North Carolina, Day 2

OMG, I slept in!  Until 9!  And then didn't get up even then.  It was glorious!  Although I did wake up several times during the night: once the cat jumped on me, once the dog barked, and once the cat's kennel got banged around.  Regardless, sleep was brilliant.

We had a lazy morning of drinking cafe au lait, eating papaya, and reading our magazines/books, then set about the business of packing up the car to head to Pinehurst.  E is in Pinehurst for a summer internship, and she needs visitors.  So here we are!

Somehow E found this totally cute apartment above the four-car garage of a "cottage" here, aka a "six-bedroom, maybe seven, I can't remember" house.

E and I went to a "cool vinyasa" class at her studio here (between 83 and 87 degrees, rather than the usual 100-115 for hot vinyasa), and then off to dinner with mom at Rue 32!  It was another tapas-style meal, this one from all over the place.  We started with the Carolina cheese duo (a blue cheese and caraway cheese, served with flatbread, cantaloupe, and paprika jam) and the bread with dipping oil.  Our first round included the Carolina pork and peaches, Central American white bean queso with battered bananas, and a bowl of coriander sage lamb with noodles.  At this point we were all eyeballing other things on the menu, but also we were eyeballing the desserts.  And since clearly we make healthy life choices, we decided to get one each of the three main desserts, and none of them disappointed.

Something I forgot from yesterday: American Airlines needs to get with the recycling picture! During the course of my two flights, I don't think I had one single piece of waste that wasn't recyclable: aluminum cans (2), plastic cups (2), napkins (2), magazines (3), plastic container for my almonds (1).  Seriously people!  These are not even odd things that I'm talking about recycling, like electronics or food waste for compost.  What gives?

Although I should note that the aforementioned almonds were chocolate-covered.  I picked them up at Au Bon Pain at La Guardia when I was not really inspired by any of the food choices but figured I should probably have something to munch on on the plane.  If you need a snack and like chocolate, I recommend them.