livin' with the lowndes'

my momma...

2009-02-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

she is beautiful, fun, creative, loving, talented, smart, caring, awesome....i could go on and on. she is pretty much the best mom in the WORLD!!!!

happy birthday mom...i sure do wish i could be there celebrating with you. i love you forever and for always.

i'm back...

2008-12-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

from KY that is. last weekend I traveled to the bluegrass state to celebrate Christmas at the funk’s (thank's to my wonderful parents). my weekend was packed with many ‘fun’k-filled adventures…such as dying my dad’s hair, surprising my grandparents, staying up late with my mom, enjoying childhood christmas ornaments, catching up with friends, and sleeping in. the only downfall to my weekend was missing my husband…curt stayed in NC in order to study for finals, which are now over, YAHOO!

well, I will not tire you with my text; instead fix your eyes on the pictures below to see my KY escapade for yourself.

my parent's house...so beautiful and so full of christmas cheer...

the stockings hung by the chimney with care...

dying my dad's hair! before you judge please know that this was only a joke and we must inform you that it all washed out before we could show off his "touch of gray" hair. despite the disappointing outcome, we had a blast attempting the darkening task.

job well done, well at least we thought...this was before the rinse.

next, christmas at the funk's...

my pop and me, aka his favorite grandaughter

the annual wrapping paper ball war. mike is always an easy target.

mike debuting his singing talents, not to mention his angelic voice...the idol judges even agreed, but hey who wouldn't, this is the year all about him!

yes you are reading correctly...we are 'team funk.' thank you nick and michelle for the awesome shirts...we will always wear them with pride.

a grand old time...

2008-12-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

we did indeed have a grand old time in the sunshine state. curt and i, along with the entire Deskin’s family spent thanksgiving on Daytona Beach this year. we played putt-putt, fashioned crafts, strolled the beach, ate way too good, snapped family photos, opened gifts, stayed up late, woke up early….you name it and we probably did it. our three days in florida were filled with splendid delight. instead of rambling on and on about our trip, i have decided to attach lots of photos to tell our story. please enjoy our family and our fun…

waiting on our flight

we made it...just in time for crafts

the kids and their wonderful creations

too cute

strike a pose...

curt and ella grace up to no good...

on wednesday morning we headed down the beach to watch patty, a 250 pound sea turtle return to the ocean...

wednesday afternoon we headed to pirate's island to play putt-putt...p.s. ask curt who won...I DID!

hayden and haley taking a break for the camara.

wednesday evening...

1.2.3...JUMP

yahoo for the ocean...

did i mention the starfish...they were everywhere

it's been a long day...

cullen enjoying his gift.

kelly enjoying a midnight swim

and now for curt's favorite part of the whole trip...family photos

the hite's

the rowe's plus the lowndes'

kelly and i

the grandson's

curt tell us how you feel about pictures...

thanks aunt jess and uncle ron for sharing your home with all 18 of us. and a big thanks to our family for loving us and filling us up this holiday season.

special delivery...

2008-11-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

from corrieberrypie aka corrie alvaro (corrie, her husband john jay, and son judah have been such a blessing to curt and i here in durham). anyway, corrie is super cool and way talented and a superb wifey and a splendid momma...you get the picture. she recently opened an etsy shop to share her many talents with the world...so i indulged and bought potential christmas gifts for the fam and maybe for myself ;) i just received my first five purchases...check them out...and if your lucky, santa may drop you a corrieberrypie original under the tree.

all of her earrings are hand crafted

i love this necklace...santa said i could keep it.

meet the artist corrie, along with husband john jay, and look-a-like judah

please check out her stuff...if you look to the right, you will see her link, and check back after thanksgiving...she will have lots of new stuff.

oh so happy...

2008-11-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

for my great friend mary ellen...she is engaged to the lucky jay harden...WOO...WOO! i am so so so extremely happy for the two of them. it has been a blast watching them grow with each other over the last four or so years...lots of sweet and funny memories (i.e. like the first time they said i love you..ha.ha.). the invites will be perfect, the wedding will be fantastic, the bride will be breathtaking, and their love will be forever...i can't wait ;)

also, i am oh so happy for jessie and vince...one year of marriage...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

and last, but not least, i am oh so happy because my in-laws came to visit. we had such a great time hanging out, catching up on sleep, eating fabulous meals, and exploring durham. and the best part is, we get to see them again in a week...Thanksgiving. thanks guys for coming to spend time with us...it was a much needed break.

our trek to bobbitt hole

2008-11-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

although curt is barely treading water with school work right now, he did accept the life jacket I tossed him on thursday afternoon to take a well deserved break. we decided it was just the right time to head over to the eno river state park to indulge in the splendor of fall. the leaves here are spectacular right now; they are every conceivable shade of orange, yellow, red, and green. isn't fall lovely ;)

we hope you are able to soak up our scenic and captivating hike to bobbitt hole....and please observe the sky...it was so blue, it reminded us both of our wedding day.

and we're off into a sea of yellow...

we love self timers...

we met a friend on the way...

so yellow...

the reflection was awesome...the water was so still

we also met a family of five...the turtles were sun bathing on a log

bobbitt's hole...we made it...and the water was freezing..burrrrh

look what we found...a tree with a built in toliet

thanks for sharing in our first trip to the eno!

pumpkins, candies, and russell henry, oh my...

2008-11-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

although our halloween treat bowl is still full...yes not one cute little trick.or.treater...we had a spook.a.rrefic halloween celebrating with our friends. and who is russell henry? well wonder no more...meet russell dressed in his sunday best...and his wife dr. holly warren.

russell and tom solving the world's problems

russell, cowboy tom, johann, brad

holly and i...she dressed as me (nurse) and i dressed as her (MD)

me, emily (she and brad dressed as mr. and mrs. pacman), jina, and holly

we hope your halloween was a boo.tiful day.

"jack's"-o-lanterns

2008-10-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

what do sweatpants + potato soup + yummy candles + orange circular objects + red and orange leaves = BLISS, i mean FALL, which = FUN! oh, how we love fall in this house…beautiful foliage, cozy jogging pant comfort, mouth-watering cuisine, football season…i could go on and on.

yesterday evening, curt and i decided to kick off our first annual “jack's”-o-lantern carve fest…it was a chilly night, but the perfect one to create a dazzling pumpkin glow. despite frost-bit hands, we had a blast scooping pumpkin guts, whittling orange skin, and contemplating imaginative designs. please enjoy our pumpkin photo montage…we had an unforgettable night creating it.

curt working hard...and me playing

he forget to get his flu shot...

the final products...we are pumped over our pumpkins.

our perfect pumpkin glow.

after de-thawing and pumpkin admiring, we ended the night with roasted pumpkin seeds topped with seasoned salt, garlic salt, and good ol’ table salt…not bad for our first seed roast.

Happy fall ya’ll!

p.s. check back in a few days for Halloween photos…

p.s.s. did anybody pick up on the change...that is my hair...it is brown!

my heart is smiling...

2008-10-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

oh how i love getting mail, especially packages, particularly packages from my friends/family in KY. my dear friend stephanie sent me a lovely "birthday" goodie box today full of a few of my favorite things (sung in my "Sound of Music" voice)...peanut M&Ms, heath bars, chap stick, pens, headbands. steph is so thoughtful, caring, genuine, faithful (i could go on and on) and always gives excellent gifts. i miss her face and her warm heart...if you know her you're lucky, if you don't, get to know her soon...she is WONDERFUL (and she always has a lunchbox full of yummy treats)! thanks steph for making my heart smile and thanks for the best gift you given me...your friendship.

I know...I know...

2008-10-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

so another few weeks gone and no blog post…and once again, no excuse. Shall I receive your forgiveness once again for my slacking?

a lot has happened since my last post…we have had a dash of new flavor in our lives. my family came to visit, curt has had a break from school, we picked cotton, we milked a cow, we indulged in huge amounts of artery clogging fair food and we celebrated my birthday…i think that hits most of the highlights.

as many of you know, my family spent a week shacked up with curt and i. throughout their visit we were able to pinch in some eating, duke gardens, shopping, grilling, wii battles, movies, mustach creating, dodge balling…in other words lots of t-totally fun things. it was wonderful having them here with us and sharing our durham lives with each of them. we can’t wait until they visit again…and we can’t wait to see them in like 60ish days in home sweet KENTUCKY.

climbing trees at duke gardens

nick and michelle...climbing a rock....

nick burning up the dance floor

nick and his mustach...WOW!

mom washing dishes...her nightly chore :)

also, as many of you know curt has had the last week off…and no it was not a fall break, it was a “reading” week or aka catch the heck up week. he was very productive with his television watching, hebrew translating, journal writing, and eye resting…he managed his time well. oh yeah, some husband bragging for you, he received an A on his church history paper…and this is not just any old A, this A (according to his syllabus) denotes an excellence of quality approaching that of a PhD student at top programs….he is so super smart.

p.s. we forgot to tell you guys...curt is growing his hair out.

this past weekend we had the opportunity to indulge in some dangerously delicious, grease filled fair food. let’s see here…first there was roasted sweet corn (topped with lemon pepper), then the blooming onion, then some of tom and holly’s fried macaroni and cheese and mini sugar/cinnamon donuts, and then, curt had a double cheeseburger, and for dessert fried oreo’s and a funnel cake doused in powdered sugar…yummy in our tummies. after dinner we decided to venture off to view some farm animals and lo and behold learned how to milk a cow. never having milked a cow before, squeezing the ole teet was a quite an experience.

next thing on my list of post…my birthday and heaven, i mean the melting pot! my husband is the best and so is my family (mom, dad, in-laws, aunts, uncles, siblings)---thanks to everyone for making my b.day so so so special.

this is what i walked into wednesday evening, along with streamers flying through the air.

dessert...melted bliss

i almost forgot...cotton pickin...we stopped at a cotton field on our way to snow hill...where is snow hill? somewhere in eastern NC.

i promise to redeem myself with future post times and dates. until then, we hope everyone has a wonderful week!

i am a slacker...that is a blog slacker

2008-09-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

well…i tried to think of a good excuse for my lack of posting, but I don’t have one…i am simply a slacker.

same old, same old around here. curt studying/reading/writing like a mad man, although we have both realized that friends/people are more important than work or studies (sorry for the side note), and me just surviving at work (which by the way is much better!).

oh yeah…my momma, bro.nick, and sis-in-law are visiting next week…the countdown is on. i am so super pumped…i miss my fam, they pretty much are the BEST! i look forward to many a' wii battles, home-cooked momma meals (oh so yummy, my mom can cook), hugs, laughs, quirky comments from my bro, fun day trips, so forth and so on.

so i think that is it for now...have a peek of our new photos…dodge ball, CAMPOUT 2008, the day I fed my husband paper, my attempt to paint…

dodge ball...

curt in left hand corner...he is a killer

1.2.3....DODGE BALL (p.s. they dominate...undefeated)

36 hours of camping, horn blowing, line standing, name signing, grilling, a surpise visit from coach K....for what...duke season basketball tickets...but don't worry our blood will only bleed WILDCAT blue.

1,400 grad students...and their homes for the weekend

trying to study hebrew...

judah...the groups smallest camper...and the most fun

curt and john jay..."what are we doing here? we are not even duke fans"

coach k giving his speech and the team (sorry the picture is a blur)

the bear, i mean brad awaking from his slumber to anwer the 2am horn

next...the day i fed my husband paper...the narrative version...

curt: "is this cheese different? the texture is strange."

me: "no...it is the same cheese you ate yesterday"

curt: "okay, maybe it is dry (this is when curt lifts off the bread to examine the cheese)"

curt: "woman are you trying to kill me, you left the paper on"

jenny: "my bad ;)"

lastly, the canvas that hangs in our bedroom...artist...jenny lowndes...

happy monday to all.

vinyards, rapids, mills . . . oh my!

2008-09-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

curt and i spent our one year anniversary nestled in the heart of the yadkin river valley. our cozy bed and breakfast was just minutes from many of north carolinas finest wineries and the blue ridge parkway. the sobotta mannor inn is located in the center of historic downtown mt airy aka mayberry i.e. home of andy griffith. we spent time meandering around mayberry, sipping delectable wine, viewing scrumptious scuppernongs (north carolina's state fruit, also known as grapes), devouring delightful food, exploring the blue ridge parkway, kayaking the yadkin river, parking at the drive-in, viewing old mills, and learning the way of moonshine...

we recommend the place...please take a look

the sobotta manor inn and its serene gardens

did i mention the bath...a claw tub...i dream of having one someday

our stroll into mayberry...first stop the jail

our first meal, old north state winery...amazing...topped off with live music and a VIP tour of the winery

next stop, shelton vinyards...north carolina's largest...400 acres...13 types of grapes.

fermenting barrels and wine tasting...curt's favorite...wink...wink...

have a look at those grapes...they were huge

the vines went on forever...it was spectacular

after shelton's we headed to the blue ridge parkway...next stop the mabry mill.

yes...it was that peaceful

curt and the whiskey still...he learned to make a run of moonshine (and you thought he was in seminary), to top it off he bought a book about the process.

after the mill, we headed to chateau morrisette, breathtaking vines located on the hills of the blue ridge moutains, sorry no pictures, but take our word...amazing. next thing dinner, and then the drive-in. the movie was horrible, but the experience was fun!

sunday arrived, but the adventures continued on. we had one more stop...the yadkin river...our mission, a three hour kayak voyage...

we had a blast...our motto--those who play together, stay together!!!

i will leave you guys with one last picture, this was the closer for the anniversary...i made a replica of our wedding cake topper (we ate the real one at six months, we didn't want to travel with it).

thanks for being a part of our first year of marriage.

one year down, a hundred more to go

2008-09-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

YIPEE...curt and i are celebrating one year of marriage today. i just want the world to know how much i love my husband. he takes magnificent care of me and chooses everyday to love me with his life. there is no reason why he loves me, he just does—it is his gift to me, and i have discovered the best thing for me to do is to receive that gift. i grow more in love with curt every second of every day, and have had the most amazing four years (one of those being marriage) with him. i can’t wait to experience many, many, many more years… i love, love, love my husband--he for sure rocks my socks off!

hope you enjoy our trip down memory lane…

our first picture

the engagement pic

celebrating one year at shelton vinyard

mary...you are the BEST!

(check out mellen designs--they are so cute!!!)

and we're off...

2008-09-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

we are off to mt. airy, aka mayberry (home of andy griffith) to celebrate our one year anniversary--YEA!!! be sure to check back on monday for a weekend review. happy friday.

i am attaching a few wedding photos to start the weekend right...awwwwhhhh...what a perfect day!!!

happy birthday to you

2008-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear cory, happy birthday to you. YEAH, it's my brother's birthday today--SEPT 8th!!! i hope you have a wonderful day celebrating 31 years of life. i love you so so much and think that you are the best oldest brother a girl good want.

cory, brit, and the old crazy fisherman

cory, brit, mom and dad

cory and i at the beach

and then there was rest...

2008-09-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

after 41 hours of writing, reading, studying, excessive mt. dew drinking, and occasional push ups, and oh yeah pacing the bedroom...my husband decided to rest. for all of those worried about his sleeping habits or lack there of (no sleep for 40 + hours), he did receive about 5 hours of restful sleep last night. and guess what our date tonight consist of...any guesses...sleeping!!!! he is such a trooper. i tried to throw in his towel, but he was not ready for surrender. good news is, he did finish his paper, aced a big hebrew quiz, and turned in all of his homework--he is so smart.

oh yeah...i started work this week, good news is i will have a paycheck and babies in my life soon, bad news is i park a mile away from the hospital (no lie), which requires me to get there 20 minutes earlier...yuck!!! i am working at the amazing, famous, nationally recognized Duke University Hospital, in the NICU.

included are a few pictures of the beautiful duke chapel, the hospital (my place of work) and my offical duke id...enjoy

it is incrediable...
p.s. directly to the right, i.e. the walkway, is where curt spends many of his days-The Divinity School!

it's offical...i am employed!!!

when it rains....

2008-08-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

yeah, let's all say it together.1..2..3..IT POURS!!! so today started like any normal day--awake from my slumber, attempt to be productive, miss my husband, oh yeah take and ace my drivers test (silly NC rule), wait on my hubby to arrive home...you get the picture. when curt arrived home we decided to head to the dmv to register the cars (there are two dmv's here, one is for drivers license the other for tags, titles and such.) before i go any further, becoming an adult is sometimes no fun...know one tells you about insurance, registering cars, paying taxes, so forth and so on. so anyway we arrive at the dmv to find a huge line creeping out to the hallway...yuck...but hey, no problem, we will wait, after all this is a good break for curt. so we wait about 45 minutes. we fill out endless amounts of paper, sign our lives over to the government (not really, we hope), transfer titles, obtain residency in nc, and pay an enormous one time tax fee, did i say huge, mucho, mammoth, gargantuan, ginormous tax fee. so we finished, with our 'first in flight' tags in hand and near empty bank account we head to the cars in route for some 'delish' mexican cuisine (also, our first date since arriving in durham). as we approached my car, which had only been in the parking lot for about an hour, i notice some white paint, as we all know my car is black, not white. to make a long story short, some one hit my car, actually my bumper, and ran like the wind, leaving nothing behind but a few holes and scratches. to my surprise, i didn't cry, i looked up at the sky and laughed--god has a excellent sense of humor. we filed a police report, called the insurance agency, and get ready...we realized that our deductible is 1000.00. so yeah, do you have your umbrella, it's pouring. however, we both decided that there is no reason crying over spilled milk. throughout the days events we were both reminded about how little control we have over our own lives.

at last we have arrived to our cozy home, where curt now sits perched in his studying chair reading from the "The Five Books of Moses" and i at my desk thanking god for laughter, learning experiences, but most of all life.

until later, don't let the bed bugs bite.

here are a few pics from the night...

back to school...

2008-08-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

it's offical...he's back in the grind. he's already written a paper, re-typed lecture notes, and is now singing the hebrew abc's (isn't it only the first day of school ?!?) enjoy curt's 1st day of graduate school pic

our home...

2008-08-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

we just got settled into our new townhome. we are super excited about it. our stuff, our house—everything has a spot. check out a few sneak peeks...

Jumping on the bandwagon...

2008-08-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

well, the blog bandwagon just got a bit heavier because curt and i are on and we are going to give it a go. why not?!? new home, new job, new friends, new school…i figured a new blog would fit perfect.

this is our attempt to let everyone into our new “north carolina” lives. we miss ky dearly, but we are loving the mountains, beaches, duke’s campus, and our new culturally diverse town. curt and i love our life here in durham. we're just working/schooling hard and making memories!

here are a few pics before we left ky...we spent lots of fun time with the fam...enjoy...

brett was great entertainment

cale and curt

our sleepover with sophie...i stayed up with her until 2am...and she snuggled curt

our bags are packed, i guess we're ready to go, our penske truck is outside our door...

that's it...everything is packed!

hilton head with momma and daddy funk...

oh, 'the ice cream cone'...we miss you

isle of palms with momma and daddy rowe...

before the jelly fish attack...all fun in the sun

crab...yes please!!!

thanks for the AWESOME vacations...we loved them both!!!