Mom & Dad in North Carolina!

This weekend went by way too fast! My Mom and Dad came down for the long weekend, my Dad's first time down here since he dropped me off in Carrboro when I moved last June. We had such a fun weekend, I've never laughed so hard!

They flew into Raleigh late Thursday night, so they stayed the night in the city. My parents are early birds so I was expecting them to show up at my front door around 7 Friday morning. Oh no, they decided to sleep in, go out for breakfast, and get stuck in lots of traffic on their way out here. They got stuck in traffic due to "a house in the middle of the road."  Seriously! Mom even sent me a picture.

When they finally got around the house and made it to my house, we headed over to New Bern. We had some lunch at Captain Ratty's, picked up my ball gown (which needs to be altered like crazy...sucks that I'm a midget even with high heels!) and walked around the marina for a little bit. I knew Dad would like seeing all the boats. It was such a beautiful fall day...I love walking around in the cool but sunny weather. We stopped at a make-shift car museum...I decided I will only start driving if I can have a 1966 Ford Mustang Convertible...in blue. How's that sound?

Bright and early Saturday the guys headed out for a day of golf. So what did me and Mom do? Shop, of course! The goal was to get everything for Katie's bridal shower present, but that didn't go as well as I wanted...so now I have two weeks to come up with something perfect! Then we went to Mike's Farm, I was expecting so much more. The country store isn't like the country stores at home, it was mostly candles. But oh.my.goodness...we got lots of fudge! Pumpkin fudge is amazing!

After the farm me and Mom headed to Ruby Tuesday for lunch, just as we were getting ready to leave Danny sent me a text message. I told him we just got done eating lunch and the plan for the night was "to go to Mike's Farm for dinner." Danny and Dad decided not to get lunch, come home and hangout until 3:00 until they were hungry. Me and Mom dropped them off at a bar, did some more shopping, and by the time we picked them up....I knew we wouldn't be going to Mike's Farm. We ended up coming home, hanging out...and decided pretty late that we wanted the Olive Garden. We ate too much, had some wine, Mom and Dad had bellinis, and took some pretty goofy pictures. Mom took pictures of me and Danny "pretending that we liked each other." So of course, I had to take pictures of Mom and Dad..and I think they were making fun of us!

Sunday morning we dropped Miley off at daycare which she loves. Seriously, whenever I bring her there she drags me to the door and runs right to the girl...and doesn't even look back to say "see ya later Mom!" We had some breakfast then headed down to Wilmington for the day!

Our first stop was the Battleship. Since we had so much rain last week everything was so flooded. The parking lot was completely under water. We weren't sure how we were supposed to get to the Battleship, so we decided to just jump the fence. Just as we got over....we saw the shuttle that was bringing people right to the ship. OOPS!

The USS North Carolina is huge. I think this was my third time on it, but every time I find something different. This time, my electronics were going crazy. My camera and phone stopped working at the exact same time..which leads me to believe that it really is haunted. My batteries completly drained, but in the next part of the ship everything was fully charged. CREEPY! We were on the ship for three hours and didn't even see the upper part of it! I could never work on a ship, I'd get so lost.

After the battleship we went to the Front Street Brewery. I think the oatmeal stout is always the mug of the day, good thing its so good! It was that awkward eating time again, 3pm. Lunch, dinner, snack? Either way, we ate too much! The guys went to another bar and me and Mom headed to David's Bridal to pick up my dress for Katie's wedding and...World Market. I seriously love that place. I made my own 6-pack...check out all the good stuff.

Oktoberfest, Raging Bitch, 400 Pound Monkey, Pumpkin Ale, The Poet, and Weeping Willow Witt

Today was their last day. Danny and Dad headed to the golf course again. It was too early for me and Mom to do anything...so we just hungout. Eventually we made our way to Barnes and Noble and Walmart. We made a Halloween package for Kaleb and sent those out. We headed out for a light lunch and picked Miley up. I'm so happy that she loves daycamp because I love that it wears her out!

Mom and Dad just pulled out of the driveway. It will only be five weeks until I see them again! We went all summer without seeing them, and now I feel like we'll be seeing them a lot. I love the holiday season!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Columbus Day weekend! It's not over yet!

I Guess It's True What They Say...

You know how people say you marry someone very similar to your father? I never wanted to believe it, but I think it might be true.

There are certain things about my Dad that drives me nuts. This is so small and insignificant that you will probably think I'm crazy for letting this aggravate me. My Dad likes guessing games. Every night, since before I can even remember, my Dad would take the newspaper out and flip to the section of celebrity birthdays. "Nicole, how old do you think so-and-so is today." Um, number one..I don't really care. And number two, why is it whenever you ask me these questions I'm always sitting either reading a book or watching a good show! Sometimes I would play along (if I knew the answer!) other times..I would just let my Mom guess. Honestly, I don't know why it bugged me. Maybe it's because if I didn't get he would do the "Oh, come on, just guess."

Danny also likes games. For instance, he was eating butterscotch pudding..looks at me and says "If you had to rename butterscotch pudding, what would you call it?" Uh..I don't know. "Oh, come on, what would you name it?" Can't you see I'm very into Facebook stalking right now and I don't even remember what butterscotch pudding tastes like?!

I've come to learn that me and Dad are more similar than I ever thought. We are both creatures of routine..mess it up and our entire day is off. We both love the "do you know who sings this" game (the only guessing game I like!) We both bond with dogs easily. And we both never realized how much we actually do get along until we were miles apart.

Oh, and don't you think my Dad looks shockingly similar to Dennis Quaid?!

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy Walking Me Down the Aisle

You know, I've talked a lot about my Mom's influence on me as an artist and a crafty person in general, but the truth is that my Dad has had a large impact on my artistry as well! Dad always encouraged us to draw and be creative, but most of all to think. He was always questioning us, having us question everything around us, and pushing us to do better, to try harder.

My Dad is always an ideas person. He's always coming up with a new plans and schemes. They may not always work, but he never stops dreaming. I definitely get that from him! I come up with so many ideas that it's hard to keep up with myself sometimes.

Dad also taught me the value of working hard, and not giving up. Both values that help a lot when your an artist, especially an artist with health problems!

So Dad, here's to you, thank you for all you've taught me!