Lee Loves Sugar

And Sugar loves her daddy.

The like napping together:

And sitting together:

And dancing on the porch together:

And more sleeping:

And sleeping some more:

And Sugar likes looking cute:

And saying "pleaseeeeee don't make me go outside, I promise to sit here and look cute instead":

And they nap some more:

And then Sugar naps on her own:

Is this not the cutest dog you've ever seen?

I thought so.

Yard Sale

This weekend was our big yard sale weekend. A while back, we set the date to have a yard sale with Lee's sister and his parents at his parent's house.

For the most part, I hate yard sales. I like the opportunity to declutter and, of course, to make money. But most of the time I just feel like they're not worth the time and effort. They can also be frustrating too. You take something out of your house that you JUST had hanging on your wall and probably paid a good $40 for, and will someone pay $1 for it? Oh heck no. They have to try to haggle you down to $0.50 for it. I mean come on people.

Anywho, after spending all week gathering up our yard sale crap lovely items and spending a good two hours packing the truck, AND constantly checking the weather because the chance of rain on Saturday was, of course, something like 200%, we made it to Grifton and made it up bright and early Saturday to get everything set up. (Don't even get me STARTED on why yard sales can't start at a decent hour, like say noon?)

I have to say though, there is no yard sale like a Wade yard sale. Lee's parents' house is in the perfect high-traffic location...it's like a magnet for yard salers. As soon as we got started at 7am, we had no less than 5 people in the yard at all times until we quit at noon.

We were so busy I barely had time to catch my breath, much less take pictures, but here's one of some of the spread:

Not only did the rain hold out for us, but we had a very successful day. Lee and I made $458. All together, the three families made $1,083. Not bad for a morning's (well, more like a week's) work, huh?

Zoo!

Lee's family came up this weekend and we went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro.

It was lot of fun and we had near-perfect weather. Here are some of my favorite pics:

The new giraffe feeding deck has just opened, so we headed there first since it's only open two hours a day. We got there just in time, as one of the new giraffe babies was there feeding. Leah and Brett got to feed her some leaves. So much fun.

Playing in the helicopter:

This might be my absolute favorite:

We did A LOT of walking. And almost all of it seemed like it was uphill. Lee's parents were VERY happy to see this sign in the middle of the park:

Willy the polar bear was tired.

Puffin, meet crab. Crab, meet puffin.

I think our favorite exhibit by far was the sea lions because they were the most active. When they swim they just make it look so easy and fun and graceful.

When we got back to Holly Springs after the zoo we were pooped. We grilled out for dinner and were ready for bed by 9:30.

Before everyone headed home today, we had to take a picture of Lee and Leah with their citizenship awards. When Lee was in 5th grade, he won the Contentnea Elementary School citizenship award, which is the biggest award of the year. When Leah graduated from Contentnea this June, she kept it all in the family by bringing home the citizenship award 17 years later. Of course, after about 20 pictures with their awards, things turned goofy:

It was a great weekend and we're so glad they were able to come up!

Wordless Wednesday: Drool

I'm a V.I.P...at Chick-Fil-A

Remember this post I wrote about the new Chick-fil-A opening in Holly Springs?

Well, that post scored me an invitation to be a VIP at the Chick-fil-A premiere night. Sahhhh-weet! The restaurant doesn't officially open until Thursday, but Lee and I got a sneak peak tonight, as well as some tasty grub and nice swag.

What exactly does a Chick-fil-A premiere night consist of? Well, it starts with a red carpet arrival, violin players, and candles and flowers on every table.

Next was an appetizer of chick-n-minis (soooo good)...

And a salad course complete with a server walking around offering fresh ground pepper. (I look like a doof in this picture but it's the only one with me and my I heart Chick-fil-A sticker.)

We were waited on hand and foot, and were able to order anything we wanted off the menu for dinner. And of course, milkshakes for dessert:

Up next was a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen.

Buns and bevs:

One of the things that sets Chick-fil-A apart - they use name brand products in their food: Oreos, Keebler Nilla wafers, Hershey's chocolate, Dole pineapple chunks, etc., so you know you're getting the real thing and not some knockoff.

Lots o' grease:

This is the breading station. They hand-bread every piece of chicken served. It goes through a milk wash, seasoned coating, and then straight into the fryer/pressurizer. The bottom of the station is refrigerated so the chicken stays cool throughout the process.

Mmmm...yummy coating:

This is the bun station. Buns come out of the big silver thing. The little roller in the bottom right corner butters the buns (yumm) and the trademark pickles are in the silver bin.

It was a fun night and we left with full bellies and some sweet coupons. We ended the night with a goodbye from the Chick-fil-A cow:

Can't wait to go back for "real" next time!

Birthdays are Fun

I had an awesome birthday weekend. It consisted of:

- Mimosas and muffins with my coworkers to start the day on Friday

- My boss telling me to take the afternoon off

- Being greeted with this at the door when I got home:

(a "Happy Birthday to Mommy" card, signed Luv Sugar)

- A beautiful bookcase for my office made by Lee

- Mexican and margaritas with Lee, Erin, Brittany and Heith on Friday night

- An amazing, delicious dinner with Lee at Angus Barn on Saturday night

- Followed by furniture shopping and shopping at Crabtree (he knows how to make me happy)

- A lazy yet productive Sunday

So, all in all, the perfect birthday weekend.

**A note about Angus Barn: This was our first trip to Angus Barn. Ever since I was a student at UNC I've been hearing people rave about Angus Barn. I used to live on Glenwood Ave and had to drive by Angus Barn EVERY day. TWICE. We kept saying we'd go for someone's birthday or some special occasion but we never did. So, Lee finally decided we would go for my birthday this year and let me tell you...it did not disappoint. In fact, we were kind of hoping we wouldn't like it because it's not exactly in our budget. But unlike somewhere like Ruth Chris, you feel like you're getting your money's worth at Angus Barn. The food was absolutely delicious and we left with about 10 lbs of takeout (including an adorable little complimentary birthday poundcake). We are already scheming up the next occasion that warrants a trip to Angus Barn.

Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

Just had to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Patrick Swayze. He's always held a special place in my heart.

When I was little, my mom had a picture of him on the door in her closet. Thinking back on it now, that was kind of weird. But it didn't seem that way back then. It was just Patrick Swayze. In the closet. And you smiled at him when you went in or out.

Of course, my love for Patrick Swayze stems from my love for Dirty Dancing. My cousin Jessica and I would watch the movie EVERY Saturday when we were little -- probably way too little to be watching Dirty Dancing. We wore that VHS tape out. It would be years later before I realized what was going on in the abortion scene. All we knew was that the sexy scenes made us "feel funny."

Ahhh Patrick, you played a special part in so many young girls' lives. You will be missed.

Friday Link Love

It's time for another roundup of cool things from around the internets:

- Cool little sketchpad application.

- Wish I was this skilled at cupcake decorating.

- Would you not LOVE to throw a dinner party with all of these materials at your fingertips?

- Check out this amazing-photo-session-turned-surprise-proposal on photographer Amy Free's blog.

- And speaking of engagements, check out this post from Weddings in the City out of Charlotte. Notice someone familiar?

- Two of my favorite things in this world are: Ellen DeGeneres and So You Think You Can Dance. So I was so excited to see this on the season premiere of her show this week. Even more entertaining was the footage from the first rehearsal with the dancers.

Have a good weekend!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend at the river, in a nutshell:

- Lots of dogs

- Lots of fish

- Lots of dogs eating fish

- Beautiful sunsets

- I watched Pretty Woman the whole way through for the first time in my life

- We ventured to Greenville to see Time Traveler's Wife and eat at Basil's (can you say dip barrage?)

- We had to call 911 on the way home from Greenville on a woman who was swerving dangerously all over the road

- I read an entire book (New Moon - yes, I'm officially obsessed)

And now for pictures:

Nothing like the beautiful river sunsets

Old man fishing in the sunset

Sugar eating fish. She kept losing the little pinfish through the cracks of the pier. At one point, she had a baby croaker in her mouth and it started croaking. She FREAKED. THE HECK. OUT.

Pretty girl

Blog world, meet my grandma. You can call her Giga. She's got the pups entranced with her catch.

Good boy, Astro

Please please PLEASEEE can I have it??

Early birthday cake

Total exhaustion after a fun weekend at the river

**Disclaimer: There were fish harmed in the making of this post. Get over it. It's the circle of life people.