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!!!

Match Day!

Oh the anticipation of Match Day- the day when Medical Students in the US receive their assignments for residency that will affect the next 3-7 years of their lives (not to mention their wives/children/families). We all gathered outside of the room where cards are given out a little before noon last Thursday March 19th. At 12:00 on the dot the hoards of people poured in to get their assignments. We were near the back so much of the excitement was over when we arrived at our assigned table.

Upon opening the letter we found out that Wiggy will be training with Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC specializing in Family Medicine. We were both pleased with these results, although a little surprised that he did not match at WFU. Following the excitement everyone gathered for a nice lunch at Bridger Field House overlooking our football field. Following lunch and pictures Wiggy and I went for a little walk at the gardens before taking a nap and getting ready for a big night of celebration.

Around 8 pm. many of our friends came over to our house for some pre-celebration time before we headed to the Piedmont Club at the top of the BB&T building for the celebration. We danced the night away and all had a really great time.

Now that a week has gone by Wiggy and I are both really excited about his assignment. It will be fantastic training for him in the field of Sports Medicine (his ultimate goal) under the doctor who created the field of Family Practice Sports Medicine- can we say good connections?

Unfortunately the celebration ended there as our WFU Basketball team lost pitifully in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday night..... what am I going to do for the rest of March?

A Taste of Sunshine

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend last weekend with my grandparents in sunny Florida. They spend the month of March there every year like smart retirees escaping the LONG Garrett County LONG winter. This year they rented an adorable house on the canal in Port Charlotte.

I arrived to big hugs on Thursday evening and then slept in in true grandchild fashion on Friday morning before suffering through a stifling hot run that my body was not acclimated for thanks to unusually cold NC winter. We then proceeded to enjoy the pool before heading out for me to find some wireless internet and go shopping. Meme helped me pick out and then proceeded to purchase a cute dress for Match night festivities this Thursday evening. We finished up at a cute sports bar with fabulous sandwiches to watch the miserable WF game, but at least I had other loud company. * Side note: every place we stopped by/called to ask if they'd be showing the ACC tournament had no clue what we were talking about.... I MEAN FL STATE IS IN THE ACC!!!

Saturday we headed to Englewood to the beach after stopping by Howard's for some fantastic Greek Grub. The beach was fabulous and FULL of large shells, hard on the feet, but fun for searching. That evening we headed to Fisherman's Pier to wander through the shops and had dinner at a fabulous seafood place at the end of the pier overlooking the water. The scallops were HUGE just like I like 'em.

I also taught Grand how to program numbers and assign speed dial on his new phone. I am number 2 and therefore, my nickname has changed from "Prince" (short for my old nickname Princess) to "#2". Kinda sounds like a bathroom joke? hmmm...

We had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out just the three of us for the first time in a really really long time. Thanks Meme and Grand for a wonderful weekend!

Piano Men

Wow, what a weekend! We were incredibly blessed with beautiful weather over the past 3 days and continuing today. I wore full out summer attire all weekend and it felt wonderful! My parents arrived into town late Friday night after we grabbed dinner with friends at our local brewery. Saturday was full of excitement beginning with Wiggy's soccer team winning the regional semi-finals and only one game away from advancing to regionals (where they'll play other state winners). After the game we dashed back to the DASH to change clothes and headed to Charlotte for a wonderful pre-concert dinner at Morton's steakhouse. My salmon was oh so yummy... however, I think the bread and the marinated mushrooms were even better. Where to begin with the concert? Let's just say my Mom loved her birthday present and was on her feet singing and dancing the entire time. I participated as well and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The best part had to be the ending where they sang Piano Man together.... absolutely incredible. After the seemingly long drive home we all crashed at 2 am (considering daylight savings time).

Wiggy's graduation is quickly approaching and as promised, we purchased a 52 inch Sony Bravia Flat Screen last weekend to celebrate. Yesterday was dedicated to hanging that beast in our over-the-fireplace cut out. This actually involved nailing 2x2 wood around the cut out then screwing a large piece of wood to that. The mount then hung from the large piece of wood and finally the tv was installed. The picture is amazing and it's huge! Very excited to watch my DVRd fun.

We ended the weekend with a Deacon win over Clemson to clinch the 2nd seed in the ACC tournament this coming weekend! Way to finish it off with a bang Wake!

It was a wonderfully enjoyable and busy weekend and after all the excitement, I'm in need of a Monday nap!