The Great Bloggy Meetup - Post 3

Sunday after leaving the hotel C and I went back to Girlville's for the rest of our visit. We hung around a bit and then went to 3 houses from the Parade of Homes. The first house we visited was right in Girlville's "hood". Unfortunately it was sold, so we could not purchase it at 1.6 million. Next we drove to two other houses in the area of Girlville's parents. It's fun to see what's out there that we will never live in. Honestly, some of these houses had 5 bathrooms! A maid would be a must!

After we went back and dined on left over pizza from dinner and strawberries. We sat on Girlville's deck and had a lot of laughs. The Husband's mother stopped over for a visit. I think to see if C and I were as beautiful as we look in our photos! LOL

After C took one of her famous "26 minute" naps and Girlville and I chatted while she prepared Pumpkin Pasta for dinner. We ate outside on the deck again and it was wonderful. Good food, good friends! After dinner The Husband made a fire in their Chiminea and we roasted marshmellows! Oh, and C saw a HUGE bug...HUGE....that served as our entertainment for the rest of the evening. After cleaning up from dinner (did I help???) we sat a while longer and talked and talked and talked...then decided we were all exhausted! We could have each had our own nice room, but C did not want to sleep alone...could it have been visions of that BIG BUG in her head????

I woke at 6:45, but thought everyone was still asleep...which they were not. We went down at around 7:45 to find Girlville and The Husband reading the paper.....and breakfast was ready! Wow, talk about being spoiled! After breakfast The Husband left for his dentist appt. and C, Girlville and I talked some more....you'd think we talked enough, right???? We knew we had to get on the road for our 11 hour drive, so at 10am, we decided to leave....sadly....

Do you recognize this tree from Girlville's Fur Ball photos????

Tearfull goodbyes! What great friends!!!!



Off we went..first stop to get gas....then hit route 1 for the first part of our journey...not sure we made it out of North Carolina before this happened.....

Girlville send bread!!!!!

The Great Bloggy Meetup - Post 2

Saturday night dinner started out with bread and dipping oil.....



and talking....
more talking, and eatting.....










RPM for you...the salad....this was the small! Mine had shrimp, C got the chicken....





C and I shared the pizza. Ours was the four cheese...very yummy!


AM has a beer?????? The group....


After dinner we went back to the hotel and Girlville opened a box that had been delivered to her prior to our arrival. Ragus had made us all the cute candy boxes. Swampgirl made us all the paper mache pug ornaments..Kristie and 30 Something got the cat version, and Girlville gave us all soap that was handmade in Raleigh. She made the great tags, which will be good in my scrapbook!

Sunday morning we all went down to breakfast and after had a group photo outside. Followed by more photos and then sadly, goodbyes.....

Isn't he the sweetest????

Courtney and I were lucky to be staying another day with Girlville and her husband......

The end of bloggy meetup tomarrow.....

The Great Bloggy Meetup Raleigh - Post One

C and I had a little longer version of meetup. We left at 8p.m. on Thursday evening. We arrived in Raleigh at a bit after 10a.m. on Friday. We would have arrived about an hour or so earlier, but we got so tired that we pulled off and napped!!! I know, I know....we could have been abducted, but all went well. When we arrived Girlville had a delicious breakfast waiting for us of homemade veggie quiche and spice bread. We were very tired but so wound up there was no way we were going to miss one minute of anything. After breakfast we took a tour of Girlville's house. There is no way her blog does justice to her creative use of color and decorating. We got to meet her cats (some flashing by). We freshened up and took a trip to the mall near her house and C got a terrific dress for her Vegas trip. She looks beautiful in it and it was a great, great price!
After the mall we went back to Girlville's house and she put some things together to take to the hotel. We got there and checked in to wait for the others. AM was the first to arrive with baby Jackson, whose blue eyes are even more blue than his photos! He was so cute and good for the whole time. 30Something, Mrs. D, and Norman's Woman arrived within the hour and we chatted in our room briefly before heading back to Girlville's for the chili dinner she and The Husband hosted. She had both chicken chili and veggie chili....so delicious...as were those darn cupcakes! Holy Cupcake.... We chatted - loudly and had a lot of laughs. We also got to meet M, whom Girlville posts about often. She was so nice! She should have a blog!!!!

Great look after being up over 24 hours with only an hours sleep, eh?


Saturday morning was breakfast in the hotel. RPM sorry about this food shot...we wanted to be sure to get "food shots" for you!!!!





After breakfast it was off to Trader*Joes. Wow, it was great!!!! On the way in a gentleman offered to take our pic...of course we agreed. Honestly, I don't even think he thought we were crazy!




My stash from there...missing from the photo are another bag of dog treats, a bottle of wine, and a jar of pumpkin spice. All of this for just $101.00...at home this type of stuff would probably have totaled at least $50 more!


After a quick trip back to the hotel to drop our stuff and get AM, we headed to the Seaboard Cafe. If you've looked at anyone else's blog, this cafe is surrounded by a garden shop, next to the old train station. C and I had Grilled Tuna Salad with Swiss Cheese and Cranberries....YUM!!!









After lunch we traveled a short distance to downtown Raleigh, where Girlville gave us a great walking tour. First we stopped by the "acorn". I defy any squirrel to try to knock this one down! Then we stopped at the museum, followed by the Capital building and grounds.








Norman's Woman wanted us all to pose on the cannon, but couldn't get any cooperation from the group.....

I, on the other hand thought this statue would be great for a group climb and picture, but the others were too scared. The whole sign about climbing scared them...!

I love this picture of us on the upper landing. Looking up.......


and looking down....

Back outside AM and Jackson posed by this....wonder why?????



Afterwards we went back to the hotel and some took naps. C took one of her famous "26 minute" naps....

Tomorrow - dinner, goodbyes, and fun at Girlville's house....

A little something happened while at meetup...aka new blog design....

You might notice a change to my blog. While visiting with Girlville she was showing me how to customize my blog and we seemed to have updated it, but didn't save my sidebar stuff. I have to say the new customization is easy! Last night I was totally freaking out about it, but then realized that once I had upgraded I could redo the blog very easily. No HTML knowledge necessary. I have added my "reads", but if I have left you off and you read my blog and know I read yours, please drop me a line, so I can add you.

Bloggy Meetup Post to follow later this evening...camera issues.....