Thanksgiving 2009 December 1, 2009

Josh, Steve, and I had the pleasure of hosting our families this past week as they visited us for Thanksgiving and Black Friday!  How only plans were a meal at Cracker Barrell, the Hurst family tradition of watching White Christmas, and shopping!

 

 

Our families are super gracious and quite wonderful (for many reasons), if nothing else, this is shown in their willingness to drive hours and hours to come see us.  Because of the rock fall in Asheville, both fams had to detour through Atlanta and it added a couple hours to each trek.  They arrived at different times on Wednesday and after I got back from school we had a late dinner and hung out in the lobby of their hotel trying to catch up on things.

 

Thanksgiving day I was most certainly not going to cook so we went to Cracker Barrell and ate the meal that they prepare for everyone (they aren’t too willing to substitute things when you order the special- I guess they were just very very busy.)  Since there was no shopping to do in the afternoon and we didn’t want to waste the day, some of us went to the movies.  The first theater was sold out and the second was sold out soon after we got the tickets.  We sat in the very front row because it was the only available and ate out of a bathtub full of salted and buttered popcorn.  It was fantastic!

 

Then we all gathered in our tiny little apartment to watch White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.  At this point, the Hursts know every line and song and I’m fast catching on.  Mom and Maurice not so much.  Some of us had some popcorn (including Steve and Alex) and ate some fudge while enjoying the family time and corny movie.

 

Friday we started the day off with Caribou hot chocolate and plans to spend the day shopping.  We visited the mall for about six hours and finished up walking and spending money by eating at Josh and my favorite restaurant, McCormick and Shmick’s.  We had alcohol, calamari, lobster ravioli, and apple pie for dessert.  Maybe the best meal ever.  Josh and I are gonna request it as a last meal, I think.  I guess everyone else enjoyed it too… we didn’t really come up for air to inquire.

 

The Hursts left the next morning so they could get back into the swing of things and Josh had to work all day.  What did Mom, Maurice, and I do?  Well, shop of course!  We started out the day with hot chocolate again and started earlier to insure we made the best of the time we had.  I think they were able to get the majority of their Christmas shopping done- at least that’s how it felt in the back of the car with the bags and boxes of things.

 

Maurice loves me and good food so we got to go back to McCormick and Shmick’s for a second best meal ever.  We had the same exact thing again and it was tremendous the second time around.  I love that restaurant not only because of the food but because of the leisure in which you get to eat your meal.  We had such a good time talking and eating and fellowshipping!

 

Josh and I are extremely grateful for the time we were allowed with our families and hope you all had as equally great times!

Autumn Means New School! October 25, 2009

Hey friends!  We sure do appreciate our readers and we both apologize for the lack of updates here… even as good a writer as Josh is, reading his post many times over isn’t fun.  I am here to provide new info!

Mainly I wanted to let people know about my weekday evening activities.  I am attending a business school for a diploma in Medical Assisting.  I’m not entirely sure what a “diploma program” is, but I know that when I’m done with this eighteen month program I will be able to sit for the certified medical assistant test and when I pass will be eligible for a raise and more responsibility at work.  If none of that happens after I pass the test, I will at least know I’m able to get a similar job elsewhere.  This is a stepping stone for now, I don’t want to be a CMA forever, but I know with these classes I will have more knowledge and experience in the medical field that I will be able to build upon.  School is forty-five minutes from home, in North Charlotte, up by the IKEA and UNCC.  For those of you not familiar with Charlotte, it’s a little ways away.  I am now completely familiar with I-485 and when anyone visits I can now capably get us to and from places outside South Charlotte (ahem… Maurice.)  We have modules at school which are essentially semesters just shorter.  Each module I’ll have three classes for ten weeks and then I switch.  This time around I have Tuesday and Thursday classes at six and eight o’clock and Wednesday at six.  Thankfully, this first module is over in a week and I will get new classes.

I have a bachelor’s degree and I wrote a forty-five page thesis for Maryville, but this module I had to take keyboarding because I didn’t test out of it.  Now, I can type significantly more than the minimum for this class and if it had been up to my typing alone I could’ve tested out.  BUT!  There was this awful objective test that I didn’t do well enough on to test out of the class.  What objective portion of keyboarding could there possibly be, you ask?  Well, good question!  Do you know how many errors it counts if you transpose two letters in a word?  Or how many spaces you make after a colon?  Well, no (if you do, please do not tell me) why would you need to know this info?  I’m pretty sure you don’t.  In any circumstances.  Anyway, I took the two other tests and did my nineteen lessons of keyboarding and finished the class in three weeks.  And while that was wonderful because it was so tedious and boring, I have an eight o’clock class after keyboarding so I have dinner with my husband after work and drive up there for my Customer Service class.

Now this one is fun.  Dumb and a little common sense-ish, but fun because it’s seven women discussing service and communication with a really fantastic instructor.  We went on a “field trip” last Thursday to Carabba’s Italian Grill so that we could gather information on their service skills.  We’ll discuss it Tuesday and then we’ll be let go, ’cause Ms. D is too cool.

Wednesday I have business math.  If you know me at all you know that I’m not too good at complicated math stuff.  However, I’m pretty good at adding and subtracting and other basic math skills.  (I’m especially good with my scientific calculator.)  I didn’t test out of this one because I’m almost positive no one ever taught me how to divide fractions and decimals.  Seriously.  We have this brilliant instructor who really lowered her standards when she started teaching at Brookstone and goes so quickly she leaves my classmates behind.  It’s the only time in my life I’ve been able to help someone else out in math.

So, like I said, the first of November brings new classes and I am so EXCITED already!

Supervising Shifts October 4, 2009

Hello, readers. Josh here. My dear wife/favorite blogger has been “encouraging” me to contribute to this blog for some time now, specifically to talk about recent happenings in my work. And now seems like as good a time as any, I suppose.

For those who don’t know, I was promoted to Shift Supervisor status at CVS about a month ago. This means that I work full time (~40 hours/week), get better pay, supposedly receive employee benefits (more on that later), have actual responsibilities, get my name grouped with all the cool kids on our store schedule, and, best of all, have a much better job title than “cashier.”

I was semi-in-training for a few weeks, with my two fellow shifts (Sharney & David) and our assistant manager Frank showing me the ropes. I also took a loss prevention class with our district loss prevention manager, B.K., a thoroughly intimidating ex-football player and ex-cop who eats shoplifters and thieving employees for breakfast. Last Saturday, I officially got my keys, and Sunday was my first night as manager on duty.

And I’m not gonna lie: It was pretty rough. We joke about the “first night curse,” wherein everyone’s first night as manager on duty goes horrifically awry, but my experience was far and away the worst of anyone’s, as all of our photo machines and come of our computer equipment broke, I couldn’t start counting the deposit until my allotted time way nearly half over, and, ultimately, I had to rush so much that I screwed up the counting and our store manager had to come fix it. Thankfully, he was a model of grace and patience, and was actually encouraging to me.

And after that, things got better. I was on duty Monday night– I’ll be on duty EVERY Monday night– and things went smoothly. Tomorrow, I trust/pray that things will go even better. It’s a stressful and complicated job that takes some getting used to, and I’m enjoying it, and also appreciating the charity and understanding of all my co-workers as they help me get the hang of things.

And about my benefits: I’ve been on the phone with HR several times trying to get that squared away. Apparently, my manager’s initial request for me to receive the healthcare package didn’t ever register at the corporate office because– get this– our Human Resources department is located on an island in the Indian Ocean, and my request was transmitted right in the midst of a tsunami, which caused the computers to fail. You can’t make stuff like that up.

But that aside, I’m loving the work, the newfound camaraderie with my fellow shifts, the increased responsibility, and the chance to mentor some of our new cashiers. It’s a fun gig, and I look forward to sharing some more stories about it later!

Grilled! September 14, 2009

Recently, while visiting my parents in East Tennessee, Maurice was so generous and bought us Hursts a grill.  That’s right, Joshua and I, the king and queen of crock pot and baking, now own a charcoal grill.  We had to put it together (which was more difficult than it should have been) and then pretended we knew what we were doing with the charcoal and the cooking.

I started out with the Steve on the porch in the hot sunshine assembling this grill.  About three quarters of the way through I got really frustrated and started cursing and throwing things.  So, my husband (who doesn’t normally like screwdrivers and things came to my rescue.)

See? Joshua is confused too.

We eventually got it together so we enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing, cutting Steve’s hair, watching movies, and generally doing nothing after a long week at work.  Then we started preparing our supper.  We had marinated chicken, macaroni, and peas.  There’s this thing though… it took like 40 minutes for the charcoal to heat so the other items were a little cold when we sat down to eat.  That’s okay though ’cause we’ll learn better for next time.  Josh has decided to be our grill master which I am so excited about!

Isn't he too cute? A little timid but that'll get better!

A 13 Course Meal. Prepared by Our Friend the Master Chef. August 27, 2009

That’s right.  Thirteen courses.  You may be asking (as Josh did) what each course could possibly be.  Like salad course part III.  Thankfully, Joshua was not in charge of these thirteen courses, our friend Chris Brock did all the cooking with a buddy of his.  He’s prepared meals for us before, but the last time he told us that his four course meal was not a “real” meal and he’d have to have us over again for a bigger tete a tete.  Chris likes this guy Thomas Keller who operates a world famous restaurant in California called the French Laundry and the Keller guy has a book on pressurized cooking (at least I think that’s what it is- you’ll have to ask Chris for more) and we bought it for Chris on the condition that we get a “real” meal.  I think it was a fair trade.  A forty-five dollar book for thirteen courses?

Chris asked us to provide a bottle of wine, which we did along with the other couple that was fed.  In total we had six bottles of wine- just ask Josh.  Although, now that I think about it, he may not remember all that wine…  We showed up and the food got underway.  Chris and his friend Nic shopped for like, three weeks to make this dinner.  Nic’s got cool pictures of the fridge beforehand and I’m sure it’s terrifying.  I took pictures but my camera/phone decided to peter out on me so some of the courses got left off.

We started with a white truffle and black pepper… something.  Chris cut off the top of an egg, poured out the insides, made his concoction, poured it back in the egg shell, cooked it, and served it to us.  We then moved on to the sweet summer corn soup which is my new favorite way to eat corn.  That stuff was good!  We had a scallop that was incredible (I got seconds ’cause they’re my fave) and fourth we got braised lamb belly with a fig and onion marmalade.  Rabbit pate came next, followed by grouper (which Josh got seconds of) and a sweet potato ravioli with prosciutto.  Eighth course had quail, with the breast sous vide (the pressurized bit) and confit leg (which essentially means salted and fried) followed by beet salad (the best beets I’ve ever had- in fact the only beets I’ve ever had), Cote de Boeuf, fluffed cheese that was made to look like bread, and TWO chocolate desserts.  Oh yeah, then shortbread cookies and coffee.

Needless to say, we were not hungry for about 24 hours after that meal.  It took four hours, six bottles of wine, and thirteen courses.  And, we had some pretty excellent conversation.  We’re thankful the Brocks could feed us so well and host us for so long!

The scallion. It didn't last long before getting it in my belly.

Braised lamb belly.

Quail with cara cara gastrique (some African orange... sauce)

Roasted beet salad with fennel and blue cheese.

Dark chocolate ravioli with hazelnut ice cream and white chocolate blackberry trifle.

The six notorious bottles of wine.

Illness Roundup August 23, 2009

Joshua turned out to have MRSA in his lip.  Good news is it’s going away because of the antibiotics they’re giving.  Oh, and the cut they made in his lip so the thing would drain.  They knew it was a staph infection Monday but drew a sample so they could run cultures on it.  The first doctor said it needed to be cut into Monday but the second doctor said medicine would be the first route.  So he took his meds until Wednesday when he had to go back and they cut it open anyway and drained it.  They gave two shots to numb it and then started cutting.  J told them he could still feel it so they gave him another shot and cut into it.  It bled and seeped pus (sorry for the detail for those of you who are queasy) and then he threw up (again) because of all the numbing stuff.  Then they let him drive home (I was a little frustrated with that.)  He came home, rested, and made it to work on Friday.  His lip looks all better now!

Look! All better!

Steve a few weeks back had an infection himself.  It was a boil like thing on his foot that he couldn’t stop licking for two days and managed to pop the thing so it too seeped.  Unfortunately, it got inflamed and did not get better so we took him to the vet who gave some antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory that we gave for two weeks.  He didn’t get any better so we took him back and the doctor gave another med that we were to give for a month.  Well, we did and things didn’t get better so we took him back a third time.  This time I made sure to inform them that they needed to remove the thing not keep giving meds.  So, the vet did a surgery, removing the boil/abscess/cyst thing and a toe nail that had twisted off.  They wrapped it up nice and good and gave him a cone.  Except, it wasn’t really a cone, more like a bonnet because it was floppy.  Steve tolerated it for a day and a half and then chewed the bandage off.  We took him to the vet again, they re-wrapped it and but this weird yuck stuff on it and he left that one alone for two days.  Then he chewed it off and actually managed to keep away from the stitches.  He got those removed, we finished up his meds, and now he’s all better.

He looks real pitiful but he's all better now.

As you may be thinking, the two infections are not related (at least as far as we know.)  Josh probably got his from money at CVS and then biting his nails (which I attribute the MRSA to because I want him to stop biting his nails) and Steve got his from some bug bite or splinter.

Anyway, things are all back to normal around here, with Josh recovering and Steve back to his normal and very obnoxious self.  We wanted to let people know Joshua is good to go, we just threw Steve in there for some comedic effect.

Traveling Sickness (or Our Time with the Hippies) August 16, 2009

Josh got a promotion last week with a raise and more hours.  I signed up for school that begins on the 31st of this month.  We celebrated our one year anniversary a couple months ago and I got a raise at my one year mark at work.  All of these things gave us a reason to take a weekend and go up to Asheville.  I had never been and Joshua hasn’t been in years.  We dropped Steve off with a very gracious co-worker of mine and drove up there Thursday night after Josh got off work.  We didn’t have anything planned other than the Biltmore and a little place called Salsa’s.

Thursday night Josh came home with a swollen lip.  Since I was driving we gave him two Benedryl and left for the mountains.  Friday morning came around and Josh’s lip was swollen to four times its normal size so we decided to check out an Urgent Care in the area.

Doesn't it look awful?

We checked in, watched some Today, and waited an hour.  We waited another hour while people who had checked in after us were seen and left while we sat and watched Rachel Ray.  Josh got a little frustrated and asked the receptionist what the problem was.  She had forgotten him for the first hour and they were waiting on the doctor for him to be seen the second hour.  He finally gets called back, I wait an hour and watch… something.  I can’t remember what.  Josh comes back and we watch Andy Griffith while we wait for medicine.  Turns out Josh had an infected hair folicle that made his lip swell.  We got the meds and decided to go to lunch.  We checked out a neat little cafe in the arts district so Josh could take his antibiotics and eat.  Too bad the eating was a little late because he threw up and so the first does of meds was ineffective.

They did not act urgently in getting him seen.

We went back to the hotel to lay low so he could recuperate and I could watch Project Runway (how I’ve missed cable.)  After some rest we went back out and walked around downtown Asheville.  We went in some stores and then sat and watched a group of jimbay players and some dancers.  How cool is it that 15 people playing different insrtuments could hang out and play with some dancing and improv?  I thought it was really cool.  Josh got sick again so we left for some dinner and some cable.

Saturday we set for the Biltmore after visiting a neat little place called BurgerMeisters.  Fried pickles and burgers… mmh mmh mmh!  The Biltmore was really cool.  As Josh put it everything was over-sized but oh so pretty!  We know for next time to spring extra cash for the rooftop tour so we can see vistas and extra places (also known as be really nosy.)

See those people on top?

We went back downtown for some shopping and dinner.  Asheville is such a neat place- they have three organic stores on one street, two used record stores, a natural grocery, used bookstore, and a “contemporary smoking store.”  And then right around the corner they have the museums and historical places and Biltmore Village a couple miles down the road.  Such a dichotomy of people!

Salsa’s is this neat, tiny Caribbean restaurant where I had a lamb empana with mango chutney and avocados with peppers and sour cream.  It came with this totally awesome salsa and black beans.  Josh had something that was also quite pretty and colorful.  We visited a store or two after leaving and then I started feeling sick so we started back to the car.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it and vomited in the streets of Asheville before we got to the parking garage.  Again we went back to the hotel for some rest.

This morning we got some Krispy Kreme and visited Mr. K’s used books and cds.  (Which is how it’s done, Charlotte!)  We made out with 8 books and 3 cds.  Then we started our way back to home.  Josh saw a movie this evening to review and I picked up Steve.

All in all we had a good weekend.  We wish it could’ve had a little less hotel in the narrative, but we still had a good time.  I hope you all had a nice weekend as well.  Thanks for reading our update!

Vaughns Visit! July 16, 2009

Well, in case you’re noticing a growing trend with us Hursts, it’s the visitors were so blessed to have for the weekend!  First it was Josh’s ‘rents, then some kids of a co-worker who we kept, and then this past weekend my parents made it in town.  I’m not gonna lie, I was surprised they finally made it out here.  Not because they’re awful parents but because they’re so busy.  It was a complete joy to explore bits of Charlotte with them.

They're so cute!

Josh had to work most of the weekend, but we tried to have a blast when he was around.  Like with the Hursts we did a lot of eating and I will gladly give you a rundown of the restaurants.  We also did a TON of shopping.  My momma loves to shop when she’s in a new place.  It’s relaxing for her and goodness knows I love to shop too.  Maurice and Josh found other things to do and didn’t complain a bit.  We went to three malls and three small outside boutique like areas.  Doesn’t sound like a lot until I tell you we when to each of those places multiple times.  We drove practically to Winston-Salem looking for a restaurant and I got us lost in this adoptive city more times than I care to admit.

Friday we went to Trios here in South Charlotte for some outside eating.  I had only had their food a couple times and was halfway it wouldn’t be approved- my family is very discerning… it passed inspection!

Saturday afternoon I made everyone get in the car so we could go to Lexington Barbeque, the restaurant voted most recently the best barbeque in the country.  The Nances took us a couple weekends ago and I just knew Maurice would love it.  It took an hour and half to drive up there, it took about another hour to find it, and about three seconds for a gas station employee to tell me they had taken the week after the 4th off for vacation.  Needless to say, we did not eat the barbeque I had intended.  Instead we had some other stuff that was okay but not outstanding.

Joshy had to work that afternoon so Momma and I shopped in the extremely upscale mall at SouthPark and I ogled some shoes that cost 335 dollars.  Who in their right mind would pay that for a shoe?  Not even a whole shoe- a sandal!

While Josh earned us some money my parents and I went to Upstream and had some seafood.  It certainly wasn’t what we had expected but it was delicious!

Sunday Josh and I went to church and tried to teach Sunday School, but for the third week in a row we had no kids due to vacations!  After the service we took the parents to Hotel Charlotte and enjoyed some fried pimento cheese balls.  Er, rather they enjoyed and I tasted.

We did some more shopping and exploring South Charlotte looking at houses (multimillion dollar ones) before heading to McCormick and Schmick’s.  If you’ve never had the pleasure I seriously recommend it.  Josh told our server the lobster ravioli was the best thing he’d ever put in his mouth.  I think the server was taken aback.  I, on the other hand, appreciated the most marvelous apple pie I’ve ever had.  I could go to that place only for the dessert.  But the ravioli wasn’t half bad either.

This is the after. It was real good.

This is the before. Looks good.

Monday Josh had to work all day so the three of us went to all the places that had either been closed or we needed to visit again because we just wanted to.   After making Maurice turn around about six times because I realized way too late that we were going in the wrong direction, we finally made it back to South Charlotte where I was familiar and ate lunch at Harper’s.  We shopped some more and then met up with Josh and the Breedens to eat family style at Maggiano’s.  That essentially means we had more food than a regular person ever should and enjoyed every minute of it.

My parents are super generous and treated Josh and I all weekend.  We loved it and appreciate it so much!  We look forward to their return visit (hope it isn’t a year from now- jk Momma!) and not just because they feed us really good food for free.

The In-Laws Visit! June 28, 2009

The past couple weekends have mostly consisted of reading by the pool and eating out.  Last weekend we were invited to eat Lexington barbeque and explore Winston-Salem with the Nances and Breedens.  This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Joshua’s parents and sister.  The following is a run-down of all our activities.

Friday evening Josh introduced us to Cantina 1511, an upscale Mexican restaurant with enormous portions and an extensive menu.  I believe everyone enjoyed themselves and got very full very fast.  I ordered a chimichanga that was about the size of Josh’s head (which we know is quite large) and was decorated with three different sauces.  Needless to say, I ate about an eighth of it.  Linda brought the Breedens and us an earthquake cake and we had pieces of that when we got back to the apartment.  The cake is made with german chocolate mix, butter, and powdered sugar.  There are other ingredients as well but you can imagine just how rich this cake is.  I felt like my teeth might rot out of my head but I was going to enjoy it while it happened.

We started Saturday morning with the Mint Museum of Art which you’ve heard about already, but you’ll learn some new things this time around.  The museum used to house the U.S. Mint that produced gold coins back in the day.  Currently the new building is being erected in the uptown area and is scheduled to open in 2010.  I’m sure we’ll have another story when that happens.  Anyway, the museum had an exhibit of platform shoes and showcased massive heeled shoes from the twenties until now.  This shoe is from the sixties and is insane.  There are only a small group of women I know who could pull this look off (and they work at night.)

Ouch

This other pair was a recent addition to the Winter 2009 line from some famous designer.  Now, I really do know a woman who could not only work these shoes, but she could work in them.  In fact, she wears similar shoes at work everyday.

Give me some flip flops anyday.

For lunch we hit ole Bill Spoons barbeque which is fast becoming a Saturday ritual.  They have East Carolina style barbeque with a vinegar base sauce and a little kick to each bite.  It’s served with mustard slaw on a sandwich.  Get a class of so sweet tea that it’s practically syrup and you’re set.  I think the ‘rents were a little skeptical at first but they came around.

We went back to the hotel and swam for about three hours straight.  The pool there is larger and significantly quieter than our apartment pool.  There were no snotty nosed kids making noise and yelling like at ours so we got to swim and play practially uniterrupted.  Joshy applied the SPF 30 twice and still got some pink in his cheeks.

He's cute.

After playing the color game, Marco Polo, and categories for a couple hours we decided we’d worked up an appetite for Hawthorne’s pizza.  Josh and Linda split a pesto pizza that looked like the Hulk bled on it and Abby and I split a pepperoni that just dripped grease.  Don got a pasta dish and we all ate til we could pop.  Since Hawthorne’s is next to the CVS where Josh works we went there next and Josh introduced all of us to his assistant manager who might be the sweetest man I’ve ever met.

This morning the Hursts met us at church where we heard a particularly convicting sermon about contentment in the midst of struggles and then had lunch with the Breeders.  You know we like them a lot so they had to be in here somewhere.  They introduced us to a new restaurant where there is some pretty fine flounder to be had and the best fried okra I think is available in the South.  After saying goodbye to Steve the Hursts left us for Knoxville.  I think it was pretty stinkin’ fabulous of them to visit us a second time, don’t you?

Good looking bunch, eh?

Now, as I was proof reading this little narrative I noticed an alarming trend.  Did you catch it?  We sure love our food…

I will admit that we ate a lot but we tried to be discerning and pick only good food.  We had good company and good conversation so all in all I think the weekend was a success.

Don’t ask the Hursts just in case they don’t agree.

It’s Joshua’s Birthday! May 7, 2009

Hooray for celebrating yourself!

In case you didn’t know, Josh’s birthday is today and you should wish him a good one.  He had to work from 1-10 today, but he got a pretty awesome box set of Nina Simone this morning and will have another present when he gets off work so I hope he isn’t too sad.

I hope you all have good birthdays too, but if you get a chance stop by and wish my husband happy birthday.  It really would make his day.