Bagel Bash 2012 | A "Legendary" Event!
With the exception of 2010 (when Paul and I were married), we have done the Annual Bagel Bash Cruise every year. Our good friend Matt has put this together for years as a celebration around his birthday and in several occasions others birthday's as well! This one was Matt's big 35th birthday and I could only dream about having a gathering of this magnitude!
The Cruise set sail on December 6th, 2012 on the Carnival Paradise with over 20 friends on board for Bagel Bash! Matt was not only surprised by the turn-out this year, going from an intimate gathering of 6 to 8 people to over doubling in size, but he also came to find a lot more planning went into this as we all had our Bagel Bash shirts on board as a surprise and there was even a tribute video! Gloria, Kristy and Paul did a lot of work putting together these special pieces to make Matt's 35th Birthday one he will never forget!
We were on the boat for 4 nights with 2 full days at sea and one day in Cozumel Mexico! It was a blast! Check out some of this great adventure!
The ship left port and we had our first sit down dinner! It was absolutely delicious and so much fun to embark on this awesome trip with so many friends!
Being that I am pregnant (no alcohol for me :( ) for this trip, I was off to bed earlier than others and excited to relax for our first day at sea. Paul on the other hand was ready to party and that he did! He partied so much that we got a very late start on our first full day at sea - honestly we didn't get many picture other than formal night because of that! Paul really enjoyed his black suit with black tie for formal night though! He thought he was a "secret agent!" Hahaha
Everyone looked great for formal night and we were ready for a day in Cozumel! The boat docked at 8AM, and we were off the ship by 9 or so. This was definitely the best time of the entire cruise (at least I thought so)! Matt, Gloria and a hand full of others went on a sailing excursion while Paul and I decided to roam the island! We rented a Chevy convertible and had a blast! First we drove all the way to the end of the island (where the road turned to dirt) and stopped off to visit with some local wildlife. Raccoons! I think... Then we were off to Senor Frog's to meet with Matt and the crew for lunch. We got there early and actually didn't catch them until we were on our way out - Next Stop Paradise Beach to meet up with Curtis and Natacha! The beach was beautiful and the water was clear and refreshing! It was such a great day! After leaving Paradise Beach, Paul decided he wanted some authentic Mexican food... we stopped at this place and they said they'd make us food... it actually turned out to be a whore house! We didn't stay long enough to get the food! From there we worked our way back to the port where we did some shopping (Paul and I got a little sombrero and maracas for our little one on the way! ;)). Then it was back to the ship for Matt's official Birthday and festivities!
One last day at sea! We took this time to relax and enjoy what was left of our vacation! What a great time! And a Happy Happy Birthday to Matt (and Erick)!
Next vacation I'll definitely be planning to have some adult beverages!
Perdue Vision Pecan Pies - Just in Time for Thanksgiving!!!
Paul has been on a pecan pie rampage! Several months back Paul took the liberty of making a pecan pie for our neighbors. They moved into the neighborhood and neighbors all around were bringing them cookies and candy and all sorts of stuff, but they were surprised having moved to the south that no one brought them a Pecan Pie. And that was Paul's queue!
Paul decided since he had never made them before to make two! One for us to test and the other for the neighbor. And they both turned out AWESOME! Absolutely delicious! We scarfed that pie down in no time! And got some rave reviews from the neighbor as well.
Now with the holiday's approaching Paul decided he wanted to give thanks to his clients and close friends and family with some pecan pies! What started out as a client gift for a few turned into 24 or more pies for many!
So Paul decided to make this into a project, and what better way to share the love then to share the recipe and début Paul's first cooking video! He definitely had fun with this one! Check it out!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMiC9R1H7MQ&w=750&h=422]
For detailed written directions, see below:
Perdue Vision Pecan Pies
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 60 to 70 minutes
Chill Time: 2 hours
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
- 1/4 cup of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
- 1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crust
- 1 pie pan
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving.
TIPS: Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly - it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray pie pan with cooking spray before placing pie crust in pan. If pie crust is over-browning, cover edges with foil.
Our 2-Yr. Anniversary Couldn't Be More Sweet!
We are so excited to announce (on our Two Year wedding anniversary) that we are expecting our first little one! He or She will be gracing us with their presence on or around Cinco De Mayo!
This second year of marriage has been even better than the one before and I anticipate year number three will be that much more amazing as we go from a family of 5 (Chunk, Tula and Sophi included) to a family of 6!
Happy Anniversary Paul Paul! I can say with unconditional love and absolute certainty that I love you more and more every day!
Check out Baby Perdue!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJSH-ieeI28&w=750&h=422]
Wild Bill's Spooktacular!
My motto these days seems to be "better late than never!" So here is the Wild Bill's Spooktacular! I'm not one to frequent Wild Bill's often, but I have to say that for Halloween it's pretty awesome! It's amazing the creativity that comes out around Halloween, and this is one people watching experience you can't miss out on!
Paul used to be big on throwing Halloween parties, but this is the 2nd year we've gone to Wild Bill's and it does not disappoint! I'd say my only complaint is they didn't get to the Costume Contests soon enough!
Check out some of these awesome customs and at the bottom we have pictures of the winners for the Scariest and Most Original!
We've got our friend Matt dress as the guy from Beastie Boys Sabotage, and with him Gloria as a gangster, me and Paul (can you guess what I am??), "Storey" (Kristin) as a Gothic flapper, and our Robert as a bath salt zombie... There was so many more though!!!
We had a couple of devils, Curtis is a Transformer guy and his girlfriend Natacha is a french maid! There was a zombie alien dad and baby and a zombie version of the Mad Hatter and Alice!
Now for the winners... We stuck around for the Scariest Contest and the Most Original.
For the most original, it was between Kiss' Gene Simmons and the Ghostbusters' Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! And the winner was Marshmallow Man!!! And for Scariest, it was between the evil puppet master and this crazy barbarian skull man (I don't remember what he was calling himself) and the winner was the Barbarian Skull Man! He was definitely scary! Of course I kind of thought the Puppet Master one was cooler!
Hope you enjoyed! To see more awesome pictures and costumes check out the full gallery here! Oh and by the way... if you're still wondering - I was FireFox the web browser! ;)
Howl-O-Weenie 2012
I'm feeling pretty good as I've been behind on my posts, but I am however getting this up before Halloween, so this is progress! A few weekends back, I think it was the same weekend as the Greek Festival, we finally got the opportunity to take Chunk to Howl-O-Weenie!
Last year we were out-of-town for a wedding, so Chunk went without us, and the year before that I think we may have actually had another wedding. So we were so excited to be able to check out the festivities!
They had all kinds of great contests, starting of course with the costume contest. While we were certainly proud of Chunk's banana costume, it was no match for all of these other creative doxie owners! We didn't even try to compete!
I wish we had gotten more pictures of Chunk in the banana costume, but this was the best we had... doesn't do the coolness of the banana costume justice.
But there were definitely a lot of cool costumes, and it wasn't just the doxies dressing up, but they were duos with their owners! Check out the Wicked Witch and Dorothy!
I couldn't resist including this little guy! He's a ferocious lion and while you can't see his owner... they were dressed as the Circus Lion Tamer!
But my personal Best in Show were these three! The Bus and Crosswalk Lady comes in third, The Doxie Jockie duo come in second, and finally the Allpotraz Convicts come in first! There were so many creative costumes... it was a very cool event!
After the costume contest, they had the licking contest which Paul was a judge for, then it was onto bobbing for weenies (which Chunk would have been great at - but he was a little out of his element!).
And I can't forget to thank Paul's cousin Lori, her husband Larry, and their adorable girls Lexi and Lena for coming out to the festivities! They have a big dog, so this was a new experience for them! And Lexi and Lena loved holding Chunk! Paul got this great picture of them, so I just had to include it!!!
Atlanta Greek Festival!
A few weeks back we went to the Atlanta Greek Festival with our friends, Elaine and John, and their family. This is an Annual Tradition for Elaine's family as she is very much Greek! The Festival is held at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Atlanta. It was pretty wild as they have to shuttle people over due to the large and growing turn-out every year!
We parked just off Clairmont road and caught the bus over to the festivities! We were able to get some awesome Greek food (Paul and I LOVE Gyro's), check out the shops, listen to some live Greek music, watch the traditional Greek Dancing and of course (my favorite) check out the bake sale!
I was hoping to embed the video Paul took of the Greek Dancing, but I couldn't get it to work. SO click here to see the dancing!
And I'm ending the post with my favorite part! The bake sale! I got Baklava of course, Kourabiedes, and I think Finikia. It was all super delicious and Paul also got a Baklava sundae! Oh My!!!
An Unconditional Love! Derrick and Jesus are Married!
Our close friends Derrick and Jesus were married a couple weekends ago! Paul met Derrick in college and they have been best of friends ever since. And when we met Jesus several years ago we knew our good friend Derrick had found his soul mate!
I love their love as it's so clearly meant to be. I recall years before Derrick ever met Jesus, he told me he could never imagine meeting someone he could spend the rest of his life with. At the time and even now, I couldn't comprehend his way of thinking! I honestly feel like there is someone out there for all of us and we are bound to unite with someone in our lifetime and hopefully that love would continue for a lifetime!
Well Derrick and Jesus definitely found that lifetime love in one another and the ceremony was one of the most emotional I have had the experience of being a part of! Paul was the photographer of course and there are so many wonderful pictures it was so hard to narrow down!
Derrick rented out a beautiful house on Lake Norman (part of our long weekend), and it was a great place for such a fun and loving occasion!
Derrick and Jesus' closest family and friends gathered for the occasion and it was definitely a memorable day and evening! We couldn't have asked for better weather either.
I can't say enough about how sweet and thoughtful the vows were. It was absolutely impossible to hold back the tears! But even through all the emotion they are all smiles. Following the ceremony we jumped right into the party. It was more like a family gathering where everyone could mix, mingle and just have a good time.
Congratulation Derrick and Jesus! Here's to a lifetime of laughter, love and snuggles! We love you guys!
Our Trip to Waltrip Racing
A family friend, Janet, that works with my parents at their UPS Store is into racing hardcore! And when I say hardcore, her husband works for Napa Auto Parts, and her son used to race and now actually works at the Waltrip Racing facility (where they build their cars).
Because we were so close by (in Lake Norman), Janet got us some VIP passes to tour the facility and I have to say it was definitely an interesting trip! None of us are into racing at all... Paul loves cars but even he hadn't ever gotten into Nascar.
But seeing this facility was actually really cool! The spaces inside were divided up by specific vehicle functions like suspension, transmission, body work, etc.
We started by walking through the suspension area to get to the body and frame section. It was actually really amazing how sterile and white everything was! Not like what you see when you got the a normal mechanic's shop!
From the main floor we headed outside where we got to see where they clean and load up the cars. These trailers can hold anywhere from 2 to 4 cars at a time, and I think hold all the tires for the race too. It's insane! And on any given race they have a couple million $$$, between the cars and tires, traveling with them. This is no joke! We also got to check out where the pit crew practices and unfortunately came on a day they were not practicing. But it was cool to see where it all happens.
From here we went into the actual shop (no pictures allowed there). This is where they are building the frames, piecing the mechanics of the cars together and I believe actually building engines (although I didn't see any engines)!
After all that we headed back inside for the "museum-like" self-tour around the upper level where you can look down over everything. It was pretty cool. Of course I think the highlight for me was sitting in the adult carseat-like structure that the drivers actually sit in. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I could see why it is necessary to keep the drivers protected!
Overall it was a very cool experience! Thanks to Janet and her husband for getting us this VIP pass! Super cool!!!
Lake Norman Lake House - What a Sight!
The following weekend after my cousin's wedding we were to be back in NC for another wedding. My parents were attending this wedding as well so they decided instead of heading back to GA, and then back up to NC again they would rent a lake house on Lake Norman for the week. Unfortunately Paul and I weren't able to spend the entire week there with them, but we were able to make a long weekend of it heading back up to Charlotte Wednesday evening.
It was a beautiful cabin style lake house with an awesome view of the lake with absolutely amazing sunsets. The cabin sleeps 12 people comfortably, and would be a great house for a couple's retreat or family gathering! The driveway wrapped all the way around the house, so there is plenty of room for cars and whatever you need!
They have a bunch of decks and a screened porch. But the highlight was the covered dock and the awesome view! Check out these cool HDR photos Paul got while we were there!
We also caught an amazing sunset this evening! It was an amazing array of pink and blue colors. We couldn't have asked for a better evening setting!
The photography didn't end with this amazing sunset. Paul couldn't resist the clear evening sky and went out again to catch some more night photos. All of these are pretty amazing! You can see the stars, a shooting star in the second picture and in the third, what Paul says was planes taking off out of Charlotte. So cool!
It was definitely a very relaxing couple of days leading up to the beautiful wedding to come!
Chris and Carolyn's Wedding in Chapel Hill
The whole family (Mom's side) came together for the beautiful wedding and reception of my cousin Chris to his now WIFE, Carolyn. They had a beautiful ceremony in the church and it was sweet and short, just like we like it! Paul caught a few nice images, and there's more where this came from!
The reception followed at a very cool restaurant in Chapel Hill called La Residence Restaurant. The reception was on their tropical-like patio and it provided a very nice ambiance!
We got some shots of some family members... Paul caught a picture of me and then my cousin Kim. There's definitely a resemblance there! Also got a good picture with my brother, my parents together and of course me and my Paul Paul!
The dinner was very nice and the cake was even better! I am ALWAYS looking forward to wedding cake! YUMMMM! And of course the newlyweds looked so great! Such a sweet couple!
Every time the family gets together we like to get a lot of fun pictures! Specifically my two cousins, Beth and Marissa, and myself. We have been a little trio since we were kids, and here is a little photo montage of the three of us over the years, ending with Chris and Carolyn's wedding! I think we are all aging well! I definitely like how I look better in the later pictures than the younger ones!
Overall it was a great weekend! So great to see all of our family, catch up and of course celebrate the union of Chris and Carolyn! Congrats to the happy couple!
