Sunday, November 24, 2013

Raleigh Does it up... Christmas Style!

Happy Football Sunday Dolls!

In case you were wondering winter has arrived in Raleigh and it came out of flippin' no where! I woke up this morning to weather feeling like it was in the teens and the wind whistling dixie! I can't say I am in love! I had planned to just stay in all day but I think I might just have to take a run over to Target!

I can't say there is much going on with us, sadly Miss Ameila wasn't feeling well over the weekend so the Seavey's never made it up for a visit. Poor lady A had her first cold, red ears and stuffy nose so Brianne thought it would be better to stay home and let her rest so she would be up and running for Thanksgiving this week. Which ended up being completely fine because Friday afternoon I wasn't feeling my best and spent my afternoon like this..


No sure what was going on with me but I had an off stomach and just felt really exhausted, so I hunkered down on the couch in my comfy clothes and a blanket and watched shows while Jason tested out the Big Easy on a small chicken. That turned out amazing by the way!!

Anyways they were calling for rain and miserable weather yesterday in Raleigh yesterday and I wasn't sure we were going to make it to the parade because I definitely wasn't going to stand outside and get soaking wet. Surprisingly but not so surprisingly we woke up to a really decent morning and got ready and headed downtown. 

Naturally traffic was horrific...



Plus I am convinced North Carolina has the worst drivers in the history of life which just made things that much worse because everyone was weaving in and out of traffic every time cars would move a damn inch.. I absolutely hate that! We finally managed to find parking though, free parking at that and we hustled because we could hear the parade had started. 


Believe it or not they were expecting 65,000 people at this parade and let me tell you like any parade the streets were lined and packed! Not only were there people everything but every candy vendor and what not were out trying to make every cent they could! Overall people were courteous and there wasn't much for pushing and shoving.. which is always nice!

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't overly thrilled with this parade. Yes I am a parade snob coming from Toronto where they have one of the best parade ever!! Plus I have been to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade live in New York so it takes a lot to impress me. Mostly I swear this whole parade was marching bands, dance studios and pageant queens! Americans are all about their marching band and pageant queens, good lord! Growing up in Canada we didn't have either, and I am not at all sad about that.  

They had a few of these floats which was nice, to me that is what a Christmas parade is all about. 





They had a lot of little horses and dogs dressed up at all, it was actually kind of funny to see but they were obviously not enjoying it which was sad. 


The streets were all dressed up for Christmas though. 


See, more queens! I've never seen so many. How do they get involved in this? Where do you apply? (not that I would) They seem so young to be subjected to the criticism they must get. Did Toddlers & Tiara's start in Raleigh?


This was actually nuts! These horses were beautiful, so was the carriage for that matter, but the gentlemen driving thought he was Cole Trickle or something, he would stop randomly and then take off flying.. like here in this picture! Poor horses!



This was the only balloon float thing which made Jason happy because this is what he enjoys about a parade. On the back of his tail it said "MADE IN CANADA" which I thought was great, but didn't see it in time to take a picture! 


We stood straight across from the very large Wells Fargo building. 

Then came the big guy... (after 2 hours...)




This for me was the best part of the parade, for many I am sure! They had an amazing Santa, he looked so jolly and real! His float was pretty good and costume was great! After seeing Santa I feel like as soon as Thanksgiving is over I will definitely be in the Christmas spirit!! 

After the parade we walked back to the truck and could feel it was already starting to cool down. They said that by that evening it would be significantly colder and you could tell. We decided we would check out the Twisted Fork  for lunch and that was amazing! We had never been there before but saw it awhile ago and Jason checked out the menu online and seemed intrigued! The meal was good, Jason had a burger and fries and I checked out their pulled pork sandwich! I was impressed, but nothing topped the beer glasses...


My thoughts exactly!

So as mentioned we woke up to that extremely cold weather and none the less I am going to embrace my northern upbringing and head out.. bundled up! I started my morning with a nice warm coffee and some list making for Thanksgiving this week and now I feel like I need to get out and do some looking around. Plus I think today might be the best it is going to get out there as Thanksgiving is approaching quickly! 


As you can see I started my day off right! 

I am now headed to Target and maybe World Market.. just because! I want to go out and get some running around done before football starts! 

I hope you all had a great weekend, stay warm and enjoy football Sunday! 







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