Greetings From Asbury Park

When I visit Asbury Park, I always think about

Bruce Springsteen, The Boss and his album "Greetings From Asbury Park"

Although he grew up in Freehold, New Jersey

Asbury Park was the center of his musical universe, and the subject of many of his songs.

Our home is less than 30 minutes from Asbury Park, 
and

The Asbury Park Boardwalk

is one of my favorite boardwalks to visit.

Less commercial then many of the other boardwalks at the Jersey Shore,

it is home to 
The Stone Pony and The Wonder Bar,

both made famous by Bruce.

Convention Hall is in Asbury Park


Water Fun Park


The sky over The Stone Pony.

The Asbury Park beaches are really beautiful, the beaches are long the sand is pure white.

Asbury Park is the home to The Berkley Hotel once owned by Johnny Cash

We had dinner outside at

Moonstruck

I had Pesto Pasta, topped with fresh diced tomatoes and pine nuts...

YuM!!

The hubs had surf and turf.

Was there desert you ask?? Why yes, yes there was...

I had the black and white Creme' Brûlée 

The hubs had the Apple Crumble

This is my favorite restaurant in the area, everything was so good, 

The night ended with this beautiful shelf cloud I photographed on my way home.

June 24, 2017

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Chapel Hill, The Final Chapter...

- This is a mural -
I love Chapel Hill, so much so, that I could move there

and live happily ever after!

- seriously -

It has beautiful undeveloped land, and lot's of it.

There are a lot of new homes and developments, charming vintage homes,

open spaces and farms.

And it has Michael!

The downtown area is filled with these amazing murals...

next time we visit, 

there will be a "mural trip" - one hour devoted to photographing all the amazing murals!

And there was this amazing double rainbow...

We slept in a hotel each night, a brand new Hyatt.

So new, that we are pretty sure no one had ever 

peed in the commode, showered in the shower or slept in the bed.

How nice is that!!

Lila had to work during the day but she stayed with Mike at night.

I forgot to take a picture of our room...

they had amazing purple pottery...

it was glued down, or it would have come home with me.

The Hyatt was about 10 minutes from Mike's, this was the view right before Michaels house,

each day when I saw this, I knew we were almost there.

Every day we passed this truck, on the last day, the hubs pulled over so I could get a picture.

1947 Iowa Plates

We saw this little guy at the pool -

we didn't go for a swim, I was on a picture excursion.

And look what he can do with his neck, pretty cool huh??!!

Well, that's it for Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I can't wait to go back!!

Watching A Magnolia Bloom...

If you could time lapse a Magnolia flower blooming, it would look something like this...

Magnolia's, a popular flower in North Carolina.

Spending Time With Mike...

As you all know, for the past week we were in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 
visiting youngest son Mike and his girl Lila.
Mike had surgery on his right eye so we went down to help out.
I was so happy to be with them.
I brought some food I cooked at home and meal ideas for each night,


 a huge bag of games and a 1000 piece puzzle.

The procedure went well on Monday and he felt better each day!

In order to pass the time, there were some pretty competitive card games,


- War and Go Fish -

and this new to me game,
- Rack-O -
I fell in love with this game, I'll have to get one for myself.

There were many games of 
- Uno and Scattergories - Categories -

We let Mike win a lot, since he was the patient...
hehehehe...
We're back home now - it was a great week - I enjoyed every moment with them.
It was so hard to say good-bye!

A Warm Welcome...

Have you ever gone somewhere where you have received the warmest welcome ever?

A place where you are greeted with huge smiles and warm hugs.

A place where the eyes of your greeters are smiling too.

I know that perhaps I am over doing it...

but I felt so loved when I arrived at Mike's place in Chapel Hill.

Both he and his girl Lila greeted us with so much warmth and love,

and after an 8 hour drive, those amazing hugs and all that love felt so good.

Beyond that, there was a goodie bag...

Be still my beating heart...

Yes, you read that right, a goodie bag, packed full with all of our favorite things.
I'm not sure I know 2 more thoughtful people!

My goodies were wrapped in pink tissue paper, the hubs were wrapped in white.

oooooh the details...

goodness, this girl had me at goodie bag!!

Is this not the BEST goodie bag ever?

Tea...Caramel and Vanilla, I made some yesterday and it. is. amazing.

PeePs know me for sure...this yarn is awesome.
70% Baby Alpaca - 30 % Bamboo Viscose
It is so soft and "purple" I am going to make an infinity scarf with it.

Flavored Popcorn - Yes please!

Chocolate - for the hubs.
These are empty, Chuck and Mike took care of that during our visit.


And there were flowers too...purple flowers!!

Stop it now...it's all just too good to be true!!