Easter 2017

This Easter was later in the calendar than last year and yet still crept up on me. I couldn't bring myself to buy loads of candy since we still have bags of Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day candy. Much of that was recycled into the Easter baskets, along with all the stuffed bunny rabbits or lambs I could find around the house. We have too much stuff! The boys liked it all and had fun finding the eggs in the various egg hunts (neighborhood, Biltmore, backyard, Down Syndrome group, school).

Sunday morning we snapped a quick picture in the kids' classroom before running to get a seat in church.

We were able to get a picture of the Easter bunny. Evan wasn't as thrilled as usual, but Alex loved him.

Our 8th Anniversary

Happy 8 years to us! Vince & I ate dinner at the Piedmont Club, thanks to my parents. My parents gave me the dinner as my birthday gift. We were finally able to go! The dinner was great, cozy, and so upscale! I had steak while Vince ate fish. I ordered cheesecake and he had a coffee flavored cake for dessert. Yummy!

I'm so lucky and blessed to have him by my side. Love you, babe!

Published!

It's been a crazy few years, but I finally decided that I needed to publish a book that I wrote 3 years ago. I started writing it when Alex was first born. It took me three months to write Revenge with a Side of Bacon, which I feel is fairly fast. However, the editing process is quite tedious so I put it off for 3 years. I was bound and determined to finally do something with it this year. In December, I started the editing process. I also did loads of research on how to self-publish. I am not one to write letter after letter to publishing houses, only to be rejected. Self-publishing was difficult, but now that I've charted the waters, it will be much easier next time.

I chose CreateSpace, which is opened by Amazon. This method of self-publishing instantly puts my book available for purchase on Amazon and as an ebook on Kindle. The book is made to order so it takes about 1-2 weeks for processing time. I asked my cousin, Jason McCormack, to draft a cover photo for me. He did a great job!

I created a Facebook page and a Wordpress blog:
https://www.facebook.com/NightofRightSeries/?fref=nf
https://revengewithasideofbacon.wordpress.com/

It then took me a while to figure out how to publish in other formats. I finally settled on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/711970 

This allows my book to be available in all methods, including Apple products and Barnes and Noble's Nook. 



One day, I'll finish the second fictional novel as a follow up to this one. On another day, I'll figure out how to market them. In the meantime, enjoy the book!

Evan's 5th Birthday

Our birthday party for Evan was very low key this year. His birthday, March 4, was on a Saturday. My parents were out of town, but Vince's parents joined us for dinner at Mr. Gatti's. My niece and her roommate also came in town for the week for their spring break. We had a small family dinner and played games.

On the way out the door, we noticed a free caricature artist. He drew a free picture for Elise, her friend, and Alex & Evan.

Once home, we sang, opened gifts, and ate cake. Evan had a great time! It's hard to believe it's been 5 years. Happy birthday, Evan!

Hope Center for Children Event

Vince and I took a break again this year from hosting a table at Tinis and Tapas in February. Instead, we dressed up and attended as regular guests. It's great because we could come and leave on our own schedule. The food was nice and the tables were very creative this year. I found my dress at Goodwill about 3 hours before the event for $6.50. It was 100% silk Jones New York dress. I don't know if I'll be able to top that!

Valentine's Day 2017

Vince outdid himself this year for Valentine's Day. I received the best box of chocolates made on this planet. They're from L.A. Burdick and are so yummy! I don't think I shared many at all with Vince.

He surprised me with a tour of Asheville called Eating Asheville. We went to 7 different restaurants to sample food and drinks. The food was amazing. There were so many dishes I would have never ordered, but partook because it was included. I have definitely opened my eyes to some new flavors that I really did enjoy.

We started at Bhamari's which is an eclectic type bar and restaurants. They gave us BBQ, roasted potatoes, duck cracklin and brussel sprouts.

We walked to each restaurant along with the other 18 folks in the tour and our tour guide. The second place was 67 Biltmore. This was more of a sandwich shop and they served us Chimichuri smoked pork topped with cilantro with beet salad along with hibiscus and cinnamon tea. I was not a fan of the tea.

Local Provisions provided us with turnips with green olives and almonds. It was surprisingly one of the tastiest things that day. I would've never ordered turnips. 

The Rhu (short for rhubarb) prepared a city ham sandwich on sweet potato brioche with Gouda, balsamic, shallots, & mustard (the bread was fabulous). This was paired with an iced jasmine green tea that was disgusting. 

The Blue Dream Curry House was another surprise. Yellow curry with coconut milk with red chilis and lemongrass was served. One again, this was something I never would've ordered, but it was very tasty. 

Ben's was one of the last stops and they served fried Tofu with spicy ginger soy sauce. I would never order tofu but this was quite extraordinary -reminded me of fried cheese with a flavorful kick.

French Broad Chocolates was our dessert for the day. They served us samples of chocolate and truffles. The tour of the factory was a nice bonus!

I can't wait to go back to Asheville and order some of these items again! It was a lovely day to spend with my love, Vince. 

Thanks to our parents for watching the boys!

Alex's 3rd Birthday

Alex's 3rd birthday was planned for the weekend after his actual birthday (January 3rd). However, we had a snow storm instead and had to postpone the party until the next weekend. Since both boys were diagnosed that first week with flu type A, I was glad for the delay of snow. That gave us plenty of time to get well and have better weather.

I did let the boys out for a few minutes to play in the snow. They loved it. Alex had his 3 year old check up with Dr. Parra the week after the flu. Yes, we gave the flu to Dr. Parra the week before, and it was the first time every she had gotten the flu.

We finally celebrated Alex's birthday the next Sunday evening at Pump It Up, a local fun place with the blow up bouncy houses and slides. All the kids loved it and were mostly self-entertaining for the first hour. We then adjourned to the party room and ate pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, gold fish crackers, apple juice, water, and Sprite. Alex opened all his gifts and loved when everyone sang to him. Alex's guests included one boy from class and his little brother, and our good friends, the Walkers & the Rolands. His theme was Blaze and the Monster Machine (one of his 9 favorite cartoons at the moment).