Well another fine weekend has come & gone in Raleigh with thankfully no yard work--here's the highlights:
- Friday night was momentous because K & I finally had success in securing some food at the Hayes Barton Cafe. We've attempted to eat there on two separate occasions & both were strikes; once it was just too packed & once we got there at closing time (What restaurant closes at 9:30 you ask? The HBC). The second time was particularly unfortunate as we stuffed 6 people in the Outback & poor Craig (who gets motion sickness in cars) had to ride in the back. Not exactly the ideal situation. Regardless, this time Kristin & I manged to sneak in just for some desert & we'll certainly be back. She had some sort of mint chocolate cake (with full Andes mint bars baked in) & I had a caramel apple pie--quite tasty. Its also noteworthy to point out the serving sizes were huge; we took most of our pieces home.
- On Saturday I took the pooches over to Andrea & Brandon's to watch Duke take out Miami while the K rested on the couch. She regrouped (I tell you, the pregnancy wears one out) & the four of us caught Juno at The Rialto. It was a fun movie that had a couple small but interesting twists that kept it from being too formulaic. Had some quirky characters & some good dialogue--its safe to say we endorse it.
- Sunday had a bit of errand running involved (for a duvet cover, if you must know) but since it had a high of 68 or so we took the dogs on a walk around nearby lake Johnson. We did a 2.5 mile loop which tired the dogs out but they did fine. We then drove (all the way) up to Wake Forest to catch the Super Bowl with a bunch of friends. Most of the party (including the hosts, Erin & Brian) were pretty hard core Patriots fans and, unless you're viewing this blog through some sort of time-travel portal, it didn't turn out so well for them. So the party ended on a bit of a downer which I can appreciate considering I lived through The Horror last year. However, the game was interesting & overall the party was great. Somehow Brian grilled hamburgers that actually had bacon & cheese already in the patty--if that's not a monumental human achievement I'm not sure what is.
And now for your 'Plus'....
- On Monday morning Kristin & I went on over to the doctor's office for the next scheduled Cubby appointment. The good news is both K & the baby are doing great and we got to listen to the heart beat for the first time. I think we were both expecting the heart beat to sound like what one would hear through a stethoscope (think 'thump, thump') but through the doppler thing it was much more of a 'whish-whish-whish' sound. The quote from the doctor was a 'strong 158 beats a minute & everything sounds great.' 'Very exciting stuff......
It was a fairly productive weekend in the City of Oaks on both the practical (read: housework) & fun (no explanation needed) side of things. A quick rundown:
- On Friday we did dinner & then saw Cloverfield with our buddies Brian, Erin, Andrea & Brandon (Andrea didn't make the movie as she doesn't 'do' the shaky-cam thing). If you've heard that its essentially Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project than you've heard right. The chatter coming out of the theater was mixed but both K & I enjoyed it because it wasn't the standard Hollywood movie. I liked the surreal aspect of the movie; the use of the camcorder & smart editing really gave the effect of being in the middle of an unfolding disaster. Of course some people didn't like the judgment errors that characters made, which to me just made them--& the situation they were portraying--all the more believable.
- Saturday was mostly random errand-running, but it was also the day of the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Some of you may recall I completed the challenge last year but a couple weeks ago I aggravated a calf injury playing football (though I did throw 4 touchdown passes) so I had to sit it out. A few friends of ours ran it this time around & I went out to meet up with them halfway through the race to provide moral support as they attempted to eat their dozen. Our friend Jennifer had 2 (she never had plans to eat the full dozen) but the husband & wife team of Scott & Lanier 'McCrevis' gave it a shot. Scott had unofficially finished the challenge last year (he had to run it the night before due to a conflict) but it wasn't to be this time. He finished eating a respectable 8. On the other hand, this was Lanier's first shot. She was only going to eat 6 donuts but 'they went down so easy' she had to go for the dozen. She actually ate all 12 in 10 minutes (it took me 20 last year) & to really throw down the gauntlet she beat my time by over 2 minutes (to add insult to injury the course was apparently lengthened by a quarter mile this time around). It might have to be on next year.......
Thanks to everyone who helped out & voted. At this point its unclear how many votes he got but I'll let you all know. The rescue already got $1,000 for being the charity of the finalist & an extra dollar for every vote Hank got. Now they'll get $50,000 because he won though apparently the total donation can't exceed $100,000. Very cool....
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