Yesterday I met some friends for a picnic lunch outside the NC Art Museum.

Rihanna, Courtney, Brianne, Carlee, Nathania and me.

And we had cupcakes!

The Rodin exhibit was great.

The Kiss is one of my favorite sculptures, I wanted to get  a few different angles.

So beautiful.

There was also a really pretty lily pond with sculptures all around it.

Lots of beautiful paintings of course.

Brianne wanted to play Jenga, lol!

We had a great time. Everyone brought goodies and  we ate at a picnic table under a tree, we had cheese and crackers and fruit… and of course dessert.  :)  Thank goodness for the shade, it was so hot! After eating we went to the new building at the NCAM, it was beautiful and now they allow photography of the art.

Hopefully we can meet up like this again on a regular basis, it’s great to get together, eat, and laugh with just us girls.

This post is a little belated but I wanted didn’t want to skip it. A couple weeks ago I got to meet up with my friends Kelly and Erin at Southpoint Mall. Kelly also brought her son Nigel along, I couldn’t believe how big he’s gotten since I last saw him.

We had lunch at Cheesecake factory and then did a little shopping. It was so good to have see them again, I’ve been missing my Wilmington friends more than I thought. Hopefully we can get together again soon.

The last time I moved to a new town was when I took the job to work at Verizon Wireless and moved to Wilmington six years ago.  I was lucky enough to meet some great people and start making friends and socializing.  The people at my new job seem nice but I don’t feel like I have anything in common with anyone, it’s a very different culture than at VZW.  It’s also a much smaller center, and doesn’t have the same kind of diversity as far as its employees.

It’s funny how the things you have to deal with as a kid never really go away, like feeling self-concious or being shy.  It’s nowhere near as bad anymore but I’m still not the kind of person who is comfortable being surrounded by strangers. I think I just miss having time with my girlfriends, the order pizza and paint your toenails nights, and the dinner and gossip nights.  I also miss going to Firebelly and getting dollar tacos with what seemed like half the tech support dept, lol.

Tom and I have a lot of fun together, he’s truly my best friend, but I don’t want to be dependent on him to entertain me all the time either.  I’m sure it will just take some time, but I hope I can find somewhere to meet interesting people soon. I guess I just forgot that it can take a while to get adjusted in a new town.

Even though moving can be a pain everything has been going really great since I moved to Raleigh on Monday.  I’m almost done unpacking and getting things organized at the condo, and Tom and I have come down to the coast for the weekend. Today was his mother’s birthday and his cousins birthday party so we got to spend time with family and friends in Sneads Ferry. Tomorrow we’re going to try to make it to the Azalea Festival in Wilmington after church, and get my last few things from my old house.  I start my new job on Monday, I’m excited and nervous but I’m sure everything will be fine.

With Jackie, my partner in crime

Some of the VZW boys were there

Somehow I was dragged on stage to help sing karaoke… not quite sure how that happened.

Overall a great night.

Today I came in to work and found that Kelly had mailed me a postcard from England! She went to the National Portrait Gallery and picked this one for me, its a portrait of the Bronte sisters. I LOVE to get postcards in the mail, I’ve gotten them from all over the states and a few from other countries.

Tom and I got dressed up and went out for a date night last night at Tony’s Oyster Bar. We looked so good I made him take a picture of us, lol.  We used the self timer on my camera so I figure it counts as a self portrait.

Tonight I was going through my pictures and saw a few I’d taken with friends over the years, so I thought I’d include them in my SPT post.

Kelly and I about 3 years ago

Jackie and I the day she took me ice skating

At Charlie Brown’s with Dave

Tom and I beside Lake Johnson

This past summer, at the mall with Jackie after a bunch of us went to the imax theater

Downtown Raleigh with Tom, Brandy, and Jay last year

At Lake Wheeler with Tom

Sarah, Jeremy, Anne, and Hodie

Sarah put together another great tweetup tonight, I got there kind of late due to work but still had time to see everyone and mingle a little bit.

Dawn and a friend (I didn’t catch your name, sorry!)

*edit – I found out Dawn’s friend’s name, it’s Elizabeth, great to meet you!*

I caught a quick picture of Dawn before she had to leave, I wish I had a chance to spend more time with her before she left, we had  fun talking at the last tweetup I attended.

Anne and Katherine, the hosts of the TweetUp at Pomegranate Books

I always enjoy catching up with people I’ve met before but tweetups are also about making new connections.  Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting Anne and Katherine. Anne and I had a great conversation about counseling and social work, it’s inspiring to meet someone who’s passionate about making a difference in the lives of others.

I am also the proud owner of a Buy Local ILM sticker! Thanks Gayle and Jennifer, it was great to see you tonight!

So in keeping with the Things I Love Tuesday tradition:

Twitter – I love being able to connect with people I wouldn’t normally get to meet.

Buy Local ILM – supporting our local economy is and businesses is SO important!

Networking – even though I don’t do it for business I love making connections with interesting people.

Also: great conversations, meeting new people, the first days of warm weather at the end of winter, a glass of white wine at the end of a long day, books, cool dogs in bookstores, laughing,

]]> http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/02/23/things-i-love-tuesday-ilm-tweetups/feed/ 2 http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/02/18/self-portrait-thursday-21810/ http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/02/18/self-portrait-thursday-21810/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:50:18 +0000 Nicole http://www.nicolecarina.com/?p=235

Went over to Jackie’s for a girl’s night in. We watched movies and gave ourselves pedicures.

Red toenail polish is always my favorite.

We watched Couples Retreat, it had some funny parts, overall an ok movie. It was fun getting together and hanging out with just girls, I hadn’t done that in a while.

I was in Raleigh for the Superbowl this year so Tom invited a few friends over so we could all watch the game on his new flat screen HD TV.  Bernie, Jay, and Corrado came by.

Tom made his famous wings and for the first time, made battered and fried mushrooms. They were so good! I didn’t even get to take a picture of them I ate them up so fast, ha ha. Bernie and I don’t eat meat so I was so glad that he came up with an alternative for me to dip into his homemade wing sauce.

For dessert I decided to make some Superbowl Sugar Cookies. I’ve got cookie cutters shaped like footballs, helmets, and trophies so brought them along with my favorite apron, Hello Kitty of course. I think they turned out pretty cute, even though my icing/decorating skills are severely lacking, lol.

If I make a cookie it’s probably going to have a heart, smiley face, star or something, ha ha!

Piddles had a great time, he thought everyone had come just to visit him.  After he got done barking at Jay (who kept forgetting his name and calling him Skittles, Pickles, and Puddles) he got petted by everyone and was in heaven.

It was great to have Bernie stop by, we’ve been friends since 1st grade and I’m so glad she’s living in Raleigh now so I can see her when I come up to visit.

I had such a great time, I love entertaining even if it’s just a few friends, food, and beer.  I can’t wait to have another excuse to get together and do it again.

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