Weekend Adventures in Raleigh

I heart Raleigh. The list of why we love living in Raleigh seems to grow and grow the more time we spend here. This weekend we added to the list with a trip to the famous farmers market and an awesome afternoon in Downtown's Moore square at the annual SPCA 3k dog walk/celebration event.

To start, the farmers market is always a fun Saturday morning activity. The season just opened, and the strawberries are as fresh and sweet as ever! I had an authentic German super pretzel, and Chris enjoyed his one of a kind glass bottle Sundrop, that is after his "best ever" ham biscuit from the infamous farmers market restaurant. Piper enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the market as well and was on his best behavior, mesmerized by the scent of fresh baked bread and just waiting for crumbs of many kinds. Annnd, if I knew anything about flowers, I'd have to say that the nursery was pretty awesome, overwhelmingly so. Next time I'll have to bring an expert, aka mom, to help with the picking.

Without a doubt, the highlight of my morning at the farmer's market was the purchase of a looonnggg awaited item on my home wish list. I was beside myself with excitement as I laid my eyes upon it...could it be? And just when I had stopped looking! There it was, my pink and brown monogrammed garden flag. I know it's just a little flag, but seriously, I've been wanting one since the day we moved in our house on McDowell. I can't tell you how many times I've stepped into Kirklands with fingers crossed, or saw something similar and turned it down because it wasn't "just right." Could you believe that I was just inches from ordering it online(which was about $10 more expensive) just DAYS before and then let it go because the shipping and handling was 1/2 as much as the flag itself! And there I was on Saturday...I saw some flags at a small stand in the little shops at the market and after asking the lady(just in case) she said she didn't have any, but that she thought that "Judy" did. I inquired where I could find this "Judy," and with a slight skip in my step sauntered towards her set up. To make a long story short, I found Judy, and the swirly girly "S". The waiting paid off-I ended up with the perfect flag, and at half the cost! Lord, thank you for Judy and her impeccable taste. :)

With our flag and natural Carolina honey in hand, we made our way Downtown to the big ASPCA dog walk event. The turnout was a total surprise to us-there were HUNDREDS of dogs there. Piper had a blast, and it was so much fun to walk around and see all of the different puppies, pet friendly vendors and fun activities like best kiss contest and best trick. The weather was sunny and beautiful, and it made for the paw-fect afternoon in Downtown Raleigh-they even blocked off 2 streets to make way for the all the puppies! Oh, and we scored a ton of swag-more than we had hands to hold. Piper was spoiled with dog treat after dog treat, and was a happy, full bellied and exhausted camper by the time we made it home.

In other weekend news, we had a nice "ice cream for dinner" night at our local Coldstone(thank you entertainment coupon), and I made Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches on Sunday afternoon. We had to make up for all that walking somehow! :)