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Yes, I’m a teenager and still wear dangly sparkly belly button rings. I’ve considered giving them up and letting it close like a true grown-up, but it was too painful to justify saying goodbye to it just yet. Plus, the memory of that day itself is pretty awesome. It’s the first rebellious thing I ever did at the end of high school, while studying abroad at Oxford University.

Seriously. How many people can say they got their belly button pierced with their best friend in Notting Hill by a crotchety old Englishman after interrupting his porridge supper, followed by a week of natural salt water treatments in Menorca, Spain? That’s right – no one!

(Taken with Instagram)

It’s a gorgeous 75 degrees and sunny right now in jolly Holly Ridge. The windows are open and there is a light breeze. There are lovely golden and berry hues on my table, keeping me company while I catch up on some job apps and clean the house. I’m heading to work for a few hours, but maybe I can catch an early evening walk afterwards. Love this kind of weather!

(Taken with Instagram)

Happy birthday, Emily! My fab little trio down here in NC planned a girls’ night Downtown at The Little Dipper after work to celebrate. Fondue, cheesecake, and Honey Dew Me Martinis were the theme of the night. We all needed this 🙂

(Taken with Instagram)

Hi kittens!

Yesterday was Chuck’s and my big Date Day (hmm, why does Date Night sound so much better?) We started out with massages at Mayfaire, but then I surprised him with tickets to the “Heart of Downtown” walking tour of Wilmington’s best restaurants, with Culinary Adventures.

One of the last times we were in Wilmington together, Chuck ran up to a tour and got the lady’s card. He kept talking about how we needed to go, but we never followed up and it didn’t actually happen. So, I stole the card off his nightstand and booked it myself. (I tend to be the one who takes a little more initiative on these things 😉 Plus, Chuck is not easy to “shop” for – it’s difficult to find things he’s excited about that I can actually get for him. This was perfect!)

So, despite walking around in the heat, we had a great time learning about the area restaurants, getting little tidbits of Wilmington history, and tasting delicious noms ranging from gourmet French, to low country Southern, to all-American breakfast, to cupcakes (yay!), to a variety of fine wines. We met chefs and even got a few cooking tips.

At first I was worried the tour would include a lot of the restaurants we’d already been to (which wouldn’t have been awful – they’re all great!), but luckily we visited quite a few I’d never even heard of. We actually started at a very nondescript-looking deli on a corner, which turned out to be one of my favorite stops. Each sandwich is inspired from a different port city (like Wilmington) from around the world, which I thought was a very fun concept and made for some unique and tasty sandwiches.

Anyway, for foodies like us, it was a perfect thing to do together, and something a little different. We got home and Chuck whipped up some homemade mozzarella sticks – guess he got the culinary bug for real now…!

Otherwise, the rest of the weekend has just been really rainy – so we’ve been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Chuck is appalled that I’ve never seen it. I’m actually surprised by how much I like it…I’m not much of a fantasy person typically 🙂

(Taken with Instagram)