willandadri.com

we spent saturday at the fearrington village. they feature a folk art show there on an annual basis. this year’s show featured 30 artists. when we entered the barn we were overwhelmed with colors and bright images. art was hanging from floor to ceiling. there were sculptures, paintings, floor mats, wall hangings, t-shirts, cards, flower planters, yard ornaments, and more. after a once around the barn we came back to the second booth we entered. eric legge’s booth. his art is powerful, yet simply designed, and full of emotion. we zeroed in on a portrait and he quickly gathered it up and flipped it over to create cherubs on the back. he went straight to work signing his name and the date, and filled every inch of the back of the piece with cherubs, explaining that even though most people would not know they were there, they were in fact there – doing work like angels in the back ground. pretty amazing.

eric told us that this was only the third painting he had done in ’09.  he said he painted it on thursday 2/19/09 in his hotel room.

check out his website:
http://www.ericlegge.com/

valentine’s day

saint valentin

valentinstag

cupid’s day

a day of  love

february 14th

yesterday was kissy pooh day.  it’s always great when valentine’s day is on a saturday.  we got to sleep in, and i woke up to a wonderful breakfast in bed!  husband made eggs, sausage, and had heart shaped krispy kreme donuts!  delish!  after breakfast we had present time on the “love stage”.  husband opened a satchel full of valentine’s day treats including his favorite gummy bears!  when it was my turn, husband handed me a giant box, and i opened it to reveal guitar hero 3!  we ran up stairs to attempt to rock out!  we quickly learned that husband has a second career possibility as a rock star!  during the rock tour intermission we heard a doorbell ring, and amelia alerted us to the fact that a flower delivery had arrived! after our rock tour we watched “fireproof”, a perfect valentine’s day movie – and now husband’s favorite movie of all time. 

for dinner we headed to “angus barn”.  the place was packed.  luckily husband made our reservations last year, so we were quickly seated at a quaint little table for two.  once seated the waitress brings out a tasty little sampler of cheese spreads, homemade crackers, olives, peppers, pickles, and celery.  after we got acquaintedwith the colossal menu, we decided on raw oysters for an appetizer, and asked for the sommelier’s recommendation for a berriful pinot noir.  the waitress returned and informed us of his selection, and we chose to go with his decision.  moments later she returned “regretfully” informing us that the $40 bottle of wine he recommended to us was no longer available, and they would be substituting an $80 bottle in it’s place, for the same price – what a shame!  the replacement wine, “adelsheim” pinot noir, was perfect with our filet dinners.  everything was perfectly cooked, and our steaks were topped with gorgonzola and balsamic reduction!  again – delish!  after our meals we were tempted by an enormous dessert tray.  the selections included three types of cheesecakes, pecan pie, sundaes, chocolate chess pie, and cobblers.  will decided on chocolate chess pie, a guest favorite – and i talked the waitress into putting chocolate sauce on top of fruit cheesecake!  i also selected a glass of arboleda carmenere.  this wine is from chile, and was out of this world!  (The lost grape of Bordeaux, Carmenére has made a comeback in Chile. Deep violet color, blackberries and cherries along with vanilla and cacao.)  if you have not been to the angus barn, you really should check it out!

we had a great weekend together, and are sad it’s almost over.

much love!

we went to chicago on tuesday night to visit the rolfs.

we toured the city’s culinary palatte and saw an amazing variety of restaurants from HB, to Lou Mitchell’s, to Hot Dougs – all nationally known for their fare.  the first day we braved our adventurous side and tested out some ethiopian food.  we were all really surprised how much we loved the beet salad!  we, like lo and chris, fell in love with their favorite sushi place – the butterfly.  the sushi was amazingly fresh and we could not get enough of it!  BYOB – is a new concept to us.  we do not have this in nc.  will and i could not believe that a restaurant would find it profitable to allow you to bring in your own bottle of wine and serve it to you with your dinner!  a fabulous treat!

we took a walking tour of the city and visited all of the world famous chicago locations.  luckily, we brought warm weather with us, so only the first two days were unbearably cold.  the first day, when we were out walking we stopped into the Ghiradelli store to get some hot beverages.  lo and will were not fans of the literal hot chocolate.  by the time we headed it out of town, it was in the 50’s!  very warm for a chicago february! 

we played multiple board games to humour ourselves during the week nights.  jenga was amazingly great, until i knocked down the tower of over 30 blocks!  way to go, steady handers!  we also played battle of the sexes.  thankfully, lo and i won on that one, so we pulled one out for the ladies in the end.

we all headed out to second city comedy club on friday night.  this is the place where so many famous comedians have gotten their starts.  the place was sold out, and rightfully so – the show was amazingly hilarious!  we laughed our butts off!  we all wanted to go back and see it again, but you have to get your tickets early – so let’s buy some now for this summer’s visit!

we can’t wait to head back in august!  mark your calendar!

well, we’ve come to the end of another long week. 

it’s friday – so I always ask – WHAT’S THE PLAN?  tonight, only the dogs were here to answer (husband is still at work).  they just starred at me, and did not say anything.  go figure.

oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful – and since we can both work from home, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

raleigh got 4+ inches of snow today.  very unusual for this area – so we had to document.  the doggies really enjoyed themselves – cold paws and all.

the sun was actually perfectly beautiful today.  amelia and iliana rested peacefully in the warm heat of the sun.  neither one of them wanted to get up from their resting perches to head outside to go potty or even eat/drink.  as I was heading down the hall this morning, this tulip caught my eye.

this tulip is a symbol for wednesday – 1/14/09.

it really doesn’t take much to make me happy.  a clean house on a sunny saturday with the doggies living the freedom of a non-work day equals complete bliss.  just look at them enjoying the sun.

christmas is over.  sad but true.  no holidays to look forward to until easter.  all of the glitz and glam is packed up and put away.  nativity taken down and boxed up.  people still have christmas lights out, but it’s january, it’s 50 degrees and it’s raining.  they are still trying to hold on to the holidays, but they are gone.

as we packed things up yesterday, here are some of the pretties that we won’t see again until december ’09.  (except for amelia, the helper dog – she gets to stay unpacked.)

nye this year was a blast.  we always have fun at the hotel roanoke partying down with momma & daddy.  this year the kings had an additional lead singer, and they had a larger range of current hits.  the dance floor was rolling.  we always enjoy our stay at the hotel roanoke, and new years day breakfast with granny and the covey clan.  everyone had a great ’08, with many things to be thankful for – however we are stoked about ’09.  we really think this will be our year.

we approach ’09 with hope and expectancy.

enjoy some highlights from this year’s gala.

will and i headed to waynesville for a white christmas.  we arrived late on tuesday evening after everyone had gone to bed.  adri worked on wednesday and then we all went to church for christmas eve service.  after church we headed back home for dinner and games.  everyone had a fun time.  however, there was an incident with some butter and a non-working telephone.  (see photos for further explanations.)

the kids really enjoyed christmas.  everything meridith opened caused her to exclaim -“my very own” ______!  it was really rather amusing.  meridith is still free natured and proudly exclaims – “i’m not naked, i’m wearing panties!”  ethan was in love with meredith’s microphone toy, and his new digital camera.  he would point the camera at you and tell you that he was taking a video, so you “better keep moving!” 

friday, we all headed to grove park inn.  everyone enjoyed a beverage on the porch overlooking asheville.  the view was really amazing and the weather was in full cooperation! 

taylorside by the fireside.  here are the gifties.

this year we drew names.  lori and keek picked the names out of a hat and ‘secretly’ mailed them to all of us prior to thanksgiving.  i drew mom’s name, dad drew will, will drew beth, beth drew me – and the rest is yet to be revealed.  some participants elected to go a little overboard in the rules department.

will suprised me with a christmas scavenger hunt tonight.

read the clues below to find the present.

wake forest held their annual christmas parade this past saturday.  the parade started at the end of white street and went through downtown and around the block.  it was everything a local home town parade should be – lots of kid’s floats, highschool bands, and fire trucks! 

we had an amazing time in roanoke this weekend.  the grand opening of the new taubman art museum was saturday.  mom got tickets for us to the 11am time slot.  the city was energized with the anticipation of the grand unveiling.  the building itself was completely amazing.  inside, the galleries contained art from the 18th century – a norman rockwell – judith leiber handbags – a digital art gallery – and a tattoo gallery.  there was something for everyone.

after a tour of the galleries we grabbed a snack at norah’s cafe inside the museum, visited the gift shop for a souvenier, and visited several new stores downtown.  afterwards, we headed to catawba to eat at the homeplace for lunch.  beth suprised us with her new car!  we got to take a spin, and headed to grandpa taylor’s for dad’s birthday cake.

we had a great weekend.

>коли под наемent to waynesville on friday to visit will’s folks.  his sister and her kids were also in town, so we had fun hanging out with ethan and meredith.  

we had to stop at about 7 gas stations to get gas on friday night, due to shortages around raleigh.  this put us, and apparently others, into panic.  we stopped in conover prior to hitting the mountains at asheville to fill up.  we found 5 gas stations at one exit and hoped for good odds.  only 1 had any gas.  they were charging $4.40 per gallon for regular gas and were only accepting cash.  ridiculous.

we finally made it into town around 1am.  we slept for a little while and then were up and adam to go to a carnival on saturday.  they were having an agricultural fair, so we hung out in those exhibits before the carnival rides opened.  the kids had a blast.