This has to be love

So I'm sitting on the couch with Andrew when he tells me he has a surprise for me. I kind of hate surprises and have to know immediately what it is. He said I had to work for it so I go through 20 questions to get it, although it was probably like 40 questions. 

I finally get close and then guess this:

And I'm right! Andrew pre-ordered the Smitten Kitchen cookbook for me as a congrats on being a preschool teacher gift!

The best and sweetest part is that he spends so much time doing odd jobs on Mechanical Turk that he finally had saved up enough to buy it on Amazon.com without me even knowing! 

So thoughful of him. Now I'm super excited to get it in two months!

Life lately

It's a Friday night and I'm just so happy to be at home. 

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Olympic watching these last few weeks. I'm so impressed with their athleticism. Gold medal cookies.

A few weeks ago I went to see Michelle & Reagan! Oh what a little love!! Mich is such a good mama.

We visited and had some good laughs over lunch.

I held the little Rea most of the afternoon. I loved it.

Ginna came for a night last week and we celebrated our NEW JOBS (more on that later)!

Last Saturday I drove up to PA with my Mother-in-law to get these fun kiddos.

It was a long but beautiful drive.

Maybe 11pm at a gas station with 4 hours to go. Do you see the coffee?

Bedtime stories with Uncle Andrew. So sweet.

This past week I was busy with the shredder. 

Yesterday was such a fun day surprising Lucy at work, having a yummy Greek lunch with my Dad!, hanging out with Katie, Alden & Blythe, then heading to Raleigh to see Gin, Jeff & Reynolds. (Hope you're feeling better, E!!)

That cute Ginna girl.

Last night I spent the night with Lu! Bebe's (Phoebe) enjoyed my water. Animals are so entertaining.

This morning I met Lorrina & Margot for coffee at Dean & Deluca. She is just the cutest, has such poise and style for a 6 year old, and it was wonderful to catch up with them!

Happy Weekend! 

Weekend in Atlanta

This past weekend we went down to Atlanta to spend time with family & friends.

Chloe's 4th birthday celebration! 

The theme was princess & Barbie. While I usually like to buy useful gifts like books, I found myself going crazy at the Dollar Store buying a handful of Disney princess items. 

{Which was really, really fun!}

I love that Maggie is dancing in the background with her American Girl doll.

Andrew and Charlie

Had to capture Andrew drinking out of a Barbie cup.

Caroline made the Barbie cake and apparently it's so easy if you use the Pampered Chef bowl and then flip it upside down. Who knew?

Maybe my favorite moment as Mr. Charlie fell asleep in my arms right after this. 

Around dinnertime we went to see the Parkers!

Al makes the best fruit tea.

Toby was having a slumber party with one of his friends.

Me & Al. She made the most wonderful shrimp & grits for dinner.

Then we decided while watching the Olympics that we needed a baking project. :)

The next morning was Charlie's baby dedication at their church.

Group shot

Oh you know...

What a fun weekend it was! Thanks, Dales & Parkers.

A Day in Greensboro

A couple weeks ago I found a great deal of motivation and then I attacked our home. Those teacher gifts that I would never use? Goodwill. That shirt I've told myself that might come back in style? Goodwill. All of those bank statements from 2007? Soon-to-be shredded. Yes! Summer cleaning feels so good and I was pretty cut-throat about it, too. It's usually too hot to be outside (or at least it was the day I found motivation), and once you've purged it feels oh so nice.

But I did find this. A classic 1994 duo from Past Carrie's outfits. I made Andrew (who was really quite jealous of my cool style back in the day) take a picture of me and I texted it to the fam. I'll let you figure out who said what:

"Oh boy, it may be time to chuck that..."

"Omg why do you still have that?!"

"You kept it didn't you?!"

Anyway...

Last Monday I drove up to Greensboro for the day. It was perfect!

I got to meet Seth & Katie's sweet baby Blythe for the first time. I loved holding her and she is just precious.

It was a Caldwell reunion of sorts. I was so happy to see Laura and Brendan!

Becca & Blythe.

Katie is such an awesome Mama!

Her two year old son, Alden, came home after VBS. I went over to him and asked what he did that morning. He said something like they sang songs. 

I said: "May I please hear a song?"

Alden: "Oh. No. Sorry."

Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny.

 I then went to get my hair cut! It was time.

Phoebe!! 

 Got to hang out with Lucethegoose! Her apartment is adorable and for some reason I felt like such grownups as we sat on her couch in her very own apartment drinking coffee.

 Next I went to visit the parentals. They wowed me with mom's garden and sent me home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers (along with a ladybug who scared me to death when driving in the car three days later).

 They're renovating the kitchen and putting in hardwoods in the living room (it was time!!). I went to take a picture and my dad jumped in. Can't wait to see the final product.

I just love my parents so much.

Our Summer Trip

A couple weeks ago we went on an adventure to the Northeast!

Leaving Charlotte early in the morning ready to go.

To get ready for our trip, we sopped here to get breakfast. If you live in Huntersville, NC you should try it out. Pretty legit. 

 First stop: Philly!

We went to see Kathy and she so kindly let us stay with her!

We ate at one of my favorite restaurants: European Republic. So good.

 Another really cool thing we did was to go to the U. Outfitters headquarters (where she works) and saw some of the home goods she has designed. Go Kath!

Leaving Philly Thursday morning and headed to NYC!

And we made it! 

{Although we've vowed to never, ever drive into Manhattan ever again. It was just too stressful. Next time we're taking a plane and using mass transit. Plus it cost $12 to use the Holland Tunnel just to get into the City.}

After we found a free parking space on the UES I showed Andrew my old neighborhood. Including my old apartment building! 

 We got breakfast at a bodega and then made it to {Chris & Mir's} Starbucks for coffee.

We did a lot of walking around and went into the Converse store in SoHo. I love this picture. :)

Made it to the bull!

Yayayay! We met Tammy for a yummy lunch! So great to see you, Tam!

We left the City early that day and headed out to Long Island. This makes me so happy.

We went to visit and stay with the family I used to nanny for in Lloyd Harbor. Oh it was so good to see them. Here is me & Alec (and the picture to the right is from 2006!).

I always loved Tamara's hydrangeas. 

 Nicholas impressed us with his lacross skills! 

And Alec is a budding scientist.

They also showed us their biggest diving board splashes.

I can't believe how big they are.

 The next morning Tamara dropped them off at tennis camp and we had a lovely breakfast at their Bath Club.

 We made it back into the City and I took Andrew to Grand Central since it's one of my favorite places.

I also tried to do this Grand Central trick but it didn't work due to construction.

We made it to Fishs Eddy!!

Then we had lunch with LeeAnne at a cute cheese sandwich shop. It was wonderful to catch up with you, LA!!

Black & white cookie on the UES = happiness.

Made it to the Met!

It was Andrew's first time and we basically jogged through it as time was short and there was so much I wanted to show him.

Oh the architecture!

Made it to the reservoir and wished I could go for a run.

 Sunflowers!

Friday night Mir & Chris invited us over to their apartment for...tacos! A Park Ave. tradition! And we picked up some flowers for Miriam.

 Ollie!

 Miriam is a wonderful hostess and it was so fun to catch up!

That night we left the City and headed to Connecticut. Then woke up and had breakfast on the Yale University campus. How beautiful! It made me miss college.

We made it to Rhode Island. By this point Andrew and I were pretty tired and sat on a shaded bench for most of the afternoon with this view:

Then it was time for Jeremiah & Amy's wedding! What a perfect day.

They were so happy! The reception was in her parent's backyard and it was beautiful.

Friends in Rhode Island. 

Now they're headed back to South Africa to be missionaries. I'm going to put that on my list of places to travel.

 We finally made it to Boston!

Here we are visiting with Andrew's grandmother.

That afternoon we hung out with Andrew's sister and her adorable kids.

Souley's a soccer player!

 Jacques was so cute.

It's been a year since we've seen them and it was so funny how the kids reminded me that last summer I made them a homemade pizza with star shaped pepperoni, and watermelon cookies for dessert. Kids are so impressionable and remember even the little things!

We took a ferry tour to Boston and then enjoyed a yummy Italian dinner.

I love vacations. Thanks to all our family and friends for your hospitality. It was such a special trip!