13 posts tagged “downtown”
Ok.
I've felt pretty crappy overall the past week or so, hence the voxer's block and lack of posts. So here's what I've been up to.
1. Twice I've had dreams about meeting blog/vox friends in real life. In the first one I had a big dinner party with cutiebiscuit, Dav Yaginuma, Kokochi, CubistLiterature, MeeShell, SnuggleMuffin, and Spectrum. There were other people there too but I remember these the most because we've never met in person and I was so excited to meet everyone. The next was a dream where I went to NYC to CubistLiterature's new clothing store. It was awesome, and there was a secret entrance because so many people who wanted to buy stuff and they were going nuts. I had to show a VIP badge to get in, lol.
2. Had a girl's nite in with ImWackie, we had so much fun! Pizza, pedicures, and facials, oh my! here's the evidence:
3. Now that it's warmer I've been taking Sebastian outside more, he LOVES playing in the back yard.
4. I went to CD Alley today and was browsing through the records and got The Phantom of the Opera on a 2 LP record set. Perfect for my POTO collection. I also saw what (I hope) is the least selling record of all time:
Yes. That is a Miss Piggy Aerobics record. Wtf. And no, I did not buy it.
5. The songs stuck in my head this week:
- The charlie brown theme song (I HATE THIS SONG!!!)
- We are family
- the town music from My Sims for Wii (Sweetheart, I blame you)
Yes I know this is a kind of "throw it all together" post. I've been kind of uninspired lately. I've been too busy to sit down and post on the computer after work and even though I can post from my phone I'm too busy at work to get a coherent thought together. I'll try to make more mini-posts from the cell and save the important posts for home. My new schedule starts next week so we'll see how that goes.
I usually find myself at Bella's when I want a cup of coffee on a
chilly Sunday afternoon, but I'd heard good things about the Barista
Cafe so I decided to check it out.
The coffee was great, way better than Port City Java and came in a big
blue mug. So much better than a disposable paper cup. They still
served breakfast at noon which is practically a requirement in my
book. Breakfast was yummy and there was a guitarist playing Beatles
songs on an accoustic guitar. I'll definitly be going back.
Today was wonderfully relaxing. I took the day off work and got a few things done, then took a walk downtown. There's a new magic shop that just opened, it's owned by the people who do the Ghost Walk tours. I stopped in to check it out and got in a conversation with the guy behind the register. He's one of the tour guides and during our conversation about local ghost stories, he told me about the house I'm living in. Apparently there was a guy who spotted the ghost of an old lady back in the 80's. She would smoke a pipe and rock in the rocking chair. Pretty creepy. I don't particularly believe in ghosts, but it's neat story either way.
It got me thinking about the history of my house though, so I went to the library and did a little research. (yeah I'm a nerd when I've got free time on my hands) There's a plaque on the house from the historic society that says when it was built and who originally owned it, so that's where I started my research.
I went to the North Carolina room at the library and they had a file on the house. There were documents and newspaper articles about it and the different people who lived there. Here's what I found:
- The property the house is on was included in the 640 acre tract of land that was granted to John Watson, "mariner of East Greenwich in Kent" by King George II in September 13, 1735
- John and his wife Sarah, gave or sold 305 acres to James Wimble, a mariner. He died and left it to his only son and heir William Wimble. When William died he was in a lot of debt, so the property was sold to Archibald MacLaine.
- When he died he left the property to his wife Elizabeth, who gave it to her son-in-law and daughter George and Catherine Hooper in 1792.
- They sold part of that property to Nehehemiah Harriss on June 22, 1810. When he died it was split among his heirs, and the lot my house is on was sold to pay off debt again. This time to Issac Northrop on Feb 10, 1829.
- He sold the lot where the house stands in 1856 to Thomas Carr for only $800. Thomas married a daughter of Northrop's, Carolina.
- The Carrs sold the house for $4000 in December of 1869 to William Cummings and his wife Kate. Apparently they improved the house a lot.
- The next owner was Mary Sims, who acquired it in March of 1881.
- She sold it in October 1888 to William C. Heide and his wife R. E. Heide (New Hanover Co. records show that Mrs. Heide's first name really was Willam.)
- Parts of the propery were divided and sold again, this time to C. F. Von Kampen in 1897, when he died in 1909 it was divided again and was either given to or sold to William Oldham (I'm not sure if he was a relative of Mr. Von Kampen or not.)
- There were newspaper articles about theives breaking into the house and stealling all the groceries Mr. Oldham bought that day along with "the greater part of the dinner that had been prepared in advance for the Sunday dinner."
- Mr. Oldham died in 1918 and the house and lot were left to his daughter Sallie Oldham Tusch.
- Sallie died in 1954 and left all of her property to her three children. Her daughter Sarah and son-in-law Anthony Lampron sold the property to Leroy and Mildred Hooks who immediatly sold it to Thomas Wright Jr. in August of 1966.
- Ellen Hill bought the house in 1972 for $13,000. She said it was a wreck when she got it and spent about 9 years restoring it. She lived in it until 2006.
- Right after she bought it she put an oil-burning victorian chandelier on layaway at an antique store and made the last payment in 1983. She brought it home and put it in the dining room. I'm pretty sure it's the same lamp that's still in there today.
- I'm guessing that my landlord bought the house in 2006, but I'm going to ask him to make sure.
Here's a picture of the house from the Port City Architecture website.
Whew! That was a lot if info but really interesting to me, sorry if this bores anyone but I think it's amazing to see all the history that goes along with the house I'm living in. I wonder if Mrs. Hill is still alive? And if she ever misses this house? I wish I knew so I could tell her how much I appreciate what she did for it and how much I love living in it.
I've been scheduled for training this week, which means I have a normal 8 - 5 schedule for once. It's strange getting home before dark. It was such a nice day outside that I decided to take Sebastian for a walk.
I've always loved to look at the beautiful old houses as I drive by, but walking through the neighborhood I got an even better view of the old architecture. Most of the houses have plaques that show the date they were built and who the orignal owners were. Most of these were built in the 1800's. Amazing.
It's always the details that I like best, like the wrought iron gates and the little statues people put in their gardens. I could live downtown forever.
The sun was setting over the bridge as Sebastian and I made our way there. I love the view of the waterfront.
He did really well on our walk today, he only got whiney near the end and whenever we crossed a busy street since he's afraid of the cars.
I did have to carry him most of the way home. he's such a mama's boy, he always wants to be held. Oh well, he's cute so I can't resist.
I really hope I get a day shift with our next schedule bid, I'm so tired of working 2 - 11. Going on walks like this is our own special time and I know Sebastian enjoys it as much as I do.
I took Sebastian for walk today, and I found more chalk messages! They were mostly on 2nd and 3rd streets between Orange st and Nun st. I took pics of most of them.
Most of the messages were written on the sidewalk, but a few were on gates, walls and the street.
"Spanish moss hangs like a misty grey
blanket all around the lake like
a dream where you hover in a
mild stupor through a swamp
during a summer thunderstorm."
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
- Gandhi
This is why I love Wilmington, little things like random sidewalk poetry. The town I grew up in had no culture or imagination whatsoever, just steakhouses and strip clubs (military towns, ugh). Living in Wilmington inspires so many people to do wonderfull things, big and small. Its the small things I love best. :)
Yesterday was the most fun I've had in a long time. Jackie, Daniel and I went to church and then had brunch at the tea room downtown. I love eating there it's always so pretty and the food is great, such a treat.
Then Jackie and I headed out to the ice skating rink, ice skating! I can't even roller skate what am I thinking?
It turns out that we had a blast, I had to hang on to her for dear life, but I skated and I didn't fall! Ha ha!
I can really do it! See, here's proof!
That being said it's a miracle I didn't fall and break my back but I had a great time. I will definitly go again. Poor Jackie had to hold me up most of the time but I don't think she minded too much.
After ice skating, we went and saw Enchanted. It was a cute movie. The prince cracked me up.
After all that we still weren't done, we headed downtown to see a friend of ours perform. Daniel always blinks in pictures so we made him take one of us.
We saw a couple friends from work there too, it was just a big party!
I love days like today. My friends are the best.
I had to work a couple hours saturday but I made sure to leave at noon to make it to the rosary prayer downtown.
It was the 90th aniversary of Our Lady of Fatima and The Miracle of the Sun. There was a small group of catholics who met downtown by the river and said the rosary and some prayers. As a kid I remember having little books about the three shepherd children Our Lady appeared to. I loved the stories because they took place in Portugal, where my mother's family is from. When I was 9 years old we went there and stayed for a couple months. One of the places we got to visit was the city of Fatima, where the apparitions took place.
It was kind of weird... I was glad to be there since I've been getting a little closer to my catholic roots lately, but I was dissapointed to see that there weren't as many people as I thought there would be. I was one of the youngest people there (except for little kids brought by their parents, but I don't think they really had a choice).
The farmer's market was also going on, and there were people walking by, talking, laughing, and running around... while we were standing there praying. I wonder if people thought we were religious fanatics or something.
I'm glad I went though. I remembered my grandmother's statue of Our Lady of Fatima, it looked a lot like the one they had. My mother and grandmother and I used to say the rosary together often when I was growing up, and we'd say it in Portuguese since Vo-vo (granny in Portuguese) wasn't fluent in English. She would have candles around the statue on her dresser and the three of us would sit on her bed and pray together. Hearing those prayers in Portuguese again always makes me feel like the three of us are back in her little room, together again.
Vo-vo passed away several years ago, but she would be happy to know that comming to this was important to me.
On the parking deck roof again. This is becoming my get away place... its peaceful and no one else is ever here. and the view is beautiful.
There are no birds today... i was hoping to see some up here.
Yesterday we had Mark and Kristen over for dinner, we always have a great time with them. Brian made pepercorn encrusted filet mignon, with a chardonay (?) sauce, rice, and creme brule. It was actually a strawberry shortcake creme brule, he made it for the first time yesterday. It was soooo good!
I love having friends over, Brian always makes something really good for dinner and I love playing hostes. ;)
After we ate we went downtown to the Blue Post and played pool and air hockey. Brian was the air hockey champion, no one could beat him. I came close to winning at pool but Mark still beat me. I need to go out and practice more.
Kristen and I are going out to see a show tonight, one of my friends from work is performing downtown. I can't wait!
Last night was the most fun/least fun night I've had in long time. It was our friend Matthew's birthday and I was invited to the party. It was at a pretty loud and crazy club so I told Brian not to come because he hates that kind of place and I didn't want him to be miserable the whole time. Daniel drove so I had a few drinks, and since I don't drink very often, I was really feeling them. Everything was going great and everyone had a great time.
After the club closed 5 of us started walking to our cars, Matthew and Adam were on the other side of downtown so they left and Daniel and I walked Zoe to her car. She was parked on Orange St. in neighborhood parking.
Just as we got to her car, 3 guys run up to us and pushed Daniel and Zoe against the car and pushed me down on the street. They were trying to get our purses and wallet. I instinctivly cluched my purse and the guy dragged me on the street trying to pull it away, the strap broke and he ran off. (it was my Coach shoulder bag too...)
Daniel ran after them and Zoe came over to see if I was ok, we called 911 and the police came really quickly thank goodness. The theives got Zoe's purse with her residency card and her wallet and phone. Thank goodness they didn't get my purse because I had Daniel's keys in it, Zoe's keys fell to the ground so she was able to drive home afterwards.
I called Brian bawling like crazy and he came right over. I never felt so good to see him in my life. I felt that if I had just let him come along then this wouldn't have happened. He's always got his gun with him, he has a concealed carry permit and knows how to defend himself.
While we were waiting for Brian and the police I kept saying how I couldn't believe this happened. I was still just so stunned, it came out of nowhere. Thank God they didn't have weapons, and the guy didn't kick or hit me to get me to let go of my purse. I've got scrapes all over my arms and bruises on my hip and knee from when I fell and the strugle, but it could have been so much worse.
I don't think any of us will be going downtown for a whle.
