Yesterday Brandy took me on a little walking tour of downtown Raleigh.

I love seeing the mixture of historic buildings with modern ones.

One of the places we went was a thrift store called Father and Sons.

They had some pretty weird stuff, lol.

And some pretty familiar stuff.

I’m really enjoying exploring and learning about Raleigh, the more I find the more I love.

Also: warm weather for exploring, Earl Grey #13 from TeaGshwendner with milk, shopping in Cameron Village, meeting neighbors who also have a little dog, finally starting to learn my way around Raleigh,  cute refrigerator magnets, watching LOST while sitting in a comfy recliner, finding yummy a Japanese take-out place 5 min away, and being reminded of my blessings.

I snapped a quick picture on my lunch break, today was kind of crazy and rough but I survived. I think the only thing that kept me from losing my mind at work was the fact that I’m off for a WHOLE WEEK next week. Thank Goodness! I’ll be in Raleigh for most of that time taking a much needed break from reality.

I thought I’d throw in a pic of my new favorite necklace, I got it last month at Target. It’s simple and delicate, I love jewelry like this.

]]> http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/03/04/self-portrait-thursday-3410/feed/ 0 http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/03/03/franklin-street/ http://www.nicolecarina.com/2010/03/03/franklin-street/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:35:48 +0000 Nicole http://www.nicolecarina.com/?p=299 This past weekend Tom took me to Chapel Hill for the afternoon.

We had lunch at a sports bar and got there just in time to catch the Carolina game.  It was fun to be in Chapel Hill watching the game with a room full of home town fans, especially since we won.  :)

After that we walked around and took pictures for a bit.

I loved this shop display, a dress made of doilies and tissue paper, so pretty!

My souvenir of the trip, a fridge magnet (I’ve sort of been collecting them lately)

Before we left we stopped in at Sugarland to get dessert. I had a creme brule and Tom got a red velvet cupcake, they were so good! The bakery was very cute and cozy, I could have stayed there all night.

Tom hiding from the camera…  ;)

I really enjoyed myself, Franklin Street is beautiful and I’m looking forward to going back.

There’s a few more pics here at my Flickr account.

Tom found this book for me while we were in Barnes and Noble’s the other day, and said he’s read other books by the same author and thought I might like this one, I’m about a third of the way through and it’s pretty good so far.

Also: birds singing in the morning, girl time with Jackie, being lazy, pho, noodles, sitting by a fireplace, day trips, cupcakes, Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, interesting or funny fridge magnets, recording memories through photographs, remembering to wear boots when its a rainy day, looking forward to a week off of work, having good conversations, feeling the pieces of your life fall into place, feeling peace where you thought you never would be able to, and being optimistic about the future again.

I first tried Pho Soup at a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant and loved it, but haven’t had it since. Last weekend I found some instant Pho at an Asian market and have been hooked.

There’s something about the flavor of the broth. Its so good, and anything that cooks in less than 3 minutes makes me happy.

So much better than Raman. I could eat this every day.

5 tabs I keep open in my browser – twitter, gmail, facebook, nicolecarina.com, wordpress.org, google reader

5 favorite Teas – Scarlet Cloud (strawberry white) , Monk’s Blend (vanilla and other spices black) , Kyoto Cherry Rose (cherry and rose organic green), Earl Grey, Blueberry and White Cranberry white tea

5 things I always have in my purse – wallet, blackberry, lip gloss, keys, hair brush

5 things I want to do in March – see butch Walker in concert, become more familiar with Raleigh, simplify my life and focus on what’s really important, start eating healthy again, get back to going to the gym regularly

5 random things that make me happy – hearing birds sing, seeing sun rays coming down out of the clouds, getting up early enough to pick up breakfast before work, the look of pure love in my puppy’s eyes as I rub his belly, having an Amelie moment and cracking the crust of my creme brule

There’s an article about Oprah’s interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk.  I don’t follow Buddhism at all but found the interview to be very inspiring. It really makes you think about how better to appreciate every aspect of our lives and focus on peaceful living.

Be sure to check it out.

It’s interesting to see how I’ve changed over the years, the first picture is probably from around 2002 and the last from about 2 weeks ago.

While I was in Raleigh this past weekend Tom took me to Edward McKay, a really great used bookstore. They’ve got tons of well organized books as well as CDs, records, movies and video games.

I picked up a couple books and The Phantom of the Opera on DVD.  I got two of the books from the free shelf, a poetry book and a book of plays. (Free Books! The only thing better than free books is free chocolate, lol!)

This book has a print date of 1915, it’s got a little wear but I still think it’s beautiful.

What a gorgeous title page, you don’t see things like this in books anymore.

All in all, some great books.  I can’t wait to have time to sit down and really enjoy them.