Fuqua 20th Reunion NC - April 2019

Fuqua Class of '99

It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years since we graduated from Fuqua.  We went back to NC for reunion weekend and were so surprised that so many of our classmates made it - there were probably about 80 classmates there, including a large contingent from Central/South America!  The weekend was filled with activities and we were quite tired when we returned home.

We both flew in on Thursday night, coming in from separate places - Keith was out on the East Coast already for work.  JoAnna picked us up and brought us back to their place where we stayed for the weekend.  John was at a conference so we didn't see him until Sat morning.  Since we arrived so late, we went straight to bed.

Kate, Shawna, JoAnna - Fosters

Goofing around with the Artin girls

On Friday, Keith worked out of John's house and Shawna went into Cigna's Raleigh office for meetings there.  In the morning, Keith met up with Stephanie for breakfast at First Watch and Shawna met up with Lisa, a former BCBSNC colleague, for lunch at Crabtree Ale House where Shawna had a yummy greek salad.  After work, JoAnna drover us over to the Artin's house so that we could spend some time with the girls - we had some wine, cheese and crackers (thankfully, because we never ate anything else for the rest of the evening) and laughed as the girls caught us up on their lives!  We then Ubered with Keith over to the reception which was held at Wallace Wade Stadium.  They served drinks (which we had) and heavy appetizers (which we did not have).  We stopped over at JB Duke Hotel (where most people were staying) and had a few more drinks in the lobby.  We got to catch up with so many people that evening and made it past midnight!

Kim, Keith, Julie - Happy Hour at Julie's Bar

On Saturday, we met up with the Artins, John/Jo, and the Snarrs at WaDuke and walked around the golf course.  We had lunch at Fosters - trying all of our favorites including the coconut macaroons!  We then went over to Julie's bar - Bottle Rev in Chapel Hill - where several alumni stopped by for a drink.  That afternoon, we took a short nap and then cleaned up to return to Fuqua for the cocktail reception and dinner which was held at the school.  Dinner was a pretty large buffet which exceeded our expectations.  After dinner, we returned to JB Duke Hotel for more drinks in the lobby, this time staying up past 1am!

Keith, Shawna, John, JoAnna

Tom, Kim, Alicia, Mark, Julie, Jeremy, Shawna

On Sunday, we met up again with the Artins, John/Jo and the Snarrs at WaDuke for another walk and then back to Fosters for lunch.  We then said our farewells and returned to John's to watch the first two episodes of Game of Thrones.  We ordered sushi from Waraji which we ate at John's house and then went to the airport to catch our flight back home.

Honny Visit - April 2019

Talavera at Four Seasons

Shawna's mom, Honny, came out to visit us again, arriving on Thursday afternoon and leaving on Tuesday morning.  On Thursday, Shawna picked her up at the airport and then returned home to get settled, catch up and cook dinner - Shawna made parmesan encrusted chicken with roasted vegetables.  That evening we started to watch Our Planet which we watched several evenings.

Talavera

On Friday, Shawna did some calls in the morning and then we went shopping - stopping at Dillard's, Talbots and Ann Taylor.  Honny bought quite a bit and Shawna got a few things as well.  That evening we had dinner at North Italia - we shared the roasted cauliflower, bolognese pasta and the diver scallops - everything was very tasty.

Butterfly Garden

On Saturday, we went to the Open Air Market in Phoenix which was nice but not as big as we thought it would be - lots of food and craft vendors.  We had lunch at the Phoenix Public Market, which is a large cafe next to the market with mostly healthy food - we shared a rice bowl.  That afternoon, we went to the mummy exhibit at the Arizona Science Center - it was interesting to see mummies from different countries.  We returned home to relax a bit and then we went to dinner at Talavera where we sat on the outside patio and enjoyed the beautiful sunset and views.  We shared several appetizers - crispy chickpeas, blistered snap peas, morel mushrooms with artichokes, lamb meatballs and grilled octopus - everything was delicious except for the octopus which we vowed we would never order again (we have tried it now at several restaurants and didn't like it).  Mom really liked this place.

Botanic Garden

On Sunday, we went to the Botanic Gardens which mom enjoyed seeing all of the cacti in bloom.  We returned home to have lunch and then we watched Mary Queen of Scots.  That afternoon, we went to the Butterfly Garden but it was not as impressive as usual - there were less butterflies flying around for some reason.  For dinner, Shawna cooked pork tenderloin with couscous and roasted vegetables.

Botanic Garden

On Monday, Shawna did a few calls in the morning and then did some yard work with Honny, mainly trimming the lantanas.  We ate lunch at home and then went to see the flowers at a few of the resorts - first driving around the Phoenician and then walked around the Royal Palms which has beautiful bougainvilleas which Honny really enjoyed.  We had dessert there in the courtyard - sharing gelato and passion fruit creme brulee.  Honny commented that we should have dinner here the next time she came to visit.  On our way home, we stopped at DSW to get some shoes but Honny had no luck.  That evening, Shawna cooked turkey burgers with sweet potato fries.

Royal Palms

On Tuesday, Honny's flight was early so we left the house at 4:30am to drop her off.  Shawna made sure she got through security OK and then returned home to work.  We had a wonderful time together!

Ginger Visit - April 2019

 

Submarine Rock - Sedona

Ginger and Michael came to visit us for a long weekend - they last came about two years ago.  We had a great time showing them around and exploring Sedona with them and we tried to convince them to move here!

Shawna picked them up at the airport on Friday morning and after dropping their stuff off at home, we went for a day of grazing and beer tasting.  Keith had some calls so he met up with the group later in the afternoon.  Our first stop was lunch at the Cornish Pasty place - Michael had mentioned that he had really like this place from the last visit so we went back!  After eating our pasties, we then did some beer tasting at Goldwater Brewing Company and OSHO Brewery (Keith met us here) - we hung out for quite some time at OSHO enjoying the outside patio and their awesome happy hour deal of $7 per pitcher.  We also snacked on a few more items there, including french fries, buffalo cauliflower and pretzel sticks with cheese.  We were quite full at this point so we headed home and called it a night.

OSHO Brewery

On Saturday, Shawna made avocado toast with eggs for breakfast and then we drove up to Sedona to do some hiking and to spend the night.  Shawna had rented a cute two bedroom house on AirBnB which is newly remodeled and convenient to both Sedona and Oak Creek Village.  Once we arrived in Sedona, we hiked for a couple of hours around the Bell Rock / Courthouse Butte Loop.  We had packed some sandwiches so we sat for a while at Bell Rock while we ate lunch and enjoyed the views.  We then drove into Sedona and walked around town for a bit and enjoyed a beer on the patio at Canyon Breeze (which is a courtyard of food stalls and a bar with a great patio with nice views).

Bell Rock / Courthouse Butte Loop - Sedona

We checked into the AirBnb and then napped and cleaned up.  For dinner, we went to our favorite place, Mariposa, where we sat outside with a drink and then dined in their main dining room (the patio was full) with great views of the sunset against the rocks.  Our eyes were bigger than our stomach as we shared two appetizers (sausage plate and fried avocado) and then each shared the meat trio along with four sides (potato gratin, roasted brussel sprouts, sautéed mushrooms and yucca fries).  For dessert, we tried the tres leches cake and a chocolate/caramel bread pudding.  Everything was delicious!

Mariposa

On Sunday, Keith and Michael ran out to get coffee and yogurt for breakfast which we ate at the house.  We then packed up and hiked for 6.8 miles and 3 hours and 30 minutes, starting at Little Horse Trailhead and hiking to Chicken Point and then on to Submarine Rock (on the Broken Arrow Trail) and then back.  It was a great hike!  We grabbed lunch and a beer at the Hudson, sharing the steak and blue salad (so yummy) before driving back home.  On our drive home, we played a lot of songs that we all knew the words to so we sang along the whole way.

View on Little Horse/Broken Arrow Hike - Sedona

That evening, we hung out at the pool and then had dinner at home - Shawna cooked beef kabobs, couscous with roasted vegetables and tomato/cucumber salad.  We served it with pita, hummus and tzaziki. 

On Monday, Ginger and Michael relaxed at the house and then packed up and headed to the airport for their flight home.  It was so great to hang out with them - lots of laughs and good times!