while we were in charleston, this baby turned thirteen. THIRTEEN. a teenager. it’s hard to believe it really. he was a trooper about spending his actual birthday doing charleston touristy things, with the promise that we would have a proper birthday party the following weekend. but before i get to that. a bit about the […]
food
charleston. last moments.

after three days (one, two, three) of pretty great adventures and excursions, our charleston trip was winding down. on our last evening, we partook in some local flavors. obviously i had to have a praline. (the kids went with fudge) and derek cooked up some local caught fish. i also strolled over to harris teeter […]
charleston. day three.mcleod plantation, angel tree, tea.

for our final full day in charleston, we headed to james island, where we took a tour of the mcleod plantation. derek had done a lot of research, and of the remaining plantations in charleston, mcleod is the only one that really focuses on the lives of the slaves and their descendants during their time […]
charleston. day one.aquarium, rainbow row, city market.

derek’s parents have like eight billion timeshare points or credits or whatever however it works. and often they get free random extra stuff in the offseason. basically, they can’t possibly use up all the time each year, so they often gift us vacations. such was the case a few weeks ago, when they gave us […]
grandlidbom 50th!and related craziness.

as soon as christmas was in our rearview mirror, and we had recovered mostly from various illnesses, we began planning to host derek’s parents fiftieth wedding anniversary party at our house. i acquired generous amounts of sprinkles and golden decor at post christmas clearance sales. and everything was set. and then mayhem struck. the night […]
december 2019 miscellany.

firstly. let me go ahead and throw this out there. this post is disorganized and all over the place. i did my best to group like activities and such. but mostly, it’s just 100% random. but that’s sort of how our december was, i suppose. our first order of business in december was procuring a […]
all the christmasses, 2019.

in all the years that we have been local, we celebrate christmas early, with derek’s parents and his sister’s family, with a semi-swedish themed meal and gift exchange, at his parents house. i suppose they have celebrated it without us in the years that we weren’t local, but i guess i’ll allow it. anyhoooo. here’s […]
november, randomness.

after a month filled with exciting travel in october, november was pretty chill. even though it’s not quite the same as fall in western new york, it’s still my favorite season in north carolina. cooler temps. pumpkin themed foods. upcoming holidays. falling leaves. fewer bugs. you get the idea. here’s how our november went. we […]
being thankful in batavia.

now that we are (stuck) back in winston-salem, we are back to figuring out how to spend various holidays. i was determined to spend christmas in the stupid new house, because the ONLY time i ever missed having a house while we were on the road was christmastime. so, that made thanksgiving a perfect time […]
forty three.

in november, i turned 43. sounds very old when i say it out loud or see it in writing. like a grownup, even. anyhooooo. the derek and the kids kicked off my birthday morning but going out and picking up a starbucks peppermint mocha and bagel station salt bagels and chive cream cheese. so good. […]