The Kure Beach Triathlon Featuring JOE

Joe's on a roll, people! He completed his third triathlon this past Sunday and placed 4th in his age group and 34th out of 305 men. Not too shabby! The Kure Beach Triathlon consisted of ( in this order) a 350 meter swim, 1.5 mile run, 11 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, and another 350 meter swim. Whew! That's exhausting just writing it! The top picture is of Joe in his transition area after his first swim and onto the first run. Then the bottom picture is of him and I after he finished. Joe is really getting excited about his new found hobby and is really looking forward to a half Iron Man in the fall.

P.S. Joe got no comments on our post about the Topsail Triathlon he participated in. Let's show Joe a little more love this time around. Thanks everybody!

Where We Live

It dawned on me the other day that there are family and friends out there who have never seen where Joe & I live. So I'm here to fill you in! We call Wilmington, NC home. This little beach town lies in between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean on a strip of land that is only about 10 miles wide. The first picture below is a nice shot of downtown Wilmington that is situated right on the Cape Fear River. The second picture is of Wrightsville Beach which is the local beach around here.
Now onto our little love bungalow! Joe and I bought our first house two years ago and find it to be just perfect for the two of us. Here's a picture of our master bedroom and bathroom. Please note that Joe (and I...sort of) handcrafted this headboard. He's such a man's man!

Living Room.

Dining Room.

Kitchen. Joe also built our upper cabinets from scratch! He's so talented.

This is the computer/sports/guest room. When you've only got 1,000 square feet, multi-functioning is the name of the game.

And finally here's our back porch with a nice view of the 6th hole on Echo Farms Golf Course. Joe and I don't really make it out on the course too often but you meet some nice people looking for their golf ball behind your grill! Also please note the all wooden recycling bin in the back left corner. Joe built that too!
So that's our humble abode. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Ya'll come back now...you hear.

Summertime Weekends are the Best!

Joe has officially grown out his Fu Manchu and you know what that means?! Summertime! I love getting into the routine of being beach bums and just celebrating nice weather. This past weekend was a prime example. Friday night was a little going-away festivity for our good friend who is taking a 40-day road trip out West on his Harley. Saturday we drove out onto Carolina Beach with some friends and had a rocking beach party. That night everyone came over to our place and we barbecued all kinds of goodies. Joe was in charge of the grill and learned to never set a roll of paper towels too close to the grill because they WILL catch on fire. Scary but hilarious by the same token! Finally on Sunday, Joe did his 2nd-ever century ride. For the non-road bike gurus out there, that's a 100-mile bike ride. It takes about 6 hours and Joe is usually pretty hungry afterwards! But he's really working it out and I'm so proud of him. Sunday night we painted the last unpainted room in our house. With the bright red summer sun glaring in through the windows and Citizen Cope blasting from our iPOD, it just reminded me of how much I love summer!

Miss Ella Jean

One of my great friends had a baby girl last February. Ashley & I got to have lunch with Robin and Miss Ella Jean last week. What a treat! Ella is the most precious and adorable little baby girl ever. I just can't get enough of her. I mean...look at this flower headband! Hey girl!

Dearest Squiggly

In one of our previous posts titled Memorial Day Weekend, my family spent a fun-filled weekend in PA doing all kinds of PA-style stuff. On our last night there, we spent our time together at a local carnival where Cooper D won the biggest prize of all...Squiggly the Goldfish! Due to circumstances out of our control, Squiggly (2 days later) moved on from this earth to a much better place. Here's a slideshow of some of Cooper D & Squiggly's last times together. Squiggly...this one's for you.

lisa d

After being extremely proud of myself for putting together a Killer Slideshow in my last post, I was outed by my own mother for not putting a picture up of her. (please see comment made by lisa d under my Killer Slideshow post...hey girl) So to make up for this tragic error, I have decided to dedicate an entire blog post to Ms. lisa d. I couldn't have asked for God to have given me a greater mother. I was definitely blessed to be able to spend all my days with you by my side. I hope you enjoy your post.

Killer Slideshow.

Here's a little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. I just picked some random pictures from over the years. Mainly, I wanted to work on my slideshow skills...nunchuck skills.

Meet Some Friends

Becca, Me, Ashley

Joe & Me
Last Saturday was our friends' BRIGHT COLORS BDAY BASH! Woo-hoo! Here are some pictures from that rocking night. But more importantly we wanted to introduce you to one of our great friends, Ashley. She started working at my company two years ago and we became instant friends. We joke around and call ourselves 'Twin Souls' because we're so much alike. And luckily enough, Joe and Ashley also get along fabulously. They are both from the New England region and both are soccer fanatics. Becca is Ashley's new roommate and is the biggest sweetheart. She has a great voice and loves to sing at church. Joe and I are so happy that we've found some of the greatest, life-long friends anyone could ask for.