One Of Those Weeks

Good afternoon my dears.

Today, it's a cloudy 68 degrees, so I can indulge in a little respite and catch-up on my blog. I don't know about you, but as soon as the sun begins to shine, I'm outside, avoiding my inside responsibilities, and acting I'm on spring break!

So let's rewind to a few weekends ago...

Friday, March 17th

On St. Patrick's Day, we were going to go celebrate with avocado toast at the Cheesecake Factory, but it was busy, and life is too short to wait to be seated. So we went to Maggiano's instead. I had the chicken masala, with a request of adding peas.

When I dine out, I like to take mental notes of what we both order, and then try to recreate the recipes at home. So, at the market I googled "masala sauce" and realized it was a white wine sauce, considering we rarely, if ever drink, I felt odd spending so much time in the wine section looking for masala wine. Thankfully, we found it, and if you add a little olive oil, and flour it makes a delicious base for a carb loaded pasta dish.

Afterwards, we strolled around Crate and Barrel, to see what furniture selections they had to keep in mind for our new house.

Saturday, March 18th and Sunday, March 19th

We spent the weekend at our land. The weather was beautiful - not too hot, not too cold. I set up a campfire, and got to work collecting brush to burn.

We also got a special delivery, a 42" John Deere mower. I wish I'd taken a before and after, because I mowed the front 2 acres, and was quite content looking up at the Carolina blue sky, smelling the freshly cut lawn, and hearing the church bells in the distance.

Here's my hubby on the side 2 acres which overlooks our neighboring church and pastoral land.

Sunday 18th Evening

After a hard-working weekend on the land, we came home in time to get ready for our second appointment with our building advisor, who has been hard at work helping us make changes to the floorplan. We also found out, that she attended the same home church as Cory's cousin, Sam. It's a small world.

Wednesday, March 22nd

For date night we went to PF Chang's, and then to see Beauty and The Beast. Oh my lucky stars, it was fantastic. I especially loved the casting of Emma Watson, she's so delicate, and ladylike that I think there's few other actresses who could play the part.

Thursday, March 23rd

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I got an plumbing emergency message from my neighbor, who has a four-month-old baby, so I went over to help. I recommended a plumber, and helped plunge their sewery water, wishing I'd worn different shoes.

Anyway, she asked if she could come over to use our restroom, and it just happened to be, on the day I hadn't unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher yet, vacuumed, or fed the dogs breakfast, so our house was a chaotic mess. She couldn't wait to get out fast enough.

Then later that evening, I left my purse when I was out running errands, thankfully the manager recognized me, and my purse and came out to the car-park.

It was one of those days, and like my mum says "we all have them."

Friday, March 24th

We were outside all evening, working on the garden, the pool, and pool patio. So I made dinner al fresco. Fresh strawberries, and mini homemade pizzas, with Carolina BBQ sauce, cilantro, red onion, chicken, bacon bits, and mozzarella. They were a hit!

Saturday, March 25th

We had to go renew my license. Which I've already had to renew five times in the past five years, and it can't be done online. The reasoning is that I submitted an application to renew my green card this time last year, however, the USCIS is a year behind, so I had to get a 1 year renewal, and with each renewal requires a new license, as it expires when my green card expires.

Thankfully, I'm used to it, but I'm sure it would be frustrating to some green card holders - especially those who are elderly, or disabled, or don't live close by to a USCIS office like we do.

Afterwards, we had planned to have brunch, but we took a wrong turn and headed towards the city, we usually come into the city another way. But as they're doing construction work, we accidentally ended up in the BUS LANE. Oh my gosh, we kept driving, and driving and couldn't get out because there was concrete barriers on either side. We honestly thought "this is it", we're finally going to get stopped by the police.

But thankfully, the sky lit up, and a beam of sunshine led us the way out, and we took a deep sigh of relief. It all ended up okay though. Seeing as we were in the area we decided to have lunch at The Big Ben Pub, in Charlotte's trendy South End. Here's my hubby with a Cornish pasty, and a pint of Guinness.

I'm so thankful he's who I get to do life with!

Here's to hoping for better luck this week,

~ Kiki Nakita ~

You can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Bloglovin'.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Good afternoon my dears, how have you been?

Yesterday, it was in the 70's with Carolina blue skies, birds chirping, a gentle sway of wind, and sunshine - glorious sunshine. I met my hubby for a lunch date at one of our favorites, Bravo, which serves up food with an Italian flare.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I ordered a dish, akin to a Mediterranean meal with rice pilaf, vegetables, and grilled shrimp and it was delicious, not just the first bite, but all the bites. So I'll definitely be ordering that again.

I came home and took care of my routine in our home and garden, then sat on the front steps, and took in as much of the spring-like day as I could. I pulled out my camera, and started snapping pictures of all the flowers that were blooming - a flower journal of sorts.

Then I found out that we're expecting snow this weekend. Which is random, considering we've only had one snow day this year, so I'm praying that my flowers will make it through.

 Crocus

 Crocus

 Muscari, aka Grape Hyacinth

English Ivy 

Pansies 

Pansies

Last weekend we were mostly outdoors, in the garden, bagging straw, reseeding, planting flowers, and getting our pool clean and ready for spring and summer. It takes us a few weeks, from taking of the cover off, to chlorinating, pumping, removing leaves and vacuuming, which is arduous for some, but for us it gets us active outside - enjoying the sunshine.

We also went to go see the movie Before I Fall, based on the book by Lauren Oliver. The main character, Samantha Kingston, is played by Lea Thompson's daughter, Zoey Deutch. She and her friends get into a car accident, yet everyday she wakes up and relives her last day, like purgatory. 

I think the movies lesson was that we all have an impact on those around us, so be a role model, and encourager.

Last but not least, we had Sunday brunch at The Gallery. My mini waffles served with warm syrup, whipped cream and fresh berries was delicious. And my hubby said his eggs benedict was delicious too before venturing for ideas at the Southern Spring Home and Garden Show.

That's all for now.

From our home to yours, have a blessed weekend.

 

~ Kiki Nakita ~

You can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Bloglovin'.

Visiting Papa In The Lone Star State

Good afternoon my dears,

This past weekend we flew from Charlotte, NC to Dallas/Fort Worth, TX to see my hubby's ninety-two year old maternal grandfather, affectionately known as Papa.

Grandee and Papa.

Papa

Arthur Edwin Dillon

born 1924, in Oregon

married for sixty-one years on November 14th 1953 to

Grandee

Marlene Joann Jungers

born 1932, in North Dakota

died 2015, in Texas

They have four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren

Here's a little journal of what we did...

Thursday

Papa has Alzheimer's so he lives with his middle child, at his home in Arlington, TX, so a few of us flew into Dallas/Fort Worth, TX to spend a few days visiting.

That evening, we went to a Bon Jovi rock concert. Honestly, I don't really know all that much about Bon Jovi, besides the song Livin' On A Prayer, which came out the year I was born, but, my hubby's eldest cousin is his biggest fan, and invited us along.

Friday

We spent the day visiting with Papa. Because of his Alzheimer's he didn't necessarily remember meeting us the day before. Cory and I were looking through years of family calendars with him and as we pointed out all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, we'd ask "who's this?" Some he remembered, some he didn't.

We pointed at a picture of the pool, and he said:

"I always had to clean it, the kids wouldn't help."

We got a lot of his responses on video, which we'll have to put together, someday.

Cory, his eldest cousin, and Papa.

That afternoon we had Tex-Mex for lunch, and BBQ for dinner. Oh my goodness, we were waddling by the end of the day, and no, that's not an understatement.

Cory's uncle, his eldest cousin (her hubby was taking the picture), me, Cory, and Papa.

Saturday

On Saturday, we visited Cory's uncle's wife's family. They got married last Fall, so we haven't met all her family yet. She has a large family (each parent is one of thirteen siblings) and some were there to celebrate her granddaughter's 9th birthday, so we visited over coffee and a slice of cake.

Afterwards, we went to the Fort Worth stockyards to stroll around, get some BBQ for dinner, and later that evening to see a rodeo. Cory and I sat besides papa in the disabled section, right upfront, and he stayed awake during the whole show. Sadly, one of the bull riders got seriously injured, so I had that in the back of my mind, also recently two bucking horses were killed after running into the walls at the rodeo. I was thinking, and praying for them all that night.

Papa and Cory at the Rodeo

Sunday

On our last day, we checked out of our hotel, and had lunch at BFF's. We visited for awhile before heading to the airport to catch our flight back home, sweet home.

It was good to see everyone, and to finally visit more of Texas. Have you ever been?

Have a blessed weekend,

~ Kiki Nakita ~

You can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Bloglovin'.