Favorite Gas Station

Last weekend, Russ and I visited our good friend, Rachel, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Russ was on Spring Break and I used my first vacation day for the year to go visit Rachel. We left on Thursday night so we would not waste the entire day on Friday traveling.

We got there late Thursday night so Rachel was a little tired for work on Friday. While Rachel was at work, Russ and I visited Downtown Wilmington. We walked along the streets and river and had lunch at a restaurant along the river. It was so nice having a day off from work and Russ not studying!

Russ in front of the bridge along the river

Once Rachel got off work we got to catch up with her. It was so nice to just sit on her porch, drink a beer, and catch up like old times. That evening, we went and watched Rachel play volleyball, her new addiction :) It was at a really neat place, I think every town needs a place like it. It was at Captain Bill's, it was restaurant/bar place with about 7 sand volleyball courts. It is a great place to just hang out with friends, drink, and play volleyball if you want. We spent the entire night there and had a blast.

Rachel playing volleyball in her neat sand socks!

Rachel and I hanging out inside at Captain Bill's

On Saturday, we had our very own tour guide show us the ins and outs of Wilmington and the beaches nearby. She created an jammed pack itinerary for us. We started the day by going to Wrightsville Beach and went on a nice walk along the beach then had lunch at Oceanic (sounds like a restaurant for the show Lost) it has a pier with tables on it over the beach and ocean. It was a neat atmosphere and great food! After lunch, we continued our tour of Wilmington, saw were Rachel works and the outdoor mall there (our friend Will help develop when he was an intern). The weather was so nice we spent the entire day outside. After those adventures we went to the other beach, Carolina Beach. It is a bit different than Wrightsville Beach, it is best described as a smaller Myrtle Beach. While we were there we went to a this neat bar, Fat Pelican. You walk in go into a trailer and pick out your beer you want then go to the bar and pay for it. Anyone that goes to Carolina Beach needs to experience it. That evening we went and had Mexican, I think that is a tradition with our college friends. Whenever we are together we seem to eat Mexican for at least one meal! We met a couple more friends of Rachel there for dinner. She has a lot of them there! We finished off our amazing day with a good game of Scrabble, and guess who won....ME! I actually bet two of the top Scrabble players!

Rachel and I on Wrightsville Beach

Rachel and Russ in the trailer at Fat Pelican picking out their beer

Sunday was a sad day, we lost an hour due to daylight savings time and had to say our goodbyes to the nice weather, Spicy, and RACHEL :( Russ being the concerned one he is about gas prices asked Rachel what her favorite gas station was. I do not know about you, but I really do not have a favorite gas station or a loyalty to any gas station, so we gave Russ a hard time about that. We ended up getting gas at the Wal-Mart place, hope that satisfied his gas station visit :)

Russ and Spicy (Russ was in heaven all weekend playing with a dog!)

We had such a wonderful weekend visiting Rachel. It was so nice to get away and visit a friend all at the same time. We are already planning our next trip back! Thanks Rachel for being such a wonderful host and friend! We miss you already!

Who knew windows would be so exciting?

I am not sure if I am already an old woman or getting new windows really is that exciting....

As many of you know, Russ and I bought an older home. It was built in 1963 and has a lot of character but also has the same windows from when it was constructed. Over the past couple of months, Russ worked on getting different quotes on replacing the windows throughout the house. I had no idea how expensive new windows would be so we took our Christmas money and replaced half of them. We decided the first ones to attack would be the large bow window in our living room and the two windows in our master bedroom. These two rooms are where we spend majority of our time so we thought those were the most important. Eventually, we will replace all the windows. As you can see from the pictures, the windows were aluminum framing and very thin single pane. We replaced them with double pane and wood, so hopefully our house will be warmer as well!

Original Master Bedroom Windows

Old Bow Window

We ended up hiring a general contractor to do the work which actually ended up being an old family friend. I played soccer with his daughter in elementary and middle school and Mom sold him his house. The windows took three weeks to come in and three full days to install. We finally got new windows but little did I know there was more work for me. Since the bow window was custom made, it came in a little bigger so they had to open up the wall putting in new sheet rock and trim creating a big paint job for me. Also, lots of dust to clean up!

One of the new windows in the master bedroom before it was paintedIn the middle of replacing the bow window

We ended up replacing the five section bow window with a three section bay window. The original window was thinner so we could have five sections and in order to replace it with a bow window we could only do a four section. We wanted it to be an odd number so the middle part was flat so we went with a three section bay window where the two sections on the side are casement windows (open up by cranking them open). It is amazing the difference the it made by replacing the windows. I cannot wait to get them all updated! One step at a time Brittany.... I am getting a seat cushion made for the bay window though!

The new bay window!

One of the master bedroom windows all painted!

Overdue Update

Sorry for taking so long to add a new post. It has been very busy around the Dunlap household the past two weeks.

Russ was on Spring Break two weeks ago. I do not know if I call it Spring Break though, we had 3 inches of snow and he worked on his paper the entire time. We finished it off with a short vacation to visit one of our very good friends, Rachel Frey, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Also, during that week we replaced three windows in our house. This past week after work each night, I came home and painted the new windows, trim, and walls as well as cleaned all the dust from the construction. In the middle of the week I got a phone call telling me my Granddaddy was emitted into the hospital which made me mentally check out from anything else around me. Please pray for him to gain strength and comfort. As of today, Granddaddy was being moved to a rehab nursing home so hopefully he can get healthier there.

We did have an exciting event this week. My Grandparent-in-laws (Grandpa and Grandma Dunlap) stayed with us on Friday night. They spend their winters in Ft. Myers, FL and were driving back to Louisville so they stopped for the night in Atlanta. It was so nice seeing them. We had not seen them since Darren's wedding in June 2008. It was a nice and long overdue visit with them!

He Can Cook!

When Russ and I got married we had the rule whoever gets home first cooks and the other cleans. Russ did not get off of work until 6:00 so I always got home first and cooked. Russ started school and I still got home before he did. Russ hardly does any of the cooking but things are starting to change since for Christmas, Russ's parents and Grandfather bought us a grill! We started simple, a week ago we had my parents over and grilled hamburgers then this past Saturday we attempted steaks.

Russ did a great job, he grilled New York Strips and some veggies in his grilling basket he got from Aunt Jill for his birthday. It was a wonderful dinner, so now I do know he can cook! We also pulled out a lot of the wedding gifts (cooking utensils, hand mixer, dishes, wine glasses, dishes, steak knives, etc...), it was a nice dinner at home!

The Perfect Piece

Over the past six months, I went out every weekend I was home to look for an old piece of furniture I could turn into a bar to go in our new house. Mom and I went to countless antique stores and flea markets even went to an antique show. We never could find the right piece.

My Aunt Jill told me I could have her Bakers Rack because she was remodeling her house and did not have any room. At first, I thought I could find a better piece so I didn't say yes or no. After months of searching and wanting to spend that money on a new kitchen table I decided to accept the bakers rack. Aunt Jill brought it down over MLK weekend and it was perfect! The wall it went against was so long and now it looks like it was meant to be there all along. I finally have a place for all our nice bar ware we got for wedding presents. Now I just need a couple of baskets for the bottom and we are done.

The Bakers Rack Converted into a Bar

Since we saved money by not having to purchase our bar, we decided it was time to get a new kitchen table. The table we did have was my Dad's when he was a senior college (at UT, Knoxville) and my parents had it until 2003. In 2006, I had it in the apartment in Knoxville with Sheryl and Becca. It then followed me to Atlanta where it was in the apartment with Russ and I then in our new house. Russ broke three of the chairs so we needed to fix the chairs for the 100th time, buy new ones, or buy a new set. We saw an add at World Market for a nice looking table and it was 50% off so we went and checked it out, it was the one! We picked it up and took out the new table and it changed the room totally, in a good way!

It is an espresso colored table with four chairs and a bench. It is much better than our old table we had so we returned that to my parents and Kara is taking it to Bama with her next year. The table is becoming a family heirloom :)

New Table with Polk-a-Dot Placemats