Friday, June 01, 2007

Vacation Recap!

Ok, this might be a bit of a long post... but I do have a lot of photos to get your through all the blah-blahing keep your attention! ;-)

Overall, vacation was good. Great weather - first time we saw no rain in a long time, and the temps were cooler than usual which was nice, though it was still hot! Only complaint, just much too short and we ran out of time to see everyone & everything! We spent time with friends, ate lots of yummy (read: fattening!) food, got depressed when some clothing wouldn't fit, shopped, visited a winery (sadly its a friggin' pain in the backside not so easy to lug it home anymore now that you can't carry it on the plane), visited some race shops, and oh yea, saw some racing (and
Casey's first win!)...

We met up with Jada &
Natalie (my first blog post was quite boring, huh?) and the boys for lunch on Wednesday (thanks again for lunch JJ!). Always great spending time with them - and my how the kids grow so quickly! Also got to see Jerry when he came to pick up Nat.


NicNatalieJada_52307

Teri (one of my dearest and bestest friends who sadly lives all the way in PA and really needs to consider the next big campus opening in New England!) & Brenda, who are both blogless, though I bet they could each write some entertaining blogs, came in late on Wednesday. Our first adventure out this year was The Penguin for lunch on Thursday. Both Teri & I had somehow happened upon catching the episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network that had featured The Penguin just a few days before we headed to Charlotte... I text Teri, "Must go to this place The Penguin" - she texts back, "Yup, saw that too, already told Brenda! - call it fate??? It became a must find, after all their fried pickles were supposed to be the best in town. Once just a bar, some biker dudes bought it out and have been serving up unique & amazing diner food ever since. Here are the famous fried pickles and us out front (notice the old time sign in the background?)...

PenguinFriedPickels

BrendaNicTeri_52407


Can you say YUM-O??!! These fried pickles were delicious in all their gressy yumminess! All of the food was yummy and the place was packed... on a Thursday at 1:45! We had to wait about 20 minutes before getting a table, but had some great entertainment between the Harley hostess and the locals who wanted to chat about old-time racing, and... well... the signs posted in the window...













Anyone know what a shnouzer is (a Benji looking one at that)?? :) And describe the sweet dog who was found... um, 4 legs, a tail, and sweet?

We headed off to catch qualifying Thursday night... Kenny "Herman" Wallace was doing a mighty fine job of hawking his new book in the lobby when we went in to the track gift shop.... "c'mon now... $23.95... get my book... over here, to the left... line is over here, to the left... why you staring at me - get in line, over here... to the left ... just $23.95! oh look... a dale jr fan... Jr wrote an introduction in my book, here let me read some of it to you..." (Kenny could sell rain coats in the desert!) Anyone who knows NASCAR knows what a riot Kenny is... we've met him a few times before and I must say, he's never disappointed...

KennyNichole_52407

With all the paparazzi in the news lately, have you ever wondered who might have it worse than Paris, Nicole and Lindsay? How about NASCAR drivers after just breaking a track record and putting themselves on the provisional pole (the pole was captured later in the evening by Ryan Newman)? (to save space I put together this collage of photos I took instead of posting multiple photos - if you want a copy, let me know!)

Sadler

To all those untalented wastes of tv time "misguided" girls..., stop your whining and start doing something legal to warrant the press coverage you do get.

More time was spent with friends, including lunch (didn't I say we ate well in Charlotte?) with my long time friend Melanie (thanks again for the great tour of the new shop!), at a yummy BBQ place, Sonny's.

NicholeMelanie_52507

Oh yes, and there was a 600 mile race ... not exactly the most appropriate for first timers like Brenda's brother & his wife, but they were troopers throughout the long day & night! Here's "the girls" (Teri, Brenda, me) with our annual "Budget Sun Shade" photo...

TeriBrendaNic_umbrellas52707

I wasn't really thrilled with the photos from this year's trip and don't really have one of Matt & I that I like, but just to prove I did take him with me...

MattNichole_52707

Oh yea, and the shopping... we actually did pretty well (read: no overuse of the credit cards) this year. We both got some new race-related shirts on sales & markdowns. I passed up the cute top in the Harley store because it was $60 and I didn't need it (and no, we don't own a harley or a bike for that matter, but its fun to poke in the big shops and some of their clothing & shoes are actually pretty cool). I even - gasp! - passed on the really cute sandals in the same Harley store because, again, I didn't need them... this whole "what do I really need" budgeting thing kinda stinks, but I'm learning even if really slowly.

Of course I did need some yarn because after all, its impoliet to browse thru a yarn shop and not buy anything, right? After a failed attempt at trying to find a little yarn shop in Matthews and finally realizing it had closed "some time ago," I learned. I called the 2nd (and closer to the hotel - only about 8 minutes away!) shop I had directions for before visiting... and they were alive & kicking! Charlotte Yarn, as mentioned in my last post, was a great little shop with lots of nice yarns. Nothing local or really different, but I did walk out with this...

CharlotteYarn

A lacey scarf pattern (which is from a woman in MA who's patterns I've never happened upon up this way - go figure!) and some gorgeous Blue Sky Alpca & Silk to make it. I also grabbed 2 skeins of Malabrigo in the Velvet Grapes colorway (this picture does not do it justice - its really vibrant!).

A trip to Charlotte is also not complete without a visit to Canine Cafe and a goody bag to bring home for the kids!


caninecafe

Some of the wonderful treats from Barbara's Catering, including peanut butter mega-bones, apple cinnamon duzin' donuts and pumpkin cinnamon (Zeus' favorite!) cookies.

I did get some knitting done on my ankle sock, but forgot to photo it. There wasn't a lot of progress, I knit on the plane on the way down and a little bit here and there, but for the most part there was too much going on to knit. I spent last night working on my homework swatches for tomorrow's Granite State Knit In. I need to finish 2 more, along with my hat for the donation/contest tonight...

knitinstuff

See some of you tomorrow! Time to get back to work (argh...)......

6 comments:

Gina House said...

Wow, wow, wow! Sounds like you had a great vacation...love all the pics!

And that yarn, well.....that Alpaca silk is making me DROOL! I love that!

NH Knitting Mama said...

Great pics! I'm glad you found some great yarn, too. yummmmmmmy

Anonymous said...

So much to comment on! i will have to go with my favorite:

mmmmmm fried pickles mmmmmm

Kare said...

Sounds like you had an absolute blast!
Fried pickles?
They look delish.
So does that yarn.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I love visiting your blog - always creative and informative. I am letting you know - I LOVE the earrings. The carousel (sp) is absolutely adorable - how did Zeus feel about having it on his head? The trip to Charlotte sounds like a wonderful time was had by all - the pics are great. I miss seeing my funny face in some of them. LOL. I am very curious about the fried pickles - very interesting. The yarns you are showing are beautiful along with your creations. How do you find the time to be so creative? Very envious. I am taking a continuing learn how to knit course at Michaels - good grief, will anything ever look like something. I still need to send a little thing I managed to knit - in all honesty, I am not sure what you would call it - a surprise something most likely. Dustee looks so very happy. Do you miss Trixie and her antics - I admire you and Matt for giving your home and hearts to these dogs and then sending them to a new home. I know you must become attached, but I also know you have shown them what a happy loving home is all about. Oh my, I have gone on and one. Again, love the blog. Miss ya. Karen R.

Criquette said...

Okay, I want to leave for Charlotte tomorrow! The yarn is gorgeous and I can't wait to see pics of the FO's. We're going for a visit with my brother and his family sometime this summer. They live in Matthews so I'm sad to hear the yarn shop there is now history but I'll check the one where you found your new stash additions. And definitely I will eat me some fried pickles!

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