North Carolina, c'mon and raise up!

I've come to realize that we are the worst bloggers ever. How do people find the time to post daily? And how do they always seem to find something interesting to say?! I feel like our lives just aren't that exciting. Most days go like this: wake up, get ready for work, go to clinic, work out, eat dinner, watch Jeopardy (we're addicted), and hang out until we go to bed. Of course, we'll throw in a movie night, trivia downtown, or some other even throughout the week, but usually we just hang out. 

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Our work schedule is pretty light which is nice because it allows us some time off to work on our business plan and get things in order. This is how our week goes: Jason works a full day M, and T, half day W and F, and has Th off. I work a full day W and Th, half day M and F, and have T off. It's great that we only work the morning on Fri because it gives us the opportunity to travel on the weekends. 

A few weeks ago we took advantage of this and went down to Raleigh for the weekend. One of our fellow classmates is doing her externship about an hour outside of Raleigh, so her and her husband came over to hang out and get dinner. 

We went to a place called Cowfish which is a really fun and trendy place that serves a mix of beef and sushi. It was a 2 hour wait for our table (which we were expecting) so we went over to World of Beers until our table was ready. World of Beers was awesome! The name says it all as they have different beers from all over the world. We all ordered a different one and passed them around for a taste. It was so much fun sampling all the different types. 

We were so grateful when the pager buzzed because we were all starving by that time. Kaydi and I got their special which comes with a sushi roll, mini burger slider, edamame, and a cucumber salad. Dan and Jason both got burgers. Jason is really allergic to shellfish, so we had to ask the kitchen to specially prepare his burger. Usually at higher-end restaurants this is not an issue. The cook wound up delivering the food himself which was so nice. The food was amazing and totally worth the wait. We also splurged and all decided to split a dessert which was probably the highlight of the meal. Mmmm so good. 

        Such a great time with these two! 

We had such a fun night with Kaydi and Dan and will definitely be going to visit them in NC again. Other than hanging out with them, we walked around downtown Raleigh, visited the Capitol and saw a few of the sites. 

We absolutely LOVED Raleigh and right now it is the top contender for cities to move to. :)

            Hanging out in downtown Raleigh! 

Virginia is for...North Carolina! (weird, I know)

Cascades

 Since we've moved here everyone has been telling us that we just have to hike up to the Cascades. It's this beautiful 2 mile hike that meanders along a creek and leads you up to a 66 foot waterfall. Word on the street is that it's amazing to go when it's a little colder out because the falls freeze. So, we decided to go.

We kicked off the weekend by going out in downtown Blacksburg with Jessica, who works at the clinic, and her boyfriend Shawn. Apparently the thing to do for the undergrads is to take their friends to TOTS (Top of The Stairs) and get a rail. A rail consists of every type of low ball alcohol mixed together with grenadine. Basically, it was disgusting. We're past the point where we feel obligated to drink so we actually wound up dumping it out. Oops. I don't think they minded though. They know how terrible it is.      

                           

                                                    Ready to hit the town!

                    

                                                      Fun with friends. 

We decided to hike the Cascades on Sunday and headed out midmorning. It's about a 30 minute drive to the beginning of the trail. The trail has two different start points: one that is a little more steep and quick, and one that winds along the creek and is a little longer and more scenic. We wanted to check out the sights so we decided to take the longer more scenic route. Poor mistake! Since it has been so cold the stone path was completely iced over. We were slipping and sliding (me more than Jason) for the first mile or so before we were able to cross over to the other path. The lower path really was beautiful, but we were so worried that we would slip and fall in that we couldn't enjoy our surroundings. The steeper path was on higher ground and was more travelled so we didn't have to fight the ice. It was just a little bit muddy.

We finally got to the top of the path and worked our way down the wooden steps to the base of the waterfall. Everyone was right. The waterfall was magnificent!! The bottom was frozen enough so that we could walk out on the pool below it and get right up next to it. We're used to walking and fishing on frozen lakes up north, but this was a bit different. We weren't standing on still water. The waterfall was crashing down just a few yards away and you could see the open rushing water just down the stream. Jason got way closer than I did and got soaked from the spray. His foot also fell through the ice a couple of times which royally freaked me out. We took a couple of pictures and started our way down which was much easier than our trek up. 

This was my favorite hike to date. I just love waterfalls and streams. We decided that if we ever had any visitors (hint, hint) this is the hike we'd take them on. We definitely want to go back in warmer weather and take the scenic path the entire way up. 

Virginia is for...frozen falls. 

Charlottesville

The Saturday after our Jason Aldean concert, Jason and I explored Charlottesville, VA for a few hours. It is the cutest city ever! 

We woke up and grabbed breakfast at a diner who's name escapes me just a couple of miles down from our hotel. Ok, I have a weird confession to make. Jason and I grade every restaurant two different ways. First, just our general feeling on the restaurant. Is the food decent, service good, etc. Second, we think about what Robert Irvine would think. Don't know who Robert Irvine is? He's the guy who used to be in the British Royal Navy and now hosts Restaurant Impossible. We absolutely love the show mainly for him. It is hilarious to see him try the food and absolutely hate everything. Anyway, I digress. So our general grade was about a B. It was your average home hometown diner. Little, decently priced, OK food. I had the chocolate chip pancakes and Jason had a waffle and they were good but nothing to really write home about. At that point I would have eaten anything that contained carbs to curb my hangover. Our RI grade was probably a D. The decor was lackluster, the service was ok, but the manager was a bleeeep. She was cordial enough to the guests, but J and I saw her yelling a server on two different occasion. In front the server's costumers! Ah! If you've ever worked in the service industry, you KNOW that this is a major no-no. It makes everyone feel awkward.

After our breakfast we decided that since we didn't want to pay $25 each to tour Thomas Jefferson's mansion we would just walk around the pedestrian mall that Charlottesville is so proud of. We were so glad we chose this! It was the coolest place. The mall is the longest one in the U.S. and has tons of fun little shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. I only wished we would've gone down there for breakfast. One of our first stops was at a little shop that had tons of funny llittle knick-knacks. Of course, I just loved it and kept saying "oh my gosh, babe, look at this! look at this!" This is why Jason calls me a "trinketeer".  We bought a couple of little things, a magnet for my friend Elizabeth, and a birthday present for his BFF Eric. I can't say what we got in case he reads this, but I will say that it provided J and I lots of entertainment and giggles on our drive back to B-burg later in the day. 

                                 

                               

                                               at the pedestrian mall

     

We didn't do much other than walk around and check out the fun shops while we were there, but we determined that we really loved the character Charlottesville had.

Oh, and we got some cupcakes too. Yum.

Virginia is for...trinket-eering!

Night Train

Well, Jason said he wanted to write this one, but since he hasn't been able to get around to it, I'm taking over. 

A couple of weeks ago we decided to do a spur of the moment trip to Charlottesville, VA and see....Jason Aldean!! Whoop whoop! Florida Georgia Line opened for him and the concert was just amazzzingg!!

We left Blacksburg right after clinic at about 1:30 p.m. so that we could get to our hotel, grab some dinner and a couple of drinks before we went to the concert which started around 7:00 p.m. The streets were absolutely packed when we pulled into Charlottesville! Apparently everybody and their brother wanted to see Aldean. We arrived at our hotel, changed, relaxed for a few minutes, and called a cab to deliver us to the concert. As we were waiting down in the lobby we happened to run into a couple originally from upstate New York, Sarah and Caleb, who were also planning on going to the concert. Jason struck up a conversation with them and we decided to split a cab to "The Corner" which is a conglomeration of college and townie bars near where the concert was being held. 

We waited a good 45 minutes until a cab finally pulled up. And then these punks darted out in front of us and STOLE IT!! AHH! I was pretty sure Caleb was going to punch someone out. Sarah talked him off the edge and another cab showed up about 5 minutes later. Someone tried to steal that one too, but we were a bit more assertive this time around. 

The bar that we decided to try was called Trinity and had an Irish flare. We ordered some food and a couple drinks and got to know our cab mates a little bit more while we hung out. We all decided to exchange numbers so we could meet up after the concert to split a ride home. They headed out to the concert early because they wanted to see the opener for FGL, Tyler Parr...Farr? I don't know. I think he sings "Redneck Crazy" which is a terrible song and fittingly drives me nuts. Obviously, I had no burning desire to see him and either did Jason, so we went up the street to another fun little place that served local and craft brews. 

We finally made it to the concert around 7:30 and rocked out with FGL as they sang "Cruise", "Get Your Shine On", and "Stay" (which is originally a Black Stone Cherry song btw. Jason didn't believe me when I told him it was a remake.)

everyone getting their shine on! it was so cool to see thousands of lights around the stadium

SInce we bought our tickets so late, we had seats up in the nosebleeds which actually turned out to be kind of cool. We could see backstage and I love watching the artists get all pumped up and ready to go onstage. We were sitting by a middle-aged couple who were very nice. The guy loved Jason and I. He was a factory worker at Budweiser and laughed when I apologized for drinking Coors Light.

There was a brief wait after FGL and then finally Aldean came out! Wow, he just totally rocked it. He has such a wide array of songs and he was a great performer. A couple of our favorites are "Night Train", "Dirt Road Anthem", and "Big Green Tractor". I felt pretty old when he said he was gonna "bring out a couple of his older songs" and proceeded to play "Amarillo Sky" which is one of my all time faves. The rest of the younger audience didn't seem as excited as I was. Oh well. :)

When we were done with the concert we walked back to The Corner and met up with Caleb and Sarah again. We were all in agreement that the concert was awesome. After a couple more drinks we caught a cab and headed back to the hotel. We made promises to keep in touch and told them we would let them know if we were ever up in Fairfax (their current city). Of course we haven't talked to them since. 

All in all, this Friday night was one of our best ones yet.

Virginia is for....love of all things Jason Williams (p.s. Jason Aldean's real last name is Williams. My J is pretty proud to name share.)

 

Catching up

Ok, ok, I'll admit it. We've been shirking our blogging duties. Both of us say "I'll write one today" and then never get around to it. But since we've been reprimanded and told that our friends need a "fix" here's the newest post for your reading pleasure!

I'll discuss what we did the last two weekends because Jason really wants to write about what we did this last Friday night.

So two weeks ago we went on our first hike. The weather is (usually) pretty mild around here, so it is possible to go hiking in January. Jason looked up a few places and we decided to trek out to McAfee's Knob. It's approximately 4 miles one way. We brought along our water bottles, a couple of granola bars, and a few cuties so that we could keep up our energy. Turns out we really needed it! We have hiked way longer trails with 40-60 pound packs and have not come out so sore (well except for the time we got lost on the North Country Trail in Brule, WI for 6 hours). Of course, being from the Midwest we are used to a pretty level terrain with a mild incline from time to time. This trail, however, was the definition of uphill. The last 1.5 miles was the worst. Rocky, wet from the previous night's rain, and by far the steepest incline. My legs were burnnning by the end. We did keep up a pretty good pace and reached the summit in about 2 hours. The pain was SO worth it!! The views were amazing. We were also lucky enough to have the summit all to ourselves for awhile. This is a pretty well-traveled part of the Appalachian Trail, so there are usually people hanging out up there. Here's a picture of the view:

And hereʻs a couple to give you a little vertigo:

How cool is that?! We determined we would definitely hike back after we invested in some hiking boots.

Last weekend we decided to be a little more low-key and just had a date night on Friday. We went to a local restaurant called Bull and Bones which also boasts a brewhouse. They have quite the eclectic selecion including a seasonal whiskey brew that had us feeling like we were sipping on a glass of Jameson. The food was also good, but their forte is definitely their drafts. 

Jason enjoying his beer flight. Yum!

I promise weʻll be better at updating more frequently! This weekʻs agenda includes the concert we went to on Friday and Jasonʻs new recipe of Oricchette. Stay tuned!

Virginia is for...Godʻs country!

The Loft

My sisters have been wanting to see where we live so without further adieu I present you...The Loft!! note: this post is very picture heavy.

Our little kitchen! I brought our Christmas cards to make it feel more like home. :)

Jason standing by our tiny stove for comparison

The view from our front door/kitchen. This is our living room/guest room.

The "stairs" to our loft. This is actually a creaky ladder that wakes me every time Jason climbs on it. 

More kitchen

View from our living room into kitchen/front door

Our beds. Yes they are twin mattresses on the floor. Sigh. Good thing we're both chiropractors. :)

Other end of our loft.

So...there you have it! You may be thinking "doesn't seem like much" and you'd be right! We're living lightly so we can afford to travel around the area. Plus, it's only the two of us for a short amount of time. We actually have come to love it. Jason loves reading upstairs and I can usually be found sprawled on the futon. The downside to such a small space is that it gets cluttered up and messy very quickly. The upside to a small space is that it's easy to clean. :)


Virginia is for...cozy.

Recipe #1

Yay! We have followed our New Year's resolution for a whole week!

Our clinic schedule this week got rearranged a bit, so we had to alter our menu a little bit. Jason wound up cooking 3 nights this week (yay!) and I only had to cook one. It's ok though, he's actually a better cook than I am. I enjoy baking much more than I enjoy cooking. 

The new recipe we tried this week was from the Spanish cookbook that I bought Jason for Christmas from World Market. Ever been there? It's awesome! The recipe is simply titled: Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Spinach, & Almonds. Very imaginative. ;)

We decided to make this Monday night because we both wound up working until about 6:20 and wanted something that we could throw together quickly. We didn't have the spices that the recipe called for (all we have at The Loft is salt and pepper) but we found that we still loved it! It is so flavorful and actually quite filling. We decided that its a definite keeper/make again.

yum!

Virginia is for...fiber.