You DO live in the forest!

Last weekend I drove my car more than ten miles...all the way to Durham, NC! That's right, a sister fun weekend was long overdue, so I skipped out on work on Friday and drove down to Durham on Thursday night to spend some quality time with my younger sissy. As I fought my way through DC traffic and into the depths of Virginia, the slightest hint of claustrophobia set in...because in every direction I was surrounded by...trees. Trees and trees and trees. I'm a West Texas gal, folks - you're supposed to be able to see eighty miles in every direction. This was foreign territory to me. Anyway, after putting total faith in the signs since I couldn't see where I was going, I made my way through the forest and into Durham. Although Durham is basically a giant forest, too. I mean, seriously. The trees!! See how the forest scares me?

Us being the crazy baking fools that we are, the first thing we did when I rolled into town around 10:30 was...go to the grocery store. I mean, we needed supplies for our chocolate adventure! Our chocolate adventure in the form of chocolate madeleines with toasted almonds and coffee! They are really, really delicious and remarkably rich. Go ahead and make some.

More food adventures for the weekend consisted of:

• traveling into the depths of the forest for a Carolina barbecue adventure at Allen & Son. Crazy Carolinians do this whole vinegar "sauce" and pork thing, which is vastly different from my Texas knowledge of thick, tomato-based sauces and beef beef beef. My verdict? Both are quite tasty, just in very different ways.
• a stop at this amazing drive-through/walk-up burger place that appropriately goes by the name of Cook Out. That burger tasted like it came straight off a backyard grill, and they have about a million amazing milkshake options. I highly recommend peanut butter fudge, even if you end up throwing away half of it because you just can't eat anymore.
• refreshing afternoon treats at Locopop, where I learned that the name is actually Locopop and not Local Pop...funny what gets lost when you just chat over the phone. This place makes awesome ice cream pops - I had chocolate chile, which both froze my mouth and set it on fire. How amazing is that?
• Mexican food at Carrburritos! Fish tacos for me and nachos for my sis...nothing to say here but yum.
• the discovery of Grown-up Soda (GuS!) at parker and otis, a totally adorable market/restaurant/store thing where we enjoyed refreshing beverages...and where I bought a bacon shirt!! That's right, it may not be the "I heart bacon" or "bacon is a vegetable" variety, but it's completely awesome. I can't wait to wear it. Too bad I can't wear jeans and a t-shirt to work.
• ballpark deliciousness at a Durham Bulls game on Friday night - mmmm, beer and hot dogs and french fries. Perfect summertime fare.

I did just make a bulleted list of what we ate during the weekend, right? Sorry about that. You know I love the food. Oh, we also made blueberry baked oatmeal! And had brunch at Foster's Market! Ok, I'll stop.

I had a fantastic time with my sissy! We had food adventures and shopping adventures and forest adventures and explored her awesome school, complete with our own personal tour of the basketball mecca known as Cameron Indoor Stadium. And when I say our own personal tour...I mean that we just walked in and explored the place. Doesn't that seem wrong?? That you can just walk in?? I know the United Spirit Arena is locked up tighter than Fort Knox when there's nothing going on in there, but you can just walk in to this hallowed arena and explore to your heart's content? It was kinda awesome - we shot pretend free throws and sat at the announcer's table and parked ourselves on the very same seats the team sits on and ran out into the middle of the court and fake-dunked on a lowered hoop. And while some may consider Cameron the most religious site on campus, the Duke Cathedral should probably take that honor. It's gorgeous! And enormous! And just all-around impressive.

Getting away from the basketball for a bit, we also had some good girly times - plenty o' shopping, getting pedicures, and watching a silly girl movie balanced out our time exploring a basketball stadium and going to a baseball game. I love minor league baseball games! Where else do you get between innings entertainment like "termites in the pants" and Rooter Man? We also took in a concert on Saturday night in Carrboro - Josh Ritter. I had never heard of him before, which is not unusual for me, but I completely trust my sister's judgment in music...so we went and had a fabulous time. He was the happiest concert-player I'd ever seen. It was like we were his very first show and he just couldn't believe we liked his music. So endearing! Go check him out on iTunes and support the happiness.

Did you notice how I tagged this with pretty much every word in the book? That's just how we roll on sister-fun weekends. Complete with fireworks. Love you, sis!