My Favorite Things - The Human Bean

My very favorite coffee drink is a Snow-Capped Rocky from The Human Bean.

And I love their lids with the little thingy that closes...

Wednesdays are double-punch day!
Yummmmmm!!!

Just for Today...(actually forever, but I'll take it one day at a time)

• I'm embracing my curly hair.  I've straightened my hair nearly every day for 40+ years and I'm soooo tired of it, so I'm going to go "au naturale". Please don't ask me if I got a perm - perms look good and the curls are symmetrical - mine are not.  And I know my hair isn't really curly anymore - after straightening it all those years and having 50% gray hair it's not all that curly...and please don't tell me I'm so lucky to have curly hair!
• I'm going to stop wasting time playing games of Facebook. At least most of the time.  :)
• I'm going to only wear my Cold Water Creek jeans out in public.  They fit well and I feel better in them because I don't have a "muffin-top" when I wear them and I bought 4 of the 6 pair of Cold Water Creek jeans I own at half price!!

My Favorite Things - When My Apple Tree Blooms

Outer Banks - Cape Hatteras

 To reach the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (and the entire Outer Banks), we had to drive over bridges like this...

 As we approached the lighthouse, this is what our GPS looked like.  I'm sorry this picture isn't very good, but it basically looked like we were driving in the ocean.

However, like in most of North Carolina, this is what it looked like as we were driving.  One would never know the Atlantic Ocean was on the left and the Croatan Sound was on the right.

Map of Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 

 Lighthouse Keepers Houses

The foundation stones on the right is the original location of the lighthouse.  You can see how far it was moved

in 1999. 

I Believe...

Outer Banks - Bodie Island Lighthouse

Time flies when you're having a fun!!  We ran out of time and decided to splurge and stay one night in Nag's Head on the Outer Banks, because although we got to see Currituck Lighthouse and the Whalehead Club, we didn't get to go to any of the shops full of souvenirs, etc.  We stayed at a cute little place on the beach:

 Beach at the hotel.  It is legal to drive on the beach during the off-season.  Driving on the beach is prohibited from May 1 - September 15 and. of course, this is for four-wheel drive vehicles.

 Although the Outer Banks are remote, they have many of the
ammenities of the city.  Even a Five Guys burger place (Milepost 9, Kill Devil Hills).

Dunes at Jockey Ridge State Park ,

Nag's Head.

 Our first glimpse of Bodie Island Lighthouse...

Fireplace in the Lighthouse Keeper's Duplex which is now a bookstore... 

View of Bodie Island Lighthouse from the lookout point.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse is not open to the public at this time due to restoration.  The fresnel lens is currently in storage.  Until April, it looked like this...

to be continued..

Just one installment left about the outer banks.

Outer Banks - The Whalehead Club

When my daughter and I decided to take our little trip to the Outer Banks, I googled "top 10 things to do in the Outer Banks".  The number one thing that showed up was Whalehead Club  I was giddy with excitement when I saw the picture of the beautiful art nouveau-style home.  I love history and architecture and I have an absolute love affair with all things Art Nouveau.  We decided to take the self-guided tour of the interior of the home since we figured we most likely would never make it back to this remote location.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs inside the home.  The interior was quite sterile - the floors were covered with cork tiles that were actually quite functional since it was originally built as a hunt club. But great attention was paid to detail - light fixtures, moldings, door handles, and furniture were all art nouveau.  A Steinway grand piano was even expressly made with the same styling.  This truly is the "crown jewel" of the Northern Outer Banks.

 View of house from boathouse...

Boathouse with Currituck Lighthouse in Background... 

to be continued...