Accident on the Beltline Backs Up Traffic for Miles
On my way home for lunch, an accident on the inner beltline had traffic backed up for miles! I made a mental note to not come back to the station that way but with 100 million other things streaming through my head I forgot and exited back onto the beltline from Lake Boone and got stuck in the traffic which looked liked it backed up to Sanford!
Paint Color Unveiled
Everyone keeps asking… “what color are you going to paint the house?” and I have kept that a secret until today when Nelson started spraying the house with my new favorite color!
Check it out!
Week 9,207,472 - Driveway Finished up
Cooper’s BBQ gives way to the Edison Project
Cooper’s BBQ has reportedly struck a deal with the Edison Project’s developers, Hamilton Merritt, Inc which has catapulted the project to City Council and gained their approval. The project’s approval was on hold until the sale was negotiated for two adjacent projects including Clyde Coopers.
I am planning to stop in for lunch and ask around this week about the fate of our favorite BBQ pit.
The Edison Project will include almost 2000 parking spaces, over 600 condos, possibility of a hotel, retail space and office space all included in two 39 story towers and two 29 story towers. There will also be swimming pools and a roof top outdoor space on top of the 9 story base.
The House Continues!
In the last couple of weeks, the fence has started being built, the painters starting caulking, the front door has been set, the drive way was dug out and has begun to be poured, the interior trim was started and the interior doors should be here tomorrow!
Check out the pictures I snapped today!
I’m feelin’ a Staycation in My Future!
The cost of traveling just seems to keep going up so I’ve decided to honker down this weekend right here in the heart of Raleigh. I wasn’t sure what kind of trouble we could get into but I know one place I’m going to be checking out is the new Marriott at City Center. Their new digs are looking pretty swanky from what I hear from my co-worker, Jessica Coscia.
She attended their grand opening last night and carried her v-cam with her to show the rest of us what it looks like.
I can sum up in one sentence my intentions… “I’m going to check in for a night, swim in the pool, eat all the good food, and hang at that really spiffy lookin’ bar for 24 total hours”… and after I do it… I’ll be sure to let you all know how my staycation was in Raleigh.
I wonder if they allow dogs… that would bump them up on the cool list pretty quick in my book! If they frown upon the four legged critters, they should consider smilin’ at them as the bellhops pet their heads on the way in… instead of turning our little buddies away… even our furry friends are welcome at the Tribecca Grand in NYC.
That other place… name to be excluded but audaciously perches on Glenwood South… thinks that we should dress like Manhattan’s best… well we should be able to be “super posh” like the Olson Twins and carry our dog everywhere just like Manhattan’s best! Too bad mine is dog 120lbs! He’d be tough to carry!
Here is Jess’ video:
Eco-Friendly, Sustainability, Litter, and More - Join Us at the Green Event!
Come Hug A Tree With Me!
When you consider renovations, building a home, or purchasing electrical appliances… do you think energy efficient?
Have you considered growing your own garden and installing rain barrels… increasing the sustainability of your life?
Do you pick up trash when you walk your dog or visit your favorite park… decreasing the litter in your neighborhood?
Even eating at restaurants that buy locally grown and raised ingredients shrinks your carbon footprint!
NBC17, MyNC.com, NCGoGreen, and 30 Threads want to applaud your efforts to be eco-friendly year round and not just on Earth Day!
On Tuesday, August 26th, we will be hosting a Green Party where you, and all of your other Green friends, can come celebrate the wonderful world that Mother Earth has blessed us with.
The first answer to your questions… Yes… we will have food! And lots of it! Second answer to your questions… If you have information to share with other Triangle residents… Yes… Please bring it to share at our Resource Table. Third answer to your questions… No… you don’t havre to be a Green expert to come out and join us… We want everyone to come out, network, talk, learn and just have a great time celebrating all that we do to keep the Earth green!
Click on the following link to navigate you to the evite… RSVP… and we’ll see you there!
Only In Florida - Can People Fly
This video is crazy!
Week 9,276,356 - The Drywall Goes Up!
Last week I got almost 50 emails asking when I was going to review Solas… This week there was like 20 more about how the house is coming.
I must apologize that I have not taken the time to update all of ya’ll on the house in like 6 weeks but the project was on hold for a minute while I was diligently shopping for a new contractor. Working 50 + hours a week and trying to interview contractors after that was starting to take a major toll on my life. It actually began to become out-of-site out-of-mind. I actually owe it to my wonderful neighbors for giving me a little kick in the rear to get rolling again.
So here is the update… In the last two weeks, I have had so much progress take place over there. It’s awesome to pull up at 6pm everyday to see what’s been built and the many steps closer I’m coming to finishing it up. I have to keep reminding myself… I’m building a custom home around an older home so everything takes a minute longer than it would if I ordered the house from a factory out west that they pop-up in 2 months. Unfortunately, with round two on the contractors… I have had to fix a lot of things that were done wrong and failed inspections after I removed the last contractor from the job.
Just a word of advise… if you change contractors… be sure to have everything inspected so that the City of Raleigh, a disinterested party, documents everything that you are going to have to fix if there is anything wrong.
I have finished the garage… the doors have gone up, the framing was completed, I have stairs now to the front porch and from the garage to the porch, and I have the courtyard deck built and back stoop off the sunroom. I had all of the electrical work fixed, the porch trimmed out, the railings were built, and believe it or not… I have drywall!
The porch should be finished next week… the driveway is getting poured a week from Monday… I have interviewed painters… and trim guys… selected my tile, cabinets and granite… and this puppy is just moving along!
It’s amazing how different the place looks.
Look at all those windows!!! 9 Total Windows and French Doors that lead out back!!!
Solas… A Whole Week of Slams
So the Solas update continues!As my boss and I discussed last night at dinner… I don’t wait in lines… what’s the point? There is always a multitude of other establishments ready for the business and always ready to serve.
Well I’ll I have to give it to them… Solas was ready to serve. I had a friend call me that suggested dinner at Solas, to try it out, so we went to see what the culinary snob had to say.I’ll give the kitchen at Solas at an A-… and this is why… We started out with the Lamb Lollipops and Duck Quesadillas. The Lamb Lollipops are so far from my recommendation list that they strike a new category on the food that I have sampled… they rank so low on the totem poll they may tie with the food served at the nastiest hole-in-the-wall southern restaurant that should take the cake but fail with cuisine as easy as fried chicken in the South. Even the sauce made it even more unbearable.However, I must say the duck quesadillas were striking high on the list for duck dishes in
Raleigh. I’m not typically a duck fan… because of the oil consistency in duck meat… but Solas served it up in one of the tastiest tortillas I have ever experienced. Mad props to the chef and his guacamole concoction!
The warm goat cheese salad I heard was incredible but we skipped straight to the
Kobe beef entree which we had prepared rare with the Lobster Risotto and Wild Mushroom sides. I’ll have to say…
Kobe beef has not seen a better grill in Raleigh and the chef cooked it perfect to order and had the sides steaming hot delivered to our table at the same time. Super impressive and, once again, a compliment to the kitchen staff.
Two small plates, a large plate and two sides filled the two of us so we skipped dessert… called some friends and went topside for an encore on the drinks. After a small deliberation on the third floor access…we settled on the second floor balcony where drinks were served by a super nice waitress poised for conversation but incredibly slow on the drink orders. My friend’s grandmother could have walked from the bar at Solas to her secret stash in the cellar quicker than this girl could pick up a drink from the bar. Also, a notable observation, from the peanut gallery, was the crowd’s reluctance to move out on the glass dance floor that hovered above the main dining room.
After meeting some new folk on the 2nd floor balcony we decided to move upstairs to the roof top… which the guy… who the hostess downstairs said took his job incredibly too seriously… told us it was a 30 minute wait. We said, “We’ll move on” and he quickly granted us access to his “so” precious rooftop bar. I must say… it was a pretty cool space… like the rest of the building… they did a great job on the design work… but the crowd upstairs was less than desirable. I would call it a mix between wanna-be club crawlers (who may have come from larger cities) and outskirt folk who come to town to spend their hard earned dollars on drinks.
These people are what my neighbor refers to as BAT’s… defined up North in
Manhattan as Bridge and Tunnel’s. I have never heard that before… obviously being born and reared in the South… It was not that uncommon that I learned a new term! So the outskirt folk… which I would typically have crazy fun with in a pool hall in Johnston County singing karaoke and slammin’ Miller Lites mixed with the half buttoned shirts with the ties around their neck like they just got out of a trial but are so far from a lawyer folk just were not a mix of a crowd for me. We left within 20 minutes.
So my critique has changed a little after finally being granted the good graces of the bouncers and allowed access to the “hippest” spot in
Raleigh…I still say the ‘tude has got to go… we make no room for that kind of BS in Raleigh. Their drama is for your Mama! The food… minus the Lamb Lollipops is (as we said in the early Millennium) off the chain! The 2nd floor… good lookin’ wait staff ready to serve with the sluggish assistance of the bar staff slowin them down! And a third floor packed with the craziest mix of people I have ever seen… You have better luck checkin out The Goat on Western Blvd on a Tuesday at 3pm in the Parking Lot.
So that’s that… no more to say… Probably will not ever revisit the bar scene but more than likely be back to check out the menu as it continues to evolve.