daycay: roanoke, va

We have been wanting to explore Roanoke for quite some time now. It's only about an hour away from us, and we had heard there was a fun downtown scene to explore. So, since yesterday was warm and sunny and Susan Ada hadn't left Lynchburg in a month. . .we took a day trip to Roanoke. The drive there is quite pretty as the mountains get a little closer with every passing mile. We were a little surprised at just how bustling the downtown was. It felt like a real city! They had a wonderful market downtown with lots of shops to visit. We had a nice lunch then wandered around. They also have a pedestrian bridge that goes over a massive maze of train tracks. We enjoyed watching the train go under us.



Bye bye train!

There is another town on the outskirts of Roanoke that we had heard of as well so we decided to drive over and take a look. On the way there, what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a Krispy Kreme with fresh doughnuts! We were so excited that we stopped and purchased a full dozen. . .and promptly shoved hot melty doughnuts in our faces. Delicious!!!

I had to do a close-up of my new boots and the skirt I just made to go with them. . .

Then we continued on to Salem. It was a nice town, but very small and not quite as exciting as we had expected. Just in case you forgot where you were, you could go to the benches outside the library and be reminded. . .

We stopped in Roanoke again on the way back home for a yummy Mexican dinner. Brad Paisley was having a concert there that evening so the dining crowd was pretty entertaining. When we arrived home we discovered that the little dress elves had visited again. . .

Always nice to end a good day with a giggle.

my knight in shining armor!

When Curt heard about the package kidnapping he replied with utter confidence that he was certain he could get the package out of our mailbox. Knowing the challenge before him, I told him I would believe it when I saw it. So, this morning we went downstairs to face the enemy. It was a brutal battle, but Curt prevailed!!


He simply cut the package open while it was still in our mailbox. Those engineer minds just live to solve the problems of life. That's not all, though. Turns out, the package was amazing!! When I lived in India, there was a VERY spicy pepper that was delicious and I talk about it every time we eat Indian food. Curt's dad currently has some Nepali students so Curt asked one of them if he could get me some of this yumminess. Apparently they had all been working on this since last October and the student's parents brought me some Dallay corsani pickle from Nepal!! I seriously have the most thoughtful husband ever. . .and a pretty great father-in-law to boot. Guess what these Hamiltons will be having for dinner this week. . .

this done beat all

What momentous occasion hath occurred that would break our 2-month hiatus from the blog?? Ummmm, our postal service is officially for the birds. I preface this post with informing you that I regularly have to call the post office and remind them to match the unit number on the envelope to the unit number on the mailbox. I thought that was understood. We regularly receive our neighbors' mail or have someone come find us with our past due bills, dividend checks, W2's, 3 days of Wall Street Journals, etc. This is always AFTER I have cancelled said check or complained to the WSJ or stalked my former employer. It's like musical chairs, mailbox edition. Today, however, took the cake. I will admit that I'm a little edgy because my sweet husband has been out of town all week and I miss him!!! I go to check the mailbox and all of our mail is shoved in the top. I pull it out to realize that we have a package!! At which point I get very excited. So, I try to reach in and grab it, but I cannot get my fingers around it. Determined, I establish the tightest grip I can and pull with all my might. Multiple skinned knuckles later, I admit defeat. It's like a Chinese finger trap in our mailbox - with an actual treat!! How heartless is that?? So now I get to call the post office and remind them that the mailboxes are bigger when the big door is open because when you close it, the trim around all the individual boxes takes up space and thus kidnaps our packages. And, to top it all off, the postman tore off the front cover of my magazine. I shake my head.