Joslin's: A Week That Was Needed!

So last Tuesday my Mom came into town and I left her up in Raleigh today. But having her was the best thing in the whole world. I totally needed my mommy time and Jaden needed some Grandma loves. So here is the summary of our week together!!

I was getting tired of having red, black and white in the living room and I really needed to perk up the place and add some color! So, since my bedroom is still black, off-white, and red, we moved some of the things into there and re-arranged the living room to look different. I put my new sewing machine to work, and I was able to buy some fun, Indian/Middle Eastern looking fabric and cover pillows and sew some valances. I'm really loving doing this, and can't wait to start sewing all kinds of things! So here is what we were able to accomplish. We used to have black sofa covers on the couches. But now the original couch looks perfect with our new decor! Decorating on a budget is so much fun (I found out) and isn't that hard when you have a little imagination on re-arranging what you have and sewing and spray painting new colors on what you already have as well! I'll be able to buy some more accent pieces, but most of this stuff was stuff we already had, so we wanted to do with that first and see what could be added. Cory is going to try and get me some stuff from Afghanistan that might work well, too. :)

One of the nights that we had, we went out to this Japanese restaurant that they have in town called Miyabi's. It's a place where they cook on a grill right in front of you, and I've heard nothing but amazing things about it. Jaden was just in awe the whole time, and he was able to practice eating with some chopsticks; he actually did surprisingly well! He loved the food, and so did Mom and I!

On our last day together, we went to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. They are expanding it and adding new exhibits to it, but what was available was incredible! Mom and I even learned a few new things and Jaden had a great time seeing all of the cool animals and bones! Here are some pictures of it.

Doesn't this scene look real??

We had NO idea that when a pelican goes under the water that the bottom part of its mouth expands like this! Pretty cool to actually see it!

Thought this little Possum family was adorable.

My favorite bird!!

While Jaden was looking around in this little exhibit of humans' roles in the world, Mom and I decided to have some fun with the manikins that were standing around :).