Road Trip: Charlotte, NC

It was time to hit the road last week in celebration of our third anniversary and it came right in the nick of time.  We love our child more than anything in the world, but we needed a break.  So we left James and Lucy in the care of Grandma & Grandpa Q. and Aunt Suzy and went on a little adventure.

After lots of hug and kisses, we dropped James off at daycare last Thursday morning and set off on our journey. First stop:  Charlotte, NC.  This is a destination that has been on both of our lists for a while so it was a natural choice as we headed south.  The route was a familiar one (I-66 to I-81) as it was the path I took so many times as I made my way to and from JMU about a hundred years ago (at least that is what it feels like these days!).

The 6-hour journey was filled with lots of trucks, lots of farmland and lots of mountain views. When we finally hit Charlotte, we were invited to views of Lake Norman and city skylines.  

We arrived in Charlotte in the mid-afternoon, checked into our EpiCentre aLoft Hotel and grabbed a bite before taking a short stroll through the "Uptown" area.  We couldn't get over how quiet it was for a work day - especially compared to downtown DC and NYC.  It's an especially clean city surrounded by lots and lots of bank plazas.  After a quick tour, we headed back to the hotel, freshened up, grabbed a cab and were shuttled to our evening activity:  Charlotte's Brew & Chew Brewery & Food Tour.

The starting point of this unique tour was the NoDa Brewing Company's headquarters located on North Davidson Street in an area known as NoDa.  This area, formerly a mill town, has been converted into Charlotte's creative arts district and is as funky and adorable as you can get.  

We arrived early so we decided to indulge in some libations as we waited.  The NoDa brewery had a variety of flavors to choose from and all that we tasted were delicious.  We met our lovely tour guide (and business owner), Kristi, and started the tour with a behind the scenes look at beer making.  

Our next stop was just outside and served up some delicious tacos.  The Tin Kitchen food truck is one of only 35 food trucks in all of Charlotte and is manned by a trio of friends that have a love of creating "freestyle" gourmet food.  They served up Oaxacan Chicken Mole Tacos and their award winning veggie Buffalo Cauliflower Taco.  Both were delicious and well timed after our beer tasting had left us craving some munchies!

Next it was onto our second brewery of the night - Birdsong Brewing Company.  Although a bit smaller than NoDa, this brewery served up some delicious options including my favorite of the evening - the Free Will Jalapeño Pale Ale.  What is cool about this place is that they name all their beers after songs.  Many times, they have a song in their head and use it as inspiration to create the beer.  I also fell hard for the light fixture in their tap room - so cool!!

Now that we had a nice buzz on, it was time to operate the most unique vehicle we had ever seen:  The Party Pedaler.

It is part car, part bike and all CRAZY!!!  It is run by a gal who had a regular old 9 to 5 job in Texas until she saw this thing driving down the street.  She quit her job, bought a custom built pedaler and her small business was born!  We hopped on and with the help of the others in the group started pedaling to our next location.  Oh - and that hippie looking guy in the bottom picture?  That is Ryan...our driver. :)

Next stop: Heist Brewpub.  This unique brewery/restaurant is housed in a historic building that was formerly a cotton mill.  The decor was awesome - great chandelier in the bar room (copper that they took to a shooting range to create the one-of-a-kind cans) and AMAZING use of old reclaimed wood on the walls.  We were treated to another delicious beer along with some good eats.

We once again hopped on our party pedaler and hit a few more spots in NoDa including Dolce Vita wine bar and Salud Beer Shop.  One of the coolest things we saw on our journey was a bar that had a dog run attached.  The place was called The Dog Bar and the genius of it was astronomical!!

All in all, the night was awesomely fun and something that we HIGHLY recommend to anyone who visits Charlotte.  We crashed into the bed hard that night and slept more soundly than we had in a very long time.

The morning brought sunshine and the events from the night before brought hunger so we headed to Toast Cafe located in the Dilworth neighborhood.  The food was great, but the neighborhood was even better. We decided to take a little tour of the town and were impressed at every turn. It was one cute house after the other with "cutesy-dutesy" shops and restaurants all around.  Definitely a great place to live...if you were thinking of moving of course. :)

We had a packed schedule for our full day in Charlotte that included a Segway tour of the city, a trip to a local museum and some good eats at a swanky restaurant.  We were not Segway novices as we had used them here in DC for a tour back with John and Adriana visited.  And we both agree, they are a great way to see a city for the first time.  Our young tour guide took us to a variety of sites and shared lots of information about Charlotte.

After our fun tour, we escaped a downpour with lunch at a local pub and a visit to the Levine Museum of the New South.  We had the place to ourselves so we were able to roam about the interactive exhibits at our leisure. The exhibits focus on life in the south post Civil War.  It was highly informative and very well done.  Another "must see" in Charlotte.

Our time in Charlotte ended with a delicious dinner at 5Church, a fairly new chic restaurant in the city.  We had a great time visiting this banking city and looked forward to continuing our journey south.

 

Next stop: Charleston, SC.  Stay tuned!

The Newels Are Here! The Newels Are Here!

Perhaps not as historical as "The British are Coming", but no less exciting.  :)  We have a little project up our sleeves and a key component of it arrived today.  More details to follow as things get underway, but to wet your whistle, the project includes this:

(the newel - not Ed!) and some of this:

This is a project that we are PSYCHED about (shout out to you Ms. Emard Ratner!) and can't wait to share the details once they are ready.  Now its off to BM to get some sample cans!

Easter Happenings

Easter 2013.  It came in like a lion, kicked our butts and left us going to bed at abnormally early hours when it was over.  Yes, it was THAT fun!

We made a long weekend out of the holiday and headed up to NY to spend quality time with the Mangiaracina/Kolb family. We crammed so much stuff into the 4 days that we needed to take a nap in the middle of writing this post to get through it all!  Here is a run down of the hectic schedule:

Thursday, 3/28 | 6:30 PM

Dropped Lucy off at the Quartuccio house and hit the road for a 5 hour trip to Long Island complete with a stop at White Marsh Town Center for a diaper check, BK dinner in the car and a cranky, non-sleeping toddler.

Friday, 3/29 | 12:30 AM

Tried very hard to settle a SCREAMING kid who was 100% overtired and didn't want to sleep in a pack n' play in the same room with his parents.

Friday, 3/29 | 10:30 AM

Kept a (finally!) napping kid napping by driving around the old neighborhood while on the way to our favorite breakfast spot, the Eggery.  The nap worked ~ check out these smiles:

Friday, 3/29 | 1:30 PM

After playtime at Aunt Adriana and Uncle John's new, beautiful house, we headed back into the car to visit Grandpa Mangiaracina at the cemetery.  It was a lovely moment to have James there with us.

Friday, 3/29 | 4:00 PM

Time to play with the puppies and kitties at Grandma's house.  James was enamored with Marty, Uncle Joe's black lab and Princess the cat was enamored with James.

Friday, 3/29 | 6:30 PM

After another failed quick nap, we had a quick dinner at Grandma's house and a visit from the Green family.  This was the first time James met Dominick and Guilianna and they all had a blast playing.  James played hard to get with his new lady friend. :)

Friday, 3/29 | 7:30 PM

Cue the James melt down.  We stuck it out as long as we could but it was time to head back to the Kolb residence for a bath and bedtime.  I think he fell asleep before he hit the not-so-comfortable pac n' play mattress.

Saturday, 3/30 | 4:00 AM

Wake up call courtesy of James.  He refused to go back to sleep in that damn pac n' play.  I broke a cardinal rule and let him sleep with us just to get some more zzzz's.

Saturday, 3/30 | 6:00 AM

And we're up.  Sorry Uncle John and Aunt Adriana!

Saturday, 3/30 | 11:00 AM

Daddy hit the car show at the Javits Center with Uncle Joe so James and I decided to head out east to meet adorable cousin Kevin.  The boys were adorable together and Nean and I had chance to catch up.  We shared lunch with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy and ended the awesome visit with a walk through the neighborhood.  Jeannine and I grew up together and spent our childhood playing Mommy to our Cabbage Patch Kids.  It was a surreal moment to share now that we are Mommy's to real kids. 

Saturday, 3/30 | 6:00 PM

It was dinner time again at Grandma's house and because of only one crappy 45 minute nap earlier in the day, a full on melt down ensued at the dinner table.  Luckily, he was more well behaved during dessert but I think it was the ice cream that Daddy was feeding him that kept him happy.  

Saturday, 3/30 | 9:00 PM

With James down for the night, it was time to dye those Easter eggs.  There were strict rules to obey - one color per egg, but after lots of lobbying of Adriana, I was able to make my grenade egg.

Sunday, 3/31 | 6:00 AM

Awake.  At least he is consistent.  The Easter Bunny found James and gave him a great basket filled with all sorts of toys.  James was more interested in the new game we invented called "I'm gonna get James".  Basically we say "I'm gonna get James" in a silly voice and he gives us big smiles and giggles and walks away from us.  Or towards us.  Depends on his mood at the time.  Apparently this game was more fun than his Easter basket.  We did not take offense.

Sunday, 3/31 | 9:00 AM

It was back to Grandma's for Easter breakfast.  James (in bunny ears) had some yummy bagel and was treated to some awesome gifts from Grandma. Now, while I love when his Grandparent's spoil him, I can't say that I love the Yankees hoodie that he is now in possession of.  From the looks of things, he wishes it was a Mets hoodie too! :) 

Sunday, 3/31 | 11:00 AM

NAPPING!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Sunday, 3/31 | 2:00 PM

We were back in the car and headed west to Staten Island for Easter at the Giocolano's.  Guess what, MORE NAPPING!!!  Good thing - traffic on the Belt was thick!

Sunday, 3/31 | 3:00 PM

James was full of smiles and giggles as we settled into the cozy Giocolano home for Easter dinner.  A big thanks to cousins Renee and Mike for the awesome new duckie that keeps him laughing for hours!

Sunday, 3/31 | 7:15 PM

After a delicious dinner, the clothes came off and the peep show began.  Ha!  Kidding.  Kind of.  Mr. James was down to his undies and decided to put on a show for the neighbors.  Thanks to cousin Mike, he had a ball playing in the window.

Sunday, 3/31 | 8:00 PM

With jammies on, it was time to head home.  But not before some extra hugs from cousin Renee.  The little man was sleeping within 5 minutes of being in his car seat.  Upon arrival at the Kolb house, we did a quick diaper check and put him down where he was out cold.  Looks like the lack of sleep caught up to him...finally!

Monday, 4/1 | 6:00 AM

Up and at 'em! Seriously...this kid needs to learn that 7:00 AM is a very good hour to wake up!  We said our goodbyes to Uncle John who headed to work, had some breakfast with Grandma and Aunt Adriana, packed up and hit the road. James slept most of the ride until we hit Delaware where we stopped for a potty break and some lunch. He wasn't happy about the rest of the ride, but once he saw Lucy girl, he forgot all about it!  

So that was Easter weekend in a nutshell.  We are still trying to recover and are hoping James will be back on a normal sleeping pattern soon. It's always fun to visit the family and we are all looking forward to seeing them again very soon. 

The Truth About Love

As the title of P!nk's current tour, she truly did teach us the truth about love Thursday night at the Verizon Center. To say the show was good is the understatement of the century. Words like "Amazing", "Incredible" and "Tremendous" don't even do it justice.  It was, hands down, the BEST live show we have ever seen.  Ever.  Period.

Going to see P!nk live in concert has been on my bucket list for a while.  I wouldn't call myself a super fan, but I've always liked her and thought that her show would be entertaining.  I convinced Ed to get tickets for last night's show and reluctantly, he joined me.  I say reluctantly because he figured the crowd would be 90% women and 10% the men whom they dragged with them.  Turns out he was wrong.  The crowd was much older and there were a lot more guys present than he thought.

We made our way to our nose bleed level seats and were pleased that we were in the first row of the section.  We struck up a conversation with the couple next to us who had commented on the giant coffee that Ed was holding and bonded over the fact that we now, as parents of little ones, drink coffee at concerts vs. alcohol.

If you know anything about P!nk's current tour, you will know that it is a spectical.  Not only is there singing and dancing, but there are acrobatics in the style of Cirque du Soleil all performed by P!nk herself while singing.  It wasn't a concert; it was a production!  She started with a bang by entering the stage from above on a bungee while singing one of my personal favs, Raise Your Glass.  There were about half a dozen dancers, 3 to 4 big burly men who were all in on the acrobatics and lots of fire.  Quite a start!  She continued with jams including Just Like a Pill, Try, Just Give Me a Reason (a new favorite!), Trouble, Slut Like You, and Blow Me (One Last Kiss).  One of my favorite parts of the show was when she sang Who Knew acoustic style.  Beautiful!

  

In between all the great songs and performances, she was a Chatty Cathy.  She's funny, silly, and down to earth.  She loves being a Mom and spoke about Willow a lot.  It was great to see the human side of this "larger than life" pop starg.  Under normal circumstances, I could totally be friends with this girl!

She saved the best for last.  The first song of her encore was So What.  Check it out:

You see that white light that is floating around the screen? Well, that is P!nk who is strapped in a harness flying all around the Verizon Center.  HOLY CRAP!!!  It was INCREDIBLE!  Our video does not do it justice - check out this video from a concert in Montreal from a few days ago:

The truly amazing thing is that she is singing while peforming these amazing feats.  I mean, c'mon!  She really is a wonderful performer and I would absolutely go to another show.  I think Ed would too without any extra prodding.  Seriously, check out her tour dates and if she is in your town go see her.  These days, we don't get out too often, but when we do, we try to do it right.  Thank you P!nk for an AMAZING date night and for showing us the Truth About Love!

Coo Coo!!!

Not us.  The weather.  Last week, it snowed on Wednesday and by Sunday, we were in the park on a swing.  What the heck?!  It's safe to say that Mother Nature has lost her marbles, but hey, we'll take it.  Variety is the spice of life, right?! :)

As per usual, the media hype on the snow storm that hit our region last week was ridiculous.  Before the snow even arrived, the term "SnowQuester" was being thrown around.  Well, in true Northern VA fashion, everyone freaked out and bought all the bread and milk in the stores and closed schools the night before.  Hell, event the Feds closed up shop! 

We saw about 6 inches of very wet snow which we took advantage of despite James' request.  We should have known when we were getting him into his snow suit that this was not the best idea.  Cranky is not the word!!  We managed to stuff him in it and snap a picture so we can document the "I-can't-put-my-arms-down!" moment.  Ralphie would be so proud. :)

The snow was still falling when we hit the slopes (aka side yard) and James was not happy. I don't think he cracked a smile the entire time. Se la vie - it was a milestone moment for him to be dragged in his new sled for the first time.

Now cut to the weekend.  We saw temps in the mid to upper 60's so we decided to take advantage of it.  With the snow melting around us, we put James in his car and drove over to the big playground with the swings.

James had never been in a swing other than his baby swing so now was the time for another "first".  To say he loved it was an understatement.  I think his favorite part were the Lucy kisses he received when the swing came forward - who wouldn't?! :)

It was a fun day that ended with Daddy on the couch sleeping (still a bit under the weather) and James at the drive-in theatre (aka our family room in his car) with his Mum Mum and some bad TV.  I think my favorite part about this scene is Lucy staring at the Mum Mum willing James to drop it.  :)

Thanks for the 2 great days, Mother Nature.  But for the record, we'd like more of the playground days than the snow days at this point.