happy blogday to you!

so my abba just turned.... well i don't know if he wants that posted on the internet, but needless to say he just had a birthday and matt and i were priviledge enough to spend it with him. it included three-evening-hang-out-sessions.

day 1: abba cooked a deliciously spicy rice dish with broccoli & cauliflower. yum! but we almost did have to call the fire department, it was that hot! then we got to listen to a most thoughtful gift sent by my sister anvah from Israel. She emailed my dad 2 songs recorded with her singing. WOW! what a voice! afterwards, dad beat me at 500 rummy (nothing new) and matt popped in for a hello.

day 2: after the present opening, matt and i took abba out for a much long overdue indian dinner at RASOI, where we ordered yellow lentils with garlic & ginger, saag paneer (spinach & cheese dish), and a roasted eggplant dish. all served with yummy basmati rice.

day 3: the real fun begins! jk, it was all wonderful. but that evening we went to watch the albuquerque isotopes beat the new orleans zephyrs (baseball). it was a great game, 7-4 and we enjoyed beer and peanuts while matt made a few outrageous (outrageously funny) comments to the ball players.

so, to wrap it up, i'd say it was a pretty good blogday, i hope my abba agrees!

the wright bloggers dubbed NC “first in flight!''

so mr. fuemmeler the 4th and i flew out to raleigh/durham, north kakillack this past week to visit some familiars and basically get outta town for a minute.

let me just start by saying NC was great for:

• humidity
• fireflies
• green & trees everywhere
• front porches
• grits
• flowers
• birds
• butterflies
• and squirrels!

we had excellent hosts. we started off staying with bernard, emily and macon in durham (matt's brother, his wife, and their schnauzer). they know what's up, and know how to keep their guests sated! we had the best home-made pizza, bbq chicken, eggs n potatoes spiced with fresh herbs, pesto and tomatoes. not to mention beer, mojitoes, and more beer!

macon

durham highlights included the most amazing lily garden ever witnessed by mankind (mankind= myself.... and matt!) at the sarah p. duke gardens.

duke campus

lily

second place was the durham bulls baseball game where they scored 5 runs in the 8th inning all because bernard and matt forced the stadium to do the WAVE. get that crowd going and the team starts playing! did i mention there were fireworks?

3rd place was paddling boats in umstead lake and spotting a most magestic/creepy looking writing spider!

emily & bernard

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the 2nd 1/2 of our trip was spent after a 4 hour car drive west on 1-40 in asheville, city in the sky where we stayed with my uncle. what a beautiful spot in the appalachian mountains. the city's downtown is very hip and walkable. we covered serious ground.

uncle andy!

asheville highlights include: downtown shops, restaurants, n photo ops. we found SALSAS a mexican carribbean restaurant with an alleyway bar that served a mighty fine pilsner and chips and guacamole, which was just what we wanted after 3 hours of walking around. matt fuemes = serious thinker

salsas

runner up was my uncle's wicked pad and friggin' adorable wierdo cat named “spike'' who insists on laying on your chest, kneeding and suckling on your shirt, following you around everywhere and waiting until your next move, or licking my uncle's hair as he relaxes on the carpet.

spike!

last but never least, was the beautiful looking glass waterfall and whaleback swimming hole we encountered off the davidson river down near brevard. we jumped in and man was it COLD!

whaleback swimmin hole

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so basically, all in all, in summary, to conclude.... we like NC. we like it indeed! thanks hosts!

blogged down with baby gear

matty's sister had her baby shower yesterday, and what a shower it was. literally, it did rain a few drops.

you know baby showers. they're all food, games, and present unwrapping. as far as food goes,

check out this fruit dish:

and well, we didn't win any games but theonly male (matty) and i did give it good effort, joining forces on collecting 24 clothes pins for catching others saying the dreadded B-word (if you don't know the word, reread as i've already used it 3 times). 24 wasn't enough to out-do the little girl who attended and everyone happily gave over their clothing pins to. shucks.

of course, the coolest part was watching all the cute, adorable, cuddly, soft, & precious - clothes, blankies, toys, diaper cakes, whale-shaped baths, etc. that mama renee

got. i mean, so much stuff she'll have to have a yard sale, just to make room. matt and

i one-up-ed everyone with our creativity, making her a bike-gear mobile, some cute monster wall decorations, and 2 very originally designed onesies. (back of 1st onesie = walrus matt.)

last but oh so not least, the hosts just so happened to have 5 pretty darn cool pets. you'll never guess, but this picture will help. i learned that red eyes = boy.