Outdoor Stuff

New chairs, repurposed table, birdhouse that J built me, & a citronella candle for mosquito free lounging.

Daisy wreath.

We took the house numbers off of the steps and bought a plaque, painted it to match the star, and painted the numbers to match the shed.  You can see it much better now, and it's closer to the road.  Everyone ALWAYS stops here and asks what house number we are, so hopefully now they can see it!

Our new maple tree (it's supposed to have the pretty red leaves come fall) from the cutest landscaping place.  We met an older couple on our day trip to Fayetteville a few weeks ago who runs their own nursery about an hour from here.  They were selling azaleas for 2 bucks a pop, so after loading up on those, we went back to their place and bought the trees, and another rare color azalea.  It's the red that sells at Lowe's for about 40.00.  We got ours for 10:)  So, 5 azaleas, and 2 trees for a total of 36.00.  We will be regular customers now, even if we have to drive an hour.  We ended up staying out there for about 45 minutes just talking with them.  Very nice people, with great life stories.  It was a fun day all around.

Our tulip poplar.  I can't wait until it gets a little bigger and the flowers bloom.  Both of the trees we got are supposed to be quick growing, so hopefully we will be here long enough to see them grow a bit.  (Please don't look at our grass..we have been working on this since we moved in and it's come a long way, but let me tell you, this sand down here is a pain in the you know what to get grass to grow in.  It loves weeds though.  Tell me how that happens!)

We are slowly getting everything together.  Next is pine needles, and more grass seed!  And I'm thinking of some big plans for a little corner of the backyard.  Pictures will follow.  Oh, and getting the pool clean and going for the season!  Busy, busy!

BB Cream

I have been hearing about BB Creams and how they are so much more than just a primer.  So, after finding a coupon in this month's Cosmo for it (1.00 off), I headed to Walmart.  And CVS.  And Walgreens.  Every place was sold out of the light/medium.  But I did find that Walgreens had it on sale for 3 dollars off!  Making it 4 dollars off with my coupon.  Score!  Well, on the way back from Morehead City on Monday, we stopped by two Walgreens.  No luck at the first one, but the second one had it!  Finally!  Well, let me tell you.  It is all that they say it is.  I love this stuff and would recommend it to anyone.  It's slightly tinted, so if you don't want to do full makeup, this is perfect.  And it's got SPF in it, so it's a good go-to for a day at the beach when you don't wear makeup, but still want a little coverage (I always feel I need something).  It goes on somewhere in between a foundation and lotion.  Anyways, go get some, you won't be disappointed!

Mantle Makeover

I wanted to lighten things up a little bit, so I spray painted my faith sign, the candle holders, and a few picture frames, then I filled in with other white/light colors, and printed out some more current pictures of the fam.  I think I'm digging it.

New Car!!!

With gas prices ever on the rise, we decided it was time to trade in my gas guzzling hemi powered Jeep, that only got 18 hwy miles and 14 city.  Yikes, right!?  So after some test driving and searching around, we decided that we really like the Kia Optimas.  After driving one, I was sold.  Plus the warranties on these things are far better than any other we found.  And the gas mileage is amazing.  35 hwy and 24 city.  When they filled it up for us, and it said we had 500 miles to empty, I about passed out!  I'm used to the Jeep saying 280 miles to empty on a full tank.  I seriously wanted to do a little dance right there in the gas station parking lot.  Plus, this car is fully loaded, and around the same price as other cars this size (not fully loaded) are going for.  It's got the panoramic sunroof too, and that's something I loved about my Ford Edge but didn't even know they had in a car.  And I finally got my charcoal colored car:)  Not to mention, the seats are air conditioned (as well as heated), how awesome is that!?  Especially when it gets so super hot and humid down here at the coast in the summer.  And this car has so much interior space, but you wouldn't think it because it still looks sporty.  The backseat is bigger than the one we had in the Jeep.  And the trunk is huge, so it will still be great for traveling.  So, here are some pictures of my new wheels.  I'm pretty excited:) 

Over Due Easter Pictures

After a last minute decision to make the trip home for Easter, we packed up the car in a rush, and hit the road.  We found out we had a long 3 day weekend, and that Jason wouldn't end up having duty on Easter Sunday (it was going to be kinda sad and lonely if he would have had to do it as originally planned), so we headed home.  These pictures are from Easter Sunday at my Grandma's, after church.  We had a fantabulous lunch, and then we all visited outside because it was just gorgeous.  Perfect Easter weather.  A competitive game of croquet even broke out for much of the afternoon.  It was so nice to spend it with our family.  Here's some pictures (of almost everyone..we had a particular camera shy lady that day!) from the afternoon.

Fort Macon

Monday, I had a doctor's appointment in Morehead City, so Jason was able to do duty on Sunday and get Monday off.  Already being down there, we decided to make a day of it.  We went to Fort Macon for the majority of our time.  I had been there multiple times as a kid because we used to vacation in that area when my grandparents had a condo there, but J had never been before, and I knew he would love it, being military related.  I was right, and we had a blast.  It was fun seeing all of it as an adult, though.  I had a new respect for it this time around.  Afterwards, we drove up Emerald Isle and looked at all the beach houses.  Towards the end of the island, we stopped in to have cheeseburgers at one of our favorites, Andy's, and did some browsing in the little beach stores, stopping to talk to a few of the shop owners.  It's such a slow pace of life there, and everyone is so friendly and willing to chat.  And then we headed home.  Such a fun day.  I love that we live so close to these types of places, and just being in Morehead City/Atlantic Beach brings so many fond memories back for me.   And to wrap it up, I thought I would share some pictures from the day.

The beach outside of Fort Macon.

A small museum of local beach information and fort history is in the visitor's center.  J helping to spear a whale, hehe.

The main part of the fort.

J is quite the sneaky cameraman...he doesn't get the camera often.

Silly...

View from the top wall.

Inside the main part.

Replica of what the food storage was like.

Replica of what the chow hall looked like.

These rooms were linked barracks rooms where the guys slept.  Cool picture, huh?!

Showing how the barracks room were laid out.

The main entrance to the fort.