Home Sweet Home

  Got home from our trip Saturday night and hit the ground running as usual! 
Loads to catch up at the shop and the home front.
  We have had some phenomenally beautiful weather these past few days that of course I had to capitalize on, which means IT'S PAINTING FURNITURE TIME!
  Spent the past few days painting loads of goodies that I will be bringing down to the shop in the next few days.
  here's a little peek.  I will share more on that tomorrow.
 
As usual I will be bringing you goods that are saturated in color that will make your heart sing (or at least Mine!)
pure lovely vibrant colors that just scream
warmer spring and summer days sipping lemonade on the front porch!
   Something that's in complete contrast from our vacation!   the majority of the trip was  cold, rainy and gloomy!    We could only laugh at the irony of it all.....because as soon as we left gloomy Ann Arbor for what we thought would be sunny North Carolina,  our home
weather turned sunny and 70 degrees while carolina was rainy and 60's!  Go figure!
  But we didn't let it get us down,  we did lots of touristy activities.
  First off,  the State is absolutely Gorgeous!
I have never been to a state that is covered in so much greenery and lush forests.  I mean, My town is very woody and "green" as far as towns are concerned,  but nothing like this place!


You can barely see some of the houses and businesses because they are neatly tucked behind thick woods.
  North Carolina is also steeped in so much history!  every where we turned there was some sort of plaque recognizing some sort of historical something that happened there.
  Even the homes wore some sort of sign that told of a famous person that lived there.
for example,  here's the famous pirate Blackbeard's house.

and here's a PALACE!...literally.

  The houses all seemed so unique and HUGE!  with beautiful landscaped yards and lovely fences.
some with quirky little pathways....

  I only managed to take a few photos of the houses because most of the time my husband was flying past these places in the car!

we Spent most of the time driving around because from where our rented condo was located that's all you could do!  we would spend on average 2 hours a day driving.
ridiculous,  but the places we ended up in more than made up for that!
  Now traveling with GUYS of course means you have to do
manly site-seeing.   (if it were up to me,  we would have hit boutiques, cute little cafes and vintage stores,  but that would have only been met with groans so I didn't even try.)
  So the first trip we took was to Wilmington and the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship.
  There is nothing like crawling around in the bowels of a massive ship to make me feel a tad claustrophobic and sick.  but I took one for the team and tried to enjoy myself.















I mean the place WAS cool,  it was like a small city enclosed in the deep huge space similar to a submarine.
  they had huge kitchens and a general store, an ice cream shop,  a post office, laboratory, hospital, and
many other things....
  and how could I NOT indulge my sweet husband who is like a kid himself,  so excited to see this place,  looking in every nook and cranny and opening drawers with the wonder and amazement of a child?
So I managed to keep it together for the grueling HOUR and a half that we were in there.
you will also be happy to know I flew on the plane without the help of ANY drugs!   I think I conquered my fear of flying!  it wasn't too bad at all!
  Now also in the quaint little town of Wilmington,  they had this FANTASTIC little deli called the Capitol Grill.  if you have a chance,  go eat there. it's WONDERFUL,  and the setting is charming with some cute little pieces of art of reclaimed wood.





  So moving on,  we did one more man-style trip and visited Fort Macon.  an old fortress built to protect the inlet and surrounding shores from invasions.
  again,  not high on my list of things to do,  especially when you have a 5 year old wild child who runs everywhere she goes and you're immediately greeted with a sign that says "WARNING,  proceed with caution,  this place was built for WAR, not sight seeing, it has many steep drop-offs and stairs"
  GREAT! 
So of course I became the maniacal mom I am known to be and held on to her hand with the death grip.
The place was enormous,  with several levels and built in rooms with these incredibly scary looking mannequins.
 







now if I were the curator of this place I would be RUNNING and i mean running for the door once I turned the light off in this place,  those creepy figures alone would freak me out,  not to mention I bet there's some "ghostly" activity going on there,  'cause you know how I like to think about those things!
  Now happily my family obliged when it was my turn, and I asked if I could go to the town of Beaufort to see their ghost tour.  evidently it's one of the towns biggest attractions,  but sadly it started late at night and ian wasn't into being out that late,  so we just toured the town and the cemetary where part of the tour takes place.
ooooh scary!
now even other parts of this quaint little town seemed scary all on it's own.  take for example this random house I managed to catch on film,  isn't it spooky?

now back to the grave yard.....
  the cemetary has some of the oldest graves I have ever seen.  some dating back to the 1700's.
  as soon as I set foot in the place i felt the temperature drop significantly.
but it was gorgeous.
075





there was one grave in particular that was very sad to me,  and evidently to many others as well because they has turned it into a sort of shrine.... it was the grave of a little unknown girl.  the thought of some child who had no one to claim her broke my heart.



090



o.k.  time to get THAT out of my mind!  on to happier things.  I don't want you to think I am all about the macabre and sadness.
  We also visited an aquarium that was pretty neat.
they had some adorable baby sea turtles....since they are a protected and endangered species they had them in these special tanks for breeding and observation and when they  felt sleepy they would simply  float there motionless with their eyes closed.  one of them preferred to sleep (like me) in the fetal position with his arms curled to his chest.  i thought that was adorable!

look at his little pigeon-toes!  ooh!
they had a bunch of tanks with fish and strange things.
I thought these jelly fish were fascinating, in an ethereal kind of way, even though I think they are gross.

they also had a part of a sunken ship in this HUGE tank with sharks and other things swimming around in there that of course my husband thought was an AMAZING opportunity to be funny.
here he is pretending to be drowning underwater.

...and here he is pretending to be attacked by an
alligator


you see we have fun in the most simplest of settings,  proving that as a family we are indeed a bunch of wackos.  but we like it this way.
  They also had this little fish that I was completely smitten with!

remind you of anyone?

if you haven't seen this old movie from the 1960's starring Don knotts,  well,  it's a classic.  great for the kids.  they totally enjoy it.
you can see the trailer HERE.
  Now where this aquarium is located is also the same place we spent the last 2 days of our trip when the sun finally came out!
  It was right on the Atlantic ocean in a town called (appropriately) Atlantic Beach
we visited a couple of surf shops for the boy...

  The first day we came here in street clothes,  totally not expecting it to get nice,  so we sat on the beach and rolled up our sleeves and pant legs while the kids played in the sand...totally forgetting about sunscreen like complete idiots. an hour and a half later when we were on fire and all beat red when we headed home.
  It was embarrassing the next day,  i felt like EVERYONE could tell we were from out of town! 
So the next day we came prepared,  with suits and sunscreen.
  My son had a ball riding his skim board along the shore.  my daughter happy to be running wild and free.



in fact my daughter had some fun with the board,  pretending she was a surfer.  you can obviously tell her big brother has some influence over her.
do you like those hand symbols?  geez.  we're in trouble.



here she is flashing her gang signs and ninja moves,  you like that?




not that my son is into those types of things,  in fact he's a really good kid except for the surly phase he is going through right now.  pre-teen stuff I suppose.
in fact most of the trip We were breaking up fights between these 2 clowns.
  but there were some short windows of where they would actually get along and APPEAR to be having some fun!





At our condo (which over looked the harbor)

they had this tire swing that they thoroughly enjoyed.
we also found some little critters scooting about here.

we even saw a deer directly below our balcony.
amazing.
  So all in all i feel like we had a nice well-rounded family vacation.  it was nice to explore the state of North Carolina.
now I can tell you, because it's NOT going to happen
(at least anytime soon) but not ruling it out in the future.
but the reason we went there in the first place to check it out was because my husband's job might have relocated us there!
  At first I was very sad about leaving my home town,  a town I grew up in, where i know people, and have my business.  but then I got to thinking an adventure might be nice for us.   we have never left or lived any where else before.  well at least I haven't,  my husband lived in other places when he was in the military.  he even lived in the Sinai desert for awhile.  but not me,  nope.  I'm a nest builder and don't fly far from home.
so thankfully for now I will remain in my safe cozy home
happy that I will be staying put in a place where I can honestly say I am deeply rooted.
  So on that note,  I am off to unpack and move the massive shipment of boxes that we just got in.
I hope to show you all sorts of red shoes goodness tomorrow!
xoxox
c.

Comments

[Lanny Stanard]

So So So, glad your back missed ya,looks likes you had a great time.

Lanny

[suzanne b.]

I am so glad you are back! I checked your blog every day, anyway, just in case. :D

I have a five-year-old girl, and I know EXACTLY what you mean about the maniacal-mom-hand-holding thing when some place seems dangerous. I am always grabbing her hand, just in case.

Your pictures are so fun. They made me want to go to North Carolina. And I really like your sweet and positive attitude about things, like doing all the boy stuff. They are lucky to have you! :)

ps Alexandria, Virginia has fun ghost tours, if you ever go on a D.C. vacation or thereabouts.

[farmerjulie]

Welcome home! enjoyed the pics!!
Julie

[Lilli]

WooHoooie! Looks like you had fun :) I used to live in S.C. when I was little and on weekends we'd drive up to N.C. to Mount Mitchell. I just LOVED that place, but also the mountains in general.

Good luck with your painting!

[noodle and lou studio]

Welcome back Catherine!! Loved all your photos...you do such a great job of taking us all along on your trips:):) Cracked up at the "guy outings"! Exactly the things my hubby would have us doing...so cute:) Can't wait to see the new treats you have at the shop!! Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo...jenn

[Barbara]

As always, I love seeing your pictures! It looks like you had a great vacation!

Your wicker looks to be my very favorite periwinkle blue purple color of all times (at least on my monitor!LOL!).I can't wait to see all of the scrumptious pictures.My very favorite days are when you do shop updates and show us what you have been working on. :-)
I'm pretty sure that I checked your blog while you were away "just in case" too!

:-) Barbara

[Teresa]

Your family vaca pics...look very similar to some of ours 18 to 20 years ago!! YIKES has it been THAT LONG??? Great times...really great!

I know what you mean about those civil war mannequins...geez-laaweeeezzz...I could never close up shop there...I would be too afraid and leave ALL the lights on ALL the time...so of course I would probably be fired for not conserving energy and cost!

Hey, in those beach pictures...I could swear that is me in the background...you know the one of the lady digging her suit "out" and "about"...oh how I wished I looked that good.

Your children are just too precious...your son is so handsome...I love his hair and his beautiful smile...and YOUR daughter...well, she is a doll...I just love the mischief in her eyes...she is going to be so-oooo much more fun than you can imagine!!

Thanks for sharing your family vaca...it sounds like such a great time...OH...and we once went on a tour of the USS Alabama...I think??? Anyhoo...I GOT LOST...yep...I turned to look at something...the family went ahead...thinking I was right behind them...well, my husband being the cool/calm/and collected man that he is...just kept on going with the kids...I on the other hand must have zigged when I should have zagged...causing me to REALLY get lost...I just knew I would find them around the next corner...then the next...and so on...I think my mistake was when I started to backtrack...yep...I'm not good with a map in my hands much less winging it in a hot war ship!!... it took me well over an hour to find them...I tell you I was SCARED. I mean I knew logically that I would find them or they would find me...at least sometime before nightfall...but when I was caught up in that maze of metal (plus it was so-ooo HOT, it was in July)...trying to be all cool and carefree (while really having a meltdown deep inside) I thought I was lost forever...I was actually thinking that the fam may get tired of waiting on mom to appear and just finish out the vacation w/o me...! WHAAAA! This was long before any of us had cell phones...and I'm pretty sure in those cavernous spaces...phones would be a big ole zilch in the help department! It's kind of sad that my chilren had to worry about their mom getting lost...it's usually the parent doing the worrying...I think after that I was required to wear a bell or check in with hubbin every 2 to 3 minutes!!

Glad you are back...I look forward to seeing some of your fab creations!

Blessings...
Teresa

[Nan]

What a great trip! Your kids are adorable - and thanks for the reminder of Mr. Limpit!!! I'm going to order it for my daughter today!

[sherry]

I found your blog just a day or so after you left for your North Carolina vacation. I popped back in to find out how it was. When you started talking about the beautiful green North Carolina I thought you might be in the western part of the state. I live in the Asheville area, and call North Carolina home. For the past three years we have gone to Emerald Island for our summer vacation, which is at the other end of the island that Atlantic Beach is on. I had to laugh when you wrote about going to Fort Macon. That is actually a place that we go to each year. The first time we went, my son, who was then a Marine stationed at Cherry Point, exclaimed as we left, "This concludes the educational portion of this vacation." It was so funny, then and even now. Doing guy things is a must to get to do the girl things. Fort Macon is a beautiful place. Vacation with us in the mountains sometime. The Biltmore House is pretty awesome and the Blue Ridge Parkway is a real treasure. Thanks for sharing your photos with us. It makes me want to head back to the coast.

[Debra Johnson]

Oh! Your trip looks soooo great!! Lots of fun and family pictures! 8That made me miss the beach....such precious memories you made!! Thanks for sharing...loved all those old homes too...living in Texas we have a lot of BIG homes but not old historic ones with all the charm ~ I just LOVE those!!!

BTW - I loved those old shelves you redid in a previous post - THOSE were a GREAT find!!:)~

Debra

[Diane Duda]

So glad you had fun despite the weather.

I love The Incredible Mr. Limpett. I thought I happened upon it just the other day when flipping through the channels. But no. Don Knotts, but not Mr. Limpett. I'll have to see if Netflix has it.

Your kids are too cute!!!