The Most Beautiful Time of the Year

All of the rain of March and early April really created quite a splendor in North Carolina! This spring we have enjoyed some of the most beautiful floral foliage that I've ever seen. Our yard finally looks lush- not like a new lawn. Our landscaping has filled in and our flowers are just gorgeous. From the azaleas to the dogwoods to our clymadis and all of the Wisteria, it's just breathtaking. Attached are a couple of pics of our treasures that Wiggy snapped last weekend.

Meme, Grand and Smarty Pants

Last weekend Wiggy and I had the lovely opportunity to host my grandparents for the weekend. For Christmas we invited them to come down and stay with us for a weekend and a trip to explore Old Salem. It just so happened that the weekend we picked out fell the same weekend that my brilliant husband was to be inducted into AOA, the medical honors society.

They arrived last Friday afternoon wary from the long drive but very excited to attend the event with us. We got gussied up and headed over to Forsyth Country club for drinks and mingling before an excellent dinner of steak and salmon. Dr. Ober, the leader of AOA at WFU said some kind words about the students and then a very young Dr. that heads up Mission operations in Rawanda and Darfur gave them some words of wisdom for moving forward at this point in their careers. He was very self-depracating and honest and very entertaining. That evening we crashed after watching Seven Pounds.

Saturday we had our traditional Whole Foods lunch and then headed to Old Salem. The weather was gorgeous and perfect for our tour. The trees and plants were all blooming beautifully and it was nice to have my grandparents knowledge and green thumbs readily available to tell us what everything was. After an afternoon of touring we went home for a quick nap before heading to a tasty patio dinner at the Zeveley House downtown. It was an absolutely perfect evening under the southern sky. I think Summer may finally be on the way now... it's about time but I suppose the Good Lord wants us to appreciate it that much more!

Sunday morning I went for a strong long run in preparation for my race next weekend. I checked out the times from last year and I have the potential to place if I run well. It's been a while so we shall see!

We are again experience beautiful weather and it's supposed to be in the 80s this weekend. Perfect for our yard sale at the House of Service, a patio dinner with the Better Halves (medical school wives) as well as finally planting my brand new vegetable garden that my dear husband built for me. Ahhh.... heat, sun, sweat.... my faves!

Southern Charm

Last weekend Wiggy and I took a wonderful trip to Charleston, SC with 2 of our great "med-school-couple-friends" Matt&Meghan and Zac&Jamie. We headed out on Friday morning riding with M&M and arrived to a sunny and warm Charleston at lunchtime just in time to eat some lunch at The Mustard Seed Cafe.... a mix of organic and southern and quite tasty. Afterward we checked into our hotel and proceeded to take a long walk around beautiful historic Charleston. We browsed through shops on King Street and enjoyed the wooden swings at the Waterfront park soaking in the beautiful sites and the sun. Meghan has a great camera and well practiced clicking skills that allowed her to capture some great images throughout the weekend. We also ran into several of our classmates from Wake Forest both walking about and in our hotel, very small world here in the South!

That evening we headed to Vickery's for a tasty patio dinner and drinks before bar hopping to Mad River and Wet Willy's where we heard a great band that mixed 80's along with lots of alternative 90's music from high school and threw in some classics. We stayed up way past our bedtimes and finally crashed.

Saturday we slept in and awoke to another gorgeous day! I went on a short run around the Citadel and the Northern part of Charleston before we again put on our walking shoes for more adventues down King Street and through the Hay Market (where I found goodies for gifts!!), tasted lots of candy and of course ended up watching some of the Master's at a local brewery. Wiggy and I walked along "Rainbow Row" and the Battery before shuttling back for a nap.

Our cabbie friend, JD picked us up in his van (we made friends with him early on Friday thanks to Matt) and dropped us off at the Library, a lovely roof-top bar that I talked about constantly in our planning efforts for the trip. We had some tasty drinks and enjoyed the fabulous view along with our 3rd spontaneous reunion with Wiggy's very good friend Ben (his roomate from the soccer academy he attended in Florida for his Sr. year of high school and college summers) and his older brother. After catching up we headed over to Hank's (or Frank's as I called it all weekend) for some seafood. I must admit that this old girl is not accustomed to consecutive late nights and I believe we were all starting to drag at that point. We attempted a rally and went to a dance club called Trio, but as we were some of the first to arrive the downtime did us in even though another great band played for a while.

Sunday was the drive back to Winston-Salem and then weekend catch up. I think we all enjoyed a change of scenery and the beautiful weather along with the great company. To think that these boys will graduate in a month still blows me away. The best part... no one is going very far. Wiggy's daily trek to Greensboro along with Zac will be the farthest anyone is going. I just hope that residency schedules allow for more great trips in the future! Ahhh Charleston...Pictures to come :)

Wiggy's 27!

Wiggy turned 27 on Tuesday which also marks our 7 year anniversary.... yes we started dating on his birthday in the parking lot of the Macaroni Grill here in Winston-Salem. For some reason I don't know if we've been back since which is sad!

This year we celebrated Wiggy's birthday over a several days. We began on Friday evening with dinner with friends Matt, Meghan, Zac, and Jamie at Bleu. The wine and food were wonderful as was the conversation which centered around happenings in the Psych Ward of the hospital and the fact that medical school is... well... pretty much over!

Saturday evening I baked Wiggy a homemade cake with homemade icing. I have been making him the same cake ever since his 20th birthday. It's super moist and made with pudding. He finally informed me this year that he just doesn't like that cake very much... hmm... well he ate it all and you could have fooled me. I must say the homemade icing was pretty tasty.

Finally on Tuesday (his real birthday) I gave Wiggy his presents. I had stayed home from work that day with a one day flu kind of thing... I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Groggily I handed over his gifts which included an eggplant colored polo (my hubby loves his purple), a funky DKNY V neck T, some socks, and best of all lift tickets to Copper Mountain for his Colorado Ski trip (his real present) that he leaves for tomorrow. I am super happy that he will be wearing a helmet!

Unfortunately, I took 0 pictures of all of these events including my tasty cake... my memory card is full and I haven't gotten around to deleting anything. In other news, I am thrilled that the sun is supposed to be out for the next THREE days and it actually feels a little like spring! Yippee!!!