Shrimp n Grits

You can get shrimp and grits just about anywhere here in WIlmington. Today I was able to get shrimp and grits for lunch at the Green Spot on campus. Nom nom nom.

Hammerheads!

Tonight we were able to go to our first Wilmington Hammerheads game. My co-worker C won a set of four tickets on the radio this morning and invited us to go. They have a three year old daughter who also went with us. That little girl is just endless hours of entertainment. It's been a long time since I've been to a soccer game. We had a great time watching the game and the antics of our little friend. We can't wait to go again and had a great night!

Farmer's Market

We are very lucky to have an amazing farmer's market. Below you'll find some of our farmer's market purchases from this weekend.

Chelle's Visit!

Chelle! We were very lucky to have my sister come and visit us for a weekend. We had a great time showing her around town and enjoying the local sights. 

Azaelea festival

Today we went to the Wilmington Azalea Festival for the first time. We had a good time visiting the booths and enjoying some fair food. 

Happy Weekend!

Hello Friends

This weekend N and I were able to spend some time with some of our friends from South Carolina. They were our first friends to visit us here in North Carolina. It was great to have some familiar faces around. Together we relaxed and had a great time. 

Friday night A and J came over to our house to check the place out. We hung out for a little bit and then headed out to dinner at one of our favorite Wilmington spots... Flaming Amy's!!!! I love Flaming Amy's. They have the best burritos and queso dip. When we first moved here several people recommended the place to me. They said I wouldn't be disappointed and they were right. It was great! The first couple times we went there it was lent time and I was able to order shrimp burritos. I've never had shrimp burritos anywhere. Anyways after I friend the queso dip, I was sold. 

After burritos it was time to head back to the house. We hung out for a bit watching Tron and then A & J to head back to the their campsite to settle in for the night. We made plans to go kayaking the next day. 

In the morning N and I headed over to Carolina Beach State Park where A and J were camping. I've now added it to our list of places we should camp. It looks pretty cool. From the campground we headed to Carolina Beach. We made arrangements to meet the Kayak company at the dock in Carolina Beach. To get here we basically just had to keep driving until the road ended. Once we arrived we took in the sights and decided we would paddle out to Hobo Island and Zeke Island. The day was kind of chilly so we were dressed for cooler weather. The current was also strong so by the end of the day we could barely lift our arms from all the effort each paddle was taking. At one point I stopped paddling for just a few seconds to adjust my seat when I suddenly heard N shouting, "Where are you going?" When I looked up I realized I had drifted quite a ways in just the few seconds I had stopped paddling. We paddled out to Hobo Island and then headed to Zeke Island. We decided to have a lunch picnic on Zeke Island before we continued out into the water. There was some tall grass and we could see that beyond that there were some sand dunes. We decided to try and make it out that way. On the island we found endless beach with cars right on the beach and dogs having a good time on the surf. The beach looked like the perfect spot for a nice nap. After a power nap we headed back to the shore to head back home. The journey back felt endless with the current wanting to pull us back into the water. However, we did finally make it. 

That evening we had a great time going out to dinner to the Oceanic Restaurant at Wrightsville Beach. I had the best pina colada I've ever had. We also laughed more than we have in a while thanks to the entertainment provided by a little boy and camera happy couple. But we'll just save that story for another time.

Projects

Finally! Three days off in a row! I plan to make the most of it by completing some craft projects I've been delaying. Project number one: reupholster an office chair. Done!

Coming Home Again

N and I are back in the Sunshine State! The company I work for is hosting their annual meeting this week in Orlando. It's been a great experience thus far. Spending time with colleagues from all over the country reinvigorates me and my passion for what I do.

I've loved being able to spend some quality time with the people I love. We were able to go see "Hunger Games" with our loved ones and had a great time. I'm looking forward to seeing more friends and enjoying some Florida Summer sun! Updates to follow!

New neighbors

While driving home today I passed the little pond next to our house and guess what I saw! Swans!! N and I walked over and took a peak. They're so cute. Sadly N did not agree that we should try and persuade them into coming into the house.

Process or Unprocessed, what's a girl to do

So, I often have ideas of how I would like to live my life but sometimes fall short on execution. Most of these unrealized ideas are usually related to food choices. Some weeks I want to be a vegetarian, some I want to eat all seafood, some no carbs, and the list goes on. You know how that goes. Anyway this week while perusing Pinterest. Yes, I am an addict. Thank you very much Mrs. B for introducing the Pinterest world to me! Okay, back to food. Anyway, while exploring Pinterest today I ran across a post someone had done about a blog called 100 Days of Real Food. On this site, this family did an experiment, they tried to go 100 days without eating processed foods. Now this is something N and I have talked about but have not followed through on. In the same post that I found the blog on there was a comment regarding a website called The Fresh 20. This website for a cost of $5 a month will give you detailed shopping lists, meals plans and recipes every week consisting of only fresh ingredients, no preservatives. I think using a combination of these two tools, I may actually be able to keep up on my experiment this time. I signed up tonight, my first list and recipes will arrive on Friday. Let's see how this goes!

On a side note... N and I made a delicious dinner tonight of tilapia, sweet potato casserole and fresh broccoli. Nom, nom, nom.

Wilmington Food Review

Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn

Neat and trendy place on Oleander. Amazing burritos with more options than I ever thought possible, delicious queso! Highly recommended by co-workers. N and I thought we should try it. We will definitely be back!

Shrimp burrito!

Yummy queso with corn chips

Salsa bar

Saturday Morning Nomz

I love making breakfast on Saturday mornings. 

For now breakfast with my love!

Pancakes, bacon and fresh fruit with orange juice

It's my birthday!!

Thanks to my lovely boyfriend N, I had an amazing birthday. Without him my first birthday away from my family would have been truly horrible. I love him so much! My birthday brought around my surprises, below are a sampling of the many things that people did to make my day special. Thank you, I love you all!!

My birthday table

My beautiful flowers from N

Tulips are my favorite flower

My Edible Arrangement was delivered to my work.

My edible arrangement from my Mommy and Daddy.
Both tasty and beautiful

Nom, nom, nom

My cute cake from N

Birthday cards!

My flowers in full bloom several days later

My beautiful dream desk from Mrs. B

Coolest measuring cups ever from M!

Nomz

This weekend N and I had the pleasure of going out to eat with a co-worker of mine and her husband. We went to this amazing tapas restaurant called Circa 1922. One of the milestone moments I had was trying shrimp and grits. It's on every menu here.

I have to admit... I liked them!

Birthday Weekend

It's my birthday weekend! This was the first weekend that N and I actually got to spend sometime relaxing and exploring Wilmington. We had dinner yesterday with some friends and today enjoyed a quiet picnic on the beach. Little did we know it would be so cold on the beach. I started off just wearing a light sweater and had to run to my car to grab a jacket. We had planned on flying a kite but that will have to wait until later. For now there's a warm couch at home. 

Wrightsville Beach

Egg salad sandwich & caprese salad

Surfers waiting to catch a wave

Seashell that looks like a puddle

The Arrival

We finally made it to Wilmington! 

The past several weeks have felt unreal. It didn't feel like we were moving until we reached the house and spent our first night here. 

The loading process was made very easy by the great moving companies we had. BTW, in a freaky coincidence, both companies had two workers assigned to us name John. How weird is that. We had John and John in Orlando and John and John here. Super weird!!

It took us about 10 1/2 hours to get here, including a couple food and gas breaks. It was a very enjoyable trip. I had a great time talking with Nick the whole way up and calling my Dad in the moving van in front of us periodically. 

Below are pictures of our first weekend here and the journey up.

It rained throughout the drive to North Carolina

Sometimes making it really hard to see

We were finally almost there when we saw the sombrero

Pedro's South of the Border!

We finally made it and it was time to put everything in its place and assemble furniture. Below are the men hard at work.

 

Really cute shop with a GIANT chair!

We are definitely in Seahawk Country