She Did It!!!! Graduation and Mother's Day make for quite the weekend!

Last Friday, we attended Sarah's graduation!

She graduated Summa Cum Laude (with a perfect 4.0 GPA, I might add) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (my alma mater, I also might add)!  She is now the proud owner of a BA in Communication Studies with a minor in Public Relations!!  

We are so proud of Sarah.  She worked so hard for that GPA!  I remember after her first perfect semester freshman year, we told her that she probably wasn't going to be able to get a 4.0 every semester. Well, I guess she showed us!

Peter happily took the day off of work and came in from Raleigh. Cathy and Eric came in from Virginia. My brother joined us and we headed to Charlotte.  Sadly, my mom wasn't able to join us as she has had some leg pain and wasn't able to walk without a lot of pain and a walker.  We sent her pictures to try to keep her in the loop, but we sure did miss her.  

Sarah's ceremony was at 3:00 in Halton Arena. The 3:00 ceremony included The College of Humanities and Earth &Social Science and the College of Engineering. There were 1200 graduates between these two colleges, and they read off every single name. It went pretty fast though thanks to the AI voice that was reading the names.  

After the ceremony, we met for pictures and then headed to dinner at Flatiron Kitchen and Taphouse in Davidson. Afterwards, Sarah headed back to her apartment and we all headed home.  It was a long but lovely day.

Sarah stayed in Charlotte on Saturday because she had some parties to attend.  Dan, Peter, Eric, Cathy, and I went to a little farmer's market in Winston-Salem on Saturday morning.  It was such a nice way to spend the morning.

We got coffee/tea and cheese danish.  We bought gorgeous flowers (which Cathy gifted me for Mother's Day), dill pickle ranch, dill pickle humus, and some tasty dill cranberry relish.  Cathy and Eric bought mushrooms and tomato plants.  The weather was perfect for walking around looking at all the offerings,

After that we came home and I made a lunch of beans and franks with B&M brown bread.  Dan's mom used to make this every Saturday for lunch when he was a child and since Cathy had gifted Dan a can of brown bread, I thought it would be the perfect lunch.  The brown bread is a New England staple but you can't get it here in North Carolina.

After lunch, Cathy and Eric headed back to Virginia.  We headed to mass and then picked up pizza for dinner and watched the Hurricanes advance to round 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

On Sunday, Sarah came home to celebrate Mother's Day.  I cooked lunch for my mom, and it was pretty tasty if I do say so myself!  I made teriyaki chicken (with homemade teriyaki sauce), Asian slaw, vegetable medley of sugar snap peas, broccoli, and carrots and rolls.  I also made a delicious chocolate mousse cake.  

On Sunday afternoon we headed to a brewery where we enjoyed some adult beverages.  The brewery was hosting a Mother's Day market with a lot of vendors, and I purchased a nice smelling candle for myself.

And then, just like that, our long weekend full of celebrations was over!

But never fear, I've got lots of family photos to share...

My smart, kind, beautiful Sarah...

Quick Carolina Beach Getaway!

Dan has been travelling a lot for the last few years and thankfully, has reached the end of it for a while.  He has no work trips on the books for the foreseeable future! So, to celebrate, he took last Friday off and we went to the beach, just the two of us.

I found an affordable ocean front condo at Carolina Beach. We've never been to this particular beach, so we were excited to see what it had to offer.

We arrived around 1:30 and had a late lunch at Sunny Daze BBQ which was located on the boardwalk.  We both enjoyed delicious brisket sandwiches with an ocean view!

After lunch we checked into our VRBO and hit the beach!

The beach will always be my favorite.

Dan didn't realize the sunscreen I handed him was white and wouldn't rub in!  I didn't realize it either so he spent the afternoon looking like a lifeguard from the 1970s!

After several hours on the beach we headed to dinner.  We chose a place called The Spot and got flatbreads.  We were still full from our late lunch.  The were quite tasty and left us room for ice cream at Squigleys.

Since it was our first time there, they gave us stickers.

Beach hair, don't care!  

The next morning, we enjoyed coffee and bagels on the porch. 

After our relaxing breakfast enjoying the beautiful scenery, we got ready for the day and then headed  to Carolina Beach State Park. Fun fact: Carolina Beach State Park is home to the Venus Flytrap.  Another fun fact:  Venus flytraps are native only to North and South Carolina and they are carnivorous!  We had one growing up and I remember watching one trap and consume a fly.  So cool! We spent a long time on the trail trying to spot one. 

Thankfully we bumped into some other people trying to do the same thing.  They weren't successful either so they found the ranger and he told them exactly where to go so we followed them.  And we found some growing in the wild!  In our defense, they were very tiny as they are just starting to come out and don't reach full size until mid May.  And even when they are full grown, they are still small.

After that we headed to Fort Fisher.  Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort that protected Wilmington's port from 1861 to 1865. They have a great museum on site that just opened last year.  We looked around the museum and then toured the grounds.

One thing about Dan - if we go to a museum, he's going to watch the video!

After touring the fort, we grabbed lunch at Island Burgers and Bites. Their specialty is smash burgers and they were delicious!! Then we headed to the beach where we enjoyed the sun, the waves, some music, some reading and an adult beverage or two.  It was the perfect afternoon!

The temps were in the mid to upper 80s, there was a strong breeze, and the water was chilly only for a minute after you hopped in.  We were in heaven and didn't come off the beach until well after 5:00.

We went to dinner at K38 Baja Grill and it was quite tasty!

On Sunday morning we enjoyed another bagel and coffee on the balcony and then got the VRBO cleaned up, packed, and the headed to Mass on our way out of town.  

It was the perfect little two-day getaway!  The weather was beautiful, it wasn't crowded yet, we had plenty of time to relax on the beach but were also able to visit some local sites.  And now, I'm ready to go back!!!

Easter Weekend 2026

The Lord is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed!

Sarah came home for Easter on Thursday evening.  Dan was still in Ireland so the two of us enjoyed dinner and Love on the Spectrum and got caught up on all the things.  And on Friday, she and Brad joined me and Mom on our weekly shopping and lunch at Village Tavern.  

Sarah left to spend the evening with Joe and his family and then Peter and Dan both made it home.  I fixed some pasta and we got caught up on Survivor.

On Saturday after errands and yardwork and baking, we had dinner at Quanto Basto and then came home and watched tv (I don't even remember what we watched, I just enjoyed having all of my people in the same room together.)  

On Sunday we attended Easter Mass and then had lunch at mom's house. It was a delicious steak dinner and I made my famous carrot cake.  Well, maybe not famous, but it's certainly delicious!

On Sunday afternoon, we headed downtown to visit a couple of breweries and to watch the Canes game.  When we got home, I made a batch of my famous pepperjack pimento cheese toasts.  Well, maybe not famous, but they are certainly delicious!  And then, just like that, our Easter weekend was over.

I said my goodbyes to everyone on Monday morning before I headed off to work.  Dan was working from home in the morning before heading back to the airport.  Peter was working from home before heading back to Raleigh and Sarah was heading back to Charlotte for a night class.  

Imagine my excitement and surprise when I got a text at work asking if I wanted to join them all for lunch at Dario!  My yes was immediate and they picked me up shortly after that and we spent another hour together before we all official went our separate ways.

It was such a nice laid-back weekend with my favorite people. I enjoyed every single minute.  And why is it that I sleep so much better when everyone is home under one roof?

I typically try to get family photos on mom's front porch on Easter Sunday after lunch but it was chilly and rainy and I totally forgot.  That's my one and only regret of the weekend. Here are the only pictures I took this weekend...

The Easter Bunny came!

Posing with mom's two new kittens who are more like teenagers now.

Grandma makes the best Easter baskets!

A drink with my girl.

Trying out the zoom lens on my phone.

Peter is a notary now and was notarizing some documents for Brad. 

The sunset was beautiful on Easter.

We won't all be together again until next month when we are celebrating Sarah's college graduation.  Where oh where has the time gone?