Gardening and Gallivanting in Raleigh

It's officially spring!

And just like that it's summer. At least here- because it's suddenly super hot all the time and my leather seats seem like a really bad idea. 

Also, there is pollen. Everywhere. 

Go outside and put your phone on a surface next to you. Within 10 minutes, covered in pollen. 

Same with computer screens, books, sunglasses, etc. etc. 

And vehicles not moved to shelter? 

Covered. In. Pollen. 

Every time I get in the car I have to turn the windshield wipers on so I can see. It's almost like a small amount of snow- yellowish green snow... so that's weird. 

Poor Orville. 

Spring/summer also means Durham Bulls games with the Crains and that is ALWAYS a fun time! 

This year there was a man in front of me who helped himself to most of our conversations. Want to talk about an eavesdropper- this dude had the skill mastered. 

Things got awkward during the 7th inning stretch. Pretty sure had I made eye-contact I would've been considered his new girlfriend. Poor guy, I'm sure he's... nice. But for real- there's nothing like a baseball game in the spring! 

I'm pretty sure I've never wondered if my family loves me. 

Except for that time when mom made me sweep the basement steps. She claims I had an "attitude" and needed an "attitude workout" and that's her justification. 

Literally no one sees the basement steps. Why I needed to waste my precious time sweeping them, I'm still trying to figure that out. 

But anyway, no- it's hard to feel unloved when your family is constantly traveling 7 hours south on I95 to spend a few days with you. 

Yes, Dan and MC were here only a few weeks ago, but that doesn't mean that mom and MC can't come 2 weeks later with more laughs and adventures, right? 

Duh y'all.

Mom and MC actually had a legit reason to come last weekend- besides me missing them and wanting to see them and all that. 

Mary Cat went to the Junior Visitation Day at Meredith- FINALLY. 

We'll get to that part later, but let's just say I'm pretty sure if you want to hang out with the Martin clan in the future you're going to have to seriously consider getting your butt to Raleigh. 

So what did we do? A weekend with my favorite ladies and favorite Carter? 

What didn't we do. 

First we drove around the Crains' development like we thought we knew what we were doing, but all we really wanted was pizza. Things got confusing but I'm pretty sure it's just because the three of us kept talking and weren't so much focusing on actual directions. You know. 

Then we got ice cream after pizza- because it's kind of tradition and mom wanted to be outside. We compromised. 

How cute are they?

Then mom got something on her shirt, and I kindly pointed out the fact that this something was actually bird-poop. 

Mary Catherine found it pretty entertaining. 

She laughed a lot- couldn't stop. Even threw her head back! 

It was intense. 

Anyway, after that incident, we were off to an evening at Meredith for Stunt. I'm sorry you don't know what Stunt is, but I really don't know how to explain it. All you have to know is that Bathtub Ring sang. 

We did a few of our favorites and debuted our newest song. 

 And because you can't hear a picture...

Mom and MC were champs even though they were completely exhausted after leaving the house at 4 in the morning.

Friday morning mom sweet-talked MC and I into going to a green-house thing with her. We should've known it was a bad idea, but we agreed to go with her anyway. She claimed it would be fun- we figured it would somehow turn disastrous.

Turns out, we weren't too far off... 

Just a little background- as we were walking in, we had to pass in front of an attractive employee who was operating some machine thing. Immediately MC and I were on alert- hot guy in the vicinity? Must be on best behavior. You get it.

So the first issue surfaced when mother asked MC and I to get her a flower cart (it's like a grocery cart, except it's for flowers). The two of us, trying to ease the shopping experience and make it as quick as possible, reluctantly headed off in the direction of the flower carts. Mary Catherine must have gotten there first because she was the one attempting to acquire a flower cart. I just stood and watched and tried to offer helpful suggestions. 

These carts were stacked together (as grocery carts typically are) so MC had to use her muscles to get one free. 

So she gave the cart a good yank, and nothing happened. Being MC, she started to make a dramatic show of it by pulling with all her might and really putting her body into it. She dropped her butt to the ground as she pulled; she did a little dance; she turned around... all the while the stupid cart did not budge. I was dying in fits of laughter at this point- the kid can put on a good show! 

Then, out of nowhere, she starts yelling "What? Where?" Her face immediately flushed and I started looking around to see who we were suddenly talking to. 

Turns out MC wasn't just giving me a show, but also a kind flower-shop employee as well. 

I know what you're thinking, but no... this was not the attractive male we saw when we first arrived. We'll save him for later. 

So anyway, this guy was shouting about a brake and he kept telling her to push it down. So MC pushed the brake, let go of the brake, and pulled the cart. 

She did this a few times as I giggled and the employee started jogging toward us. 

"RESCUE!" I thought to myself. 

Turns out even the punk employee with giant gauges in his ears couldn't free the cart on the first try. Yes, he did on the second try but that's irrelevant. 

So he freed the cart for us, and then MC (having given up on the cart system) walked away giving me no choice but to push the cart to mom. 

So I pushed, and nothing happened. 

The employee, who was still watching our charade, rolled his eyes and said, "You have to use the brake. We're on a hill." 

I couldn't even tell you the thoughts running through my head at this point- I have to use a brake to go uphill? Are you stupid? After coming to terms with how backwards the whole system was, I finally managed to get the cart up the hill and to our very confused mother. 

She just wondered what all the laughing was about- apparently she heard us. 

Anyway, mom had a good time. MC and I mostly enjoyed keeping an eye out for the attractive man and running around like idiots in a flower shop. At one point, hot guy walked by us and asked how we were doing. MC and I almost melted. I responded with a pretty shaky, "Good". Mom ignored him. She was focused on other things.

There she is, with the infamous cart. The only reason she's pushing it is because I ran away and mom needed her services. 

We also struggled to pay for our purchases. Apparently the sign that says "Checkout" is very misleading. 

We became pretty close with a few of the employees. The cart guy, this guy, the hot guy... you know. We're just friendly people. 

So after this guy wrote mom a ticket with the amount she needed to pay (not like a cop ticket, but like a flower shop ticket), he took our cart down to the "loading area". This was one high-tech flower shop. So mom was all, "I'll go pay, you girls drive the car down to the loading area and let them start loading the car." No big deal right? 

Would've been fine had hot employee not been the loading guy. 

So we roll up, all giggly and feeling pretty stupid about the whole cart thing. We were being pretty obnoxious as well. Definitely almost stalled my car too during the "rolling up" process.

Hot guy walked up to my window and said something about how he had to finish loading the other woman's car and then he would be right with me. 

I still don't see why it was necessary for him to tell us that. Unless he was simply flirting. 

Omg... was he flirting with me? 

Then I popped the trunk and tried to play it cool. 

I really don't remember much else about hot guy. Besides showing off and maybe attempting to flirt, we really didn't have many other run-ins with him. 

Oh, and he tried to impress us with his stomach at one point. 

I'm pretty sure this guy was just trying a little bit too hard.

So we finally left the flower shop and made it back to the Crains and it wasn't even noon! 

That's what I call a very busy morning. 

After all that out-doorsy-ness, MC and I needed a good indoor fix. Since Sharon was occupied with her newly purchased flowers, MC and I headed off to the mall for the afternoon! 

I think I just held myself to one new dress at that point. 

MC seriously considered buying these earrings because they could almost double as a sort of wind-breaker for the neck. Like a scarf. 

She didn't get them though. A missed opportunity if you ask me. 

We weren't gone too long, and when we got back the Crain's house was transformed! Mom was hired to do their gardening and she did a great job! Of course she loved it- playing in dirt? That's right down Sharon's alley. 

Soon after we got back, the 3 of us were chilling on the couch watching One Tree Hill re-runs (my kind of afternoon) when an Old Navy commercial came on advertising "Buy one get one" T-shirt sale. 

Suddenly we found ourselves at Old Navy. 

Where we literally cleaned out the store as well as my bank account. 

Just kidding, but I did make a few more purchases than necessary. So many lovely things that I just HAD to have! If I don't buy it, then who will? The clothes, they NEED me!

I might have a shopping problem. 

Then Friday night was a lovely cook-out on the deck followed quickly by even more ice-cream. 

We might have an ice-cream problem as well.

Saturday morning was MC's visitation day. We were supposed to be at Meredith at 8 for tours, but it's hard to expect the Martin girls to be ready much before 10 on a Saturday morning. 

After a general session in which President Allen opened her speech by saying "I chose Meredith because my older sister went here!", parents and students split. 

Mom and I stuck together and ditched the parental session- we just weren't feeling it. Plus, it was GORGEOUS outside. 

MC was a good girl and stayed in the student session- met new people and I think enjoyed it! 

Mom and I just played outside. 

In the amphitheater.

Prettiest day ever with the prettiest lady ever! 

Plus we felt so rebellious for skipping our session. Nothing like a good ditching to make you feel good about yourself! 

After getting back to the Crain's, mom begged us to go see the wisteria. 

Only issue was we had to GO see it. 

In the woods. 

Deep... deep into the woods. 

MC and I do not do woods. 

At all. 

Ever. 

Except this time, because mom was so cute and really, really wanted to see the wisteria. 

So we went along and played Nature Walk.

You can tell this is a pine, because of the way it is. 

You can tell this isn't a pine. 

It's not everyday you get all this neatness in one place. That's called nature. 

Then the wisteria- the purple beauts. 

Rhonda was 100% in her element. Very, very, very, oh so very happy with the wisteria. 

 I mean, isn't that just a picture of pure beauty right there? 

A woman and her wild wisteria. 

The walk was neverending, but we somehow made it through the woods and back to civilization. 

Actually, I am the one who found the trail back to the Crain's house. I was pretty proud of myself because I'm definitely NOT the one to lead the way in the woods. 

I think I was mostly just very ready to be finished outside. 

After finishing our walk, they left me. 

MC had to be home to sing with chamber singers on Sunday and since she's so dedicated and wonderful, our weekend was cut seriously short. 

Stupid. 

But it was a fun weekend. I added a few dozen years to my life from laughing so hard. My mother and sister are probs the funniest people EVER. 

Seriously, if you like to laugh, you should probably befriend them ASAP.

They're good people. 

And now I'm struggling to find the motivation I need to finish these last 2 weeks strong. 

Next week is the last full week of classes- crazy? Def. 

Just a quick question- how necessary is the last week of classes anyway? 

We won't do anything but prepare for finals which is stupid. So I can just skip, right?

Nope. Still can't find justification for skipping. 

Guess I am sorta studious after all. 

Nuts. 

Run and hide your crazy

Happy day-after-Easter-Monday. Why today is not still a holiday? I have no idea. 

My favorite song of all time just came on the radio. I'm sure you could learn to sing along. The chorus is literally "Lover, lover, lover. You don't treat me no good no more" and you sing it twice. 

Why it's my favorite song? No particular reason. 

MC and I used to sing it really loud on the way to and from work. 

And in the family room. 

And the kitchen. 

Basically when we hear the song we just sing it real loud. 

So last night as I was falling asleep and dreading another week of boring business and confusing French classes I realized that I have only 1 little month left. 1 month- I can totes handle that. Also, today when I left my French class I said "bye" to my professor as I was walking out the door. I heard her calling after me, "Au revoir, Caitlyn- AU REVOIR!" 

I think I'm officially the worst French student. Seriously- if I'm not speaking English in class then I'm speaking German. And let me tell you, it's a serious issue when you speak German in your French class. I answer most questions with, "Ja" but that doesn't cut it in French. 

Stressful. 

But in better news.. March is over. So what did I do? 

I'll start with the St. Paddy's day parade. 

I went to a St. Patrick's day parade in downtown Raleigh. 

Everyone was wearing green- but this lady had the coolest pants. You can't really tell, but they're patterned and all fancy. I enjoyed her whole outfit. And her bag which says, "Cake for breakfast." 

Enough said. 

There were little leprechaun men everywhere. Lots of music and dancing and green.
It was a fun day. I mostly liked the big-headed leprechauns on wheelies. There were 2 and they were rolling all around on their little wheelies- made me want a pair really bad.

St. Paddy's day was a lot more exciting, but it was so long ago that I've forgotten the details.
So I'm just going to move on quickly to the next holiday.

EASTER.
I couldn't go home for Easter this year (or last year, or the year before, blah), so Dan and MC drove down to spend the weekend with me.
They're so cute like that. 
It was literally the greatest weekend I've had in a long time. The only thing that would've made it better would have been if Kyle could've made it too. Poor guy was stuck at work all break. We missed ya Kylie!

They got here Friday morning and we spent some good quality time together.
They were down for some good Bojangles to get the weekend started- MC wanted it because Scotty McCreery likes it, and Dan wanted it because he was hungry.
I think we were all satisfied.

Then we headed over to Meredith! The last time Dan was at Meredith was during Freshman move-in. So he only experienced the random craziness that happens when a bunch of girls are trying to keep it together while also managing to set up their little dorm rooms as their parents prepare to leave them for the next 4 years.
In other words, it was time for him to visit again.
This time was a whole lot less dramatic- omg.

We posed by the fountain because it was cool.

He really loves all of the attention that we so generously shovel his way.

Then we wanted to check out the ampitheatre. It really was the perfect day to walk around- clear skies, a nice breeze, perfection!
Dan was a big fan of the lake/pond thing. Which one is man-made? A pond? I guess it doesn't really matter because I don't know if the Meredith lake/pond is man-made or not.
So never mind.

Good thing he refuses to read my blog so he will never know that this picture made it to the internet. Mary Catherine was shouting names of random girls. That's how we get Smiley Dan in pictures.
Strategy.

Then he ran down all the steps and did some more posing after we called out even more names. We really have figured out how to work with him. And look at that- a brilliant photo courtesy of Mary Catherine. We also have a few dozen pictures of random trashcans and the ground courtesy of Mary Catherine, but we don't have to talk about that.

Oh, out of order. This was before he ran down the steps. I really don't think he ran up and down more than necessary. But who knows- he is full of surprises.

Then after Meredith, we went back to the Crains and made ourselves at home with a few thousand old photo albums including Lynda and Carter's wedding pictures.

 I, along with Jessica, was a cute 6 year old flower girl. Dan and Sam were the "bell ringers" (they literally rang bells) and Kyle was the ring guy.
Anyway, we had lots of laughs over the pictures of Danny from the wedding. I don't think we found a single picture where his bow-tie was straight and his boutonniere was upright. All of the pictures post-ceremony Dan's bow-tie is missing completely. Maybe you just have to know how he was as a child to appreciate all that- he was always doing something. He could entertain himself with a freaking leaf- not even kidding. So anyway, cute little Dan man was crazy hard to keep tidy.

After Memory Lane, we headed down Person Street and got ourselves some HOT NOW Krispie Kremes. A whole dozen. Let's not talk about it.

MC and I also spent some great time in one of our favorite places- the mall. We were very surprised to notice a new trend in the mannequin world- hair and long bangs. I think the hairy mannequins were only at H&M, but still... weird. Every single one had long grayish-white hair with bangs that they could easily munch on if they got hungry.
Hence the confusion on Mary Catherine's face as we tried to figure out the purpose of hairy mannequins.

I thought perhaps the hair was to make the mannequins more relatable to the average shopper. So H&M must have been thinking along these lines- "Maybe if we put hair on our mannequins women will feel more inclined to buy from our store since they can see more of themselves in our advertising."
(I just made awkward eye contact with a man sitting in the honors lounge. I thought he was sleeping but he wasn't.)
But that's not my point.
If this was an attempt to connect with the customer, I don't know how successfully the plan was executed. Mostly just because it confuses me.
Then again, it is H&M- a European clothing store- and maybe that's the only necessary explanation for this strange new phenomenon in the mannequin world.

Moving on.
Mary C and I also treated ourselves to some Gloria Jeans coffees conveniently located directly across from the hairy mannequins mentioned above.

We also witnessed a mall-crime and felt obligated to document it.
This is a picture of what you're not allowed to do on an escalator.
The picture is actually on the escalator so as to avoid any confusion.

We thought this woman might just be pretty confused. Either that or she has no respect for mall regulations. Or maybe rules just don't apply to her. Either way, MC and I felt pretty uncomfortable traveling up the escalator behind this hardened criminal.
What if that thing snapped and the child fell backwards?
MC loudly announced that she wouldn't be doing any life-saving. She said if the child rolled down toward her she would just step aside and let him continue on his journey.
I don't think she would actually do that- we were just appalled at the blatant disrespect this woman had for the mall.
Respect the mall!

We got away with shopping all morning on Saturday because Dan was occupado at the Crain's with this thing they call "construction".
Apparently Carter wants a bigger deck or a deck with bigger stairs and a patio and all this fun stuff.
(Woa... a man just walked by holding a tiny baby. Meredith is going crazy y'all. I don't know what to believe anymore.)
So Friday was demo day and Saturday was re-build it day (which doesn't sound nearly as fun as demo day). 

As the guys worked, us girls painted our nails and had a backyard dance-party.
JT was our entertainer and he did a marvelous job. 

Naturally, Dan was in his element.

Clearly, in his element.

Showing off- just a tad.

We also went to Brewsters for some ice-cream after filling up on authentic Mexican at Torrero's. Clearly we hadn't eaten enough Mexican.
Ice-cream just fills in the cracks. At least that's what mom always said (you say that, right mom?).
Dan and I would never miss an opportunity to star in a picture.
We are always prepared.

Sunday came all too quickly and suddenly it was time for the little one's to head north. We did manage to devour some chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs of the Cadbury and Reese's varieties first.
Then we started hugging.
Lynda and Carter are pretty proud of their "Crain Sandwich" and made sure to hug each of them extra long since we'll miss them extra much.

MC outwardly enjoyed the sandwich much more than Dan. I believe she actually ran toward their open arms as they chanted "Crain sandwich, Crain sandwich!"

What a colorful family I have.
Oh by the way, we're no longer calling each other "weird" or "strange" or "odd" because they have such negative connotations to them. Instead we've decided to call each other "colorful" because color is a good thing and we're all fans of color. And let's be honest, colorful people are the most fun people anyway.
MC and I know Rhonda is proud of our new rule.
(Rhonda = Sharon/mom)

So that sums up the rest of my March.
Soon April will be winding down too and I'll be watching as my junior year wraps up. I'm still not a fan of growing up, but whatever.

I also decided today that I'm definitely going to be getting a haircut really soon. According to my hair, today the humidity is at 3,000% and I'm not so okay with that.
Seriously though, my hair grew a few inches after I finished drying it this morning. It's ridiculous.
And yes, today is a warm day so I'm sporting capris and flip-flops like it's my job.

Here's to spring- the humidity, allergies, little green worms that fall from the trees and the end of the longest semester of my life!
Just kidding, I do love spring. I am Sharon Martin's daughter after all!

Happy April!