U2 concert!!!

The next weekend after we got back from Hawaii was the U2 concert in Raleigh, NC. I don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to see U2 in concert again and it was such an incredible show. We normally don't buy t-shirts at big concerts like this because they are so expensive and you've already paid for the tickets and parking, etc., but for U2 we did! And I can honestly say it was worth every penny we spent on tickets, parking ($20!!!) and the t-shirts because they are such an iconic band. We had a great time and thankfully because of our new camera we were actually able to take some pictures of the band too!

Meeting Roy Williams!!!

On the way home from Hawaii we had a layover in San Francisco, CA. When we got to our terminal there was nowhere to sit, so we're looking for somewhere to put our bags and sit until we board. When we put our bags down Chad saw Roy Williams standing a few feet away! At first he didn't want to draw attention to him so he just went over and said hello and got his autograph. But then we saw other people asking for pictures, so we decided to ask for a picture too! He was so nice and gracious about it - and thankfully I was wearing my Carolina sweatshirt too! That made the trip even better.

Hawaiian Vacation

This year for my 30th birthday we were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate it with my Mom and her husband Mike in Hawaii. What better way to ring in such a milestone birthday! Thankfully we were able to stay with my Mom & Mike for the majority of our trip and that helped us save lots of money (THANKS!!!), plus Mike knows so much about the islands that he was an amazing tour guide for us! We spent the first few days on the island of Oahu then the majority of our trip on the Big Island. We were able to drive around the entire Big Island and see all the various scenery that Hawaii has to offer.

My absolute favorite part of the trip was snorkeling! It was so amazing to see so many fish and sea turtles just swimming around and the water was so clear and beautiful. We also had the opportunity to try stand-up paddle boarding for the first time and both Chad & I never fell in once! It was an amazing trip and thankfully we had our new camera to capture all that we experienced there. The next few posts are some slideshows of our pictures from our trip.

Hawaii pics part I

We spent the first 2 days of our Hawaii vacation in Waikiki Beach on Oahu. We rented a car and drove up to the North Shore area to see some of the famous surf breaks like Pipeline and Waimea Bay. We also stopped at the Pearl Harbor memorial and ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu. We were also able to walk to the Waikiki Aquarium from our hotel. We crammed as much as we could into that one full day!

Hawaii pics part II

The majority of our time in Hawaii was spent in Hilo on the Big Island where my Mom & Mike live. Our first stop was Rainbow falls, then we went to the volcano on my birthday, lava fields and visited some libraries. We were fortunate to be able to drive around the whole Big Island. On our way to Kona we saw sea turtles at Puna lu'u black sand beach and saw Southpoint the southernmost point in the US. Hawaii has such varied geography and it was very interesting to get to see the whole island.

Hawaii pics part III

I really enjoyed the Kona side of the Big Island. We were able to stay with some friends of my Mom & Mike's - Ed & Mariko. We went to the City of Refuge, the best snorkeling at Kahalu'u beach park, exploring downtown Kona and of course stopping by the Kona library. On the way back to Hilo we completed our drive around the Big Island and stopped at a Hilton hotel to see their animal exhibits, we saw the huge Parker cattle ranch, Waipio Valley, Laupahoehoe Point where the 1946 tsunami wiped out a school and Akaka Falls.

Hawaii pics part IV

Our last few days we spent in Hilo - we visited some more libraries, went to the Hilo Zoo and downtown Hilo. We also did more snorkeling, stand up paddle boarding and kayaking too. Then we flew back to Honolulu and spent one last night in Waikiki Beach before flying back home. We had such a great time and got to experience so many cool things! Here is our last batch of pictures.

Cat close-ups

We got a new camera for our upcoming Hawaii vacation and so I had to test it out on the cats.

Here's Sandy

Roxy's close up

Roxy's full shot

Labor Day Weekend

My Dad came up over Labor Day weekend to celebrate our birthdays. Chad & I are going to Hawaii for my birthday this year, so this was the only weekend in September that we could celebrate with my Dad - we actually fly out on my Dad's birthday. We went to the Matthews Alive festival (or Stumptown festival as I knew it growing up) on Sunday and then went to dinner at Outback to celebrate our September birthdays.

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the weekend.

Braden's First Birthday!

Our friends Becca & Jason's son Braden turned 1 in July. I just can't believe how quickly that year went by! Here's a picture of Braden's Firetruck cake that their neighbor made & decorated.

Here is Becca & Braden about to start opening gifts.

Here is Becca, Jason & Braden opening gifts.

More pics from Braden's First Birthday

Here are our friends Paul, Kelly & Jackson.

Here is Chad & Jessica at the party.

Braden's bear cake

Here's a close-up of Braden's little bear cakes (their neighbor made these for them!) - this is what all the kids got to eat at the party.

Here is Braden with his own bear cake and #1 candle.

Here is Braden thoroughly enjoying his bear cake!

Other animals at our house

We recently put up a hummingbird feeder on our front porch and I was lucky enough to capture this picture of one coming to eat! It's not the best picture, but those guys are so fast it's hard to get a picture fast enough. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better pictures in the future.


This is a garden spider that's got it's web at the front of our neighborhood. It's funny because I was just telling Chad how long it had been since I'd seen one of these spiders and then a few days later when I was out walking I saw this one. And Chad said that he's seen one at his parent's house too. When Hurricane Hugo came through Charlotte my family was living in Matthews and there was a lot of damage in our neighborhood, but we had a garden spider in our yard that survived the hurricane, so I always think these spiders are really cool.

Lounge cats

Here's a picture of Sandy & Roxy lounging in the living room. Right after I took this picture I was petting Roxy and she sat up, looked straight at me, then turned her head and looked right at the cabinet where we keep the treats. And she did this like 3 times in a row as if to say, "I would like some treats please"! So, of course because I am a well-trained cat person I got up and got her some treats!

Flowers & Butterflies

The Lantana that we planted behind our house is a magnet for butterflies. I was able to get a picture of this one after a few tries!

Watching the Birds

Sandy & Roxy love to watch the birds at the feeder outside our front window. Here is Sandy completely enthralled by the birds!

July 2009 Birthday Dinner

We always get together with my family for birthdays - July is my brother Fielding and Chad's birthdays and September is me and my Dad's birthdays. My Dad came up from Wilmington for the July birthday dinner and we ate at Outback! Here are some pictures from the July birthday dinner.

Chad's Birthday

Chad's birthday was July 24th and we had a very relaxing weekend celebrating his birthday! Here is a picture of his gifts from me:

A close-up of the cake.

Here's Chad displaying his gifts from me - a Handyman Life is Good t-shirt

and Seasons 2 & 3 of Survivorman.

Chad's Birthday Dinner

For Chad's birthday we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with our friends Dave & Melanie. They surprised both of us by paying for our dinner too, which was VERY nice of them! Here's a picture of me & Chad outside Cheesecake Factory.

Here's Dave & Melanie.

And here are the four of us!

4th of July weekend

We had a very relaxing and fun 4th of July weekend this year.  It was so nice that it fell so that we had a 3 day weekend!  On Friday we celebrated our friend Paul's birthday a little early with a small party and their house.  On Saturday (the 4th) we went to the Harrisburg parade where we met up with Paul & Kelly and Becca.  It's really nice that we live close enough to walk from our house to the parade route!  Later that evening our friends Melanie & Dave and Adam came over for a cookout and then we went to the Harrisburg park for food, music and fireworks.  I am so impressed with Harrisburg's fireworks - for such a small town they really go all out!  I've created a slide show of all the pictures from this weekend!