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!