A Weekend of Adventures

A group of our really good friends came to visit us in Durham back in March.  It was a great weekend, and it was so nice for us all to get to spend some quality time together.  They came from Chicago and Birmingham. We had so much fun showing them all of our favorite places in Durham, and I'd venture to say that they enjoyed exploring Durham with us!  Instead of doing a boring, long post about it... I'm just going to do pictures and captions.  We can't wait to see everyone again at Lauren and Charlie's wedding in September! 

We had apps and happy hour drinks at City Beverage

"I can't wait to get apps with you cats"

We gathered around and partook of the Beer Tower of Power at BCBB

We visited Mystery Brewing and played a serious game of Cards Against Humanity

There were multiple intense games of Battle of the Sexes

We visited Fullsteam Brewery and shit got real during Jenga

Greg was too busy with darts to get involved in our fierce game of Jenga

I snuck over to the Pit with my best girl friend, Scott

We devoured apps from The Pit

There were many man snuggles

The boys took the pizza menu seriously when we were ordering dinner

We had delicious brunch at Top of the Hill Brewery

Lastly, we had "brewtails" and Scott was not pleased

2013

Hello, friends.  I seem to have hit a wall when it comes to blogging.  I have felt less than inspired, but I think down the road I will enjoy looking back at the blog, so I am going to give it a go again.  2013 was a year full of ups (sometimes very temporary ups) and our large share of downs.  Frankly, she was a bitch and we were very glad to see her go.  Greg and I are very much looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us.

We did a good amount of traveling in 2013:

We spent a long weekend in Washington DC.  We stayed with one of my very best friends, we went to 2 Braves v. Nationals baseball games, we saw several of the monuments and went to several museums. It was Greg's first time to visit DC, so we crammed in as much as we could in the short weekend visit.  We are actually looking forward to going back this summer to visit my friend, and some of our other friends will be there for the summer.

Our biggest vacation of the year was our trip to Chicago to visit Scott and Kathleen.  We did a longer visit there than the one in DC.  We had such a great time seeing our friends!  We went to a Cubs game, we ate amazing food, we did some sightseeing, and most of all we just enjoyed the time with Scott and Kathleen.  They are coming to see us in a month, so we are really excited about their visit!!

We had a lot happen with our jobs in 2013: 

In January, Greg got a job offer from a State Farm agent.  That job ended up not working out at all.  The agent was unprepared when it came to how to effectively run an agency, and he ended up having to let Greg go because he hadn't budgeted his money well and he couldn't afford to keep Greg on.  Even though that was a very crappy situation, there is a positive.  That agent paid for Greg to take all of his insurance exams, which prepared him to look for another job in the insurance industry.

Within a week of being let go from State Farm, Greg interviewed and was offered another job.  This time he was hired by an Allstate agent that has been in the business for a long time.  He clearly knew how to run an agency, and so we felt good about Greg taking that position.  This job has turned out to be a really great situation for Greg.  His co-workers are amazing, and it seems like this is something that Greg feels comfortable doing long-term.  I am so happy that Greg ended up with this agency, it has been such a blessing for us.

Greg isn't the only one that had changes this year as far as his job.  Luckily, I didn't have the stress of having to find a new job like he did... But, another little guy was born into the family that I nanny for!  So, my job has gone from looking like the top picture to the bottom picture.  The transition has gone REALLY well.  Both of these boys are wonderful, and I feel so lucky to be a part of their little lives. 

We had a few visitors come in 2013: 

Greg's family came for about 5 days in March.  It was a really nice visit.  We took them out to eat at a couple of our favorite restaurants, we went to a Carolina Hurricanes game, and I took them over to Nasher (the art museum in Durham).

In May, my parents came for a visit.  We had a lot of fun when they were here.  We took them to a brewery tour, Duke gardens, we took them to some of our favorite restaurants, and we grilled an amazing meal at home.  

We began to explore, and fall more in love with Durham in 2013:

Back in the spring, Greg and I made the decision to start exploring all the local jewels that Durham has to offer.  We've been trying new restaurants, new local breweries, and a lot of of other things that in Durham.  It has been SO much fun.  We have found amazing local food, delicious local beers, and tons of local events that we love being apart of.  It seems like our love affair with Durham is going strong.

Geer Street is one of our favorite local restaurants downtown

FullSteam is a great brewery downtown

We love Durham Central Park.  From the Farmers Market to movies on summer nights to food truck rodeos... We love lots of stuff that they have going on down there.

We've been going to the Farmer's Market weekly

This is from the Cajun beer and bourbon festival last spring

Triangle Brewing is one of Greg's favorite local brews.  This is a picture from the brewery tour that we did when Mom and dad came to visit.  They've actually opened a bar/restaurant/pub downtown that is great.

Infront of the Lucky Strike tower at Christmas

This is Greg's favorite new local restaurant

Greg surprised me with season tickets to the Broadway series at DPAC and it has been one of my favorite things that we have done all year.  It's been a special thing for us to do together every month

Here's us at the DPAC for our first show, Beauty and the Beast

I couldn't possibly give you a run down of the entire year in a blog post, and I wouldn't want to.  This is a good highlight from 2013, and we are so excited to see what 2014 has in store for us.  

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King Jr. 

The Windy City

Greg's best friend and his wife moved to Chicago last summer.  We love Scott and Kathleen, and we knew that we had to make a trip out to visit them!  We had a wonderful time!  We had Chicago-style pizza (twice!), we had cocktails at The Signature Room, we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo, we walked through some adorable neighborhoods, we went to a Cubs game, we had drinks at the Cubby Bear by Wrigley, we went on an architectural tour of Chicago by boat, we had some delicious caramel corn, we walked by the lake, we saw Northwestern's law school, went shopping on Michigan Avenue, and we ate many delicious meals!  It was so nice spending time with Scott and Kathleen, and we are already looking forward to their visit to Durham next spring!

Chicago-style pizza.  YUM! 

This place had the most beautiful views of the city!  

Kathleen and I in Lincoln Park

The whole crew!

Wrigley Field

Infront of Wrigley

Downtown before the architectural tour

Walking around the lake

At brunch on Sunday

At brunch on Sunday

Visiting Alabama

Towards the end of July, I went home to visit my family and go to my cousin's wedding.  It was a really nice long weekend in AL.  I got to spend a ton of time with my sweet nephew, which was so much fun!  Justin, Mom and I went to check out the Children's Hands-On Museum in Tuscaloosa.  We ate some great food in Tuscaloosa.  We went up to Birmingham for my cousin's wedding, and I got to spend some quality time with my brothers and their significant others.  Overall, I'd say it was a great trip!  I really enjoyed the visit home, although it felt a little short (as always).  Here's some pictures... Enjoy!

Justin and Mom picked me up from the airport

Mom and Justin at CHOM

Justin being a total cutie at CHOM

I loved the quality time with Justin!

The formal shot of our family at the wedding

This could be one of my all-time favorites of our family.  We are silly.

4th of July

We were able to drive down to visit Greg's parents over the 4th of July because we found out that Greg's office would be closed on July 4th and 5th.  We were really excited about making this trip because we were finally going to meet our new niece, Molly!  We drove down after Greg got off of work on July 3rd, and it went smoothly.  We actually made really good time and got there before midnight.  Unfortunately, it rained the entire time that we were there!

It was so nice to spend time with Greg's family.  We went and saw a movie, grilled out, Greg and his dad played golf, and we all enjoyed just hanging out.  I was glad that we were able to go to church on Sunday at Ralph's church before we headed home.  Traffic was awful when we were driving home, but I think we both expected that.  I'm so happy that we made the trip down, and I can't wait to see Miss Molly again!

Greg and Molly!  She is the cutest! 

Greg's mom, Molly, and Bailey.  Molly loves her Nana!

We sat in traffic forever on our way home!  I saw this rainbow while we were stuck outside of Greensboro, NC and thought it was pretty.  You can't see it very well, but I was excited about it so I took a picture- ha!

Memorial Day Visitors!

Mom and Dad came to visit us over Memorial day weekend.  It was SO nice to see them and show them around Durham.  I feel like this is a common theme... We love having people come visit Durham, so that we can show them why we love it so much!  We had a really great  visit!

They arrived late Friday night, so we basically just said hello and went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up to go to the Farmer's Market and Mom decided she'd join us.  We had to get a good amount of stuff that week, and so I feel like Mom got the whole experience!  We also got breakfast from the food trucks, and it was delicious!  We weren't able to spend as much time as we wanted at the market that morning because Greg and I had to take the dogs to a vet appointment at 10am.  After Greg and I got home with the dogs, we decided to take Mom and Dad to Greg's favorite local brewery, Triable Brewing Company, for a tour.  The experience was a lot of fun, it was interesting to hear about the brewing process, and of course, it was fun to sample all the beers.

Triangle Brewing Company 

Dad and Greg were clearly excited about the Brewery Tour

 Mom and I during the Brewery Tour

Saturday night, we had to take them over to Lily's Pizza.  We take everyone who comes to visit us to eat here because it's our favorite local pizza place.  After dinner, I wanted to take Mom and Dad over to check out the new fondue place that opened downtown, and I thought it would be a fun to do chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was delicious!

Sunday, we got up and went to church.  We had lunch at the house, and then headed over to Duke Gardens for the afternoon.  It was fun to walk around and spend some time outside.  We took it easy that night, ate at home, and just hung out together that night.

Greg, Penni, and I at Duke Gardens

Monday, Mom and I went shopping while Greg and dad hung out at the house grilling lunch.  On our way home, we stopped at Harris Teeter to figure out what we wanted to do for dinner.  We ended up getting steaks, shrimp, zucchini, squash, corn, and baked potatoes.  It was so much food, but it was all delicious!

We are so happy that Mom and Dad were able to come up and visit!  We look forward to when they make another trip!