Jarvis Landing

Jarvis Landing is a community of about 35 vacation homes on the Pamlico River near Aurora, NC (although a few residents do live here permanently). Every home on the street suffered a fate similar to ours.

From what we can tell, the river flooded its banks as a 6 to 7 foot storm surge swept through the community.

Here's the video I shot as we were first arriving at Jarvis Landing:

Nothing can prepare you for a sight like that.

As we assessed the damage it was clear what we had lost: everything. And what was salvageable: nothing.

The only thing we really could do was try to take it all in, remarking at the items left scattered in the yard, and the things that we had no idea where they might have gone.

This was a brand new queen-size mattress:

Can you image how powerful that water must have been to reduce it to this?

Where the pump house used to sit:

And the sun room:

Flat-screen TV anyone?

This tree that's laying down in the yard is not ours (we actually didn't lose any trees). Our theory is that it floated into the yard from Indian Island across the river.

Some festive 4th of July leftovers:

And of course pictures:

Snapshots scattered all up and down the road.

A few lighthouses left somewhat intact and a jar of pickles:

The amount of stuff that we can't locate at all is unbelievable. The refrigerator? Gone. The entire barn? No clue. The oversized picnic table where we've shared so many wonderful meals? Vanished.

We did spot some of our furniture in the marsh and woods across the street.

Can you make out the plaid in the middle? That's our couch.

We've lost our pier in hurricanes past, so when we rebuilt it, we built it in sections that could be taken up in the event of a storm. Dad went down last week and removed the sections and tied them up in the yard. The pieces are nowhere to be found now.

Here's a short tour of the property (sorry that I get loud at the end!):

But all of these things are just "stuff" that can be replaced. But there were some things that are irreplaceable:

• Dad's "river journals" -- where every weekend he meticulously documented who was down there that weekend, the activities and events of the weekend and how and where the fish were biting.
• His pride and joy 8+ lb trout , stuffed and mounted on the wall.
• Two paintings by my great-grandmother, recently framed and hung in the dining room.

The trout and paintings might still be hanging on the walls, if only we knew where the walls were. But they are nowhere to be found.

All up and down the street the scene was the same:

But again, everyone is safe at that is what matters.

We had insurance and we will rebuild.

It will take time but we'll be back. Slowly but surely Jarvis Landing will clean up, dust off and get to the hard work of rebuilding this community from the ground up.

And we will forever be stronger because of it.

Hurricane Irene

This is all that's left of my family's vacation home on the Pamlico River in Aurora, NC.

After all of the good times we've shared here as a family, nothing is left but a shell of a house and its contents scattered as far as the eye can see. Twelve years we've owned this property, and after 12 years of furnishing, decorating, repairing and upgrading, we hauled everything that was salvageable (and some stuff that wasn't) out in a few trash bags.

It's a total loss, but we still have all of the memories. No storm can take those away from us.

We know that we're fortunate to have a vacation home in the first place, and we're counting our blessings that everyone is healthy and safe, and the damage to my family's primary homes is minimal.

Once I can wrap my head around everything, I'll be back to share more details and pictures tomorrow.

Although all the pictures in the world can never truly capture the devastation, both physical and emotional, that this community is facing right now.

Friday Thoughts

Some of this and that heading into the weekend:

• A coworker of mine started a blog called I Was the Coolest Kid Ever. You might recognize today's coolest kid.
• You should probably NOT talk to me about Big Brother today. I'm totally over it. No one left in the house at this point deserves to win and the show is not worth watching without Jeff. I'll follow along just to see what happens to my girl Jordan and then I'm out.
• As for real life (because let's face it, that's a bit more important than reality TV) -- we were planning on going to the beach this weekend but of course that's not happening. Preparations have been made at the beach and the river and we're crossing our fingers that Irene takes it easy on us and praying that everyone stays safe.
• And just because I need a little pick-me-up this afternoon, a gorgeous bouquet from the farmer's market a few weekends back (only $5!):

Have a good weekend (well, as good as possible with Irene bearing down) and stay safe!

Office Wrap-Up

I'm officially ready to declare my office done. And I'm in L-O-V-E. Couldn't be happier with how everything turned out (well, taking my budget and resources into account).

As a refresher, here are some "before" shots:

And here's how she turned out:

You can visit previous posts to find out more about what I wanted out of this space, how I brought the old farm table back to life, my leaning bookcase storage, my DIY pinboard frames and how I turned Ikea duvets into curtains.

And now for some more details of what's going on up in here.

A big piece of the puzzle in this room was storage. Storage for office supplies, party supplies, wrapping supplies and crafting/scrapbooking supplies. And for all of that, I turned to Ikea.

Up first, a traditional Expedit bookcase.

The baskets house miscellaneous scrapbooking, stamping and party supplies and the open shelves hold finished scrapbooks, camera gear and my market totes.

This is also the site of my "wrapping station" with a basket for rolls of paper, a ribbon box and a vintage metal locker basket for tissue paper and gift tags.

Up next is another bookcase, this one housing actual books.

(I didn't say they were intellectual books.)

Lee bought me this bookcase for my birthday one year and stained it himself.

A fan is a must because it gets hot up here in the summer (we don't use the upstairs much so we intentionally set the thermostat high), and I love this little brushed nickel Hunter number from Target.

Beside the fan is my little stationery area, filled with a variety of cards and my address and bookplate stampers.

Beside my desk is another Ikea storage unit for all of my office-type supplies. It's not the prettiest thing ever but it serves its purpose.

Comparmentalized inserts for the top drawer are perfect for little doo-dads.

On my worktable, a 3-drawer box holds even more supplies and an empty paint can corrals various writing utensils.

And finally, a peek into the closet. This loft has a nice walk-in closet, but since clothes and shoes weren't what I was storing, I needed to add some vertical shelving. Ikea fit the bill yet again.

From top to bottom: tubs, trays and tablecloths for entertaining; acrylic trays of ribbon and crafting embellishments; more party trays/buckets and tins for fabric and hardware; and two shelves of candles, vases and frames.

I store extra gift bags on a hanger in the closet as well.

And here's a better peek into the acrylic trays, just because they're pretty (if you haven't seen a pattern forming yet, I kind of have a thing for ribbon).

Finally, I added some additional seating (chair and throw are from Ikea) and a new light fixture (barn light from Lowe's).

I'm super happy with how it turned out and ready to get up there and be inspired!

2011 Goals Check-in

Back in January, I told you about my "for fun" goals for 2011. Now that the year is over halfway gone, I thought I'd check in and let you know how I'm doing so far.

If you need a little refresher, here's my list:

1. Movies.

I'm doing pretty good on this so far. I haven't made it to the theater every single month, but I went twice last month and watched a movie at home when I didn't make it to the theater. In case you're interested, here's what I've seen:

• January -- Black Swan
• February -- No Strings Attached
• March -- Love & Other Drugs (at home)
• April -- Water for Elephants
• May -- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• June -- Life As We Know It (at home)
• July -- Friends with Benefits and Crazy, Stupid, Love

After writing these out, I feel quite ashamed to have paid $8 (plus popcorn) to see both No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits, which share pretty much the exact same plot line. I saw them both with my sister though, so I'm not totally alone in my lameness. My favorite pick by far? Crazy, Stupid, Love. If you haven't seen it, you should remedy that.

I've already got plans for my August movie to be The Help. I adored the book but am preparing myself that the movie will never be able to fully live up, although I've only heard good things about it so far. (And it goes without saying that November will no doubt be my yearly dose of Edward and Jacob.)

2. Being green.

Doing good here as well. I'm recycling more and more each month. I started with just the obvious bottles and cans, but am quickly learning about all the different things that can be recycled. And I really like that our trash can fills up less quickly since half of what would normally have gone in there is now in the recycling bin.

3. Vacations.

Done and done and almost done! Cruise in the spring was a success, beach trip to Topsail in the summer was a success and we've booked a trip to Mexico for the fall. We're going back to the resort we went to on our honeymoon (also known as heaven on earth) and we couldn't be more excited. Counting down the days.

4. Run a 5k.

And here's where things fall apart. I've done absolutely nothing to prepare for a 5k, sign up for a 5k, research 5ks, or even do much running/walking period. It's been way too hot this summer to get outside and when I'm in the gym I've been having way too much fun with Zumba and other classes to face the monotony of the treadmill. I'm optimistic though that the cooler fall weather is going to get me motivated and maybe I can still make this happen in 2011.

5. Classes.

I did take tennis lessons from the Holly Springs rec department in the Spring. I played tennis in high school, so I know the basics and can hold my own for the most part. This class was a little basic for me, but it at least provided the opportunity to get on the court once a week and hit some balls, which was my goal.

And guess what else, y'all? I also signed up for this awesome cake decorating class! Ok, so we know how that turned out. A hilariously frustrating adventure it was. A "class" it was not.

And I still really want to take an intermediate photography class this year, so I'm working on making that happen. We'll see.

Ok, so there's my progress. Think I can keep it up until the end of the year? And make #4 happen? I'll be sure to update you in December.

How are you doing on your resolutions for the year? Any goals you've accomplished lately, either serious or more fun, like these?

Family Reunioning

Last weekend we had a family reunion with my mom's family. My great-grandmother, Swain Harrison, had 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren (and counting!). So whenever we all get together, it is quite the undertaking.

My mom headed up the event and spent countless hours this summer putting everything together and I think it turned out really nicely.

Activities included but were not limited to: minute-to-win-it type games, a family slideshow, a family trivia game, and a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, plenty of sides and homemade ice cream for dessert.

My mom even made name tags for everyone and color coded them according to generation. (So that she could easily say "Everyone with a blue name tag, gather now for a picture!") And being the teacher/librarian that she is, the family trivia game couldn't be handled with paper and pencil. Instead, everyone got their own game-show style clicker to input all of their answers.

She is such a nut. And the sad (or wonderful?) thing is, I see myself becoming more and more like her every day.

She put me in charge of the slideshow. Everyone sent me old family pics and I put them together into a montage. It was a LOT of work, but I had fun doing it and was happy with how it turned out. (If you're really interested, you can view it here on Vimeo, although 16 minutes of someone else's old family photos will probably bore you to tears.)

And here are some snapshots of the day.

The young (above) and young-at-heart (below) playing the penne-pasta-on-a-spaghetti-noodle game.

(Our family has no shortage of adorable little girls.)

Rivers has mad cup-stacking skills.

Wouldn't be a gathering of our family without plenty of good eats.

2nd generation (Swain's children)

3rd generation (Swain's grandchildren)

4th generation (Swain's great-grandchildren)

5th generation (Swain's great-great-grandchildren) -- I love how Ellie is straight chillin' in this pic

Trivia time!

The competition got fierce (ok, maybe not for Heith)!

There's never a dull moment when our clan gets together and this weekend was no exception. It was great to catch up with everyone and spend some quality time with our VA and SC cousins. Can't wait until next time!