Lunch at Pike's!

Today I had lunch with my friend, Marianne. She belongs to CREW and that is how I met her. We went to an old-fashioned soda shop today for lunch called Pike's. It is in the Southend section of Charlotte and the food is awesome! The pot roast plate was the special today and it was so good! Everything there is homemade and it really tasted like something I would make in my own kitchen. We had a wonderful time talking about business, CREW, our lives and books! What could be better than that! She is in the same business as my husband, so her company is feeling the effects of the economy also. We both have been in these businesses long enough to know what goes up must come down. Hopefully we are on the upward swing now! It was great to get out of the office and converse with another woman!

Something's A Flutter!

I just found out the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, NC is having Something's a Flutter. This is taking place from now until October 11th. You can experience the lifecycle of the butterfly as multiple species of butterflies go on exhibit at The Orchid Conservatory. The will have multiple butterfly chrysalis on display, which will be releasing butterflies and allowing them to fly free in the conservatory. Megan and Ken have wanted to go with us to the DSBG ever since I took my mother, sister and nephew. This would be the perfect time. I will have to see if they would like to go this Sunday. It should be a wonderful experience and a great place for me to take more photos!

Saturday Drive and Sunday Stroll

John and I decided to go to the library on Saturday. When we were done, we headed out for a drive. We love to look at the architecture of homes and buildings. We drove to 3 neighborhoods, which have beautiful homes in them. The first one was Giverny. I wasn't able to take pictures of the homes since there was alot of traffic and no where to pull over. We then headed to Dillworth. I love this area because there are so many homes in the Craftsman Style! Absolutely gorgeous. Then on to Myers Park area. These homes are so beautiful and very expensive. I really like Dillworth area the best. I love a more cottage feel, but it is nice to see the "big houses" too! We drove past Freedom Park after that. We stopped at a pizza place and had 2 slices. What a really lovely day! Today John and I took a walk around our neighborhood and then down the street to the next one. You'll see all the pics from that walk too! Hope you enjoy our Saturday Drive and our Sunday stroll!


The Dillworth section of Charlotte has alot of craftsman style homes. This was my favorite when we drove through here on Saturday.


Myers Park is an older section of Charlotte, with multi-million dollar homes. Here is one of them!


This is Freedom Park in Charlotte. They are getting ready for the Art Festival, which starts 9/24.


Queens Road West has some very old and very beautiful homes on it. Queens College is right off this road, which is of course on Queens Road.


There is a section of Charlotte called Giverny. The streets are tree-lined (as you can see). It is very beautiful through here.


There are 2 camellia bushes right outside our front door. They are loaded with buds. I can't wait until late November or the beginning of December for them to bloom.


The decorative grasses are blooming around our neighborhood now. Here is a low growing one. It actually is in a group of 5 but I liked this one the best!


These beautiful little begonias are growing across the way in the center courtyard here where we live. They had just been watered by the irrigation system and looked sparkly!


On our walk there were alot of decorative grasses blooming. I really love these.


These Paperbark River Birch Trees are growing around the perimeter of the courtyard in our neighborhood. The just reach towards the sky-how beautiful!



Look at the wonderful bark on this beautiful tree!


I don't know what shrub this is but the red leaves are gorgeous this time of year!

This rock wall is in the next neighborhood over. John and I really love the curve of it!


Here is a closeup of the rock wall. We love all the many different colors in the rocks.

Just Chilling Out Today :)!

John and I were suppose to go up to Salisbury, NC today. We were going to meet up with one of my co-workers who lives in Salisbury. There is a Civil War Prison and Memorial there. John is a Civil War buff. This is the co-worker whose wife has Stage 4 Lung Cancer. She is in the hospital right now having some experimental treatment. We were going to help my co-worker with his 3 kids and make some dinner for them. My co-worker called a few minutes ago and said his wife has taken a turn for the worse and we wouldn't be able to come up today. I really feel for this family. Please keep them in your prayers! John and I are giving them one of our computers we are not using, so today we are taking everything off the computer that is ours and putting in one of our active computers. That is no small fete, I'll tell you!

John and I will probably just read, watch a little TV, do a little transplanting work in the courtyard and take a nice long walk with Teddy. A lovely weekend! Everyone have a grand weekend!

Today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11

Today is the 8th anniverary of 9/11. Please take some time today to remember those that lost their lives and for those that have had their lives touched by this horrific tragedy our country has suffered. My husband was suppose to be in that building that morning but his train was stopped in Hoboken. They were told something happened and they would not be able to take the Ferry over to NYC. I thank God everyday that he was stopped in Hoboken!

God Bless America!

My Son- in - Law is amazing!

Ken, is Megan's husband. He came over tonight and was just going to boot up our company website and then one thing lead to another and he ended taking care of all the things on my computer that was giving me trouble! What a guy! He cleaned things up that didn't need to be on there, he moved all my itunes music and audiobooks over to the D Drive because it was using up all my C drive, he took some pop up things off that I never put on there but games I download brought them with them and clogged up my computer, I could just go on and on. But now all I have to do is defrag the computer tonight when I am done working on here! AMAZING!! It is like getting a new computer all over again! Not only did he take care of the computer, he told me some secrets I can use on my digital camera too! I can now take pictures of my jewelry upclose and it will be crystal clear! John had showed me some secrets too, but Ken really showed me some photographer secrets. The one picture I took came out absolutely wonderful! John and I are truly indebted to Ken, we are so glad he is our son-in-law! THANK YOU KEN!! Megan is one lucky girl that is for sure and not just because he fixed my computer and showed me how to use the camera correctly-LOL!

Rainy day here in Charlotte

Good Morning Everyone! It is rainy and gray here in Charlotte and it is definitely affecting my sinus'. I am feeling a little down and punky today. I think it is just the weather and my sinus'. Hopefully that will go away soon. Tonight my son-in-law is coming to connect something on the computer so our business website works. John will be working at Best Buy. I will probably just read if my sinus headache allows. I am really enjoying The Shadow of the Wind now, it has gotten more interesting. Everyone have a great day!