lisa and Scott were in town. We went antique-ing and had a great time. What's better than bonding over fantastic furniture and awesome old artifacts? Not much. And, to top it all off she got Dan and I some house warming gifts. We got that awesome picnic basket, the weather has been so great lately I've been dying to take a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and lay out at the park by the pond, sounds perfect to me! We also got that sign with the different measuring utensils on it, it's in French (so I don't understand any of it) and so cute and fits right above our kitchen sink. Lisa found some awesome trinkets too -- including an adorable French tea pot with a hot air balloon on it.  We have so many antique shops here, I can't wait to go back! I also got that awesome cameo necklace. Bonding + great finds = wonderful day with my mother-in-law. 

parades always remind me of drop dead gorgeous

Every time I go to a parade I half expect to see Hank with his overalls stuck in the car and a big swan float, "Yep, this is how I always imagined it, choking on swan gas." But usually parades are about, maybe, an hour. The azalea festival parade? 3. Hours. Long. We only stayed for about an hour and a half because it was freezing and we still saw at least 10 different beauty queens representing different pageants. That's a lot of queens. "The swan ate my baby!" Also, I hope you noticed all the celebrities that attended our festival --  only the best for the Azalea festival (and by best I mean people I've never heard of). And now the parents Burkhart are trying to get the heck outta dodge. We had a blast with them and can't wait for more family to come out and visit, friends are welcome too :) 

downtown

The best part about having people come to visit is that you really want them to have a fun time, so you go out of your way to find fun places to go to, and new places to explore, Dan and I have loved exploring more of Wilmington with his parents. Yesterday, we spent a lot of time downtown -- Lisa and I went antique-ing, which was fabulous and I got an awesome cameo necklace for six bucks, score! Dan and Scott explored the coast guard boat docked on the river and then we all met up for dinner at this sweet little French cafe with a great view of the river -- dinner and a great sunset = a fabulous night. I seriously should get paid to do PR for Wilmington, I mean, you all want to come now, right?