Sweet Carolinas!

Our long weekend in North Carolina produced a wellspring of tasty dishes coupled with heady drinks. We mixed in lots of good conversation with great pals and overall had a splendid time. Just thinking about it inspires the overindulgence of multiple adjectives.

I will be posting several restaurant reviews; all but one are good. Unfortunately, I'm not as camera happy as I should have been, so I failed to take pictures of the delightful dishes we cooked up at the cabin. What a pity! We had Chicken Chili with cheese, Greek yogurt and (a new favorite addition) Fritos on Thursday. Friday evening we chowed down on Merlot Apple Chicken and Rice - in the slow cooker: chicken thighs, merlot, pinot, apples, olives, red onions, oregano and basil.

The trip was what a vacation should be; no itinerary, no stress. The best of God's creations, baby; Mountains & Food.

Hug 'em if ya got 'em!

Happy Eating!

Engage Thrusters!

Surreal - adj. - having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic

This is how I would define the event that took place on our otherwise mundane drive home from our Portuguese meeting. Tell me; what do you see?

If you said "Bright lights and a UTO (unidentified towed object)!" I would say, "Exactamente!" If you said "Butterflies and candy canes!" I would suggest you call your shrink first thing tomorrow.

Back to the awesomeness that is a FIGHTER JET in the middle of Roosevelt Blvd. It appeared to be out of commission, but was an incredible sight nonetheless. It left the base and continued about a mile down the highway; the wingspan covering all three lanes! Check out the picture and live video footage below...

(My apologies for the poor quality. My camera does NOT take good video!)

Painting the Park

How does this sound?

A pro-photographer friend says, "Wanna gather some pals, buy some paint and throw it at each other?"

I say, "Heck yes!" Ordered organic paint - can't harm the animals and earth at the park - called up my sisters, told them to keep a tight lip and planned an anniversary gift for my Mom & Step-Dad.

We walked, jumped, hurled (paint, that is) and laughed until we could barely move. Scrubbing the paint out of my 10 year old sister's hair was fun too. We could leave no evidence of the event as it was a surprise.

The present was a hit! To top it off, we bought them a photoshoot of their own from my gal-pal-picture-taker.

Check out more of her work at

VargasVisual.com!