Gonna Be Feelin' It!

Back in January, I posted my dreadful weight-confession for all to see. I worked at it (or what felt to me like working at it) and managed to drop about six pounds. And then nothing. Haven't gained it back, but haven't lost any more either.

I realized that I just wasn't pushing myself hard enough. And here's my friend Leigh, the one who has taught me by example that my limits are all in my head, and that I can do WAY more than I think I can do, and she's riding her bike across the country this summer (crossed into Ohio today).

I started talking to a few people at my gym who use personal trainers and set up an appointment with the most highly-recommended one, a Greensboro firefighter, Captain Ken Lilly. He's incredibly difficult to get scheduled in with. As a full-time firefighter his schedule constantly shifts. He only trains people two days a week, and is generally booked from 7am-7pm on those scattered days. To get in with him, I'm basically having to take mid-morning time off work on training days, since his 7am person won't budge (I wouldn't either if I were her) and he won't start any earlier in the morning (I wouldn't either if I were him), even though I'm used to a 6:00-7:15 am workout time.

On Thursday last week, I had my first session with Ken. It wasn't a REAL training session, actually. It was the one where he squish-measured all my fatty bits to see just how bad things were and then ran me through a series of tests for 30-40 minutes to gain a baseline on my fitness level. Some things I did better than I expected on, some things FAR worse than I thought. Whew. Wake-up call. I was shocked to wake up the next three mornings very sore in the legs. OK, good to know. That's why I'm doing this, right?

This morning was the first real training session, and OMG do I ever know now what it means to really push myself. I wasn't doing anything even close on my own. About 3/4 of the way through the workout, I got off of one weight machine and my legs literally buckled underneath me. I regained my composure and pushed on to complete everything he asked me to do (though increasingly weakly). As I left toward the stairwell, he called out to me "Be careful on the stairs!" and when I hit that second step, I flailed for the handrail. Whew. It wasn't pain, just total muscle weakness. NOW I see what it means to work to the point of 'muscle fatigue'. It doesn't mean tired. It means the muscle really doesn't want to do any more at all! I've had the jelly-legs feeling the rest of this day, but I know that the real pain will set in tomorrow morning and probably hang in through the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, we're leaving for a week at the beach on Saturday morning, and I just had a vision of myself loading up the car. Up and down all those steps over & over getting everything in the back of the new station wagon. I feel lightheaded even thinking about it...

New (to me) Car!

Well, I broke down and did it. I bought a new (well, new to me) car!

My 2001 manual VW Beetle TDI has been a GREAT car. It only has 128,000 miles on it, which for a diesel, makes it still less than middle age. I really had planned to keep this car for at least 300,000 miles. Though it started its life with me as a commuter car (in Atlanta, I had a 500 mile per week commute), it's continued to be a great road trip car. When the back seat is folded down, it holds a TON of stuff -- plenty big enough for a week's worth of car-camping gear for the two of us (big rolling cooler, big bin of camp kitchen gear & dry goods, tent, chairs, table, air mattress, even a grill!). The only down side has been, as soon as you have three people in the car, it holds hardly anything. And given that Scott's car is a Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible, we weren't really well-equipped for moving around with any amount of 'stuff' with three or more people.

For many months now, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a very specific car -- a used (because yes, I am just that cheap) 2005 manual VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI. It turned out to be a surprisingly hard-to-find combination. A lot of people don't get why I'm so high on this specific car, but it comes down to one thing -- the MILEAGE. I'm terribly militant about mileage. I just refuse to own any vehicle that gets less than 35 mpg highway. And now I want a bigger vehicle -- one that will hold a bunch of gear and a family of 3 or 4. I don't have any shame about what my car looks like -- station wagon, minivan, whatever. The only thing I insist on is that it get over 35 mpg highway. Believe it or not, this is the ONLY vehicle that meets my criteria! The good news is, after driving the diesel Beetle for the last nine years, I have a lot of trust in these VW TDIs. The manual vs. automatic thing is just a preference, but it also made the car a bit harder to find. Happily, after missing out on one in Charlotte a couple of months ago, and one in Chesapeake, VA last month, one turned up in Kernersville just 15 miles away. Wahoo! I bought it home on Friday night and I'm loving it! I must say, it's the most luxurious car I've ever owned, what with the leather interior and sunroof (something I've always been too cheap to spec that way, but that's what was on this car). Fun, fun, fun, and just in time for our trip to the Outer Banks next week. YAY!

Part of me also hopes that this car will provide us with a little bit of good karma that will lead to us getting a placement soon!

Turning 13, Wet N Wild & Supper Club - Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Back on June 22, my youngest nephew, Peter, turned 13 years old. Hard to believe that all my brother's babies are now teenagers! He's a very busy kid this summer with wrestling and soccer camps, band camp and what he calls "nerd camp", and so it was a trick to finally schedule a trip to Wet N Wild Emerald Pointe to celebrate. We finally did so this past Wednesday. I took the day off and took Peter, his brother Joey and their friend James to the water park. We had a gorgeous day for it -- not too hot, not too humid, mostly sunny, but enough clouds to provide the occasional break. The boys rode every ride at least twice. I rode a few, and spent most of the day enjoying the wave pool and reading in a lounge chair under an umbrella. We were one of the first cars in the lot in the morning, and one of the last at closing time. Wow. GREAT day.

We arrived VERY late to the supper club group at Monesi Brazilian Buffet out on Hwy 68 a little south of the interstate, but boy were we glad that we went anyway! These are the same folks who own Leblon Churrascaria on W. Market -- a place we've reserved for special occassions. The good news is, Monesi is much more affordable. It's not the same kind of 'meat festival' that Leblon is, but what they do have out on the buffet is wonderful with really unique flavors. Delicious!

A Very Fun Fourth

I ought to be ashamed. Ten days since I last posted? It's been an incredibly busy time, but I'll try to catch everyone up...
Let's see. The Independence Day holiday weekend. It was the most perfect 4th of July weekend weather-wise that I can ever remember in Greensboro. Not too hot, not too humid. We walked downtown to Fun Fourth to take in the sights and sounds, peeked in all the craft booths, avoided the food booths, saw a couple of bands and spent some time in the beer garden (that term always cracks me up -- like little beers are sprouting up in a flower garden!).
That night we enjoyed a cookout with friends at our buddy Steve's house. Traditional hamburgers, hotdogs, slaw, potato salad and Richard's awesome fresh guacamole.

My thoughts were also with my friend Leigh who spent the 4th riding more than 100 miles through eastern Kansas. They are past the half-way point on their cross-country trek, and have another rest day coming up the day after tomorrow, this time in Indianapolis. Sure makes me feel like I'm having a lazy summer!

Supper Club - Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I see that it's been a little over a year since we were last there, but last night we returned to Sticks & Stones at the corner of Walker & Elam. Fantastic pizza once again, and a good-sized crowd of 13 -- especially good since most of us just spent 5 days together at the lake last week! That's a testament to what an easy-to-hang-with crowd of friends we have. When we went to Sticks & Stones last year, it was still pretty new, and so crowded that we got our pizzas to go and enjoyed them at Richard & Lois' place 2 blocks away. Last night the place was only about half full. I don't know whether it was just that the novelty of a new place has worn off or the economy, but I sure hope they can weather it, because they've got a good thing going there.

21st Annual Kerr Lake Trip

We've been home for four nights now, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. As I mentioned last year, I felt kind of ripped off, only getting to go for one night to our annual trip to Kerr Lake with a big group of friends. To try to make up for it, I went for FOUR nights this year. Aaah, that's better!

The weather was perfect this year. Highs around 90 each day (only moderate humidity, hot enough to want to be in the lake, but not miserable sitting out in the shade), lows around 70 each night (unusually comfortable for sleeping in tents for this time of year) and not a single drop of rain.

The crowd was a bit smaller than usual this year, but it was nice knowing almost everyone there, and having just a manageable number of new people -- few enough that you could actually get to know them!

This year, Steve hired Holy Ghost Tent Revival to entertain us Friday night, and they were so GREAT! Lucky us, we get to catch them again tomorrow night. Twice in one week seeing such a great band!

Charles treated all the kids to homemade ice cream again. I got a bite of Susie's and it was so rich and creamy and yummy. Thanks, Charles!

On Saturday night, the kids treated us to a talent show. Below is a photo of Rachel & Caroline with their violin duet:

And then there was the true essence of Summer Soltesz. The napping...

And the floating...

And for good measure, a bit more napping...

Way to recharge! Fun, fun, fun trip with wonderful friends. Summer just isn't summer without it.

Buckshot and a Hypocrite

Last night we wrapped up our weekend by heading downtown with good friends Bill & Brien for dinner & a beer (my favorite is the Buckshot Amber Ale) at Natty Greene's. It was beautiful out with a nice breeze blowing, so we sat out on their patio -- one of the best in town. After dinner, we walked down a block or so to Triad Stage to see "Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite". Preston Lane, the artistic director, did the adaption, and it was hilarious. There's only one week left, but be sure to catch it if you get the chance!

"Fun & Games" with Doug-Doug

The weekend got off to "Fun & Games" on Friday night at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. Yes another 80s/90s band reunion show -- this time The Connells.

(OK, that video was apparently recorded earlier the same day, but it's the only current video I could find on YouTube so far.)
It was really fun to see these guys again after so many years and hear those great old songs.
I do wish that the sound system at Cat's Cradle was better though. The vocals are always so muddy there, and you really notice what's lacking with a melodic band like this. Still, they were terrific.
We actually had something of a connection (how ever tenuous) with this band. My brother, Dale, was suite-mates with the lead singer, Doug MacMillan, back at ECU around the 82-85 timeframe I think -- years before he joined up with The Connells. Those who know Dale may know that he has a bit of a stutter sometimes -- and you're more likely to hear it if there's been some alcohol added to the equation. Anyway, the first time he introduced me (or was it someone else?), he said, "Hey, this is Doug-Doug." And forever after, he's been known to us as Doug-Doug. Sadly, he had to miss the show Friday night. Next time, you have to make it, Dale. He was totally trying to cop your beard look!

Supper Club - Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tonight we returned to one of my favorite places, Saffron Indian, with a nice group of seven, including two folks I hadn't met before. Actually, it turns out that one of them knows a whole bunch of the same people as I (besides the supper club folks who invited her) through several different avenues. I call it "The Greensboro Game" -- where you compare notes with any person you meet in Greensboro and figure out within about five minutes that you know a dozen of the same people but just never met yourselves. This time, the game revealed that we know many of the same folks from the Guilford College Class of 89 (my NCSL friends), folks I work with, and folks we both just know from being around Greensboro for a number of years. Fun!

A Non-Update Update

I haven't posted anything in quite some time on our foster-adoption process. My last real update on this was in late March, and things remained pretty quiet for the next two months after that. Since late May, however, we've been approached by our social worker about two different cases and we've asked to be considered for both situations (yeah, us and hundreds of other families, most likely). We've also thrown our name into the ring on three more out-of-state situations from national listing sites, though some of these may turn out to have special needs beyond our capabilities. We're hoping to hear something on one of the in-state situations by the end of the month, but that's it so far. Still, it is WONDERFUL to feel like there is beginning to be some movement. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts as we continue to feel our way through this whole long process!

Noah Graduates!

My eldest nephew, Noah Swanson, graduated last night from North Stokes High School with honors. We are so proud of him! He's a handsome, charming and polite young man. He'll be starting at Guilford College in two months, and I'm so happy that he'll be going to such a great school. I have so many dear friends who went there, and he'll make a great addition to the "Fighting Quakers".

More photos here from the pre-graduation cookout last night, the graduation itself (85 graduates in his class) and the post-graduation photos with family. Exciting times await Noah, and I can't wait to see it all unfold!

25th Class Reunion Planning

I skipped Supper Club last night (even though I had really wanted to join them for that $20 3-course dinner offering at Lucky 32) because I had a reunion planning meeting.

I guess people probably always say this kind of stuff, but I CAN'T BELIEVE that it's already time for the Grimsley Class of 1984 to have its 25th Class Reunion! Our class president is currently living down in Alabama, so I'm part of a committee helping him with the planning. We're still working up details, but have decided for sure that it'll be October 9-10 this year. Our 20th was a lot of fun (photos here), and it was really great to see people after so long. What I liked most about the 20th was that it really seemed that the old high school cliques had pretty well melted away, and people seemed to generally just appreciate getting together and catching up. There was a strong call for a 25th, so that's why we're pulling it together. I went to school with some terrific people, and look forward to seeing them again this fall.

Cleaning Up & Setting Things To Rights

Our yard was really a wreck after those crazy storms last week. We spent most of our weekend cleaning up the yard, weeding, salvaging & moving plants and mulching. The front yard is back to looking good, if I do say so myself. I'll try to get some pictures one of these days, but I was so worn out by the time we finished, I didn't even think about it. Scott also got started on a project (installing self-closing hinges on the half-bath door) that turned into a more extended thing. Another old house project involving over-painted surfaces, not-square door frames, running out of paint they aren't carrying any more and three trips to Lowe's, just like always! A few more hours of work (once the paint question is figured out) should knock this little project out.

Supper Club - Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Seven brave souls ventured through the storm to go to Rearn Thai tonight. It was a lovely refuge from the crazy weather, and a wonderful night for jasmine tea, hot soup and (my favorite) mussamun curry chicken. As always, the food and service were great in a beautiful and calm setting. These are all good reasons that we come back to Rearn Thai several times every year. Highly recommended, as always.

Crazy Big Rain

Greensboro got hit with a HUGE thunderstorm this evening. Thunder, lighting, hail and blinding rain. Between 5 and 9 pm, we got around 5 inches of rain. Flooding all over the place, as you can see in some of these photos at the N&R website. Photos #6 through #12 were taken just a couple of blocks south of our house, and photo #15 was taken at the eastern edge of our neighborhood (that's our neighborhood stream well out of its banks and over the bridge on the right side of the photo). Photos #13 & #14 have me very nervous about my friend Kerrie's salon/spa just a block away, and across from the ballpark. As they've added photos there, some of them are being re-numbered, but needless to say, this storm was all very close to home! We had some flooding at the paper, and our dock office had several inches of water in it tonight.
Just running through the downpour at about 6:25 pm out to my car, I got soaked & hailed on & went several inches deep in water. I really debated whether to go to supper club at all, but the call of Thai soup was strong. But that's another post...

Amazing, Awesome, Astounding Leigh!

I've blogged a number of times about my good friend Leigh Pate in Seattle. She is taking her endurance biking to a whole new level, embarking on a new adventure in just a couple of days.

She's biking coast-to-coast in 52 days, with only 5 days of rest along the way. She'll average over 80 miles per day for nearly two months. She departs this weekend on this huge adventure, and is blogging about it at Leigh's Cross-Country Bike Ride.

Best of luck on this amazing trek, Leigh!

Supper Club - Wednesday, May 27, 2009

This past Wednesday, seven of us met at Jibaro Latin Cafe on Tate Street. Thanks to Carl Wilson for the heads-up on their week-long special, $1 pastelillos (yummy little meat-filled deep-fried pies), Tommy & Holly made a last-minute decision to head there. Everything was very yummy. Scott & I got the chicken pastelillos and split an order of tostones (sliced, squished and fried plantains). It was all very tasty, but we left there so fried-out that we treated ourselves to a trip to Yum Yum's for ice cream. Not something we can/should do on a regular basis, but a place we'll likely visit again in the future.

Facebook Friends from Nursery School?

A couple of weeks ago, Scott was teasing me about the number of Facebook 'friends' I have. I know that I sort of 'collect' people, and I have loved this tool for keeping up with folks, including friends I have lost touch with over the years. I am still close friends in 'RL' (real life) with many people from high school, and we get together several times every year. But without Facebook, I would never have been able to reconnect with many friends from my childhood in California and Michigan, classmates I had lost touch with from high school and college, and yes, even an old boyfriend or three. My rule is that I accept a friend request from anyone that I can remember without having to check with mutual friends to remind me who they are.

Anyway, as I said, Scott was teasing me, saying "Dawn is Facebook friends with people she went to nursery school with!" I said, "Come on, I'm not that bad! I don't have FB friends from nursery school." And then the next day, I got a friend request from someone that I actually DID go to nursery school (and kindergarden & first grade) with. Too funny.

It's not really a bad thing, is it? I really do love Facebook!

Weeding, Wedding, Wine & Wandering

Boy do we ever know how to cram a lot into a 3-day weekend!

Saturday, we got out to do some weeding & pruning & such in the yard. Things got a bit out of hand when I got digging in the "pit of dispair". I've referred a couple of times to our back yard being something of a construction zone, and this big mulberry stump has been at the center of it. This stump was a big project to kill last year, and an even bigger one to dig out. Yes, I know, you can pay people to come in and grind up a stump, but first, Scott hates to pay someone to do something that he can do himself, and second, he wants to put a pond in the hole left behind from the stump. Anyway, it's a miracle, but we FINALLY got that dang stump out of the ground. Now things will really be able to take some shape out there.

Saturday evening, we attended the truly lovely wedding of a friend and co-worker. The location was fabulous, the couple glowed and everything was just perfect. Our table company was terrific as well, and we felt so lucky to be included! Congratulations and best wishes, Allen & Eula.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a day of sightseeing and visiting a couple of wineries. We spent the night in the nice little mountain town of Floyd, Virginia at a new place that was very nice (much nicer than it appeared from the outside). We had drizzly, dreary weather most of the time, but it was so great just to get away from it all together for a couple of days. We need to do this again, and not wait so long to do it next time!

No Supper Club / Saying Goodbye to a Friend

I skipped supper club this week (they went to a place I haven't tried yet, Opa!) in order to help a friend and co-worker pack up her apartment. It's a bitter-sweet occasion, really. Her family is still all back in the Tidewater area of Virginia, and she's been weekend communting for a little over three years. Her husband's sick, and the job is good, so this return is especially welcome for her. That's the sweet. The bitter is for us, the folks who have enjoyed working with her and being able to call her 'friend' through some pretty tough times these past few years. Best of luck to you, Debbie. We're counting on seeing you back here in Greensboro occassionally in your new role, and hopefully it will be a lot less stressful than this one was!

More Evidence of a Troubled Economy

This past weekend I was in Raleigh again for the NC Newspaper Production Conference. Wow, the tough times are VERY much in evidence. There were probably only a third the number of people in attendance as last year -- vendors cutting back because no one is buying equipment, newspapers cutting back on the people they send because they aren't willing to spring for travel (even with free registrations!) and people are stretched so thin they can't get away. Still, the people who did attend were enthusiastic and the discussions were good. The planning committee says that there WILL be another conference next year. It's going to get better. Right?

Transracial Parenting Class

Last night, Scott and I completed our 12-hour training class on Transracial Parenting (every Thursday night for four weeks in a row). There were perhaps 12 or so people at the most highly-attended class (not everyone attended every week) and last night, we were down to 6. There were 3 instructors (all CHS-NC social workers) most weeks, and they were very well chosen for their personal experiences, which they all shared very generously. One has a transracial adoptee sibling, one is the godmother of children of another race and one is a transracial adoptive parent.

A lot of the class materials were getting some age on them (from the 70s & 80s), and the vast majority of the reading, exercises and movies were geared toward white people adopting children of color. Interestingly, in our class Scott and I were the only white people and all the other participants were African American. Some had placements already of children who are white, Latino or biracial, while others like us are still waiting for placement(s) and thought the class sounded interesting. Perhaps some were just collecting training hours (12 hours per year required to maintain a foster license).

Even though the materials were getting pretty dated and I did feel bad that most of our classmates had to sit through a lot of the content geared toward racism awareness (surely they deal with this on a weekly if not daily basis!), the discussions were interesting and people were really good about being open and sharing of themselves. We don't know whether we'll receive a transracial placement, but the content was good no matter what and certainly gave us (and would give anyone) a lot to think about in terms of how diverse their day-to-day lives really are.

I've been doing a lot of reading on this topic and will continue to do more, but it was great to get the opportunity to talk about and listen to others' thoughts on the issues of race in America. One thing's for sure, there are certainly no simple answers.

Supper Club - Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A smallish group of seven gathered tonight at Seoul Garden Korean on West Market Street out near Edwardia. I had never even heard of this place before. It's in a non-descript little strip mall, but inside is really very nice. The service was good, as was the food. Three of us got the beef hot pot (that's not the right name, but it's what I'm calling it!), two got the vegetarian version and Tommy got the teriyaki chicken (he said he'd go back to the hot pot next time). I hear that Seoul Garden is actually best known for their ribs, but none of us got that. The meal started with small salads for everyone, then the main course with a number of family-style side dishes (kimchee, inari tofu, steamed bean sprouts and two others) and wrapped up with a cup of yummy korean cinnamon tea (cold, but not iced) for each person. The portions were large, the prices reasonable and the food was good (though I'm not sure I'd class it as great). We'll be back, I'm sure!

UPDATE: I had to add in this photo of Erick Joseph drinking his tea through a straw last night! Cutie!

First Mosquito Bite of 2009

It was another beautiful and warm late spring weekend in NC. Knowing that the full heat of summer is coming makes me appreciate every one of these days, that's for sure. My first mosquito bite of the year made it impossible to ignore that summer is nearly here.

Friday night we gathered for a cookout with a bunch of good friends over in Sunset Hills on their newly completed patio. They've had even bigger renovation projects than us over the past six years, and had two kids during that time on top of it all. They've done a ton of work, and their place is looking so beautiful!

Saturday we took a long walk through a few parks and that night joined a group for dinner at Rim Tapas. The food and wine were super, as was the company. I think my favorite was the Butternut Squash Tortelloti. Yummy!

Today we spent a lovely Mother's Day lunch with my parents and grandmother on the back porch. PERFECT weather! From there we headed over to see a tremendous performance of The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead at Triad Stage. All seven parts were played by one very talented actress, Kate Goehring. Recommended!

I can remember that last Mother's Day I was thinking that maybe by next year I would be one of the mothers celebrating. Of course it hasn't happened yet, so I'll just guess that surely by NEXT year...

Supper Club - TUESDAY, May 5, 2009

This week our Wednesday night supper club was on TUESDAY, in order to take part in the "Serving Greensboro Together" fundraiser, and we went to a place we'd never been before, Tara Thai (no link available) in the Guilford College area. We had a very large group of more than a dozen people (I forgot to count), and though I'd heard reports that the service wasn't that good, we didn't have significant delays. On top of that, the food was GREAT! I would class it as perhaps the best Thai food in Greensboro. We'll definitely be back. It had been a highly stressful day at work (power outage and UPS failure took down every computer system in the building in the early AM and we felt the effects most of the day), so a nice evening with friends was certainly very welcome.

Planting and Partying

Last weekend was so busy from beginning to end, and with perfectly beautiful weather to top it off.
Saturday morning, we made a big procurement trip out to the regional farmer's market -- 4 roma tomato plants, 4 German Johnson tomato plants, 4 red bell pepper plants, 4 poblano pepper plants, 8 peppermint seedlings, around 30 basil seedlings (we love fresh pesto!) and some summer annuals (zinias and dahlias), as well as a bunch of fresh local strawberries and hothouse tomatoes to enjoy right now.
Then that evening we enjoyed cocktail hour with a bunch of friends at our house - an early Cinco de Mayo celebration - and watched the Derby and then most of us went out to El Carreton for supper. It was so much fun. We are so lucky to have such a fun group of friends!
Sunday morning I got everything planted and then hosted book club in the afternoon. This month was nice and light -- Emma. We talked about the book for an hour or so, and then enjoyed the movie. I love that version of the movie. While perhaps not as perfectly period-accurate as the BBC version, it's so charming and tone-perfect I can never resist it.
A very full and absolutely lovely weekend...

Supper Club - Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I can't believe I am so late getting this posted! Last week our supper club went to M'Coul's Public House on a gorgeous night and sat outside on their patio. We had a big crowd, including some folks who don't make it very often, and a special guest appearance by our buddy Max in town from Chapel Hill. We were having so much fun that several of us just weren't ready to leave after supper, and walked over to Natty Greene's for a nightcap. It was such a wonderful warm and beautiful evening spent with great friends, it made me happy to be alive!

I kept postponing posting about the evening because I snapped some great photos on my camera phone and wanted to load them up to a blog post. Frustratingly, I've been having phone issues for a week -- unable to synch up to my computer. In fact, it all culminated with the apparent complete death of my phone tonight. Guess I'll have to find a time tomorrow to get into the phone store...

UPDATE: I got my phone fixed and rescued these two photos from that night. The first shows our perfect spot on the patio and includes (from left) Tommy Joseph, Alina Wilson, Max Lloyd, Woody Grice and Heather Forbis Grice. The second is of Steve Cauthen's daughter Ellie and David Wells' daughter Julia.

Dave Matthews Band and The Avett Brothers

What a fun Friday night we had! For Valentine's Day, I had given Scott tickets to see Dave Matthews Band with The Avett Brothers at the amphitheater down in Charlotte. The headline act was the one Scott most wanted to see, while "warmup" band was the headliner for me. Both were a lot of fun, though.
I had never seen Dave Matthews Band before, and it was a great, high energy show. The band is one of those that genuinely seems to love and appreciate what they do and each other. We didn't sit down for two hours! I couldn't find any decent video loaded up yet from last night, but here's someone's clip from the show in Raleigh:


The Avett Brothers were great as well, though they played more ballads than high-energy songs than usual. Sorry, Lois, they didn't play "Salvation Song", nor did they play my favorite, "Pretty Girl From Cedar Lane". They did play this one though -- one I really love:

They Should Charge Admission

Years ago, back when I was working in Sanford, a co-worker of mine from Michigan used to say, "They should charge admission at the border of the state of North Carolina for the whole month of April, it's so beautiful."

Those of us who have lived in the south for a long time sometimes forget what a great place this is. I snapped the photo above on my crappy 1.3mp camera phone as I walked out of the office at lunch on this gorgeous blue-sky 70-degree day. The azaleas and dogwoods took my breath away. May I never forget to notice the beauty around me, even in the office parking lot.

Supper Club - Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Supper club tonight was at Saigon Vietnamese on High Point Road, a place we usually get to once a year or so, with a nice-sized group of 8 people. I LOVE that place! Not just for nostalgic reasons, but also because the food is so very yummy. I seem to be stuck on their Chicken w/ lemon grass & curry, which has a great spicy-sweet flavor (emphasis on the spicy). I also had a bite of Heather's fresh spring rolls which was just as good as ever. Holly ordered a Vietnamese Coffee, which I had never seen before. It looks like it was exceptionally strong drip coffee with condensed milk. Holly said that it's supposed to be served over ice, but that she prefers it hot. Anyway, it was quite a production. Not being a coffee drinker, though, I can't provide a review of it... I will certainly look forward to our next visit to Saigon Vietnamese.

Hard Week / Good Weekend

I didn't blog about Wednesday Night Supper Club last week because I wasn't able to go. In fact, most of the week was consumed with the worst part of my job. With Scott in Wisconsin for work all week, my few hours not dealing with work stuff were fairly empty.

It was a lovely weekend, though, because of the beautiful weather and Scott's return. My morning Saturday was given over to more work stuff, but in the afternoon we took a good long walk up at Bur-Mil Park just enjoying the beauty that springtime in Greensboro brings. Sunday we spent all day out in the backyard trying to shape things up a bit, weeding and clearing out the shed. It's still a major construction zone in our back yard, but progress was made. We also put some chicken wire around the area we planted with junipers back in the fall because neighborhood dogs are trying to kill our baby trees! Hopefully this will keep the dogs' poisonous showers off of them.

Back to work, and turning attention to the future instead of all the sad goodbyes of last week.

Springtime in DC

Scott & I took a lovely 4-day weekend in our nation's capitol. Of course, we didn't have nearly enough time to see everything and everyone we wanted, but we did get a nice taste of a little bit of a lot. We didn't plan our trip early enough to get tickets for the Capitol Tour or the White House Tour, nor did we have the will to wait in the long holiday-weekend lines for the Washington Monument, National Archives or the recently renovated American History Museum. There were many, many things we didn't get to see. That gives us a good reason to go back again before long.

What DID we get to see? Ever so many wonderful things! Including...

The new National Museum of the American Indian was great -- unique building, excellent museum (we spent 3 hours just on the main floor!), and best-anywhere cafeteria (seriously!).

We visited a number of other museums as well, including the Natural History Museum (PACKED on a rainy Saturday morning) and the Holocaust Museum (we only did one of the exhibits -- have the feeling that this place must be taken in small doses). We took a pass on the Newseum, though it looks very interesting, based on the $20 entry fee.

We noted that the National Mall is still looking a bit worse for the wear from the Inauguration trampling...

On Sunday, we had the pleasure of joining some of my old NCSL friends for Easter Brunch, including Leigh who had also flown in from Seattle for the holiday weekend. Thank you, Neil & Tracey, for a lovely time!

After the brunch, we went to the National Zoo, where Scott snapped some great shots of some preening otters and a panda eating a melon!

At different times through the weekend, day and night, we enjoyed the many memorials in and about the National Mall, including:

Somehow, the Obama Family wasn't available to get together with us at all during those four days, as clearly Easter is a very busy time for their family! Next time...

This was the closest we could get to the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn on Monday before we left:

Supper Club - Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What a fun night! 12 of us gathered tonight at San Luis II on High Point Road, and celebrated THREE birthdays, one tonight (Bruce B., who wound up not being able to attend), one tomorrow night (Alina) and one Friday night (Tommy).
We found it to be every bit as good as the original San Luis (Lee St.), and in a much less scary-looking building. They are known for their seafood, which a bunch of people ordered and enjoyed. I got my favorite, the chicken fajita taco salad (no shell!) and it was just as yummy as at the original.
A big thank you to Holly for the cake, and to Heather for having a great quality camera phone!




Lois, come again and I'll be sure to stake out a seat near you to catch up -- you have been missed!

Mini-Commune 2009

This past weekend saw the return of the 3-Day Mini-Commune, an annual trip that hasn't always happened annually, so we very much welcomed its return. This is same crowd we camp with every summer and fall (but missed the fall trip last year). This trip happens up at the Leesville Lake house owned by the family of our buddy Max (owner of Grove Winery), and we pitched our tent next to one of his vineyards. It was a wonderful, relaxing, low-key weekend catching up with good friends and their families. My sunburned nose and forehead were very much worth it. Thank you again, Max & Denise! GREAT weekend.

*UPDATE* I forgot to credit Tommy for these photos! Thanks, Tommy.

Headcold Weekend

As I mentioned, I fought a headcold the weekend after last and into last week. We did get out of the house for awhile that Saturday to attend the model train show over in Winston-Salem. It was quite an impressive setup! The model railroads were HUGE and intricate. It was so interesting to walk around and look at it all. It's easy to see how people can get hooked on this as a retirement pastime!

After the show, it was such a dreary rainy afternoon that we decided to stop in for lunch at Finnegan's Wake, the place we went with supper club a few weeks before. Yummy again, especially on such an Irish-weather-day!

I had just enough energy left to take in Duplicity, with Julia Roberts & Clive Owen. I know the reviews have been just OK, but we really enjoyed it. Pure escapism is a good thing every once in awhile.

That Sunday, after the skies cleared, we went up for a good hike at Hanging Rock. We are so lucky to have that place so close by!

Supper Club - Wednesday, April 1, 2009

I am so late posting about last week's supper club (and everything else!). Last week really got away from me. I fought a headcold over the weekend and early into the work week, but was feeling pretty well healed by Wednesday. Anyway, we went to Pastabilities. Yum! Our small table for 8 was packed in pretty tight -- the place was really noisy and crowded, and there wasn't even a wine discount happening! -- but the service and food were terrific. I love their caesar salad with chicken. It has this great caesar dijon vinaigrette that I'm addicted to. It's been too long since we visited Pastabilities, and hopefully it won't be so long before we return.

Finding Our Way Through The Maze

As you know if you've been following along, we received our foster license in early December and our home study to adopt was approved in early January. Since that time, we've been watching photolistings and made some inquiries that didn't lead anywhere. We've also been asked if we wanted to be considered in two cases that didn't fit our home. In all of the cases, the kids were legally free for adoption.

We've said that we are also willing to foster kids in "legal risk" situations, in hopes of adopting (but supporting reunification if the plan were to turn that way). Basically, that's where the kids are not yet legally free for adoption but are expected to be at some point, and where permanency is the goal. Many families aren't willing to take on these legal risk cases, and so we really had the impression that we'd have received cases by now. Here, I'd been worried that we'd be agonizing over whether to accept this or that very difficult case and we'd have hard choices to make. Hardly! Granted, it's only been a few months, yada-yada-yada, we know. And actually, we've asked to be considered for a legal risk situation right now on the west coast. That one's likely a long shot, as we assume they'll be reluctant to place legal risk kids on the opposite end of the country.

Even so, it's gotten us wondering more about how this whole system works. We had decided to go with Children's Home Society instead of directly with the Department of Social Services in our county because we'd heard that the training and paperwork process can take an exceptionally long time due to the incredibly huge caseloads on DSS social workers. We understood that CHS is licensed to place foster and adoptive kids for DSS, and so figured, all things being equal (including cost, or the lack thereof, of adopting "waiting children"), we'd go with the private agency with the speedier process and greater post-adoptive support resources. We started to question more about how these cases come to be in the hands of CHS, and started wondering whether, given the younger-than-school-age range we're looking for, those kids ever come to the attention of CHS.

This week I talked to some nice folks at the foster/adoptive family recruitment line and learned that DSS in our county has around 150 licensed foster homes (doesn't count those of us with private agencies). They said that when they have a placement to make, they first check to see if there's a match/space at any of those homes first. If not, they run through the homes that they're aware of with local private agencies, but only the ones where the agencies have made information about those families available. According to the woman I spoke with, CHS generally does not send information about their families in this way. If they still don't have a match, then they'll refer the case to one of the private agencies to make a match, and CHS is generally the first on their call list because they're the largest. That's when we started to realize that a pre-schooler or younger kid is probably pretty unlikely to make it all the way to that last step! I asked her if we should make up a little flier to be passed around over at DSS so that more people would be aware of us, and she said, "Oh yes, that's fine, we do get some of those." We made one up quickly (now posted on the left column under "some of our documents") and zapped it over to them. Now, there's no telling if that will make any difference, but we figure that it probably can't hurt!

To increase our visibility within DSS and just further educate ourselves, we plan to start attending the monthly support group meeting for foster and adoptive parents, jointly offered by CHS and DSS. We'll also be attending a four-week Transracial Adoption training course, in case we aren't getting all the possible cases out there because, perhaps, there's retisence about whether we'd know what we're getting into with TRA (this class will also fulfill our annual training requirement to keep our foster license).

We do apparently have the option available to us to transfer from CHS to DSS, but we'll likely give this a good deal more time and pursue all the angles we can come up with before we would get to that point. The people at CHS really are wonderful and caring and committed to children.

Supper Club - Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I went to supper club this week thinking that it would be just Heather Forbis Grice & me at Lucky 32. That happens sometimes. One week there will be 20 people and the next week very few. Heather's company alone is plenty wonderful, but shortly after ordering we were surprised by the whole Deuterman family including Brien's mom. What a treat! The Lucky 32 folks, accommodating as they always are, quickly moved us to a bigger table where we could all be together. The food was great as always. Heather and I both had one of my favorites, the Weaver Tuna Salad (no longer on the menu, but they were still willing to fix it for us). It is SO healthy, but so yummy that I don't feel a bit deprived with that as my supper. We also each had a cup of the she-crab soup off the seasonal menu, also delicious.

It was a particularly fun night, especially when Heather started talking about how she's decided that her cat Clementine looks like Bill Deuterman. Brien (Bill's wife) now agrees, and has provided the photographic evidence to back her case. I'll let all of you judge for yourselves:

Keeping On Track - Healthly Living Program

As noted back in January, I got myself into this "weighty" situation when all hell broke loose at work in mid-2007 (not so much in my control) and I gave into some very bad habits (very much in my control), including missing workouts and stress-eating everything in sight. One of those bad habits was that on very busy days (most days), I would just buy my lunch out of the vending machines to eat at my desk while I worked through. As you can imagine, I wasn't buying anything particularly healthy out of those machines. Inevitably, those empty calories would lead to more of the same by mid-afternoon.

Now, I still have plenty of days where I can't get away from my desk at lunch, but I have found my savior -- the Jimmy John's UnWich. It's the same as any other Jimmy John's sub, but instead of coming with their yummy thick bread that's going to have me feeling hungry and craving again in 2 hours, it's wrapped in a big iceberg lettuce leaf, with paper wrapped around that (you tear away at the paper as you eat your way down). I have ordered one of these anywhere from one to three days per week since starting down this path in January. Some days because there's too much to do and not enough time, and other days because I don't trust my willpower with all the choices outside the building. YAY for the UnWich!