Author: Nikki J.

On this day two years ago, I welcomed Chuck home from his first #deployment to #Afghanistan. Today, itā€™s extra special to so recently have him back from his second šŸ˜Š#tbt #throwbackthursday #usmc #milso #military #freedomisntfree #homecoming

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Cat: 1 Chuck: 0

Today I get a call from Chuck at work, and heā€™s telling me how Annie escaped outside and heā€™s been looking all over and he canā€™t find her anywhere. I tell him to try calling her name up and down the street and hopefully she will come, since sheā€™s fairly responsive to that.

I get home all ready to go help him look for her, and Chuck is like, ā€œI have no idea where she went. I checked the whole house and I walked around the neighborhood twice calling for her and she wouldnā€™t come.ā€

Who walks out of the bedroom at that very moment, but the Bean herself, looking at us both like we are the biggest fools. Chuckā€™s face was priceless – from adorably distraught, to adorably flabbergasted. Annieā€™s expression was purely haughty and freshly cat-napped.

Anyway, youā€™d probably have to be thereā€¦ but it gave us a good laugh. šŸ™‚

Dangit! I missed my chance at fame and fortune. Not that I claim to be ā€œextremely hot hot hotā€, but I can legit pole dance, and I live right in Wilmington.

Oh well! Would have doomed Chuckā€™s and my career prospects anyway šŸ™‚

There are no Jack Kerouacs or Holden Caulfields for girls. Literary girls donā€™t take road-trips to find themselves; they take trips to find men.

“Great” books, as defined by the Western canon, didnā€™t contain female protagonists I could admire. In fact, they barely contained female protagonists at all.

Itā€™s Frustratingly Rare to Find a Novel About Women Thatā€™s Not About Love – Kelsey McKinney – The Atlantic (via oditor)

Hadnā€™t thought about it, but itā€™s true.

Cage-Free Viewing

I understand that zoos and aquariums bring animals to people who might otherwise never see them. But we live on a continent teeming with wildlife, at least in some places. Many of our native animals can be seen wild and free. Here are seven of the most rewarding places in North America to view wild animals. Everyone will have their own choice of the very ā€œbestā€ place, but these locations, selected for their abundance of animals, natural settings and relative ease of access, are among the continentā€™s most recommended. Photo: Creative Commons / Ashley Coates

The more I think and read about zoos and places like Sea World, the more opposed I am to wildlife in captivity. The problem is, itā€™s SO great/educational to see wild animals up close and personal!

I found this link that lists some places where you can enjoy cage-free viewing, and I hope that when I have kids and am tempted to take them to Sea World, I remember theseĀ au naturel options instead.

Cage-Free Viewing

Last night was lovely. Chuck and I were due to meet my friend from DC later in the evening, so we turned the earlier part into date night. First I went to the Lilly store and he helped me pick out not one, but TWO dresses (so unnecessary, but they are cute and will get lots of wear!) and browsed Williams-Sonoma before sitting down to a nice dinner at Circa 1922 downtown – a favorite we hadnā€™t been to since we first moved here. It was delicious.

For dessert we hit up the famed Kilwins Chocolate and Ice Cream Shoppe, and leisurely shared a giant fudge brownie waffle cone while taking in the gorgeous view I captured above. The humidity killed my curls (back down to stick straight, Iā€™m telling you) but it was just balmy enough as the sun went down to enjoy the Riverwalk through Downtown. Cape Fear sure is beautiful.