Stuck in Currictuck

I tend to be someone who likes to do things in order, but transferring pictures from my laptop to our main computer is proving to be a little difficult today and I am getting impatient! So much to my husbands dismay....I am going to post one of our more memorable mornings.

It was our second to last day in the Outer Banks ad we wanted to do one last exploring trip (we had already gone south and visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse a couple days before) and see the northern part of the island. Plus if you drive far enough there is an where they have 4x4 cars only. We took my SIL Subaru and headed out!

One of the many AMAZING houses we saw on our drive

It was beautiful in the Duck/Corolla area and I would definitely love to go back there someday. I loved the community feel it had with everyone out riding bikes, walking, and running.

Another incredible house

Well we headed to Currituck, also hoping to see wild Mustangs! It's awesome because the road curves and suddenly you are on the beach!

Neither one of us had ever driven on the beach and my husband's first words were, "This is nothing like snow!" I don't think I have ever said this, but he is obsessed with driving in snow...not just a little bit either- a whole lot! Every winter he talks about missing snow, driving in snow, wanting to be in snow....you get the picture!


It was fun until all of the sudden our car wasn't going anywhere! One moment the sand was hard and compact and the next it had given way to a deep, none forgiving, felt like quick sand, ruts of sand.

Now I get emabarrassed pretty quickly, so I'm moaning and wanting to sink into the car seats never to be seen again, all the while he is telling me "Ashlee it's not so bad!" Then we got out and realized the sand was literally all the way up to the undercarriage of the car and the wheels were just spinning! One guy stopped in his Humvey only to tell us good luck on digging ourselves out! "You too little Missy!"(his exact words) He then went on his merry way....still can't believe he stopped only to tell us what to do. To make matters worse all of these SUVs and trucks kept driving right by! Surely one of them had a tow hook or something, either that or they just thought we got ourselves into it so we'll have to get ourselves out. So the Mr. got to it and jumped out in my flowy white skirt, strapless shirt, and pink nails and started digging!

Hey those pink nails came in handy...letting air out of the tires!

Another guy did stop and tried to help push, but that didn't help and then finally someone(guy with yellow shirt) with a nice big truck and hook stopped and had us out in a jiffy!

Now for all who may doubt....my husband is an very intelligent and savvy when it comes to things like this...so the fact we got stuck did come as a surprise. But hey, it can happen to the best of us!

Thank you Mr. Nice man who saved us from calling a tow truck and paying a ton of money for it!Free of the sand and heading back! (remember I am wearing a strapless shirt so I do have clothing on)

Sad to say our venture too see the horses was cut short and we turned around and headed back to the pavement. In the end I loved every moment of it! I love exploring new places and even the unexpected that can be, at the time, embarrassing, but that is how life works! And with our extra time we went shopping!! No complaints here;)Shopping at Tim Buck II

And then some sustenance at The Roadside!

Mr. W's yummy fish sandwich(and I don't even like fish!)

My first time trying shrimp and grits...it was so good!

And this great produce stand called "The Tomato Shack" next to the restaurant

All in all a great day...we got back to our house and lounged by the pool with the rest of the fam for the afternoon!

It's almost been a week since we got home and I am still missing the warm sun, feel of the sand, and the occasional venturing into the water(when I was feeling brave!). It was a great week in Nags Head spent with my husbands parents, siblings, and spouses...and our niece! Such a great week and I am ready to go back.

I haven't really ventured back into blog land until now, so somehow I'll have to catch up! Plus I think it will take more than one post to share about our vacation...we had several unexpected adventures I can't wait to share about!

Somehow this week I am trying to get back in the swing of things...we also had our two year wedding anniversary!!! I can't believe it has already been two years yet at the same time I feel like we have been married forever and I don't remember what life was like before. It has been bliss!

We went to one of our favorite restaurants that has wonderful South American food and then we were going to go for something more fancy for dessert, but opted for our usual- Andy's Frozen Custard. So good and currently making my mouth water! It's the best...one of the best parts of the night was finding out that Mr. Wonderful got us ballroom dance lessons!! I cannot explain how excited this makes me! We have talked about it for a long time and but have never done it. I think we'll try for our first one this week!

This is the only picture we got of the night because I forgot the camera and we only had his iPhone. Apparently the iPhone isn't too forgiving...I don't know where those bags under my eyes came from!

Absolute Craziness...

Good grief!! I have tried three times now to start this post and I just can't seem to get it! I know it's not that difficult, but for some reason I just can't seem to make the words work in the way I want them too. I would love to be able to give my announcement and big news to its fullest, but if I tried to write it out from start to finish I wouldn't make my 4:30 flight to D.C tomorrow! (Vacation here we come!)

Last Thursday I shared about my nervousness and the various other emotions I was experiencing as I faced reality for the first time....the reality being a parent meeting of the TJC Academy of Dance in which it was announced to parents that the current director has been offered, and accepted, a promotion to be the interim Chair of the Fine and Performing Arts and that someone else (me!) was stepping in to take her place over the Academy and Nutcracker! Craziness! Thankfully the shock and response was minimal as I had prepared myself for the worst. Everyone loves the current director so I figured there would be some drama. That may come later and I'll brace myself for it.

When I was asked to take the position I could not have been more surprised. Never in my wildest dreams or thoughts did I think that my director would give up her job. She loves teaching and is so good at it and to not have her at the head of Nutcracker seems a little unreal. Thankfully the director (I'll call her Mrs.D) will still have a vital role in the transition time and will be involved on a weekly basis helping to mentor me and work through the process of taking things over.

This is big...huge actually and I know that I am going to have to find a way to take it one day at a time because when I do look at the whole picture and what this new job entails it's a little overwhelming. (and that is putting it lightly)

Over all we are excited. Mr. Wonderful gets this silly grin on his face every time he hears me telling someone the news....it's nice to know he is proud of me!

Well there it is...my big news.....as of August 1st I'll the be "Ballet Master" {not a fan of the title but it wasn't up to me} for the TJC Academy of Dance. Mrs. D's new position is on a one year trial basis and for the sake of transition, parents & community, she will maintain the title of Director until that year is up. So I must brace myself to not cringe every time I hear "ballet master" for the next year....hopefully it won't be too often!