Hiatus

After much thought and consideration, we are taking a blogging vacation. We talk regularly to the people who want to know about our lives... so, I've decided not to make double work for myself. If its important enough... you know where to reach us. If you live across the country, come visit- Charlotte is lovely this time of year!

For now...
Rach and Mike

Weekend at home #2

Friday night- out for Zoe's birthday. Drinks a la Erin, sparklers in the cake, out to Whisky River. Super fun.

Saturday am- 7:30- headed to Rural Hall to watch Dillon his last game of the year. He plays for the Mets. He played right field mostly and got up to bat twice. Each time he got hit by the ball and took his base... but at least he stayed in the box!

Then we stuck around for lunch at Ted's Kickin Chicken (note, we were in Rural Hall)! It was kind biker-bar-esque, but the food was good!

Next off to Austin's ball game... unfortunately they didn't win... but it was good to spend time with the fam!

Saturday night relaxing at home.

Sunday- out with the girls to Salsa's and the see the new Sex and the City movie. I loved it, Zo hated it, Becca cried the whole time and Erin reminisced about her days in NYC.

Tonight, we grill and hang out here... man, I love my husband and our life!

Blackle

Well, I'm pretty much addicted to

1) Going Green

2) Google.

And though this site isn't made by Google, it does feature a Google search, and uses less energy (something we should all strive to do).

http://www.blackle.com/

Check it out!!

Weekend at home??

What is that all about?

We were supposed to get Pop this weekend, for the next 3 weeks, but Aunt Barbara came into town, so we got bumped to July.

All of that happening... we ended up in Charlotte for the weekend! Friday night we hung around the house, grilled and Mikey went out for Bling's birthday.

Saturday we went yard-saling... hilarious- ps, you have to go to these things at 7 am, by 9 its slim pickin's. We still got a few things, I think we spent $3 :)

Then we went to the Matthews Farmer's Market (again, opening bell at 7:15... these people are nuts)... since we didn't get there at 7:15, slim pickin's again... but we learned that we could preorder meats and eggs from local farmers. We met a super nice lady from Grateful Growers who taught us the ins and outs. She has grass fed beef and free range chickens- I'm SO excited!

After the Farmer's Market Mike took me on a surprise trip to Trader Joes... so fun! We love it! We got some new wines to try, sunflower butter (I found a recipie for Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies), and a variety of other goodies!

We napped most of Saturday afternoon, woke up to some appetizers from Trader Joes and at about 9 went to dinner at the Fig Tree. While I'm sure you don't care about every detail of what we have to eat... this place is too good not to mention! It is fine dining, with organic and locally grown veggies and meats... Mikey had an Elk Chop (looks like a lamb chop, but cooked like a steak) and I had Scallops (not locally grown, luckily) with asparagus and roasted red pepper mashed potatoes... it may be our new favorite restaurant!

Sunday Mikey golfed with Shaun and I took Lu for a walk. Again we grilled and relaxed and didn't answer the phone when our friends called :) It was nice to just be the two of us for a while.

Monday we woke up early, Mike made breakfast and we went shopping! Mike got a new pressure washer! I am in a small fight with the Water Company, as they raised our rates 15% becuase they didn't make enough money due to water restrictions. So, we bought low flow shower heads, a water filter for the sink (our expensive tap water is still not safe to drink) and will get water aerators for the faucets once I bring in the ones we currently have.

If you want to save water (and $$) too... follow these easy steps:

1) Replace Shower Heads with Low Flow Shower Heads (the one we got is the a Delta Amplifying Shower Head, that saves water yet feels like high volume, 1.85 gallons per minute vs. 2.5 gpm, a 25% reduction... so take your 15% and shove it, water company!)

2) Add Water Aerators to your faucets, .5 gpm is key! You can find them at your local hardware store, or at http://www.greenfeet.com/. If you go to a hardware store, take the bottom of your current faucet with you... it should say gpm on it, and unscrews.

3) Get a toilet tank bank, or put a 2 liter bottle in the tank of your toilet. (Especially if you have an older house or older toilet!) It will save you .5 gallon per flush!

After Lowes we took a trip to Target to spend our gift cards... woohoo! I got some file boxes for my trunk, a Real Simple notebook for organization (thanks to the tip from Tess) of the Clifton Home (take out menus, farmers market info, recipies, magazine articles, etc... )

Then we ended the weekend with a nice dinner at Keith and Zoe's with the Meineckes, Keith and Brandy and Shaun and Erin. Zo and Keith grilled and we played yard games and just enjoyed the time together!

What a perfect weekend! We are home this coming weekend too- watch out!

Rachel's new haircut

I've been talking about it for months now... but finally did it!

I cut my hair and donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They've partnered with the Women's Cancer Research Fund to give free wigs to women who have lost their hair to cancer.

Cecelia cut 9" off, and I'm pleased with it. So I'll encourage you too! If you have it to give- give! It only takes 8" for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and there are tons of details on the website!

Relay For Life Fundraiser

So, since we were participating in Relay For Life, we sponsored a fundraiser at Fox and Hound to raise some $ for our team.

We charged $10/head for 1 beer, appetizers and 1 drawing of chance ticket... we had a BLAST and raise $1,005! I'm pretty proud of myself... I went out and got the venue (and got them to donate food, they got a vendor to donate beer, and a few prizes), I got prizes, advertised, and invited people.

The event was quite the success and I know exactly what to do next time to make it even better!!

Here is a link to my page

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeSouthAtlanticDivision?px=4332091&pg=personal&fr_id=8834