My birthday - 2012!

This year,  Mike and I headed to see the show 

Wicked 

at DPAC

.

 

 

 

 It was fantastic, as always, and the tobacco road cafe afterwards was just as spectacular
 

 We're talking buffalo chicken egg rolls. Delish.

Cheers to the Weekend

What. 

A. 

Weekend. 

Last week was seriously one of the worst I've had in a LONG time. I'm sorry for abandoning the blog, but I took all I could do was scrape food together before passing out. 

Friday afternoon however, I got the weekend started right, with some nailpolish window shopping. I'm on a "don't paint my nails" kick until they stop peeling. (Ok, I totally JUST painted them, but it's coming off)

luxe effects anyone? I think I need them. 

I have no idea why they won't stop peeling, but that's a blog for another day. I gotta get them in shape for the Spring 2012 collection however. That moss green, the hot pink and the coral are to.die.for.

<3

 After Mike got home, we called our friends Leslie and Derek and headed to Tasu for dinner. We had a vvvvvvvvvery interesting waiter, but also had a great time chatting and catching up. 

um, the ones with Jalepenos are amazing...

Saturday morning, while Mike worked on his MBA, I went and did a little shopping to get myself ready for spring. A new pair of jeans, some flowery tops, stripes, tanks, OH and the awesome cat tee from the Jason Wu collection at Target. 

I've wanted this shirt since I saw it, (IT LOOKS JUST LIKE OI) and I've even had my mom searching for it. It sold out all around North Raleigh and online, but I found it hidden in between tons of other white shirts in the sleepwear section. My apologizes to whomever hid it..but, ya snooze & ya lose. 

Afterwards, April and I headed to Wine and Design Cary for a new painting! I'll do a full post on this soon, cause it was super fun and we took TONS of photos, so it deserves it's own post. 

Talent. 

We met the boys afterwards for dinner and drinks at Brewmasters. 

what? we like guacamole!

Sunday morning, bright and early(ish) we went into Durham for a bit. We stumbled across a random bike race on 9th street, which kept us entertained for a bit.

before hitting up Elmo's  (LOVE THAT PLACE) for a delish brunch with Mandy and Austin.

diet coke & mimosa: be still my beating heart. 

cinnamon apple stuffed french toast. on sunflower bread...

On the walk back up 9th Street, we watched some more of the bike race (still going 2 hours later) before stumbling on Springtime Crack...ya know, Girl Scout Cookies. 

I did NOT get one of each. 

 Then! Sunday night, we headed up to April and Jeremy's for some Oscars action. Billy Crystal was awesome, as always, and the cirque du Soleil part was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  After Mike was done with his paper, be brought up some Bud Light Platinum, which APPARENTLY everyone (but me) had been wanting to try. It tasted just like Bud Light, so Im'a be stickin with some good beers. Just sayin..

Platinum?

 Look at the cute table spread that April set up. Adorbs. 

It was seriously a great great weekend. 

What'd you get into?

Weekend Wrapup

Oy, this week has been a rough one, so I kinda neglected lil ol blog. I'm sorry. This weekend was filled with warm fuzzys as we spent the weekend celebrating Jeremy and April's engagement, with a small smidgen of "us" time, that Mike and I still try to fit in around work and school. It was a PERFECT weekend, so let's recap.. 

April, her mom, future MIL, Matt and I all went dress shopping..

ok fine, Edward met us there ;)

Mia and Alex met us there and we went out for celebratory drinks (and lunch)

Then it was time for the Engagement Party!

It was held at Tylers Taproom in Durham, where they had their first date. It was a really really cute event and you could tell just how happy they are together. So sweet. 

Mike felt that my salad lunch was too healthy, so he added fried pickles and fries on top. 

 

April's mom bought these GIANT engagement rings, that all the bridesmaids decided to wear as bracelets. 

Of course there was cake!

 The weather was BEYOND beautiful that day, so after the party we all headed outside to take a few photos. A professional photographer wandered by, and you can skip over to April's blog to see the big group shot. (And tons more pictures, teehee)

Love

We look like a sitcom or reality TV show cast..Love It. 

sosweet.

After the party, we wanted to get dinner as a group, but SHOCKINGLY it's hard to get a table for 13 people 3 hours before you want to eat. (I know, I'm stunned as well) So Mike and I headed back to Sushi Nine. 

Now I'm hungry again. 

Then we headed for our friends Blake and Beth's new place..

gotta love homebrew

 before we headed out downtown. It was dark, and so I didnt take any pictures..I'm sorry. BUT, the next morning, we joined April, Jeremy, and Jeremy's parents at Flying Biscuit. I hadnt been there in a while, but it's in Cameron Village and Mike and I decided we would definitely head back when the weather isnt cold and rainy to walk around. 

sweet biscuits with cranberry Apple butter...

 OH HEY MOM: RIGHT HERE! Question: I know y'all used to make Apple Butter. Can you teach me? Please? This stuff was TO DIE for. 

Then, while it was all wintery and chilly outside, we cuddled up with Irish hot chocolate and watched Inception..

delish

Raleigh's only snowfall.. 

 

Science of Wine

 Thursday night, we headed back to the Museum of Life and Science for "Science of Wine"

It did seem like there were fewer wineries, which was really sad, but we had a good time regardless. 

smush, stomp, squash

We got to stomp grapes, which was really weird. They were harder to crush than you would imagine, and get stuck between your toes. Props to earlier generations who drank "foot wine" though, I don't know if I could...

Then, we followed the loud booming noise upstairs. (Possibly my favorite part)

You've seen people do it on tv, open champagne bottles with large sabres, and we saw someone do it that night. 

the BLADES

 

The guys from The Wine Feed were doing a REALLY cool demonstration.  That I finally managed to get a good video of, so click below to check it out.

 

the cork, afterwards.

 After that, it was craft time. They always have craft projects, and I always get really excited...

Mike managed to capture my "creativity" face (the tongue totally helps). 

work. in. progress.

Afterwards, we had two really cool coasters to take home

it has glitter on it. trust me.

and a set of wine charms. One with NCSU colors and one with GT colors.

oooo

 

Finally, we headed to a station to see what brain chemical we are. 

You can decide which is which.

smart.

 We finished off the night guessing at wine corks (Answer 657ish, we guessed 412 and 395,) then headed out to Tylers for some snacks before calling it a night.

happy faces.

the rest of special lady weekend...

The rest of Special Lady Weekend, was just as awesome as Friday night. We got up early and headed out to Triangle Brewing Company, for their tasting and tours.  

 

It was probably the best "brewery" tour we'd been on, in terms of the science he talked about and how in-depth it was.   

They had an AWESOME pepper beer, in addition to their normal fare, 

free to try. 

did I mention: FREE, 

and then the guy raced the people celebrating brithdays to see who could shotgun a beer faster.

AFter the brewery tour, we decided to head to downtown Durham.
First stop was a awesome Irish Pub, Bull McCabe's to get some nosh.

Then some more walking, to take in the tobacco district.

 

Before we ended up at West End Wine Bar. 

I'd been there once before, and was quite excited to get back. 

The wine selection was amazing & the waitress was super sweet and knowledgeable about beer and wine. 

Mike was happy that a football game was on (which I don't remember), 

since the waitress and I chatted about the Kardashians.

We had such a blast, and & I'm a very lucky girl. :)