Scenery Lately

This post is completely without food. Just some snapshots from the past few weeks in Boone, Cary, and Hampstead. Enjoy!

Our niece, Dakota, trying to imitate my brother making a monkey face at the dinner table.

Brother in law and his friend giving us a private concert in the breezeway during the fiddlers convention.

Friends!

A February day without snow!

Mossy rocks live near us.

Top of the bowl.

A night in Raleigh at Boylan Bridge Brewpub with the Padres and Brother/Sister in Law.

Rainy day.

Weekend time with Dakota in Hampstead. Sporting her Duke t-shirt that her Uncle Jacob got her.

Morning sunrise at Junaluska.

A bright refreshing break from the cold.

Iphone photo alert! Cyclocross Worlds snapshot.

That face. Such a sweet girl.

The wood pile one night while Jacob was gone on an overnight business trip. I was proud of myself. This kept the house warm for a whopping 15 hours!

Stay tuned for some cool new recipes and house project posts later this week!

Friend Brunch

This past weekend we had some friends come to visit. Pictured on the left is Ariel, on the right is Sam. Oh wait, no, I got it all wrong. Pictured on the left is Luda, on the right is Kona. Ariel and Sam are the humans that came to visit!

But really, we had a great time hanging with this old friends of ours. Playing with animals, eating burgers, drinking adult beverages, going on a group human/animal run, and having brunch were among the highlights. A few additional friends joined us for this delicious pot-luck style brunch. Ariel offered to bring supplies for a bloody mary bar. A great bartender she was.

Celery, lime, and pickle? Yes please.

I volunteered to make a couple of quiches. Asparagus, mushroom, goat cheese made up quiche #1 and bacon, kale, and cheddar made up quiche #2.

Other brunch additions included citrus salad, scones, blueberry muffins, crispy roasted potatoes, and apples.

Spotlight on Luda the dog. He's just so cuddly!

 Before our out of town guests hit the road, we attempted a group human/animal picture. As you can see, this was no easy task. But hey, we did it.

Missing our weekend guests already!

Cyclocross World Championships Recap

Our trip to Louisville, KY this past weekend was a blast. Jacob and I both took Friday off of work and met up with our friends Curtis and Alexis in Boone so we could carpool the rest of the way to Louisville. We arrived Friday evening and spent a great night eating bad mediocre mexican food and  drinking great average margaritas. It's all about the company, right? Right. Like I said, we had a great time. 

(group pictures stolen from Kat)

Saturday we woke up early and started to make te trek to the race course for Cyclocross World Championships. Pictured here is Noah on the trolly ride that took us about 1/4 mile of the way to the course. Long story.

Our friend Emerson (among others from the High Country area) was at the race and dressed up in his best attire - ghillie suit  and American flag.

The races were fast, muddy, and a lot of fun to watch. As the day went on, the crowds grew larger and larger in anticipation for the "big" race, the elite men.

Noah and Jacob were just a tad bit excited about being at this big event. For those of you who don't know Noah, he was a groomsmen in our wedding and one of Jacob's worst best friends. Wow, I'm on a roll with crossing out words today.

We took a short break for food and beverages midway through the day. Frites with mayo and beer were the popular items of the day. Since the lines were so long, we each ordered 2 beers since we knew we wouldn't be waiting another hour for beer later on.

Lots of europeans were seen - pictured here are some fine europeans from my homeland of Holland. 

The women's race starts.

The boys drink beer.

Oh, and here's proof that I was actually there!

Hanging out around the course with some more of our traveling crew, Kat and Ryan.

One of many sandy sections of the course.

Who's freezing cold? We are!

The crowds have arrived. This is only a small snapshot of the huge amounts of people that were present for this event.

The patriotism is fierce.

And the Men's Elite race is happening! Mud, drool, and misery ensue. 

This one's for you, Lara.

The finishing stretch. This was before the drunk man behind me fell over and almost knocked me off the back of the bleachers.

Post race interviews paparazzi.

And the awards. No one from the US did very well, but the belgian and dutch racers swept the podium.

Overall we had a great time with friends. So glad we made the trek to Kentucky!