Deep Fried Happiness

Last weekend, Ak and I braved the insanity that is the N.C. State Fair in search of some artery-clogging, deep-fried amazingness. The Fair boasted record-breaking attendance everyday, so we will definitely NOT be attempting the Fair on a weekend again, ever.

Ham biscuit #2 -- delish!


Deep fried mac & cheese. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Deep fried everything.

Seriously, everything!


The famed Krispy Kreme burger!


Proof that he ate it! (He claims it was delicious.)

We went through a petting zoo, and Ak fed goats, cows, camels and a llama.

Court feeding Mr. Camel.

Our dog, the pig

Just dropping a quick note in here to share a video of our dog being adorable. I know, everyone thinks their pet/child/elderly transient is particularly adorable, but if you don't find her adorable, perhaps you'll find her disturbing! She makes the weirdest noises whilst she's grooming her paw/chewing her fingernails (I know they're claws and not fingernails, stop correcting me). So we caught the elusive Flame-pig on tape and thought we'd share it with the whole wide world. What do you think?

A Week at St. Somewhere

We've been accused of being slack bloggers -- this is not an unfair statement. That's really all I've got on that. Now, onto pictures of our recent beach trip! We spent the first week in July at Ocean Isle with a bunch of friends, old and new, and two dogs.

Our home for the week, St. Somewhere.

"I've gotta fly to St. Somewhere, I'm close to bodily harm..."

Where we spent our evenings.

Where we spent our late evenings and wee morning hours.

Best part -- early a.m. dog walks.

Flame didn't care for the way the ocean kept chasing her.

Happy puppy!

The gang, heading down to the beach for a late night walk.

Our Kitchen is Finally Complete

So after a little blood, a lot of sweat, and a handful of tears (hey, I'm sensitive, alright?), our kitchen appears to finally be finished! Thanks largely to Ikea, our kitchen now looks awesome, and I'm not ashamed to say that it was all because of me. Or, rather, because my wife has good taste and I know how to mount blinds to the wall. So I guess I could share some of the credit.

But behold! Gaze at the beauty that is the red kitchen! Note the kickass red lampshade chandelier!

Marvel at the crumby lighting as it's still very sunny outside!

Revel in the gloriousness that is the white pull-down shades over all of the windows!

Truly, this is a place of beauty and of peace. We're super excited about how the kitchen has turned out, and hope that you've enjoyed humoring me talking on and on about it.

--Ak out

Garden Drama

For Tina and Mike -- what's eating my garden??

Okra Transplant! (And other garden updates)

So I'll try to keep this quick & to the point as to avoid boring people who honestly don't give a flying fig about our garden:

1) We transplanted okra seedlings into our garden today! They didn't have the broadest of root structures, so some of them wound up kind of laying down, but I suspect we'll get a few survivors out of the ordeal...

from this

to this

So that's exciting!

2) I'm pretty sure one of our cucumber patches contains absolutely no cucumber, but our tomatoes are doing terrific!

3) Our basil plants are looking a little worse for wear in some spots

I'm beginning to wonder if they caught a disease because I pinched them back too roughly (I should've probably pruned them with shears instead of pinching off the top with my fingers, I think)

But I guess we'll see -- this year is a big learning experience for us, so hopefully we'll come away from it more prepared for next year!

--Ak out

Two Shameless Plugs

So, as the title says, this post will contain two shameless plugs:

1. Ak and I just signed up for the Race for the Cure, a 5k which will take place June 12 in downtown Raleigh. We're running with my former colleague Danielle, who lost her mother in 2006 to breast cancer. Click here to donate.
2. I'm excited to announce my new blog project. This blog is designed to be the "business-and-occasionally-personal" side of me rather than the Becks' day in the life. It's mostly an experiment in personal branding and social media, but would love for you to check it out if you're so inclined and offer an opinion.

That's all for now -- will offer more shameless plugs soon I'm sure!

Garden Project Update

A few weeks ago, we blogged about planting our very first vegetable garden. Tonight, we're pleased to report that it is flourishing (photographic evidence below). The okra didn't fare so well in the wild, but it's growing nicely in our bathroom and will be transplanted soon.

Herbs, still hanging in there. Does the basil look like pesto to you yet?

Cucumbers, hopefully still hanging in there.

Peppers.


Squash (or maybe zucchini). I'll tell you in a few weeks.

Baby tomatoes!

Scenes from the SPCA K9-3K

This past weekend, Ak, Flame and I participated in the K9-3K, a fundraiser for the Wake County SPCA. There was something like 1,500 dogs and 3,200 people there. In a word, insanity, but for a good cause -- the walk raised over $214,000!

Flame with teammates Riley and Roxie.

A whole mess of dogs waiting for the walk to start.

Once we were actually walking, Flame started to find the whole excursion tolerable.

Lots and lots of dogs!

Team Beck!

Garden Project

What a gorgeous spring day! Ak and I both had the day off, so we decided to spend it working on a new project -- our first ever vegetable garden!

After visiting Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware (twice), Page Road Garden Center and Gunters Greenhouse, we were ready to get started.


The first project was an easy one -- a mini herb garden that can be brought into the house over the winter (assuming that we figure out a cat-proof solution -- the attic maybe?). We planted thyme, oregano and two basil plants for lots of lots of pesto!


Then we moved onto the fun part. Fortunately, we moved into a house that already has several spacious raised beds. Unfortunately, they hadn't been maintained. Here's a picture of what we started with:



One hour and one snake later, we had the large, L-shaped bed cleared and ready to plant.



This little bucket contains what we hope will be the secret ingredient to our garden -- compost. For almost a year, we've been dutifully composting all manner of fruits and veggies, not to mention egg shells and coffee grinds. This was my first peek at the result, and I'm quite proud of our beautiful black compost. Go us!


Finally, the finished product. We planted two varieties of tomatoes (Big Boy and cherry), cucumbers, green peppers, okra, zucchini and yellow squash. Now we just sit back and hope things grow!

K9-3K Dog Walk

Ak, Flame and I signed up to for the K9-3K Dog Walk to benefit the Wake County SPCA. We're sorta suckers for animals; you might know this about us. Want to help us help animals? Click here to donate.

Snow Day

We, along with the rest of NC, got quite a bit of snow this weekend. The official count at RDU Airport is 5 inches, and that's right down the road so we'll go with that. Our puppy, we learned, loves the snow! She got a taste during the flurries a few weeks ago, but this weekend to her was the BEST WEEKEND EVER. Check back later for a video of Flame frolicking in the snow.

Watching the snow. (We normally don't allow her to do this, but she was so darn cute we let it go. Yes, you should be concerned about what that statement implies for our future parenting.)

SNOW!

Eww, snow.

SNOW!

Our street.

And the front of the house.