Paintin with my Homies (its ok, you can sing along)

A few weeks ago a bunch of the girls headed over to Polka Dot Palette in Cary. I'd been there once before when I painted the wine bottle (with the molecule? remember?) and I was really excited to get to go back with some friends. 

Christie brought an AMAZING spread that included all sorts of fruit and sweets, plus the cutest little mini bottles of wine (which was a GREAT idea. I <3 mini things) and cranberry moonshine. There are pictures on facebook, it was ridiculously tasty and dangerous. We nibbled a bit and then we started painting. 

the girls in action!

The teacher there, Brandon, is really good. He's funny, sweet and very talented.  Unlike other painting places where you basically color within the lines (which is surprisingly still difficult and the teachers there show you some really cool techniques) at PDP you start with a completely blank canvas. THEN, Brandon shows you techniques and walks around helping you figure it out. Little by little, til you have a new masterpiece.

I really like my chubby little bird. 

All in all, we had a blast and I highly recommend checking out PDP. If you get on their mailing list, you get a $5 coupon in the monthly emails for any class!  I'm hoping all the girls can get together soon for another fun night. 

the lovelies (and teacher photobomb) with our paintings. 

Weekend of 1-29-12

One more weekend catch up for ya. 

Friday Night Poker at our friend Matt's. 

With the lovely ladies and gents...

Then a rousing game of CLR. (or three)

And shenanigans from your lovely blog-hosts. 

<3

1/28/12 - Steve Rannazzisi

I apologize for how out of order everything is going to be for the 

next few days/weeks while I get all caught up. 

On Saturday night, after a super awesome Mexican dinner (made at home) and a few hours spent watching the NHL All Star Skills Competition. Mike and I got dressed up and went to Goodnights Comedy Club in Downtown Raleigh.   

We're both pretty obsessed with the FX show "The League" and one of the main characters was doing stand up that night. (When I say obsessed, I mean we're going to name our dog after it <if its a girl> and we've been watching episodes together since our 3rd date almost 2 years ago.) The warm up comedians were funny, the popcorn was the perfect mix of salty and buttery, and the wine was super tasty. That combination, mixed with laughing so hard at Steve we almost cried made for an excellent night. Really, we would go back in a second. 

Afterwards, we waited around for a bit so that we could get a photo with him. We were both pleasantly suprised at how nice he was. He asked us for our names, thanked us for coming to the show and supporting the League and was just nice.

Pretty awesome day and afterwards we came home drank a Shiva beer from Asheville Brewing company and watched episodes of The League until we got sleepy. 

Manicure Monday

For another quick dose of "non real blogging" or as April says "not wedding stuff." 

She introduced the idea of a Manicure Monday postings. 

Since we're both super girly and nail polish fiends. 

First Episode! 

Passion Orange. 

WHY, passion orange you ask? 

Well, obviously, because it's a spring-ier version of coral. 

Which is THE color of the weekend.

because someone asked me to be in the bridal party. 

and coral is one of the colors...

Ok, so I kinda cheated about the "not wedding stuff" 

BUT NOW I HAVE SO MUCH PINTRESTING TO DO!!!!!

yay!

Olive Shenanigans

Because that was a really downer post

Here's a cute video of Olive.

<3

The Importance of Being Kind

via google search

First off, if you havent seen THE HELP. Go, now. Then come back. ..

Ok, I promise that posts like these will remain few and veeery far between. 

But, I want to tell you 3 stories: 

1: At one time, I found this blog that I completely connected with. It was witty, sincere and entertaining. The girl was funny and cute, her house was adorable and she had amazing adventures with her hubby and animals. One day she posted that she was shutting down her blog. She didn't want to deal with the level of negativity that had begun to creep into her blogosphere and it was affecting her real life, not just her bloglife. With that, she shut down her website, and when it shut, I lost the inspiration of her decor, her food, and her photography skills. It really upset me. I ended up finding what I *think* were the posts that brought her down, and truth be told if it was me, I'd be just as devastated. The lesson:  One person's jealousy and evil words can bring darkness. One person's jealousy took away inspiration from many many others. 

2: A couple years ago I had, what I considered to be, a tight knit core of female friends. Regardless of the interactions between the other girls, I didn't see myself involved in anything relationship ending, until I said some smart-ass comment on twitter. Yup, TWITTER. The land of 140 characters, hashtags, and not much else. The next morning, I received...probably... the most pathetic email ever. The hate, anger, and bitterness that flowed outwards was meant to cut and devastate me. Instead, I felt pity for the person who decided that THIS was the appropriate outcome. The correct thing to do. I felt sorry for someone who figured that the correct way to handle ANYTHING was to write an email that (as I was told later) she described as "the meanest thing I've ever written. I wanted to give her a reason to be mad." Wow. Lesson?: When the level of anger and bitterness inside you wells up inside to that point, the only person who's going to get hurt and cut up inside is yourself. The object of your outpouring of negativity (I just cringed when I wrote that..SOOO MUCH MUMBOJUMBO),  isn't going to feel the pain you try to pass on, they'll only feel pity and sadness. Not sadness at the words or actions, but sadness at the loss of a good friend, to a dark place. 

3: Before I had my current job at the university, I worked for a pharmaceutical company. A few times a month, delivery people would come to drop off the lab supplies that we had ordered. I always chatted with the guy. He was really friendly and chatty, and I always enjoy talking to people. He started to call me princess and look for me when he dropped stuff off so that he could tell me about his family and life. I left that job eventually, and honestly, didn't think about the delivery guy again. One day at work a couple months ago, I was walking outside to pick up something from another building. It was raining and cold so I had my hood up and was hunched over walking fast. I heard a large truck drive by and I saw the break lights come on. I heard someone yell "HEY!", so I looked up figuring the person was lost and needed directions. (The campus is confusing, faux real). There was my old friend. The delivery guy from the pharmaceutical company, who had recognized me as he drove by and got out of his truck to give me a hug and see how I was. We chatted, in the rain, and he mentioned how sad he was when he found out I left, because I was always so nice to him and made his day a little nicer. Lesson: It costs you nothing to be kind and sincere, but it can give someone else, everything. 

Ok. That..was long. And Emotional. I'm NOT trying to say that I'm peachy and perfect and have never done wrong. Only, that maybe everyone should make a bit of an effort to be kinder. I mean, as Aibileen says, "You is kind... (and that makes you)  & important.

Since you made it this far: Here a cute picture of puppies. 

via

(Mike and I want a lab. Chocolate, Golden or Black we haven't decided yet. What do you think?)

Serendipity

Sometimes you randomly go to brunch...

and that random brunch becomes cheap tickets to a show. 

where someone recognizes you as shannon...

The 100 "musts" for every closet.

I figured out that I while I have most of these things in my closet (who knew?),

 I'm still missing a bit. Here's some of the key pieces.

Big weekend ahead of me, I'm super excited. 

Neutral Cape:

via

Minnetonka Mocassins are the epitome of "too cool" shoes. 

I remember my mom having pair that I lusted over. 

via

and finally, my NCSU Class ring. 

Numerous moves and less than scrupulous roommates 

(if you lived on Red Lane, I'm NOT talking about you)

means that I no long have my class ring. 

2008. I'll re-buy you one day. 

via

Have a happy long weekend. See you Monday!

Maine Weather Report

Mike is in Maine, on business. 

He really isn't a "picture" kinda guy, so I was suprised to get a message from him. 

Apparently, that's all ya need to know. 

I'm glad he's coming back to the land of 40* tonight.

On North Carolina

I find myself feeling a little stir-crazy lately. 

I love my city and my state, but I'm itching to try something new for a bit.

I'll always adore North Carolina, so I rounded up a few beauties. 

To remind me of home, wherever I go..

via

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<3

Finally saying "Peace!" to 2011

Oh, 2011. 

January: 

We drove to Charlottesville to NYE, 

we ate chicken wings

we got the plague

and won tickets to the NHL All-Star game

RBC Center

February 

we threw our First Annual Superbowl Party
we had an excellent trip to NYC
and we went the Science of Wine

Times Square

March

we had a little house guest

went to a parade

went to another Hurricanes game

we hit up HotLanta for a few days

and celebrated the 1yr anniversary of our first date.

St. Patty's day, ATL

April
we had our 6 month "for real?" anniversary
went to Raleigh Beer Fest
and tried out some of Raleigh's best food
and survived a tornado

the crew, under a rainy nasty tent

May

we introduced Mike to the cats

i had an excellent birthday

we went to Artsplosure
oh, and yeah WE WENT TO HARRY POTTER WORLD. 

what do YOU look like during Tornados?

June
we went to a Paul McCartney tribute show
plenty of brewery tours with friends
and visits to the Durham Bulls

Summer Lovin

July

i tore my knee. 

but we brewed

i painted. a lot. 
we saw Harry Potter. I died a little inside. 

and went to Cirque du Soleil

it ended



August

we went to Beer, Bourbon and BBQ
we brewed
and  started to put the house together

even on crutches, we were happy. 

September

we packed. 

we cleaned. 

we went to NY for 9/11

we saw the Jets

we moved kittens

I apparently forgot to blog. 

we managed to make it to the Science of beer

October

truth be told. this month was horrid. seeing as I never posted most of the posts I had written or even any photos, it feels like I owe it to you. (me?)

mom and dad came to the state fair

we moved all my stuff in from my old apartment.

we carved pumpkins with old friends

we ordered pumpkin lattes and raked leaves

then. 

it happened. 

I came home from work one perfectly normal Tuesday, to this:  

devastating. 

 Our front door was kicked in. Electronics, jewelry, luggage and other random things were gone. My biggest fear was realized. I fell into a deep hole that lasted most of November, with random spurts of Normalcy. One of those being our week long vacay (that I never blogged about -see deep hole-) to Vegas, Zion, and the Grand Canyon. It was nice to leave my broken home 4 days after it happened. I didn't realize how much  it to take to come back. I am back now. The house is back. The things are back. The alarm is good. All is well. 

Zion National Park

November 

we cleaned. 

we went up to NY for Mike's Family Thanksgiving. (I adore them, they're all so nice) 

we went to Charlotte (again posts lost in the deep hole)

checked out a Panthers game 

December

we celebrated the holidays

enjoyed our weekends. 

and headed out to Asheville for the New Year 

-----

Thanks 2011. You were rough, but you made me stronger. You made me appreciate who I had in my life, and grateful that the ones I didn't have anymore were finally gone. You showed me how strong I was and how weak.  You gave me adventures I'm grateful for. But, honestly? 2012? You don't have to teach me so much. We can just hang out and have fun. I'd like that.  :)

The Really Long Christmas Post

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Christmakkah), 

SOON Mama and Daddy would come! 

So we put up the tree, weighed it down with weights 

and hung up all the stockings in a row! 

and BOY did they come. The tree was stuffed full of little presents and I think my mom got a kick out of looking at all the ornaments on our tree. (I still have my "baby's first ornament" up). 

We started a new tradition, of buying a new Hanukkah ornament every year for the tree, and topped it with a Star of David  

My mom also still collects my presents from Santa for me every year. Since I dont have a chimney anymore, obviously.  

I decided to cook for my family for the two days that they were here. The food, and all the treats were a hit. My mom brought me some super cute cookie cutters that I used. 

And while I cooked, Dad and Mike hung out downstairs by the football games. It was pretty hilarious, however, that when it got cold, Dad just joined me upstairs. I turned around from setting the table to see:

gotta keep warm...

So, once everyone got toasty and full, we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol.

 I only quoted the first 15 minutes. 

pinkie swear

Christmas Morning came!  

SO CUTE. Seriously, I die. 

There were tons of presents. I got glitter, books, TOMS, a new scarf set  and more. Mike wracked up a new office chair, Roger Waters tickets, a Reevis jersey and a "Beer Brewing Kit of the Month" membership (with accompanying carboy)

Fun Times. :)

But, the super awesome present. Well, It needs a bit of back story. 

Two weeks before Christmas, I went with Mike to his company holiday party, where I preceded to lose my camera. 
I looked ALL OVER the car, I called the restaurant and hotel and I couldnt find it anywhere. 

I was devastated. 

I sobbed. 

I UGLY cried. 

I bawled. 

Mike tried to console me by letting me open one of my presents "For Hanukkah," he said so I picked the one his Mom sent. (Apparently, I was supposed to pick the big one..) 

Christmas morning, Mike kept handing me presents, leaving one big, heavy, box left. I'll let you look at the progression on the pictures below..be with you in a sec. 

yeah, i cried..what of it. 

 LOOK AT THE PRETTY BABY THAT I FOUND IN THAT BIG OL' BOX. 

now, if you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you'll notice my lil point and shoot. 

turns out, I had put it in a shoe. 

yeah, a shoe. 

then I put that shoe in the closet. 

and closed the door

I then FOUND my camera weeks later before the Nutcracker. 

(Guess Mike was glad I didn't open the big box then)

 After a wonderful day (and plenty more food) the three people I love most in the world were settled into my house, sipping and munching and stressless and laughing and

 feeling -good-

And THAT, my friends is why This Christmakkah was the start of many more wonderful Chrsitmakkahs to come, and absolutely a wonderful day. 

Cheers

Who said you can't relive the holidays? Not me.