willandadri.com

Well unfortunately it has come and gone. We are packing up to leave the beach. It has been an interesting couple of days. In some ways amazing and in others not so great but I wouldn’t change it for anything. It’s times like these when you reflect and learn much about yourself and those around you. I have been humbled at times to see how many people I am surrounded with in my daily life that are so supportive and loving.

Friday night we arrived to the most amazing Birthday cake. Lori and Chris had collaborated with the cake people up the street, the beach house owner, and the handyman next door to make all of this happen. Not even Adrianne had a clue what was going on! We wandered out to see what was around and settled on a seafood bar and grill on the marina thinking we might sit on the dock and overlook the water. The food was really good and they had live music but not my scene. Once we actually got there I guess the weight of what was about to happen started hitting me and I just really didn’t want to be around people. I tried my best to have fun and enjoy the shrimp poboy that looked so amazing but I started having panic attacks and ended up just picking at dinner. We left and ended up spending a quiet relaxing evening in for the remainder of the night.

Saturday started out really good with a nice time on the beach, a couple of drinks at the Tiki Bar on the pier, and a wonderful Seafood (king crab legs) late lunch on the pier at Oceanic. It went downhill quickly after that. I got very dizzy and nauseous and was struggling not to throw up for a good couple of hours. Making matter worse I felt very tired as if I couldn’t keep my eyes open but every time I closed my eyes the dizziness got worse which made the nausea worse. Luckily by the time we arrived back at the house the nausea had subsided enough that I took a nap and felt better after that but we took it easy and hung out for the rest of the evening watching Ron White and other comedians on TV. By the time 11:30 rolled around we decided to head out to the HT for some ice cream to go with my birthday cake. We got home shortly after my Birthday and began the celebration. I got to open my cards and presents and got the Kindle I had wanted forever! It is great because it will be very helpful in the future allowing me to take all of my Oracle reference books with me instead of having to anticipate what I will need and lug around a lot of heavy books. It will also save me a lot of money because those books are typically $50 but the Kindle versions are only $35. It will also be very helpful now because it is so light I shouldn’t have a problem using it after the surgery. And even if I don’t feel up to holding and playing with it for whatever reason, it has a text-to-speech option so I could have it read books to me or download audio books to listen to.

Luckily Sunday was amazing and uneventful from a stress standpoint. It was supposed to pour down rain all day but as we got up and got moving it actually cleared up and had rather nice weather. We started the day at the Surf House which is a really cool little place. It has a surf shop on one side and a counter and set of tables / TVs on the other side serving breakfast and lunch. I had what sounds like a simple bacon, egg, and cheddar sandwich on a honey wheat bagel but it was probably the best one I have ever had. We then followed up with coffees from Port City Java before heading to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher. I haven’t been to the Aquarium in a long time (and never been to one in NC) and had been wanting to go for a while. We both had a great time and enjoyed ourselves seeing and learning about the various animals. We even got to touch a horseshoe crab and some corral. Adrianne was brave enough to pick up the horseshoe crab and flip it over to look and play with it but I didn’t want to have any part in that. After that we had a good seafood lunch outside and spent some more time on the beach in the sun at Kure beach. Another nap followed (for whatever reason I have been VERY fond of the afternoon naps this weekend) before we got ready and went to the most amazing birthday dinner. Wilmington was a very nice city and the waterfront was amazing. It reminded us both a little of Savanna and Charleston. We went to the little dipper for dinner and were greeted with a tank of Jellyfish as you first walk into the restaurant. The dinner was very good and here happened the only stressful part of the day which luckily only lasted for a few moments. We got a nice bottle of wine as is our usual birthday tradition but I had to stop drinking any because I noticed a trend. The more wine I drank the more depressed I became as I began to reflect on the coming events and how I was not ready for this weekend to end. So I focused back on the amazing dark chocolate and amaretto fondue and Adrianne did a good job of distracting me until it passed and I was back to “normal”.

So here now I sit typing this up as she is packing around me getting ready to leave. I am still not ready to go but I am happy to be taking some great memories with me. And like often happens in life I have many mixed feelings about returning home. I really don’t want to return home and end the vacation prematurely but I also want to go home and just relax and spend some down time before all the craziness starts. I also can’t wait to see Lori this evening and pick her up from the airport but then at the same rate that means that it will be time to call and find out when the surgery is tomorrow and begin my series of showers with the “special” soap. Uggh. I plan on writing one more post once I find out when the surgery is and then won’t be back on until I feel better after the surgery.

we’ve been busy folks lately and wanted to make sure we took time to post our stories, as well as all of the photos that document will’s journey over the past week.  we’ve been to the beach for will’s b-day, we’ve picked up lori from the airport, and we’ve spent the week at duke hospital in durham, and come home to get will on the road to recovery.  below is a photo collage of the past week.  we’ll get back to the written documentation as soon as time permits.

4/23

we were on the go like wild fire this past weekend.  friday night we headed out to do some mattress shopping.  with will’s upcoming surgery we thought it really made sense for us to go ahead and purchase the king sized bed we’ve been dreaming of.  we went to haverty’s and tested out about 30 different styles and brands.  we felt a little like goldilocks, but felt we really narrowed down exactly what we were looking for by being thorough.  after looking at haverty’s for about an hour we decided it was time for some dinner so we headed to waraji.  we always love waraji’s sushi and were not disappointed by this visit.

saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the farmers market.  we picked up some heirloom tomato plants (3 different kinds, one purple, one green, and one pink), some thai basil, some organic honey, some red pepper sauce, and some lime cookies.  we then got our traditional wake forest coffees and hit the road to furniture land south in high point.  back when mom and dad were looking for furniture for their new house, i went with them to this massive location where you can find furniture for up to 70% off retail.  i figured this would be a good spot for us to go look for beds.  we arrived at about noon and headed to the clearance center.  we tested out all of their mattresses and found one we really liked for $200 less than haverty’s price.  after we selected that we headed to the regular store to look at their bed selections.  with 4 floors of furniture spread over two buildings they have just about everything you could imagine.  we worked with an associate who informed me that they were able to order the bed of my dreams, but it was not on the sales floor.

you see, i have wanted a particular bed frame since 2007.  i found the picture online and book marked it to occasionally look at it and drool over it (knowing i could never get it because it was too costly.)  however, i figured we would just give it a shot and see how much it costs, after all everything is discounted!  the sales associate drew us out some maps and told us she would call will’s cell when she got the pricing on that bed.  we wandered around for hours, not really finding exactly what we wanted – and did see a similar bed that we liked, but it was nine thousand dollars!  gulp!  it was shortly after this that we ran back into the sales associate who said she tried to call us, but left a vm. (when we got home we heard her message on our home machine.)  she informed us that the bed i wanted was 60% off the retail price!  we were so shocked we told her we would continue to look around, but i confirmed with will that he loved it as much as i did and we thought it was a go.  we were so dumbfounded we thought for sure she made a mistake, so we reconfirmed that it was king size and it was for the entire bed, not just the head board etc.  she chuckled and confirmed it was for the entire king size bed. 

so, after going to the show room and looking at the quality construction of their other pieces, getting warranty information, and hearing how each piece is hand carved and constructed, we decided to place our order.  i was still in shock, and think i still will be until the bed actually gets here!  now we just have to decide how we want the furniture laid out so we know where this goes when it gets delivered.

we made it home around 9pm on saturday night and headed out to walk the doggies and do some relaxing before we needed to get up at 5:40 the next morning to get ready for sunrise service at church.  it was the first easter that i did not dye eggs, and i started regretting not doing this around that time.  however, with no dye and no energy no eggs were easterized this year.

wake up time came early on sunday morning and i popped out of bed like a bunny ready to get gussied up for sunday service.  we were only 1 minute late for the 7am service, which we were both proud of, since we are famous for being late to everything.  the service was small and intimate as we gathered around the 6′ wooden cross on the side of the church.  pastor matthew called for us to take stones (we’d previously been asked to gather) and lay them at the base of the cross as a symbol of something that we needed to push/roll aside in our journey with Christ.  will and i both found the service very moving and were super happy we’d woken up so early.  after the service dave prepared a delicious pancake breakfast and we chatted with everyone before heading out to greensboro.

when we made it to greensboro we checked out some plants at lowes and tried to make a plan to re-organize our front flower beds.  we’d had dwarf nandina bushes in our front beds since we moved in, and they were never our favorite.  not finding anything we liked at their lowes we decided we’d head to our own store after we got back to wf.  later on we headed to print works bistro at the proximity hotel for an amazing easter lunch.  we tried escargot for the first time, and i finally found something that will does not like!  he made the most terrible face and threatened me with vomit if i made him eat one more bite.  we decided he could never be on “no reservations” or “the amazing race” since he had such an aversion.  however, i found them to be a lot like clams and mussels and i consumed the entire app myself.  after lunch we headed outside to rest on their patio and admire all of their beautiful plantings.   once we’d hung out in the sun long enough we decided to make our way back to wf.

we got home, changed clothes, and headed to our lowes to look for nandina replacements.  we found 27 plants we thought we needed to take home and promptly filled up the jetta and headed home.  i began digging up bushes and before we both knew it we had an entirely new looking front plant bed.  bye bye nandina!  we both really love the look of the new plant bed, and now we just need to get it mulched and we will be good to go!

march is full of birthdays.  we’ve got the following on the books:

beth

mom

lori

mike

maris

as a family we all try to get together some time in march to celebrate all of these b-days in regular over the top party fashion.  last year we held this event at barnhill lane, and this year we were off to alabama court.  maris turned 50 this year, so we had lots of celebrating to do!  we had a surprise party for her at the chinese restaurant in roanoke and then had a sunday celebration after granny’s church that allowed for celebration all the way through will’s bday in april!

mom and dad are really settling into their new place and have installed a new driveway, entirely remodeled the basement with an office for dad and a walk in cedar closet for mom, and repainted just about everything in the house!  the place is really coming together!  their latest project entails a complete redo of the front yard to level it out and allow for some rock retaining walls and plant beds to be installed.  can’t wait to see it fully finished!

we spent some good times in “club alabama” formerly known as “the man cave” on the lower level of 71 alabama court.  will worked to get dad’s surround sound working and we all sung our hearts out and lori graced us all with her dancing prowess.  we were in awe at her rendition of “ima be” by the black eyed peas.  if you see her soon, get her to show you what she can do.

lori arrived last thursday and greeted us just in time for a yelp elite event at the busy bee in downtown raleigh.  we had a great time and met some new friends and shared dinner with them.  after dinner i scurried those little party hounds out to the car and they both cried out that they had to have krispy kreme donuts for dessert!  so, off to kk we went!  featured donut of the month was banana, and somehow i let lori talk me into this.  i decided it was just not my thang.  banana and donut = icky.

we were all excited to spend time with ellie on sunday.  most of us had never met her before, so it was a great deal of fun to torture her with flashing cameras and baby talk babble.  i am sure she is permanently scarred for life now.  this family just loves a baby, and it’s been ten years since james was born, so we are all long overdue for some “oochie coochie cooing”.

this posting also contains my newest obsession of photos.  i’ve recently decided that cherry blossoms could be one of the most beautiful things around.  enjoy.

we had quite an adventurous ride home on sunday night since there was a line of severe thunderstorms stretching from charlotte to va, right on the path we were driving.  i offered to drive, and had no idea what i was in for.  i fought to keep the car on the road and ended up taking us on a 1 hour detour of the covered bank drive through off the I-40 ramp in high point to avoid certain disaster.  with constant interruption to the radio to alert us to storms in guilford county, we knew we’d better stay put.  however after our delay, we made it home safe and sound and ready to see another day.