Connesstee Waterfalls

The photo above is actually only one half of the waterfalls, behind me in this photo was the other half. They are twin waterfalls from two creeks that join together. These waterfalls are not located in Pisgah National Forest. From what I researched online, the waterfalls were privately owned but the owner allowed the public to view them. Wow, that was really nice of him! In the last couple of years, it appears he has turned them over to a land conservancy which is currently trying to get loans from the state to turn the waterfalls into a park for the public. I really hope they can get this done soon as the waterfalls are really gorgeous and access to them is currently in a state of disrepair.

Looking Glass Waterfall Wedding Photos

Just downstream from the waterfall, a small group was doing some wedding photography. I know their photos will turn out absolutely gorgeous but it really was entertaining just to watch. From my observation, I would guess this was the bride's idea, the groom was going along with what she wanted, and the photographer was like "OMG, what have I got myself into" as he did not look comfortable trying to walk in the creek.

Looking Glass Waterfall

Looking Glass waterfall is one of the most photographed waterfalls. However, I do not remember if that was the most in Pisgah National Forest, NC, East Coast or where! It is a very beautiful waterfall and I of course could not let it fall from the list of most photographed.

Moore Cove Waterfall

Moore Cove Waterfall had a cave (cove?) behind it. You can see Mom, Dad, and Daniel walking behind the waterfall. Pisgah National Forest allows backpackers to camp anywhere in the park as long as it's a specified distance from any road. There were remnants of campfires under this cave and I thought that was probably a really neat place to camp, a bit damp but dry in comparison if it rained.

Moore Cove Waterfall Trail

A bridge next to the trailhead to Moore Cove Waterfall.

Creek to Sliding Rock

This is the creek that led to the Sliding Rock Waterfall. Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?

Sliding Rock Technique

Some people had interesting ideas on how to slide down the rock. I think some people thought they had a great idea but once they got to the bottom I wonder if they were rudely reminded that this is not a manmade fiberglass waterslide but rock!

Sliding Rock Waterfall

The view of Sliding Rock Waterfall as you're waiting in line.

Sliding Rock Waterslide

This is Sliding Rock Waterfall in Pisgah National Forest. It is $1/person to get into see this waterfall but the park itself does not have an entrance fee! The park has lifeguards stationed at this waterfall and the wait was about 30 minutes to slide down the waterfall. It was a beautiful day probably around 90 degrees but the water was only 48 degrees!! Definitely shockingly cold but as soon as you got out the air felt so warm you did not even need a towel!

Cabin Creek

My parents rented a cabin beside this creek near Brevard, NC in the western NC mountains. Daniel and I stayed with them for a couple of days and visited the area. This area of NC is known as the Land of Waterfalls and I had no idea NC had all these beautiful waterfalls! (Photos to come in the days ahead.) I'm really impressed with NC's variety of natural features from the mountains to the coast.

Grandpa's Silly Grandchildren

Photo Credit: Kendall

I love my sister and brother, they're the greatest! We all seem to share the same silly sense of humor. This is in front of the door to the barn our Grandfather built from scraps of another old barn. Very impressive and I'm sure it will be standing for a very long time to come!

Grandpa's Farm

Grandpa's Field of Wildflowers

Grandpa's Sky

The sky above my Grandpa's farm on Father's Day.

Grandpa's View

For Father's Day, I gathered with my Mom's family to scatter the ashes of my Grandfather on his farm in Ohio. He wanted to be buried on his farm, so, we chose the top of this hill behind the house and barns with a beautiful view. I'm sad and I miss him but it makes me happy to know he is at a place he loved.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2: Grand Finale Cake

This is a 6" 2-layer cake. The basketweave sides and rope border at the bottom were done with buttercream icing. The birds were done with colorflow icing and the flowers were done with royal icing. Colorflow and royal icings are very similar to each other and dry hard because they do not have butter like buttercream which keeps the icing softer (and edible). The flowers are pansies (purple & yellow), daffodils (yellow), daisies (white with yellow center), primroses (pink with yellow center), violets (small purple), and apple blossoms (small pink).

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2: Class 2

Royal icing: violet leaves, violets, and apple blossoms. Colorflow icing: birds.

Closeup of violet.

Closeup of apple blossom.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2: Class 1

Rosebuds, stars, chrysanthemums, grapes, bows, shells, smiley faces, and sweet peas.

GA Aquarium: Manta Ray

Photo Credit: Kendall

The manta ray was one of my favorite animals of the entire aquarium. It was so large I probably could have laid comfortably on its back as it carried me gracefully through the water.

GA Aquarium: Sawtooth Shark

Photo Credit: Kendall

The largest tank in the aquarium has a clear tunnel at the bottom that you walk through. This is the view of the underside of the shark as you are looking toward the surface of the water. I'm not sure of the exact depth but it's fairly significant.

Ages: Under/Over v. Down/Up

I've noticed when referring to a persons age that signs, menus, and such often read: 17 & Under or 18 & Up.

Why is it never: 17 & Down or 18 & Over??

It's almost always a mix of these two groups of opposites instead of choosing one group and being consistent!

GA Aquarium: Jellyfish

Photo Credit: Kendall

Triathlon Training: Week 7

Monday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Tuesday Schedule: Run: 30 min Actual: OFF Wednesday Schedule: Swim: 400 yards Actual: OFF Thursday Schedule: BRICK: 30 min Bike/10 min Run/20 min Walk Actual: Comments: Friday Schedule: Swim: 400 yards Actual: Comments: Saturday Schedule: Run: 40 min Actual: Comments: Sunday Schedule: Bike: 15 miles Actual: Comments: Overall Thoughts:

• How did it get to be week 7 already?!?! I still feel like I'm at the level of like week 3 maybe 4.
• I think this week is turning into a miserable failure and perhaps I should just call it a rest week.

GA Aquarium: Sea Turtle

Photo Credit: Kendall

GA Aquarium: Observation Bubble

Triathlon Training: Week 6

Monday Schedule: OFF Actual: Tumbling (~1hr) Comments: This was Kendall's last night at tumbling and our instructor wasn't even there. =( Next week will be my last. Didn't really do anything special, just worked on the same things I had been like landing front tucks on my feet and doing cartwheels on the beam without falling off. Near the end of class, I was inspired by the climbing rope so I found a large mat to stand on and made a rope swing into the foam pit. It was fun! I said I was working on my upper body strength. =) Tuesday Schedule: Run: 20 min Actual: OFF Comments: My last cake decorating class for course 2 was tonight and I didn't have time to run. Hopefully can start getting back on track tomorrow. Wednesday Schedule: Swim: 300 yards Actual: Swim: 300 yards (~20 min) Comments: My brother is in town so he came with us and did pretty well himself. I can tell it has been a while since I last swam but I made it. After just a couple of lengths of the pool, I thought there would be no way I could make the entire 300 yards but I did! A triathlon is not for the swift but for the steady because you can do lots more than you think you can even if it is at a slower pace than you would like to go. Thursday Schedule: Brick Workout: 30 min bike/10 min run/20 min walk Actual: Brick Workout: 30 min bike/10 min run/20 min walk Comments: I will have to look up distances later as my gps did not work for some reason, grrr. The run part was really supposed to be done like this: 2 min walk/3 min run/1 min walk/3 min run/1 min walk but ended up more like this: 2.5 min walk/1.5 min run/1.5 min walk/1.5 min run/1.5 min walk/1.5 min run. I ran about 1.5 minutes less than I was supposed to but for the first back-to-back workout I thought it went fairly well. Legs were a little weird during the 2 minute transition walk but seemed to figure it out soon which is much better than when I first started biking several weeks ago. Friday Schedule: Swim: 400 yards Actual: OFF Saturday Schedule: Run: 40 min Actual: Hiking: 2+ miles Comments: Visited western NC and hiked a couple of trails to waterfalls. Sunday Schedule: Bike: 12 miles Actual: OFF Overall Thoughts:

• The intensity has been kicked up a notch but I'm not really participating due to schedule conflicts. Hopefully this will change soon.
• I made the mistake of looking at results from last year of one of the triathlons we are considering. I found my current times to be near the bottom or worse. Granted I am only halfway through the training calendar, that does leave time for improvement.
• I was reminded that my goal is to finish without worrying about placement but I have to admit it would be icing on the cake to not finish in last place!

Georgia Aquarium

Pemberton Place: "Green" Roof

This building was between the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. The rooftop was literally a green roof with plants and flowers growing. Reminded me of the trees and bushes growing around the top of Carrabba's restaurants.

World of Coca-Cola

Centennial Olympic Park: Olympic Ring Fountain

I managed to catch the water spurts in mid-air during a show coordinated to music. The rest of the time you can walk through and play in the fountains. Kids especially love this free entertainment!

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Lydia Lionesses

Sisters-in-law having fun in the field after the wedding.

Triathlon Training: Week 5

This week is not going to follow the training calendar due to schedule conflicts. The goal is to try to do activities similar to the previous week and just do what we can, when we can. Monday Actual: Tumbling (~1 hour) Comments: Really worked my quads and they're letting me know about it. Definitely seeing some small improvements to my tumbling which is exciting. Also, started learning a new skill: an aerial (a cartwheel with no hands). June will be our last month taking tumbling classes after almost three years. The gym or rather the management of the gym we go to has handled several situations poorly and we have decided it's just time to move on. Not sure if we'll get back into tumbling somewhere else eventually but for now we are not going to continue. Tuesday Actual: OFF Comments: My muscles are definitely sore after the workout from tumbling. I'm thinking now that training for this triathlon is actually easier than trying to be a gymnast at my age. At least triathlon training has yielded very little pain so far! Wednesday Actual: OFF Comments: I did lots of laundry if that counts for anything. :) Walking is getting easier now but WOW! I must've done a super workout at tumbling because my quads have been so angry. Thursday Actual: OFF Friday Actual: OFF Saturday Actual: ~10 hours of walking/standing Comments: We went to the best roller coaster park in the world: Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. Sunday Actual: OFF Overal Thoughts: I hope next week goes better than I'm expecting! The training intensity is getting kicked up a notch.

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Lydia + Zack

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Feather Rain Departure

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Wheat Grass Table Decor

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Reception in a Barn

Audrey + Zane Wedding: In a Field, On a Farm

Audrey + Zane Wedding: Introducing the Mr & Mrs

Triathlon Training: Week 4

Monday Schedule: Swim: 300 yds, Run: 20 min Actual: Tumbling: 1 hour, Run: 15 min (~1.2 miles, ~12.5 min/mile) Comments: For possibly the first time ever, I had "too much power" at tumbling while I worked on round offs and front tucks! I had a good night in general including a few consecutive cartwheels on the high beam without falling off. After we got back from tumbling, we decided to run. We skipped the 5 minute walking warmup since we just got back from the gym. I increased my run times between walking as well to something like 1 min then 1.5 min then 2 min then back down. Tuesday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Wednesday Schedule: Bike: 8 miles Actual: Bike: 7.3 miles (~45 min, ~6.2 min/mile) Comments: I don't like hills and I'm starting to get bored with my route. I would like to find a different location that is more flat but probably not likely since our surrounding area is the most convenient. Thursday Schedule: Swim: 300 yds, Walk: 30 min Actual: Swim: 300 yds, Walk: ~30 min Comments: We walked to and from our neighborhood pool but I'm not sure how long that took so we'll just approximate it to the 30 minutes though I'd guess it might be closer to 20...maybe. My swimming is improving! Breathing is easier and doing it from both sides. Stroking is getting smoother, longer, and more rhythmical. I probably did 70% freestyle too. I read a couple of articles with some techniques that definitely helped me out. Friday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Saturday Schedule: Run: 40 min Actual: OFF Comments: I did go for a walk on the beach which is more difficult than walking on a sidewalk. Kendall went for a 10 minute run down the beach. Maybe our meager efforts count for a little bit even if they weren't the right amount and the sand added difficulty. Sunday Schedule: Bike: 10 miles Actual: OFF Comments: I had time but I was lazy. =( Overall Thoughts:

• This upcoming week will most likely not follow the schedule because we have other plans that will only allow us to keep up with about half of what is necessary this week. We do have at least an extra week before we would do a triathlon so I think this will work out ok as long as we do what we can when we can.

Audrey + Zane Wedding: With this egg, I thee wed...

Kendall's cousin Audrey got married May 16th in a field on her grandparents farm in GA. The wedding was gorgeous and so fitting of the couple. Their wedding rings were placed inside of an egg with feathers.

Triathlon Training: Week 3

Monday Schedule: OFF Actual: Tumbling: 45 min Comments: I am continuing our weekly tumbling class. Time will tell if the triathlon training has any effects on my tumbling abilities. I hope so! Tuesday Schedule: Swim: 200 yards, Run: 20 min Actual: OFF Comments: I have decided to start taking my cake decorating course again and that takes up all my time on Tuesday evenings. So, I may change from Monday to Tuesday being my off day. Not sure yet if I'll just flip the Monday/Tuesday activity or push the entire schedule forward a day. Wednesday Schedule: Bike: 6 miles Actual: Swim: 200 yards Comments: Kendall is back participating with me again, yay! I did a stroke mixture but this time I did the breaststroke with my head underwater. Before I was doing it with my head above the surface but I need to get used to less oxygen from breathing only after a few strokes. I did have an improvement in my freestyle breathing so I think I am figuring it out which is exciting! We did not get the 20 minute run part in (see notes at the bottom). Thursday Schedule: Swim: 300 yards, Walk: 30 min Actual: Run: 20 min (~1.5 miles, ~13.3 min/mile) Comments: We have taken 2 days to complete Tuesday's schedule, not sure how to get back on track but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Running is getting easier which is exciting! Also, it was raining but we went anyway, that's dedication right? I think next will try 2 min run/1 min walk rotations. Running or swimming are the easiest in the rain so we don't have to worry about WD40-ing the bike to prevent rust when we finish. Friday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Saturday Schedule: Run: 30 min Actual: Volleyball: 2-3 hours Comments: I had great fun playing until my hands and wrists literally could not take anymore abuse and I suppose I'll continue to pay for it for a few days! Sunday Schedule: Bike: 10 miles Actual: Bike: 10 miles (~57 min, ~5.7 min/mile) Comments: Biking is getting easier and my legs feel less like jello when I finish. My quads are definitely where I feel it the most but they're trying hard to get stronger! Overall Thoughts:

• I have not figured out how to do the days with two activities in one day. I do not think they are to be done back to back as you do something later in the program called bricks where the activities are done back to back. The goal is probably to do one in the morning and one in the evening but that is NOT going to happen. I have contemplated doing the walk/run part at lunchtime because I would have time. However, I get so sweaty and I think it would make the rest of my day uncomfortable without having a shower available.
• We need another bike.

Triathlon Training: Week 2

Monday Schedule: OFF Actual: Walk: 2 miles Comments: Was out of town this day but did walk 2+ miles around a racetrack. Tuesday Schedule: Swim: 200 yards, Run: 15 min Actual: My Fitness Coach (Wii) Core Body Workout: 30 min Comments: Waited too late to swim or run. Something is better than nothing. Wednesday Schedule: Bike: 6 miles Actual: Bike: 6.1 miles (~45 min, ~7.4 min/mile) Comments: Brought a Camelbak with water this time and it made a HUGE difference. Can really feel my quads working hard. Explored a nearby neighborhood using gps once again to track how far I had gone. Thursday Schedule: Swim: 200 yards Actual: Swim: 200 yards (~15 min) Comments: Pool water has warmed a bit so was a little easier getting in this time! I swam a stroke mixture again of: 25 yds breast + 25 yds side + 50 back + 100 free (not in that order). Friday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Saturday Schedule: Run: 20 min Actual: Run: 18 min (~1.3 miles, ~13.8 min/mile) Comments: Walking warmup of 5 minutes then alternated run 1 minute, walk 1 minute for the rest. This was a little easier this time so that leaves me hopeful some of this work is starting to pay off a little! Sunday Schedule: Bike: 8 miles Actual: Bike: 7.8 miles (~52 min, 6.7 min/mile) Comments: I pushed myself a little harder than previous times on the first three miles thinking "yeah I'm getting better at this". Big mistake! Got a little nauseous but kept going MUCH slower as the wind felt nice. Body got back in balance by the time I finished but I was pooped. I ended up taking the last two miles through the flattest parts of the neighborhood that I could find. I'm glad I was able to push through without ending up on the side of the road to meet the goal for the day. Overall Thoughts:

• Need to work in a day or two of strength training at some point. The goal is strength for endurance not bulk.
• Kendall was sick this week so did not participate with me. I'm proud of myself for getting out and doing it alone. I seem to have some fear of that but glad I'm overcoming it. I don't think it will be too difficult for Kendall to pick back up with me since he's in better physical shape than I am.
• Breathing while swimming is still an issue but I'm hoping it will get better with practice. I'm also considering a swim lesson or two to help with breathing and any other issues I may have.
• I learned that completing the activity is more important than how quickly you finish it. Trying to push myself just leaves me tired which is not helpful when endurance for the distance is key.

Triathlon Training: Week 1

Monday Schedule: OFF Actual: OFF Tuesday Schedule: Run: 15 min Actual: Run: 20 min (~1.5 miles, ~13.3 min/mile) Comments: Found a local park nearby with a 0.5-mile fitness trail to run at that is quite nice. I really did not do much running as I am out of shape. I was supposed to walk 5 minutes then alternate run 1 minute and walk 1 minute for the rest. But, I found I could only run at most for 30 seconds then walk 1.5 minutes! This is going to be a long road. Wednesday Schedule: Bike: 5 miles Actual: Bike: 4.75 miles (~42 minutes, ~8.8 min/mile) Comments: Kendall came with me but on rollerblades and said he would like to join me in this triathlon adventure as he needs to get into better shape also. Yay! We explored our neighborhood and he had gps tracking setup on his phone so we knew where we had gone and how far! Very helpful if you decide not to follow your original planned path mid-way through the trip. Learned that cycling without bringing water along is a TERRIBLE idea! Agua es muy importante! Thursday Schedule: Swim: 200 yards Actual: OFF Comments: Went to Dick's Sporting Goods store to buy swim goggles. Friday Schedule: OFF Actual: Swim: 200 yards (~30 minutes maybe not sure) Comments: The pool water was chilly! Kendall opted to jump right in and was finished with 300 yards before I finally inched my entire body in. I wasn't sure I could remember how to swim with my head underwater. The suggested swimming stroke is freestyle but I did a combination of breast, side, back, and free to complete the distance. I learned I need to work on breathing as I am sucking in more water than air so resorted to lifting my entire head up and out of the water. Saturday Schedule: Run: 15 min Actual: OFF Comments: Was lazy and did not do anything. Shameful! I felt really bad about it too and had a grumpy attitude because of it. Sunday Schedule: Bike: 5 miles Actual: OFF Comments: Out of town this day. Overall Thoughts: Side effects I'm already noticing: more energy, higher body temperature (especially at work where I'm usually freezing), and hunger!! Read that if you skip a day of training to let it be water under the bridge. It's important to just keep going and not to worry about making up the missed activity. Also, try not to miss more than one day in a row. It is important to reinforce the habit of exercising and it's more difficult to do so when you skip more than one day at a time.

From tumbler to triathlete?

For the last few years, my exercise regiment has been essentially nonexistent. During college, this was not a big deal as I was consistently hiking all over campus to classes several days a week. Since I have been married, life has become much more sedentary. For one hour, one day a week, I spend time at a gym learning the basics of tumbling, gymnastics, and trampoline. I have fun but it falls far short of any recommended minimum of exercise in a person's life. So, the next logical step is to consider a triathlon! Actually, that's probably not logical. A 5k, 10k, half marathon or any other running event has been a consideration for quite a while. I thought it sounded easy enough to train for and be rewarding in the end to know what I had accomplished. I'm not saying a running event is easy to do but it's something that requires minimal equipment and can be done just about anywhere. Unfortunately, my interest just never got off the ground as it sounded boring. A couple of months ago, I learned that a friend was going to attempt a triathlon. This sparked my interest because instead of just running, you swim, bike, AND run. After much research, hemming, hawing, waiting for our neighborhood pool to open, and mental preparation, I am now two weeks into a sprint distance triathlon training program for beginners recommended to me and found at: Tri-Newbies Online. Is this the best choice for a beginner? I have no idea but at least I'm no longer sitting at home nearly as much. I work with a woman that was a personal trainer in a prior career so I did have her look at the program and she thought the details and plan looked good and thorough. Also, if I have questions, it's great that I have someone to ask as I am not very familiar with the fitness world. The point of me announcing all of this here is that I've read when you announce your plan to the world, well, friends and family at least, you will feel like you're being held more accountable for your actions. I probably should have mentioned I was going to do this earlier but wanted to make sure I was going to really go for it before having to feel guilty for not actually following through with my plan. So, now when it gets difficult, my dear blog readers, it will be your responsibility to encourage me. ;-) My plan is to post updates of how I'm doing. Most updates will be tedious and boring but it will also be a way for me to keep track of what I have done. Oh, the goal is to just complete a triathlon regardless of final placement. I have not actually signed up for one but I am eyeing a couple sometime in August.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

As we were leaving, this sign was at an intersection on NC State's campus. The sign amused us because at the bottom it has advice regarding railroad crossings but there was not a train or railroad anywhere around!

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

The first and second place teams qualified to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships.

1st Place: University of Georgia (red and black) 2nd Place: Pennsylvania State University (blue)

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney McCool competing on the balance beam for the University of Georgia. She scored a perfect 10.0! Courtney was also a 2004 Olympian with the other Courtney.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets competing on the balance beam for the University of Georgia.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets warming up on the uneven bars for the University of Georgia.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets competing on the floor exercise for the University of Georgia. She was a 2004 Olympian.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

A University of North Carolina gymnast competing on the balance beam.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

University of Georgia team huddle between event rotations.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

On Saturday, April 4th, Kendall and I attended the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional Competition at NC State University in Raleigh. The competition was to qualify two teams to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships. Gymnastics is my favorite sport so this was an awesome opportunity I enjoyed to the fullest!

We took a lot of photos, well, Kendall took most of them as I was mostly watching the four ring circus. We quickly learned that gymnastics is not an easy sport to photograph as I imagine most sports are probably not as well due to the speed of things happening. I think I am only including photos I took but it is possible some were by Kendall.

There were six teams in the battle to qualify for Nationals as well as a handful of individuals from schools that did not qualify a team to Regionals. The teams represented were: University of Georgia, Pennsylvania State University, University of Nebraska, West Virginia University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University. My favorite moment was getting to see UGA (the defending National Champion) compete with two past Olympians (2004) and each score a perfect 10.0!!

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2: Postponed

Alas, only 3 people signed up for the course and the requirement is 4 in order to teach the class. Technically, there were 4 but one was a store employee and they are not allowed to count them toward the class roster. So, the class has been pushed forward a month to June when, hopefully, enough people will be signed up. Therefore, there will not be any cake photos this month unless I decide to practice which I suppose would be a good idea!

A SMART car, a Maserati, a Canon, and a Fire Truck

I have had several missed photo ops in the last couple of weeks. Since I do not have any photos to show, words will have to do. Three of the four opportunities that come to mind, I was driving so really I suppose it would not have been safe to be taking photos anyway! Kendall and I carpool to work, so, I pick him up on the way home each afternoon. In the short distance between our work places, I seem to have a unique siting fairly often. I have seen a blue and white SMART car, a red Maserati (a cousin to the Ferrari), and an SUV. Well, the SUV was not the interesting part but what it was pulling...a trailer! Ok, that's not the interesting part either but what was on the trailer. Imagine driving down the road and someone passing you by when it registers that the thing right beside you on the road is a canon! Now a canon is not an unusual site to see but when it's not at a historic battlefield or at a museum but a mere few feet from you at eye level speeding along, it is a bit surprising! The fourth opportunity is also vehicle related. This morning at work the fire alarm went off! We evacuated but not before grabbing purses, cell phones, and umbrellas. Why is it always raining when there is a fire, fire drill, or fire alarm? Some of us wanted to go get breakfast but alas we stood around under the tree for quite a while wondering if the fire department would ever come. Eventually two fire trucks showed up and at first drove past our building before eventually coming in the back way! It was a bit scary how long it took them to get there and also I was surprised at the number of people that went back inside before we got the all clear. This is not what we learned in school! While we were standing around outside I thought about taking a photo of the fire truck but decided against it as I didn't want people to think I was weird. After walking around and in and out of the building several times we were given the all clear to reenter the building. I thought the all clear would involve a firefighter saying "it's safe for you to all go back in now" but no instead he said "get back to work" then laughed! Apparently, a smoke detector malfunctioned setting the entire system off resulting in us needing to stand outside for nearly an hour this morning. There are a couple office suites around ours that are being renovated and we were blaming the workers for setting it off on accident but guess our hypothesis was incorrect.

Carolina Hurricanes Sandcastle - Side 2

Carolina Hurricanes Sandcastle - Side 1

While at Crabtree Valley Mall getting lunch one day, I saw this sand sculpture dedicated to the local Carolina Hurricanes professional hockey team and the Stanley Cup.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1: Class 4

Last night, I went to the last class in the Course 1 series. I did not have time to make a cake before class so I do not have a photo. We completed learning to make the Wilton rose, a sweet pea flower, and a bow. It was probably just as well that I did not make a cake because my icing was not of a proper consistency making it difficult to do anything BUT the instructor said I had the proper technique so that is all I really care about since I can fix the icing later. I see some experimenting in the future! Wilton also sells premade icing at stores so I may give that a try in Course 2. Speaking of Course 2, I signed up to take it, continuing on where we left off. I was only the second person signed up so I'm hoping at least a couple more will so they won't cancel the class. If I make a cake each week, I will continue to take photos and share my experimental masterpieces here. ;-)

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1: Class 3

This is the cake I decorated during class 3 of 4. We learned how to do shell borders, flowers, and a clown. You're supposed to buy a clown head topper but I was cheap and made up my own with what I had available.

I attempted a 2 layer cake but didn't use enough cake release in the pan so half of it was stuck inside when I dumped the cake out. So, I made a single layer cake instead with cake crumbs for snacking on later as the second layer. First time I tried the chocolate icing as well and it was yummy.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1: Class 2

After YEARS of wanting to take cake decorating classes, I have FINALLY signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 at Michael's. It's a 4 week, 2 hour, once a week class. Now, I am learning the proper technique to decorate a cake and it has been very fun so far. The first week was just instruction and demonstration. This photo is from the second week when we got to start decorating. I brought a brownie instead of a cake to decorate and this is what I made! Smile! =)

P.S. Kendall and I started eating it before I got around to taking a picture. Yum!