Wordless Wednesday: Robotics Camp!

Jersey Boys

Anyone who knows me knows that I love singing, dancing, and family...and last Thursday night I was able to enjoy all three when we saw the Broadway hit, Jersey Boys at The Progress Energy Performing Arts Center. Before going any farther in my post I must tell you that it was incredible! After every musical, I leave the theater saying that it was the best musical I've ever seen. Well, with Jersey Boys I didn't say that...but I can tell you it was the best MUSIC I've ever heard. It amazes me how these performers can sing, dance, and act and do so without any imperfection. The sound quality of their voices is stunning. When watching pop stars and such on live award shows or even watching them in concert, they NEVER sing perfectly, and RARELY bring chills to your skin. But, the cast of the Jersey Boys did just that.

I can get ahead of myself so quickly on here! (haha) My mom, my aunt Alice, my mother-in-law, and my aunt-in-law Gina (is there such a term?) all met in Raleigh for this fun evening. We had dinner at Cafe Luna, one of my favorite Italian restaurants downtown. We had a quaint little corner table with a great view. The food was wonderful, as always, and the wine and conversation was even better! You know, I'm very lucky. My mom, Alice, and I have always had a special relationship...best buds, shopping partners, etc. But I can say with all honesty that I share these same relationships now with my mother in law and her family. It's great!
Here we are at our table.
Now back to the musical. Jersey Boys is a rags-to-riches tale of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It takes you from the beginning, the slums of Jersey, the gangster lifestyle, to quick fame and the pain, addiction, and loss that can come with money. As I said in the beginning, it wasn't the best overall musical I've ever seen...at times a hard to follow storyline and language. But, the music was phenomenal!
Some of the songs that I recognized and sang along with were: "Sherry", "Can't keep my eyes off of you", "Big girls don't cry", "Oh what a night", "Walk like a man", and "Workin my way back to you babe". These are true classics...most any person over the age of 25 could hum or sing along.

Wonder what songs from my era (90's - today) will become classics? What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday: No Dune Swimming!

Happy Birthday America and Captain Zane!

Jim and I spent July 4th with family and friends at the Crystal Coast. It was a weekend full of fun, great weather, and boating! What could be any better than that?

On Friday, Jim and I got up semi-early geared up to go fishing. The wind was out of the North, which sets up for a calm day on the ocean...nothing better! I guess my excitement got out of hand because while untying the boat, I twisted my ankle and had to skip out on the perfect day of fishing. Instead, I had to stay inside with my foot elevated and ice packs galore! Leave it to me, huh? Here's a pic of my nice swollen ankle (left one).
Thankfully, it wasn't a horrible sprain and I'm doing much, much better! Jim went fishing own his own and didn't have any luck...he says he was 30 minutes too late! HA! He would love to blame his lack of luck that day on my accident.

On Saturday, we had a the pleasure of boarding a 45 foot catamaran sailboat to celebrate the 90th birthday of Captain Zane. Captain Zane is Jim's aunt Gina's father-in-law....digest all that info for a moment. Do you have the connection now? Ok.

As you can probably guess, we are a close family and that also includes extended family. All of Captain Zane's children, spouses, grandchildren, and great grandchildren were along for the celebration. We had about 35 people total on this awesome sailboat! Here is a group shot. Captain Zane is on the far left.
We boarded ship at 12:00 noon and sailed in the ocean to the Cape Lookout lighthouse and seashore...it was beautiful! The boat was huge and had plenty of shade and spots for us sun-lovers. My favorite spot was the netting at the front of the boat. While laying here, you felt as if you were gliding on the water...amazing. Here is a shot of my favorite spot and a view of the sails above.

While visiting the lighthouse, Jim and I stopped for a photo that we find very funny! The sign reads "No PWC within 150 feet of shore". The guide on the boat said that PWC stood for "People With Children". We thought it was comical and we were the only adults on the boat that could relate, so we opted for a photo! It was a perfect day. Perfect for celebrating America and our freedoms and perfect for celebrating the amazing 90 years that Captain Zane has had on this Earth. I will leave you with more pictures of our fun day. And if you're interested in taking the sailboat out as we did, click here for the link.

Our nephew and niece, Jackson and Grayson. Grayson had the most fun...she had better sea-legs than any of us!

Jim and I posing in front of the lighthouse.

I don't know if you can see all the boats docked up, but this island was packed with boats! Look how beautiful this beach is...we went shell hunting and swimming here.

Here is Jim's Aunt Gina and her daughter Sarah. We all loved the netting!

The American Flag that flew from the top of our sails...Happy Birthday America!

Wordless Wednesday: Green Thumb in the Making?

I know I said "Wordless" but I feel it necessary to explain the hole on the right side...I dug, and dug, and dug until I couldn't dig anymore when planting these impatiens...There were too many roots to dig through on that one side...I wish you could have seen them 3 weeks ago...little babies. They are filling in nicely though, and soon the hole won't be there. Next year, I will plant them earlier so that by this time they will be even fuller.

My new Sego Palm! I love these plants!

My Best Friend's Wedding

On Saturday, June 20, 2009, Kira Peoples and Rusty Kroboth tied the knot! Now, I have always been a fan of weddings...from the dresses to the ceremonies to the flowers...everything! My wedding was all I ever dreamed it would be and many fantastic memories were made that evening...but my best friend's wedding...well, it was perfect. Perfect in every way and I couldn't be happier for her. I have spent the past week reflecting on the ceremony and deciding how I could document this special time and I still am afraid I will not do it justice. Just know, it was an evening filled with love, friendship, laughter, tears, and absolute joy!


Kira has been my best friend since our senior year in high school. We have been there for each other through the good times and bad...many failed relationships, many late night rendezvous, many hour-long phone conversations, many cheese fries shopping trips, many many wonderful times! Kira was my maid of honor and it was my pleasure to serve as her "would-be matron of honor".

One thing I have always admired and loved about Kira is her quirkiness. She is definitely not the "run of the mill" type and her wedding was the same way. She and Rusty were determined to share a meaningful time with family and close friends during their wedding festivities. In fact, Rusty's grandparents celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary on this same day. Fate, huh?


We met at Ball Airport in Louisburg, NC for a hometown cookout before the wedding. We all wore comfortable summer attire and shared in good food, cold beverages, and fun times before the wedding. Around 8 o'clock, Kira and her entourage headed to her childhood home to get her dressed and ready. She was surrounded by her mom, sister, aunts, and friends. She looked beautiful and happy. We arrived at the church at 8:30 and Kira walked down the aisle with her dad in what would be the prettiest, sweetest ceremony I've ever attended.


The church was dimly lit by candles. Beautiful. The ceremony was short, but special with little Kira touches sprinkled throughout. Joni and I read her favorite poem, "I carry your heart" by EE Cummings and Surely the Presence was sang by all. My favorite part was when Kira and Rusty traveled the church aisles and lit our own personal candles...the whole church was filled with candle light...absolutely breathtaking.


It was a special day...special for Kira and Rusty, their family and their friends. I am so happy they found each other and couldn't be prouder and happier for my best friend.

My Favorite New Toy...

WORDLE! If you haven't heard of wordle, let me introduce you! A wordle is a tool for generating "word clouds". Here is an example of one I created to introduce myself at GADGET camp this week:

I am so excited about this tool. I can see may ways to use it in both my personal life and at school. I made Jim a wordle for his birthday using NC State colors and words that describe him. I plan to frame it for him to put in his office.

At school, I see awesome vocabulary potential. We could use this tool the same way we use circle maps or other braindrain tools. It would also be great for teaching synonyms and word choice in writing.

So, you are probably saying "OK already, how do you do it!"... I know, I know, you are excited! Visit www.wordle.net and just enter words. That's all! The more you enter the same word, the larger it appears in your cloud. Once you create your cloud, you can play with the font, position, colors, etc. In fact, you can click on "randomize" at the bottom and look at all the neat-o choices.

Go, have fun! Create your wordle...and share it with me. Let me know what you think. Tell me how you plan to use it.