Nick & Laura + Kitty

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T20:07:00.001-05:00

What a year 2011 has been. I can't say it's been the most eventful year we've had but it's been a great one for sure! I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store. Here's a look back at the Reinke's 2011:

For our week-long vacation this year we rented a house in the southern Outer Banks and spent a week doing absolutely nothing but enjoying all the OBX has to offer. It was the most relaxing vacation we've ever been on.
Soon after our OBX trip we took a weekend and went to Florida to see Nick's cousin, Emily, get married. Such a sweet wedding! It was great seeing the Reinke side of the family as well. We are going to make Michigan a priority in 2012.
June 9th Nick turned 27!
After our May trips focus turned to one of my best and oldest friend's wedding. Shannon and Josh got married 9/10/11 and I was a bridesmaid. I spent a lot of time being there for her and just doing whatever she needed help with (must say -- best bridesmaid ever!). We had a bachelorette weekend in Charlotte and had a blast! Nick went to Josh's bachelor party the same weekend in the NC mountains and seemed to have an equally great time. Again, another good wedding.
Unfortunately, the same weekend that Shannon and Josh got married my Grandfather passed away after a long fight with Leukemia. He was in his 80's We made a quick trip to Ohio for the funeral. What an amazing man! He'll be missed by all he touched.
October brought about another wedding, Nick's friend from work, Kellan, married Susan. They've both become great friends and we had so much fun at this wedding. Probably one of my favorite weddings ever! You could tell the marriage was important to them and it wasn't about the actual wedding celebration/ceremony.
October 29th I turned 28!
November brought along Thanksgiving which we celebrated with our families.
December 8th we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! I can't believe we've been married 4 years.
Christmas was amazing and celebrated with our families once again! The holidays are always a busy but joyous time for us.

2011 Accomplishments:

I lost just over 27 lbs. this year. All of that was lost July-December. I was really motivated and working hard on weight loss May-October of 2010 but then lost motivation during the last part of 2010 and the first half of 2011, I was able to maintain but then in June I got frustrated with going to the gym every day and not seeing results. I've learned that it take working out and tracking my food in order for me to lose so the last week of June I got on the bandwagon again, I did a 9-day cleanse and lost 14lbs in that 9 days. I've been going strong ever since. Of course I could eat better but I find that if I deprive myself of what I really want then I just go off the deep end so I try and indulge in moderation. Things are moving slowly but in the right direction :)
I have become extremely committed to my pre-work workouts. I have also started weight training and core strengthening classes. Since starting these I've gotten compliments from almost everyone about my weight loss. I think it's more toning than anything (someone told me it looked like I had lost 75 lbs. definitely not! only just over 27 this year and about 50 overall). I have also learned that cross training for cardio works for me. Since I'm taking classes for strength and core I manage to get a good change up in those classes from class to class (especially if I go to different instructors classes every once and awhile) but I was only doing the elliptical for cardio. I have recently (since October) started alternating between elliptical, running and biking. it's amazing how they target different muscle groups and make you feel different.
I have done several home improvement projects this year with the help of my hubs and dad :)

I started a square foot garden early this spring and had fresh veggies to eat, fresh tomatoes are AWESOME. Dad and mom helped me build the square foot garden frame.
My mother-in-law put up a white tile back splash in our kitchen for my Christmas present last year. This year she came and painted my kitchen to make the back splash pop! Love it.
The painting of the kitchen led Nick and I to install vertical blinds on our sliding glass door.
Eventually all of that led me me getting a new light fixture over the eating area in the kitchen (which Nick installed). I also got a new kitchen sink (stainless steel) which my dad helped me install.
Just recently (after Christmas) Nick and I re-arranged our living room. Which led to us painting a wall because some how the wall behind the couch got really dirty. Today we got new blinds for the living room and installed them, we also put up curtains in the living room. This feels like a completely different room! LOVE IT

I have a love for my job. Honestly, at the end of last year I thought I would have moved on by now, I really wasn't happy in my job. New year and turnover brought on big structural changes and I really enjoy most of my days at work.
I have made some really special friendships this year that I treasure!

Hopes for 2012 (I don't make resolutions because rarely are resolutions kept):

I would like to speed up the weight loss! I would love to loose 50 lbs. this year but I would be happy with just loosing more than I did last year. Starting the year off right with a 9-day cleanse on January 1.
I hope to do 2 cleanses this year, at least. I'm thinking one at the beginning of the year and then one maybe mid-year.
Become physically stronger and more athletic. I really like this new side of my life and hope to keep it going and trying new physically challenging things.
Run at least a 5k this year. I could do that now but I would like to run it in under 30 minutes. If I could run a 10k that would be AWESOME! But I'm going to stay realistic and since I've never ran anything I'm going to keep my hopes low :) Something is better than nothing.
Volunteer more! I did some volunteer work last year but hope to increase it this year. It really does make you feel good.
Travel! This is always a hope for me. Past years we've been on the go constantly so in 2011 we kind of took a break and saved some money and stayed close to home. Hopefully 2012 will lead to the following trips:

Tour of the North East! At the least we would like to go to Boston this year. But we are thinking about flying to Boston and then getting in as much as we can while we are north. We have some friends that moved to New Hampshire in May and seeing them is a priority this year!
Ireland. If we leave the country this year we will be going to Ireland, I think that is already decided. It's probably the one place I've wanted to visit my whole life, let's face it, I'll fit right in :)
California. Neither Nick nor I have been there and it's some place we would like to go.
Canada. Montreal, Toronto...who cares. They love hockey and we want to be there!
Let's follow the last bullet up by saying that it will be a priority to travel some where in 2012 with the specific purpose of seeing my 'Canes play an away game. Problem is; I don't like cold, hockey is played in winter and most of the hockey teams reside north of Raleigh.
Nickell family reunion in July. Not sure where this is but I think the plan is for it to be in Bradenton. I would love to take Nick to where I was born and spent the first half of my childhood.
I know all of this won't happen in the coming year as our purse strings (and time off work) won't allow it but if only 3 of the above mentioned trips happened I'll be happy!

Blog more! I'm such a horrible blogger! I hope to better this in 2012.
Oh! This has nothing to do with me but I would LOVE to become an aunt in 2012 :) No, I am not asking my brother, Chris to have a kid by any means. I have some very close friends who would love to be parents and becoming Auntie Laura to their baby in 2012 would be a dream come true for them (and me! I need a kid to spoil and I'm not having one).

I think that's it for now. I wish you all a happy, healthy, safe, prosperous and love-filled 2012!

Goodwill

2011-07-23T11:43:00.004-04:00

Just gathered up more stuff to take to Goodwill today. I have so much to take I'm halfway wondering if I should just let people come over and shop my closet. Nonetheless it's gone much quicker if I just run it to Goodwill (and it's already in my trunk). Here's what's going:

17 sweaters (4 are brand new with tags)
2 winter hats
1 hat, scarf, glove set
9 shirts (3 are brand new)
1 camis (1 is new)
2 dresses (both new)
1 new pair of work out pants
1 brand new still on the hanger pair of panties
1 PJ set
8 pairs of socks (5 are still in the packaging, the rest I probably put on once and decided I didn't like them)
1 pair slippers
1 cloth belt
1 brand new purse
1 house coat
5 purses
8 wallets
1 note pad
1 card holder
3 christmas baskets
4 stockings
1 candle holder
1 still in the box new pair of shoes (I've had them for 2 years and never wore them, probably will never wear them)
3 lightly worn pairs of shoes
1 light fixture
4 vases

And it's not even noon! Hope everyone else has a productive Saturday!

My Latest Adventure - The 9 Day Cleanse

2011-06-20T17:46:00.002-04:00

So, I decided to take on a 9 day fast/cleansing system this week. Today was day 1 and I have to say it hasn't been bad. I had several friends that did the Isagenix 9 day cleanse and did pretty well and said it wasn't so bad. So I decided I'd give it a try.

The first two days are "fast" days. So you drink 4 oz. of the Cleanse for life drink 4 times a day and then you can have 3 snacks (apple or celery). I had about 5 pieces of celery and that's about it AND I'M NOT STARVING. The next 5 days are shake days. Much like Slim-Fast...shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, 400-600 calorie healthy dinner and mid-day snacks if you need them. The last 2 days are "fast" days again. I made it through today NO PROBLEM! Tomorrow I think will be my roughest day so we'll see.

I've been trying to lose weight since May 2010 and did really well the first 30lbs. or so and then last October/November it just STOPPED. I haven't gained but I've lost nothing and that's really frustrating. I decided that I needed a little boost and thought this just might do the trick. If the shakes aren't too terrible I'll probably continue with the shake days after the 9 days are over.

I'll keep you posted on my progress...wish me luck!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T07:01:00.002-04:00

17 days until I'll be enjoying sunsets like these again :) YAAAY OBX!

On the Go!

2011-03-28T12:12:00.001-04:00

I would only be fooling myself to say that I haven't been busy. I can't remember starting a week with out a list of appointments that are going on and things are about the get crazier! We have several things going on in April and then in May our traveling for the year starts!

We are starting with a week in the Outer Bank April 30th - May 7th and then we are heading to Florida for a wedding on May 15th! Fun times. Needless to say maybe there will be more to talk about than just me running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I know you don't want to hear about my insanely busy day-to-day (because I'm sure you're days are similar), so stay tuned!

Long time!

2011-03-04T22:14:00.005-05:00

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger. I'm just SO busy so to my followers I apologize! I've tried to compile a quick re-cap to get you caught up. 2010 was an amazing year! Lots of travels, lots of work and lots of friends. We are expecting 2011 to be even better (because who am I kidding, each year is better than the last!). So here's a year-end re-cap for you:

In October we went to Chicago! Which is now one of my favorite big cities. We had such a good time, we went to see my cousin, Bethany, get married but since we had never been there we decided to tour the sites as well. Here's the corncob building from the river. It was a whirlwind trip and I would love to get back soon.

We got back from Chicago and about a week later took off on a Cruise to San Jan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. What an amazing vacation. We went with Nick's mom and Step-dad, Sean. We all had a wonderful time, how amazing it would be to be able to go on a cruise every year.

In November we went to the zoo with a group of friends. What a fun day! If you know me you know I LOVE the zoo, but it was so much better with friends who would goof off with me. I'm known to turn into a 5 year old when I'm excited and Nick is of course the always mature adult so it was fun to have friends that would act 5 with me :)

Late December it started snowing, it's snowed several times this winter and I am more than ready for spring. Although the snow is pretty I am always glad when it's gone.

We've filled the beginning of 2011 with friends and hockey (!!!). My beloved Carolina Hurricanes are currently 7th in the eastern conference so hopefully we'll be going to play-off games this year (come on Canes you can do it!). We are planning our next vacation, a relaxing week in the OBX the first week in May. Then we're headed to Florida for Nick's cousin's wedding a week later. Other than that we don't have many trips planned for this year but you know us, we'll always throw a few trips in here and there throughout the year. I'm so excited for this year, I'm loving my job even though it's mega stressful it's the happiest I've been at work in sometime. I of course love Nick more and more and Kitty is still the baby. Maybe one day we'll get her a friend but for now she's enough and super sweet. I hope that caught you up. And like I said last time I blogged....I'LL TRY TO BE A MORE CONSISTENT BLOGGER!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T06:32:00.000-05:00

St. Maarten -- Oh how I miss it!

FREE Christmas Cards

2010-11-16T22:11:00.003-05:00

So I've been looking for Christmas Cards and thanks to Heather I think I've found them! Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas Cards to people who use Blogger. I'm pretty excited about it. Enjoy all!!!

Chicken Broccoli Braid

2010-11-13T22:06:00.002-05:00

Since according to Nick this is "the best thing I've ever made" and I've already been asked for the recipe several times I thought I'd share :)

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded, divided
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup mayo
Italian seasoning
Citrus and basil Rub
1 egg white
2 pkg of crescent rolls
Flour

Lay chicken in baker spray with kitchen spritzer. Cover chicken with Italian seasoning and citrus and basil rub (no naked chicken). Press 2 cloves of garlic over chicken. Top with chopped onion. Cover and cook in microwave 12-15 minutes until done. Shred.

Place chopped broccoli in rice cooker plus, spray with canola oil, cover and microwave 2 minutes until broccoli is tender

Mix mayo, cream of chicken soup, and 3/4 cup cheese, 1/2 T citrus and basil rub, 1/2 T Italian seasoning, cooked chicken and broccoli.

Separate crescent rolls and lay crescent rolls on large bar pan. shake flour on crescent rolls and use Baker's roller to seal seams.

Spread Chicken and Broccoli mixture on crescent rolls. Starting at one end list strips of tough and lay across top of filling, repeat alternating strips to form braid.

Brush with egg withe sprinkle remaining cheese and citrus and basil rub to decorate top. Bake at 375 for 20-24 minutes until top is browned and rolls are baked.

That's the recipe, now here are the changes that I made today:

This is a Pampered Chef recipe so they tell you to use Pampered Chef products. I don't have the baker (yet! it's been ordered) so I just cooked the chicken in the microwave in a glass rectangular pan that had a cover and it worked great. Improvise if you don't have the things they say use. If you don't have the kitchen spritzer use Pam
The seasonings are also Pampered Chef. I do have the citrus and basil rub but have not bought their Italian seasoning, so I just use the Italian dressing mix that you can buy in the packets in the store. I talked to my friend who sells Pampered Chef and she said that you don't have to use the exact seasoning they say, just something to give it a little flavor.
To make the braid part you line up the crescent rolls so the tip of the triangle is facing out. You will also need a triangle at the top and the bottom to hold everything in. Over lap the flat parts of the rolls so you have a bottom with no seams, I just pressed the seams together with my fingers. I did not use the flour, seemed unnecessary and I was right.
I also did not use the egg white, I didn't feel like cracking a whole egg just to brush it over the top, I sprayed it lightly with the oil in the kitchen spritzer and it worked great.

Like I said, according to Nick the best thing I've ever made. It's hard to mess it up, even if it doesn't turn out pretty it will still taste awesome. AND if any of you want to have a Pampered Chef show let me know, I know a great consultant!

Fall

2010-09-11T11:22:00.003-04:00

I have to say...I love this season. I love the weather cooling down, I love the colors of fall, the fall smells and I love the thought of pulling sweaters out of the closet. Plus October is my FAVORITE month! Why?! you may ask....well there are several reasons:

Hockey season starts! (By the time October rolls around I'm DYING for a good hockey game)
State Fair
I can spend time outside without sweating
We usually take our week long vacation in October, although some years it's been earlier
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! (and yes...I celebrate my birthday ALL month!)
The oranges, reds and browns of the season just make me happy
It's the beginning of the holidays!

This year there are even more reasons to be excited about October! Early October we are going to Chicago to see my little cousin get married and then spend a couple of days in the city. Never been to Chicago, so we're really looking forward to that! Right after we get home from that we are heading on our first cruise!!!! I look forward to relaxing for 7 days! Our cruise is leaving from Ft. Lauderdale and we will be visiting San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Plus, I think my aunts and uncles are going to be visiting my mom and dad in October. Simply the best time of the year.

so my blog background may be slightly pre-mature but I just couldn't wait!

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-01T21:43:00.001-04:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Tonight I'm Cleaning Out My Closet

2010-08-20T22:45:00.002-04:00

So, if you see me pretty regularly you'll notice that I pretty much wear the same stuff all the time. This got me thinking, why do I have so many clothes?! I decided a few weeks ago that I would clean out my closet and sort my shoes. If you know me and my husband you know my shoes are an on-going battle. Every time I buy a new pair he gets mad and say I have too many. It got to the point where I was throwing a pair of shoes away every time I got a new pair (replacing shoes I'd worn out).

Well, I'd had enough of this having tons of shoes and clothes I never wore so I decided to do something about it. I started in the garage and put all the shoes that I never wear in a bag (their were 2 pairs of shoes I put in that bag that I had never even worn), then I went upstairs and got my shoe basket out and sorted all my shoes. I took the shoes that I wanted to get rid of downstairs and put them in the bag. After that I came back upstairs and went through everything in my closet, if I haven't worn it in a year....gone (or I tried). Some of the clothes I haven't worn because they were too small and I've been working on that so I kept them to have clothes to wear on the way back down the scale. All in all I got rid of quite a bit of stuff, Nick should be proud. Below is a listing of things I'll be taking to Goodwill this weekend:

10 pairs of my shoes
2 pairs of Nick's shoes
3 purses
14 shirts
2 jackets
2 dresses
1 cami
1 PJ pants
2 skirts
5 pairs of pants (casual)

Don't feel sorry for me, I still have a closet full of clothes and I didn't even touch the sweaters or the tank tops yet. I still have 36 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs I've never worn and I've had them all over a year and another pair that just sit under my desk at work so if the shoes I have on are too casual and something comes up I can put them on. I'm sure you'll still see me in the same rotation of outfits and I still won't wear half the stuff in my closet but I feel better about it. This was a productive Friday night! :)

Blog Award

2010-07-21T21:30:00.007-04:00

So, thanks to Sarah I got a blog award.

So, the requirements are to list seven random facts about me then pass the award on to five other blogs.

1. Maybe some know this, others may not. I LOVE to travel....love, love, LOVE it! Since December 2008 we've been to:

Munich, Germany

Charleston, SC

Baltimore, MD
NYC

Nassau, Bahamas

Washington, DC

Outer Banks (twice)

London

Paris

Boone, NC

Tennessee

Asheville, NC

Hilton Head Island, SC

Savannah, GA

Orlando, FL

Charlotte, NC

Hendersonville, NC (Lake Lure)

I've probably left some out that I just can't remember. We have plans already to visit the below in either the rest of 2010 or 2011:

Chicago

Pittsburgh

Hopefully some place in the Caribbean

Ireland

If we can squeeze it in....Germany!

2. I freaking love my cat. Kitty might as well be a person, if I'm away from home for more than a couple hours I miss her. Sad I know.

As pictured above Kitty has her own seat at the dinner table and has wonderful table manners, she never gets on the table. Kitty loves cheese, cheesecake, Nilla Wafers, Doritos and Vanilla ice cream.

3. My favorite tv shows are:

FRIENDS

Sex and the City

So You Think You Can Dance

Dancing with the Stars

The Bachelorette

The Office

Modern Family

30 Rock

True Beauty

NCIS

House

4. I love Mexican food....but honestly I would go just for the chips and salsa if they wouldn't get mad.

5. I'm adopted. I don't talk about it much any more because it brings about the same questions and I just get tired of answering them. I don't ever remember finding out, my parents have always been really open about it and I don't ever remember them telling me for the first time, I just think that they've always talked about it and I've always known. I was adopted at 2 days old. My mom has offered on numerous occasions to go with me to find my birth parents, but I really don't have a desire. I guess I feel like I might disrupt the lives they've created, be it together or apart. I don't mind people knowing but its not like I'm going to walk into a room and announce it. I'm not ashamed by any means but I don't think you would understand that unless you're adopted you will never know that everyone actually asks the exact same questions.

6. I actually thought I would never get married. I didn't think I'd find someone that I could spend the rest of my life with but when Nick and I reconnected I knew within days that he was the one I could see every day and not kill him. Lucky boy :) I was honestly ok with never getting married, strange things happen when you're not looking. Best decision I ever made, after almost 3 years of marriage I still think I could spend every day of the rest of my life with him.

7. I wish I could dance!

5 Other Blogs:

1. Karen

2. Jessie

3. Shannon

4. Bethany

5. Heather

Enjoy everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T21:02:00.003-04:00

What an amazing trip we had to the Mountains for 4th of July. We had a wonderful time in Asheville and I enjoyed spending time with my family that I haven't seen in ages. It's always good to catch up.
The amazing Biltmore House. Vanderbuilt was a man with lavish taste. Even people today don't have pools in their basement.

Zoomed out view

Look at this amazing church in downtown Asheville. I love old churches. This is the Basilica of St. Lawrence, it's just so pretty.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

2010-07-01T09:28:00.005-04:00

And the #1 reason I love the 4th of July....FAMILY. We are headed out today for Asheville, tomorrow we will see the Biltmore and then head to Tennessee to see my family. I can hardly wait!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T22:13:00.002-04:00

Cookouts! Really at any time during the summer but usually around 4th of July they are with family who we never get to see.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T18:02:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the words on Wednesday! I've decided to use my Wordless Wednesday to show why the 4th of July is my favorite holiday.

Come on...who doesn't love fireworks?! They're on of my favorites! If there is a good firework show in town I'M THERE!

New Blog Design

2010-06-13T14:15:00.001-04:00

If you know anything about me you know my favorite holiday is 4th of July! And it's coming up!!!! So to fully enjoy it I've changed my background to a fun patriotic theme. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T11:40:00.002-04:00

So it's been a pretty awesome weekend. We've been to two cook outs and had a lot of relaxation time.

But this weekend is really for remembering those who have fallen protecting our freedom and the price they paid for us. So to them and their families, thank you for the sacrifice you've made. And to those who are currently serving our country, thank you for all you've done and continue to do and may God bless and protect you.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T22:42:00.001-04:00

Very few words, spent this past weekend in the OBX. Amazing once again. More to come when it's not a wordless day :)

2010 SPCA K9 3K

2010-05-08T00:34:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago I participated in the 2010 K9 3K and for any animal lover what a worthy cause! I don't have a dog but my brother, Chris, graciously offered to let me "borrow" his dog for the day (lets face it, I was doing everyone a favor, he needs to run off some energy). Scooby was a perfect gentle man. Although he got excited and pulled at the leash often he always listens so well that if you tell him to stop he does. When I got to my parents house to get Scooby mom had decided that she wanted to go as well and take Christy. For those of you who don't know Christy is our 17 year old Maltese. Needless to say she can't do a 3K, 1K or .5K so mom put her in the stroller. Christy had a wonderful time as well. By the time we were ready to leave she was so hyped up that she was barking at the music the band was playing and was alert the whole way home.

Scooby and I pre-walk. As you can tell First Citizens was an event sponsor and therefore I have on a First Citizens shirt.

Mom and Christy on the walk.

Water break! Obviously some dogs needed more than just water, they wanted to take a swim.

This minature pony did the walk as well (at least I think he did the whole walk). He got to meet Christy, who of course had no interest in the pony.

It was a blast and I'm looking forward to next year. To view more pictures of the event follow the link (http://nthomas.photobiz.com/cart/event_login.cfm?eventID=391386) there are even more of Christy in there!

New Years 2009

2010-04-16T20:49:00.002-04:00

I have yet to tell you of our New Years adventures. Probably since Nick and I met I've been dying to go back to Sea World. I love aquatic animals and every where we go I find an aquarium to go to. When I was younger my parents took me to Sea World but the morning that we went I split my knee open and had to get stitches so I had to ride in a wheelchair and sit far away from all the action so I've always wanted to go back, so we went. We spent New Year's Eve at Sea World and saw all the shows. My favorite, of course, were the Killer Whales shows. Awesome animals.

We stayed at Sea World and rang in the new year there. They had a band and ice skating. Quite fund but we were tired when it was all over.

The next day we went to THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!! Oh my goodness, I felt like a kid again. It was a blast...we ran around and did everything.

I think the most amazing things to me was the lighting and the parade that they have there after dark. Something I really wouldn't have appreciated as a kid but I did now. Disney is such a cool place :)

Our third day we went to the Universal Studios. I had never even been to any of the Universal Studios' parks so that was fun. Lines were long but the Mummy ride was really cool. We had a great (tiring) time. So glad we went though. :) :) :)

Pullen Park is closed for renovation

2010-03-24T07:20:00.002-04:00

I have got to get better...

2010-03-07T20:04:00.002-05:00

I have got to get better about writing in this thing. Lately all I've had time for is "Wordless Wednesday". I have Monday off next week so maybe I'll be a bit more inclined to update next weekend. I think I still haven't told you about our Florida New Years trip, such a wonderful time.

I'll do that next. As always thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-03T21:42:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-24T18:04:00.001-05:00

Because I Miss Warm Weather...

2010-02-18T07:08:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday, a day late. The Bahamas 2008.

Paris, France

2010-02-14T23:54:00.001-05:00

In my haste to tell you about our holidays I forgot to even mention that we went to Paris while we were in London. What a stroke of luck that was for me. Nick has already been to Paris twice before we went on this trip and really had no desire to go again. But of course I wanted to go. When we went to London we were able to take the Euro Star to Paris for the day. A day was just enough but it was a busy day. We had to hit all the highlights:

Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

and the Louvre

It was a great day and we saw everything I wanted to see in Paris. I'm glad we spent the day doing that because I don't think I would have ever talked Nick into taking a vacation there. There's always the chance that he'll have to go back for work sometime in the future. Paris wasn't my favorite place we've been but of course, I'm glad I've been.

We've already taken a trip in 2010 (well we spent New Years on a trip) so I'll have to share that trip soon. It was a blast, we went to Orlando and boy was it magical! Orlando makes you feel like a kid again.

Holiday Season 2009

2010-01-30T01:05:00.004-05:00

So I think I've finished re-capping 2009 travels. On to the holidays! This year we had Thanksgiving at our house, my parents, Chris, Nick's Mom and Sean came over. It was a delightful affair. Nothing fancy but we enjoyed each other and it was nice to spend a holiday at home.

After Thanksgiving things got a little crazy for me. I got a promotion at work starting December, 1. So, the month of December was spent trying to learn my new job and continue to work in my old job while they tried to fill the position. I am happy to say that it is January 30, 2010 and my replacement has been at the bank for 2 weeks!

During all that craziness Christmas happened. It was wonderful! Holiday's are always tiring for us because we run around and try and see everyone but this year it wasn't so bad, we got all our visits in and still got home at a decent hour (and Christmas was on a Friday so we had the whole weekend to re-coop). We spent Christmas Eve with Nick's mom then spent Christmas morning at home, Christmas afternoon with my family and Christmas evening with Nick's Dad and family.

After Christmas we needed a little R&R so we rang in the new year in Orlando! That will be another post but I will say that you may not have to wait long for it because it's going to be a cold snowy weekend so going out isn't going to be much of an option.

Everyone needs to laugh

2010-01-13T06:39:00.002-05:00

London Continued

2010-01-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

So here we are standing on the Prime Meridian. Too coo!

This is the picture I was talking about in my previous post. See Queen Anne's home, old architecture with the skyline of skyscrapers in the background. It's amazing the contrasts

What an awesome picture my husband took of the Tower Bridge. The few pictures Nick does take are always really good.

This is Bobbie. I've always wanted to Build-a-Bear but never just wanted to go to the mall and do it. I was looking through a magazine and found a coupon for Build-a-Bear in London. The Bear on the ad had a Palace guard's outfit on and I wanted to build a bear and put that outfit on him but when we got there they didn't have the outfit but they DID have a Bobbie outfit so he is a London Police officer. He also have aviator sun glasses that are not on him for this picture, it's silly to wear glasses inside.

London, England

2010-01-10T21:35:00.002-05:00

So we spent late August and Early September in Europe. London and Paris to be specific (is London considered Europe? Close enough for me!). I have to say I'm growing very fond of Europe, I would have to get use to everything closing early if I ever moved there but that's probably never going to happen. We flew into London and stayed there and then took the Euro star to Paris for a day. Nick has been to Paris twice so he wasn't really interested in taking another vacation there but I of course wanted to see it so this was a good opportunity for me to see Paris without Nick having to spend a while vacation going there.

Of course while you're in London you have to see the Palace Guards. It would be just silly to not to. We actually showed up just in time to see them march along with drums in everything. This was in front of the Guard's Museum and not at Buckingham Palace, they only do changing of the guard every other day or something at the Palace so we missed it, but this was just as entertaining.

Here is the London Eye. I wanted to ride it but it was pretty expensive so we didn't. Although I did take a lot of pictures of it. It was pretty cool this modern Ferris Wheel among all of the ancient buildings with so much history, interesting contrast. There were actually several times that we saw this contrast while in London. When we were at Greenwich you looked down and saw Queen Anne's Palace and in the background all these modern skyscrapers, awesome.

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Beautiful, although Big Ben wasn't as big as I expected it.

St. Paul's Cathedral, beautiful building. This was probably my favorite building to look at while we were there. I loved taking pictures of the Cathedral. Simply an amazing building.

We enjoyed London and the weather was wonderful while we were there, I don't think it rained once and the weather was very mild as well. We can't wait to head back to Europe, we've really enjoyed all the places we've been. Germany being our favorite and London coming in second. I wasn't a fan of Paris but I'm glad that I got to see it, one day was enough, for sure.

Mountains, August 2009

2010-01-04T19:23:00.001-05:00

So in order to keep up with my resolution I'm going to start where I left off. In August we went to the Mountains with Nick's Dad and family. We had a great time. They rented a cabin and we spent the weekend at Tweetsey Railroad, Grandfather Mountain and Linville Caverns. It was a nice relaxing time and we enjoyed the Mounatins, we had been wanting to go out west for awhile and just hadn't had the chance. Here is a picture I took of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was probably off the back deck of the cabin.

Me at the end of the day at the Tweetsy Railroad. I was so tired

Walter ready to cross the Mile High Bridge.

The bear that we could feed. We would toss some food to him and he would catch it. I don't think that was really such a bright idea, makes kids think bears ar fun. Oh well, I had fun. It was a good weekend, hopefully we'll do more trips with them in the future.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T19:55:00.002-05:00

My resolution....

To keep this blog up to date better. I have so many travels to share. I've figured out the problem though, I want to put pictures with everything and that takes time so I just don't do it. I'm going to try and be better about it in 2010 though.

It's been so long!

2009-09-04T23:18:00.005-04:00

Man! I'm not as good at this blogging thing. I'm just so busy I don't have time to sit down, write a blog and load all the pictures. I do have 2 trips to update you on they happened 3 days apart so we've been really busy to say the least. The picture below is a hit as to where we went most recently. The other trip was just a weekend trip with Nick's family but it was a really good weekend!

More to come! Since I have a long weekend maybe I'll get it updated this weekend.

Lighthouses!

2009-06-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

Currituck Beach Lighthouse - Built in 1875 making it the last brick lighthouse completed on the Outer Banks. It is still operational and can be seen for 19 miles. I was amazed by this lighthouse, it seemed like it was no where near the water (although when you're at the outer banks you're always near the ocean) all you could see was pine trees all around.

This is not a lighthouse but after we went to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse we decided to drive to the end of the road. And let me tell you the highway just ends! You're driving and then all of a sudden you're on the beach. Of course we did not drive on the beach I don't know how well the Camry would have handled that. It was quite a site though!

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - Present tower was built in 1870 although the original lighthouse was built in 1802. This is America's tallest lighthouse at 198 feet high (hence why we didn't climb th steps to the top) and the worlds tallest brick lighthouse. Still operational and visible for 20 miles. The summer of 1999 the lighthouse was moved 2,899.57 feet.

Bodie Island Lighthouse - Built in 1848. Stands 156 feet tall. Beacon is visible for 20 miles, it currently has one 1,000 watt lightbulb that is activated by photocell.

I really liked going to see the lighthouses. Hopefully soon we'll make it to the rest of the NC Lighthouses!

Outer Banks

2009-06-07T20:38:00.002-04:00

May 14-17th we took an trip to the Outer Banks of NC. This is by far one of our favorite places in the world. It was just a wonderful place, it was like another world. It was really windy while we were there and it rained off and on so we didn't spend much time on the beach but there was still a ton of things to do and see.

The picture is of Nick and I on the beach. I think we spent a total of 15 minutes out there. The wind was blowing really had and it was making the sand blow around hit us which hurt! But it was beautiful! I love this picture of Nick! He looks so happy.
On Friday we adventured out to the Orville and Wilbur Wright memorial Of course we couldn't pass this by with Nick being a pilot and all. The most amazing part of this memorial wasn't he memorial its self but the view once we climbed up the hill. The memorial was on top of this huge hill and when we got to the top we could see everything. There was water all around on every side. It was such a great site. I think we must have spent 30 minutes up there just looking around and enjoying the view. If any of you know me you know I sunburn in a minute. I made the mistake of not putting sunscreen on because I thought we wouldn't be outside long. Man did I pay! But it was still worth it.
To the left is a picture of Nick. He couldn't get enough of the view from the Wright Memorial. I don't blame him but I really enjoyed watching him enjoy looking out at the world. Next post I'll show you pictures of the Lighthouses that we saw (they were my favorite!).

Washington, DC Trip...FINALLY

2009-05-01T23:56:00.005-04:00

Nick and I took a weekend trip to Washington DC, we went March 20-22. We figured it'd be cool enough still for it to be nice but also warm enough we wouldn't freeze and we were right. So when we arrived in DC we decided to check out the Smithsonian first. Of course you know that the Smithsonian consists of many museums and we didn't go to them all but we did check out the air and space museum and it was cool.

We also decided to check out the Capitol Building.

The next day we decided to try and hit up the other popular DC locations. First on our list was the Washington Monument. I love history and politics so this trip was right up my ally. It's so cool to see all of the nation's landmarks that are always on TV.

We decided that the next stop should be the Lincoln Memorial since of course we just had to walk the length of the reflecting pools. Before we got to the Lincoln Memorial we found the World War II Memorial which is in between the reflecting pools and the Washington Monument.

Even though there were so many people there it was such a peaceful place and everyone was so respectful. They had pillars for all the states as well as some of our allies. Above we took a picture with the NC pillar.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial to see President Lincoln himself. If you've never been you should go at least once in your life. It's so amazing, he's HUGE. His ears....gigantic!

It's so cool to stand at either end of the reflecting pool and look down to the other end. Below is a shot from the top of the stairs on the Lincoln Memorial down to the Washington Monument.

Of course, no trip to DC would be complete without going to the White House...so we did! I said hello to the president for you all. We were there the day after the First Lady started her organic garden. Thanks to terrorism you can't get any close than looking through the fence unless you go with a group and you get tickets way in advance from your congressman but I managed to get a good shot anyway.

What a lovely trip! We just like going on trips to relax and see new things and we might as well go see as much as we can while we're young because you never know what the future may hold. We're planning a trip to the Outer Banks in the next few weeks hopefully it won't take me almost 2 months to post the pictures. Things have just been crazy busy lately and I just have had the time (or patience) to blog. I'll try and do better in the future!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T22:51:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I'm going to get out of order since I haven't even talked about our DC trip but I feel that it is important to share our Easter experience as close to the day as possible. Next blog I'll back up and share with you about DC. So, we decided (pretty much last minute) to head to Wilmington for Easter. I wanted to attend a Sunrise Service on the beach. Fortunately, Nick's dad and Mel were in Wilmington for the weekend so we were able to stay with them (yay for cheap lodging) we really enjoyed spending time with them as well and they were able to bring Walt and attend the Sunrise Service with us! Below are some pictures! It was glorious, absolutely beautiful. I suggest, if you can go at least once to the beach and watch the sunrise on Easter. It just reminds you how wonderful our Savior is! We got to watch His glorious sun rise while we were hearing about His sacrifice for us! Below are some pictures...enjoy!

The sky when we arrived at the beach!

First glimpse of the sun

The Sun

The Crowd

The sun and the crowd

The moon behind us as we're leaving

Spring!

2009-03-29T21:29:00.003-04:00

I haven't done a blog in awhile so I thought I would. Although it is Sunday night and I don't have much time I thought I'd post some pictures of my flowers that are blooming outside! They're so pretty and I'm so proud I planted them all by myself! So here are some pictures for you...I'll post about our DC trip soon!

Makes me Happy

2009-02-22T00:43:00.008-05:00

So since we've moved in to our house I've taken a liking to plants. Inside and outside. Now to those of your who know me well, know I've never cared about plants and I've actually never been able to keep anything alive. My mom has a green thumb and was very surprised by my new interest, but I've realized that as long as my plants are in pots and I don't have to dig around in dirt that may have critters in it, I'm good. So far so good, I haven't killed anything yet.

So this all started with a plant mom gave me when Nick and I moved into our new house. This was a plant that I made for mom in pre-school and she was not only able to keep it alive all these years she also made more plants from the one I made and gave me one of the "off spring" (picture to come).

To the left is an Ivy plant that I bought. Mom bought two last fall and I just thought they were so cute. She also was able to find little vases at Wal-Mart that had ivy on them that she put them in and they are just so cute (I have yet to find the cute ivy vase for mine). The vase that the plant is sitting in is actually a vase I got from Winn Dixie on closing day. As we were shutting down we were allowed to take certain things if we wanted them, most of the floral department was stuff that we were given. I actually got my ivy at Harris Teeter! It was $3.99, not a bad deal. This was my first discovery of Harris Teeter's floral department and I have come to realize that they have a lot of cute little plants that so far, seem fairly healthy (and cheap too!). It has actually grown a lot since I got it several months ago and it is so cute and little. These little plants sit well on our window sills so I can look at them every morning before I leave for for work (I also can't forget to water them because the water is right there). If the plants aren't near water I forget to water them (whoops!).

This is a cute little pink plant (I really don't know what it's called). Nick was nice enough to buy this plant for me one night when we were grocery shopping (yes, Harris Teeter again! $2.99). It was just too cute to pass up, I mean how often do you see a plant with pink leaves? The vase was something that mom found in her garage and gave to me. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it but it was cute so I took it. Several weeks later I got this plant and it went perfect because the little pink flower matched the pink leaves (the blue also matches the navy blue kitty bottle sitting next to it!).

These last two plants I actually got yesterday at Harris Teeter (I know again!). These plants were more expensive than any of the last ones $5.99 each. But I couldn't just leave them behind. The one to the left is purple passion (or so that's what the tag says). It is actually furry! The purple is furry, so it's pretty cool. I can't remember what the one below is called. I meant to write down the names of these plants before I came to the computer but I forgot. I just really liked this one because it has green leaves but then the leaves have speckles of red, yellow and orange. Pretty cool! Maybe the name has something to do about a burning bush (at least the common name for it). I'm kinda worried about the plant below because it is a "high light" plant, so hopefully the sun shines enough in the window to constitute "high light".

I usually try to choose my plants by how easy they are to take care of according to the card. Let's face it if the say it's hard to take care of I'm going to kill it in about a week (remember I forget to water things). I like having plants around it's like therapy. I actually play with my plants on the weekends. The past several weekends I've spent time re-potting some of my outside plants because they cold weather destroyed the pots. So this is it for my window sill plants. They are pretty cute aren't they? :)

So this is the plant that I was talking about earlier. Mom gave it to me when we moved into our house. I gave it to her when I was in pre-school and mom made "off spring" of it over the years and has been giving them away. She probably have 5 of these plants in her house all from the one I made her more than 20 years ago. I decided if mom could do it so could I, so when I had to cut the vines because they were getting too long I cut the leaves off and put them in a vase with water to see if the would grow. And sure enough they did! See the picture below....

I was able to make my chutes grow roots in the water and then today I finally put them in this pot with dirt this evening. I'm hoping they perk up a little because right now they're kinda droopy where they lay over the pot but that's how they grew in the vase they were in. As long as they stay alive I will consider it a success. Maybe later I'll take pictures of my outside plants that are also doing really well and tell you all about them. As you can see these plants make me happy!

On another note! Look at these super cute bowls I got for Kitty today...tea cups with saucers. This crazy cat probably has more bowls for herself than Nick and I have to share. But when I see cute bowls (especially on sale) I have to have them. She's such a prissy cat with her tea cup bowls. Maybe she'll have a tea party with her friends one day while we're at work.

Miss. Kitty and her ball

2009-01-29T18:33:00.004-05:00

Enjoy the video. This is what brings a smile to my face on a daily basis.

2009

2009-01-02T23:28:00.002-05:00

So I was thinking about this today. 2009, how strange.

~On 1/1/2004 I was a Sophomore in College (5 years ago)

~On 1/1/1999 I was a Freshman in High School (10 years ago)

~On 1/1/1994 I was in 5th grade and I had just recently moved to North Carolina (15 years ago)

~On 1/1/1989 I was in KINDERGARTEN (20 years ago!)

That is SO weird. I guess every January I think back to where I was several years back. The older I get the more amazing it is to me. Up until recently I was still in school so it was like 5 years ago I was in school, 10 years ago I was in school, I'm still in school....not much has changed.

Now when I think back I think I was just a kid now I'm a "grown up"...which isn't always fun but everyone has to grow up sometimes. I don't know if you could pay me to go back to any of those times. Life is so wonderful, I love my husband and our pets. I love our house and most days I really like my job. It's so amazing what God does in our lives.

Make it a wonderful 2009. Next it will 2010 and you won't be able to write 200 anything anymore!

'Tis the Season....For Reflection

2008-12-27T22:25:00.002-05:00

2008 has turned out to be a wonderful year. As you can see recounted in my previous blogs we've been very busy and loving every minute. This has been a year of getting use to married life, traveling and moving into a new house. As wonderful as 2008 has been we are looking forward to what 2009 will bring.

In January we already know that we will be adding a member to the little Reinke family! A Golden Retriever puppy!!!! I am so excited. Nick...well he is up in the air about it. He wasn't too crazy about the idea of a puppy but finally gave in since it has been a dream of mine for 3 years when my sweet Precious died. The puppy will be a little girl and I know I'll update you on her name and more information once we get her home. A lot of names have been flying around and one I see her hopefully I'll decide on something.

I want to take the time to thank our family and friends for a wonderful 2008 you are all truly a blessing in our lives and have helped shape 2008 to be one of the best years in both our lives. We love you each very much.

One Year and Counting

2008-12-11T21:57:00.015-05:00

On Monday; December 8, 2008; Nick and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. This has been the most wonderfully extraordinary year. It's been a year of learning about each other, traveling, moving (more than once for me), settling in to each others habits and as my mom would say enjoying having that "special someone all to ourselves." Some people say that the first year of marriage is hard because you have to adjust to living with someone that you haven't grown up with but I don't think its been that bad at all. Maybe its because Nick and I just fit together and bringing our lives together was easy. In honor of one amazing year I shall share some of our memories of the past year.

Here is a picture of us on our way to our honeymoon, we're in some airport probably the DC airport. Here we are in Munich, Germany in front of the Isartor River. Probably one of the best pictures of us ever. We LOVED Germany! We want to go back when the weather is warmer so we can experience what it is like in a different season.

Here we are in Charleston, SC. We took a long weekend in February to go explore the city. Neither of us had ever been and wondered what it was all about. We had a wonderful time we rode the ferry to Ft. Sumter and just saw what the city had to offer.

In April we went to Savannah, GA (sorry no pictures of that, we only spent one night and part of a day there, but now we can say we've been!) and then went up to Hilton Head Island, SC. The Reinke's rented a house there for the week and everyone from Michigan came down. I had a wonderful time getting to know Nick's extended family as well as enjoying the Island. It was so pretty. We climbed a lighthouse and took this picture at the top. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not any rain. Every night we went out and got in the hot tub and just relaxed.

In June I took Nick to Baltimore, MD for his birthday. The trip wasn't so much about where we were going although that was fun it was more about what was there....Medieval Times! He had never been and in my opinion everyone should go. We had a blast, we loved watching the jousting and such.

For the 4th of July we decided to go to the most American city on earth. New York City. I've been before but Nick hadn't. It was HOT! But we did have a good time being typical NYC tourists.

This is us on the top of the Empire State Building. How pretty! I love seeing the city from above. After NYC we took a break from traveling and moved into our new house. We love it here, plenty of room for all of our stuff. In September My dad and I went to the mountains to Lake Lure to visit my grandparents who were visiting there for the week. What a beautiful place, it is simply amazing! October took Nick and I along with his mom and Sean to the Bahamas. Not my type of vacation since the sun hates me but it was wonderful to relax and do something different for a change. It was pretty there. Don't expect me to enjoy the sun and sand anytime soon though. We had fun and came back well rested. I also celebrated my 25th birthday in October, I know I know a quarter of a century. That pretty much brings us to current. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Nick's mom and Sean had my parents over for Thanksgiving lunch and then Nick and I took off to Nick's dad's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The first weekend in December we decorated for Christmas and now our house is so pretty and smells WONDERFUL with scents of our real Christmas tree. Miss. Kitty is of course still the center of our world and she loves it! Kitty loves Nick, I'm always complaining that she loves Nick more than me which is probably true. Recently we took in my brother's cat, Audrey, due to a change in his living situation and he couldn't have indoor pets. She squeaks when she meows and is so different from Kitty. I still haven't decided if the cats like each other or hate each other.

Here we are a year later happy and in love. We kept our 1 year anniversary simple, we just went out to dinner and spent time together.

And here is our cake a year later, it wasted space in our freezer for a whole year we took like 3 bites and threw it away but it was something to do a year later. That's enough for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our 1st year of marriage. We are looking forward to many many more!

Entschuldigung

2008-08-08T01:20:00.008-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous post our honeymoon started out at the Hilton - North Raleigh and continued on to Munich, Germany the next day. To the left is a picture of us in our hotel room ready to head to the airport. The hotel was wonderful and we even got room service breakfast in the morning. This was a wonderful treat considering up to about 2 weeks before the wedding we were not sure where we were going to stay or how we were going to get to the airport and then I found out that we got a room on the house on the night after the wedding!

We left for Germany in the afternoon on Sunday and arrived there early Monday Morning (with the time difference). Once we got through customs and found our luggage we headed to the hotel. This of course involved our first experience with Munich's S-bahn. How wonderful public transportation was in Munich. We didn't once have to get a cab or wonder how we were going to get somewhere, the S-bahn took us within walking distance of anywhere we wanted to go. So we managed to get on the S-bahn (including figuring out how to get a ticket) and get off on our correct stop. What we didn't realize until later was that our hotel was connected to the subway through an underground mall. So we lugged out luggage up the stairs and walked down the street (which was cobblestone) with all our bags

looking for the hotel. When we finally found it and got checked in I was so happy to be rid of the luggage. Now its time to EXPLORE!

The first thing that we were forced to find was the most famous beer hall (Hofbrauhaus) in the world and try out Germany's world famous beer. I must say that the beer was pretty good considering I'm not really a huge fan of beer to begin with. I was also pleasantly surprised with how much I liked their food. German food here tastes nothing like it does in Germany, soo much better there! The Hofbrauhaus was by far our favorite place to eat, I think we ate there 3 times while we were in Munich. It was so fun because they have a live polka band and everyone was in such good spirits. What was most amazing to us was how everyone just crammed into one table together, it didn't matter if you knew these people or not they would sit down with you, that would NEVER happen here. I liked that aspect, it forces you to meet new people. One night a couple and their children from Italy ate with us which was fun.

It snowed almost every day we were there but never enough to stick on the ground there was just snow always falling. It gave us a nice taste of winter without having to deal with the hassle of snow. Living in NC we rarely see snow so we got our quota for the year and we were happy to see it. It was fun to bundle up and run around the city together. It also went well with the Christmas theme that was all over the city. Not only in Munich known for Oktoberfest but they are also know for their Christmas Markets which are out on the street all through the month of December.

Our travels in Germany require more than one post so stay tuned in order to read more about our Honeymoon in Germany...

The Big Day

2008-08-07T00:59:00.010-04:00

Nick and I got married on December 8, 2007 (for those of you who may not know). It was a wonderful almost fall like weather. We couldn't ask for better when we decided to plan a December wedding. The church (Trinity Baptist Church) was beautifully decorated for Christmas, which cut down my pre-wedding tasks.

It was an affair to remember, with family coming from all over especially for us. We couldn't have been happier. It is a day we shall cherish forever as one of the best days of our lives. Our friends looked wonderful as our wedding party. We are truly thankful that they graciously joined us for our special day.

The ceremony was short and sweet, just like we wanted. The only issue that we had was we couldn't get the unity candle lit, but through a little determination we set it on fire.

After the ceremony everyone headed to the Hilton - North Raleigh for the reception. The food was delicious and the cake was AMAZING! I had decided to carry on the poinsettia theme from the church with the cake. When I was looking for a baker I ran across Wedding Cakes by Jessica and she had a beautiful cake that looked much like mine. I had her make the flowers a little more red to go with my colors and add layer separators and wah-lah we had the beautiful cake you see on the right (just as tasty as it was beautiful.

We took some time during the reception to visit with people who came to celebrate with us and of course we enjoyed some dancing. And before we knew it it was time to leave. Really we pretending we were leaving and then heading upstairs for the night. The next morning we left for Munich, Germany where we spent a wonderful honeymoon week (highlights to come about that trip next).

It was a day we will not soon forget. It was a wonderful day and a dream come true (not that I want to do it again)! It was such a special day for us all.

More to come....

Just the Beginnings

2008-07-29T18:27:00.000-04:00

I've decided to chronicle the life and times of Nick and Laura Reinke on a blog for several reasons:

1. It's nice to have things to look back on for memories

2. It will give all our readers a way to keep up with us and what kinds of trouble we are getting ourselves into

3. I think it will be fun for me

So, check back often as I have a lot to catch you up on right now.