Guest Post: Laura from Life of Lu

Hello lovely bloggers.

This week I am away with my lovely 5th graders on their end of the year trip to Washington D.C. I am so excited and yet so sad since they will soon be leaving. They are the first class I have ever worked with and they are really special. I have lined up a great week of guest posters. Since it is the week of our anniversary I wanted to highlight some of my favorite newleywed bloggers. First up is Laura from Life of Lu. Hope you love her blog as much as I do. :)

Hey everyone! I'm Laura from a little ole' blog called Life of Lu, and I am so excited to be guest posting for the lovely Brianna today! We have so much in common, including the fact that we're both young, married, teachers living in the Triangle (for all you non-North Carolinians, this refers to the Raleigh-Durah-Chapel Hill area)! While Brianna is playing in DC with her students, I'm going to share my take on married life in the Triangle with you guys! 

Kyle and I are both from Wilmington, so finding a place that could beat living at the beach seemed pretty impossible! But, luckily, we fell in love with the Triangle after going to different colleges in the area and ended up with jobs here! We couldn't have asked for a better place to begin our married life together! 

First, let's start with the good stuff...the SHOPPING! There are 4 awesome malls (Southpoint, Crabtree, Triangle Town Center, and Cary Town Center) and 2 great outdoor shopping areas (North Hills and Cameron Village) all within 30 miles of each other, which means that no matter where you live or are visiting in the area, you're at least within 10 minutes of some good shopping! Now, I can't say that the malls are necessarily places that Kyle and I frequent together, but I will say that having them so close means that I can just pop in for quick trips whenever I feel like it without having to drag Kyle! Happy Wife, Happy Life...right, y'all!?

And we all know that Kyle and I love our food, and we have not been disappointed with the RESTAURANTS of the Triangle! Let me just name a few of my faves in case you're ever in the area...

Chapel Hill--  411 West, Fosters, Panzanella, Spotted Dog, Top-of-the-Hill, Spice Street, Il Palio, Tyler's Taproom (also have one in Durham & Raleigh!)

Durham-- Nana Tacos, Piedmont, Parker & Otis, Guglhupf, Alivia's, Bull City Burger, Bocci, Magnolia, Mad Hatter

Raleigh-- Cafe Luna, Irregardless Cafe, 18 Seaboard, The Pit, Raleigh Times, Busy Bee, Lilly's Pizza, Flying Biscuit, Mo Joe's, and Angus Barn

We've also really fallen in love with the awesome NIGHT LIFE that we can enjoy on the weekends (if I'm not too tired from teaching!) and weeknights during the summer! We especially love...

*Going to concerts-- between the Cat's Cradle, Raleigh Amphitheater, Walnut Creek, Memorial Hall, and Durham Performing Arts Center, Motorco, and Lincoln Theater, we have our fair share of venues for concerts! We've enjoyed seeing Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Sufjan Stevens, and Andrew Bird, and are looking forward to seeing Florence & The Machine this September! 

*Playing trivia-- some of our favorite spots for this are Tyler's , Tomato Jake's, Brixx, and Spanky's

*First Friday in Raleigh during the warmer months, where all of the art galleries open up, and it's kind of like a giant downtown block party! 

*Friday on the Front Porch at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill and Music on the Lawn in Durham, where different bands play on the lawn while guests enjoy the music, drinks, and warm weather!

*Hitting up the local breweries (Kyle is what I like to call a "beer connoisseur"... I don't share the love! But I still have fun!).  Our most recent favorite is Full Steam in Durham, where you can bring your own food (or buy from the food trucks outside), grab a drink, and play games or just chat with friends! So fun!

And we're never at a loss for SPORTING EVENTS considering we have 3 major universities (UNC, NC State, & Duke) in the area, as well as the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team, and the Carolina Hurricanes professional hockey team!

Lastly, we love the OUTDOORS opportunities that we have at our finger tips...from afternoons at Jordan Lake, hiking the Eno River, paddle boats at Lake Johnson, walking around Duke Gardens, or picnics at Pullen Park...not to mention that we're about 2 hours from the beach and 4 hours from the mountains! 

Let's be honest, I could talk about how much we love this area all day! But, I'll save you the time and just leave you with this...we have been living in the Triangle for 6 years ( 4 years of college and 2 years as married folks), and we still have so much to explore and fall in love with the area even more with every new experience! I'm sure Brianna would back me up on this (at least I hope!). 

Thanks again, Brianna, for having me guest post on your blog! Have a great day, friends!

Hope you enjoyed Laura's post. I know I did. I added many new resturants to my list that I cant believe I haven't tried in my 5 years in Raleigh. I love Raleigh and as you can tell Laura does to. If you don't follow her blog, go check it out!