We fooled them again!

Silly Ole' Duke University is allowing another McCants come to their fine establishment!

If you haven't heard the news Latin Teacher is going to Duke Divinity school in the fall. I went out today and bought him the binders, folders, and notebooks that he'll need for round 2 of college.

While I was doing this, I was drooling over all of the school supplies that I would like to buy (Latin Teacher and I bonded over a love of school supplies when we first started dating) and when I would be using them. I have some at the office, but of course I always can use a new pen or stack of post-it notes.

So now for the big news...

I too will be making the daily trips to Durham beginning September 6th. The wonderful Bernie McCants bribed the right people and sold his right kidney to get me an interview at Duke Clinical Research Institute.

I, of course wowed them with lots of knowledge and a killer smile. There were laughs all around (not at me, but with me) and I had a good feeling walking out. I was also sweating way through my dress shirt, but isn't that what suit jackets are for?

I got the good news on Wednesday morning, and gave my 3 weeks notice the same day. I am giving myself 2 wonderful weeks of time off between jobs. I am eager to get going (and to get my new work place set up... that's half the fun of a new job?) on my work as a Clinical Trials Assistant 1 where I will be working with clinical trial sites making sure they have correct forms and other materials they need to conduct the trial. That's the quick and dirty of it, but ask me in about 6 months and I'm sure I'll have LOTS more information to give.

It will be REALLY sad to leave my crew at Talis, we're all such a tight family there and they have been with me through moving in together, getting engagement, and marriage. Supportive every step of the way. It's going to be interesting to leave such a small company to go to a MUCH larger company.

We will still live in our new townhome in North Raleigh, and luckily this fall Duke is allowing their students and employees free bus passes on the Triangle Transit, which will talk Latin Teacher to campus and me right to Duke Hospital which is a short walk from the office!

We are both very excited to begin this new part of our lives and we're going to be starting it together!

And doesn't Duke Divinity student and Duke University employee have a nice ring to them? :)

Beach Weekend!

Duke Student, Buckley Bear, and I headed to the beach this past weekend and could not have picked a better weekend to go. The weather was beyond perfect, Buckley was a peach, and we got much needed relaxation. We opened the windows and doors to let the breeze blow through and watched our sweet puppy lay around the house.

Buckley and I woke up REALLY early and got in a pre-breakfast photo shoot.

Ohh, Good Morning Mommy! I'm ready for my breakfast now!

Very ready!

OK, Playtime!

Go Buck!! He's getting MUCH better with his catching (when I'm not throwing) and retrieving (only when we have treats), but none the less... our little stubborn puppy is growing up.

We stopped by Trader Joe's on Friday before we came down and some libations for our weekend

We went out for a nice dinner at Circa 81, a great little tapas place on Arendell that had a really nice crabcake and scallops, a recommendation from us.

On the second night we took advantage of the grill outside and cooked some kebabs which we had with steak and some spinach salad.

I was working with the self-timer setting on my fancy new camera, so we have some pictures... they might be cut off, but it's the subjects that count.

All in all it was a super weekend, we didn't want to leave and go back to the real world...
but it happened.
And when we got back, we found our AC unit had gone kaputz. Isn't that just how it goes.

Until we meet again.

Charlie's Going to Duke!

This post is WAY behind, and I know I've been lazy with the posts... but whatever. I wasn't too busy, just lazy. OK. So now that the truth is out there...

Charlie is going to Duke Divinity!!

We were a little worried around the application process because we were a little behind the game time-wise with the application. But all the favors were called in and we were just a-waiting.

P.S. We HATE waiting (so much that we don't even wait to un wrap presents... once they are wrapped... regardless of the day... and we are together, we want to go ahead and opening them) = needless to say...We were getting impatient.

So we head to the beach house for a music festival weekend and BOOM, Charlie gets a voice mail from the Head of Admissions, saying that he will get the letter soon, but there is a spot waiting for him at Duke Div!

Here are just some pictures of him on the phone telling his friends and family about the big news.



The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing, while trying to compredhen what the next three years will be like for our family. The fun begins August 24th with orientation and classes starting on the 26th? I think that's right.

Lumber Bridge, NC

Latin Teacher's mother's family is from Scotland County, NC. More specifically Lumber Bridge, NC. We went down on Sunday afternoon for a family reunion lunch, it was the same weekend as a Dayton 500, so we were watching a little of that too!


Out back of this great house, Uncle Tommy Toler is a bee keeper, and we took some risks to get some pictures of the houses.



There were also some other very pretty sights on our around the house that allowed be to feel like a photographer. It was really nice to use my great camera in good natural light.

It was a great time meeting more of Latin Teacher's extended family!

Pioneer Woman would be proud!

Marina and I took it upon ourselves (and little Sofia) that we would make Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls in her cook book.

It called for lots and lots of butter, and sugar, and stuff that sticks to your finger and hips. I made the mistake of not taking pictures until the end of the whole adventure (and that's really what it was). But you do get to see the finished product.


Here is the dough rising in the nice warm bowel, it worked much much better than the Cinnamon Bread that I tried a while ago... Marina and Sofia have a way with yeast.


After kneading and playing we rolled the dough out and put the sugar and butter and cinnamon (read: we used 1/2 the butter and it was still good... I can't imagine what it would be like with all the butter).


We then rolled them and put them into pans, since the recipe made a TON of rolls we froze most of them in the Offner's freezer, but made two pans for immediate consumption.


They were/are AMAZING! I was so impressed in us! I could not have done it without the Offner ladies. We made a glaze with maple syrup and lots of confectioner sugar. Wonderful. I could eat the whole bowl of it.

We didn't get a picture of the rolls with the glaze, we were too busy eating them, sorry folks.

On a side note, Latin Teacher and Spanish Teacher were doing the patch work that was discussed in the Bathroom Renovations post along with installing a ceiling fan in Sofia's room. But that wasn't the real work done today.

Big Brad's 90th Birthday!

My mother's father, Brad, Granddaddy, or Big Bad Brad as Latin Teacher has dubbed him hit a new milestone recently. He made it to 90 years old! Isn't he good looking!!

We had a little get together at his home in High Point, where he lives in the same house my mom and her family has lived in for many many years. We hadn't been able to all meet up since before Christmas, so we did everything all at once. It was slightly confusing for the birthday boy... but all he really wanted was some presents to open, who would blame him... he's 90, he can do whatever he wants in my book.

Daniel (Latin Teacher's Brother-in-Law) goes to school at Appalachian State and gave him a large golf umbrella for his Birthday, which he asked "Am I supposed to support this team?"... he is a UNC Alum, sounds like something they would say :)


Latin Teacher and I brought him lots of candy and socks... I was looking to appeal to all his needs... warm toes and a sugar high.

We also had some surprisingly yummy chocolate on chocolate (Birthday Boy's Fave) after a great meal at a local restaurant, Austin's (also a Birthday Boy Fave).


All and All everyone had a great time, and as we all told what we wanted to accomplish in the next year. Big Brad said " To make it to 91!" What a great plan!

Bathroom Renovation

Hello All,

I know, I know... It's been a long while since I've blogged... something like 3 Months of not blogging, but I'M BACK!

I'm going to start this story with a perceived leak in the master bathroom's shower. We stopped using it for a short while and began using the guest bathroom. I was walking out of the shower and saw a spot where the ugly ugly wallpaper was starting to peel. This is what the beautiful wallpaper looked like (it was also textured and painted over when we bought the place).


I love love love peeling things, paint... paper... and well if someone has a sun burn... I'll leave it at that. So, I started peeling the wallpaper off the wall... only to find, more wallpaper. There was a lovely blue, pink, and while flowery pattern on the layer underneath.

After I started working I found that the best way to do this was to use a razor blade and peel the layers off as best I could. After the first layer, it looked something like this:


There is another layer of the pink/blue stuff underneath all this. We also removed the ugly brassy fixtures, we'll talk more about this later.

I removed both layers and all was left was the backing to the second layer, using that blue nasty gel stuff, I was able to remove the backing and glue from the wall. It was all quite magical.

All the while, we have removed the large plane mirror and the fixtures. There were large, aggravating, and damaging wall anchors... I guess the previous people though they were going to hang weights on these fixtures. They were old, metal and left huge holes in our walls. They looked something like this:


Latin teacher and Spanish teacher worked to patch the walls (the putty was pink, although it dried while) so he's going to sand it and do it all again before I can prime and paint. I'm thinking of using This Color... it is a small room, but I'm planning on having a mirror ($10 from Goodwill) with a white frame and the cabinets are white as well. So we'll see.


It's obviously really really dark, so obviously I'm scared to paint it that, but we'll see.

There is still more to do, always is, and so I'll work on posting an update as soon as we, well do more work :)