Weekend Update

Visiting an apple orchard was probably one of the items on my 101 in 1001 list that I was the most excited about. When I found out it was going to be 70 degrees on Saturday, I grabbed 2 of my best girlfriends and up the mountain we went.

We visited Sky Top Orchard, about 45 minutes from Greenville, and had the best time! I can't believe I've never done this before, but it'll definitely be a yearly tradition from here on out! Now to decide what to cook/bake with all these apples!

The rest of the weekend was filled with the usual, football, friends, a baby shower for a coworker, and a Sunday afternoon nap!

Linking up with Sami

Weekend Update ~ Labor Day Edition

This weekend had all the ingredients to be perfect: a holiday, college football, a Clemson win, and a mini-vacation to the mountains.

To try to express how amazing it was to return to Clemson and cheer my Tigers to victory against the Bulldogs on Gameday is simply impossible...

Every muscle in my body was hurting Sunday morning from being so tense the entire game and walking over 4 miles tailgate-hopping, but it was so very worth it.

I spent the rest of Sunday and Monday relaxing in the mountains with my parents. We visited the Cashiers Designer Showcase 2013 house, took a hike around the lake, and I took multiple naps.

With Labor Day gone, I'm officially ready for my favorite season, FALL!!!

Linking up with Sami

TGIF

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my brain and I can't find a way to get them all onto paper (or screen). I'm still working on my 101 in 1001 list, which will be coming next week! And a new recipe! And some of my recent shopping splurges!

But when you're out of town for work for half the week and you're currently sleeping on one side of the bed while the other is covered with clean laundry that you are too lazy to fold, you just have to be thankful you made it to Friday.

Traveling for work isn't all that bad...

I've also had a lot of recent health issues/concerns/symptoms no doctor can explain, so my time has been spent bouncing from specialist to specialist in between that little thing called a full-time job. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

Weekend Update - Birthday Edition

Always a day late and a dollar short.

Sorry I'm not sorry. I've been pretty busy these past few days celebrating turning a quarter-century old! I want to recap my birthday first before we move onto the weekend's shenanigans.

While I was at work briefly on Wednesday for my birthday, my coworkers made sure to make it extra special!

{1} We celebrated with a birthday lunch at Luna Rosa so I could indulge in some birthday cake gelato!
{2} I took the afternoon off for my promotion/birthday massage at Urban Nirvana, which was divine, and then met up with Whitney at Sip for a bottle of wine!
{3} My gorgeous roommate Lauren had flowers delivered to our apartment for my birthday. She rocks my socks off.
{4 & 5} My parents took me to Passerelle, a new French restaurant by the falls downtown. Our waiter kindly let me pick a birthday dessert (yummy profiteroles), and even gave me a candle to make a wish!
{6} My sister bought me the New York Times 36 Hours travel book, which I'm so excited to flip through. It's got mini travel guides to every city across the US and Canada!
{7} My parents absolutely shocked me with a Le Creuset french oven! I've been dreaming about one for years and my mom must've been listening! Can't wait to get in the kitchen!
{8} My parents also bought me this gorgeous Stella & Dot necklace! I've worn it every day since Wednesday!
{9} On my Friday night staying in, I treated myself to a new dress and bubble bath from Anthro. Happy birthday to me!

Now on to my actual weekend!

My best girlfriends planned a day in Asheville for me and I had the most fun I've had in a long time! And since my friends are incredibly gorgeous, there are a LOT of pictures.

Whitney lived in Asheville for 4 years before moving to Greenville, so she was the perfect tour guide for us! We had brunch at Sunny Point, which was delicious. The mega-mosa's didn't hurt either!

7 girls. 5 maxi dresses. 1 Volvo.

We spent the afternoon brewery-hopping, stopping first at Burial Beer. Whitney's friends from Asheville just opened the brewery last month and they were extremely friendly and took great care of us!

Then there was some shopping. And more beer (Lexington Avenue Brewery, Thirsty Monk, and Jack of the Wood). And a whole lot more laughs.

I went home with the happiest heart.

These girls and my family gave me the best birthday in my 25 years.

Weekend Update

Thursday and Friday kicked off quite a weekend.

Friday after work, Lauren and I headed to the mountains for the weekend to relax and hang out with my rents. We made a quick stop at the grocery store when we got into town, picked up "Safe Haven" at Redbox, and had a little mexican fiesta on the porch before dinner at Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company.

After sleeping a glorious 9 hours, we headed to the pool early for some sunshine!

My mom made reservations for us at a dinner at Canyon Kitchen with a special tasting/appearance from Davis Family Vineyards.

I mean it when I say it's nearly impossible to compete with the gorgeous view.

And it's not every day that you share dinner at a picnic table with a winemaker.

The food, wine, and ohmygosh the desserts were phenomenal. I'd say it was quite a successful weekend! Does it have to be Monday already??

A Day in Asheville

On Sunday, Ryan and I headed to Asheville to frolic around for the day.

First stop: Tupelo Honey Cafe

Hot damn, that restaurant is delicious. I'm counting down the days until they open in Greenville, just so I can get my hands on those biscuits again.

Next Stop: The Biltmore Estate

Ryan had never been before, but we decided to forego the house tour so we can go back and see it decorated at Christmas! We wandered around outside the house for a bit, but I really wanted to see the gardens!

Every spring, they plant tons of tulips in the garden and I was freaking out over how pretty it was.

I probably would've just laid down in the field of tulips and taken a nap if they would've let me!

Next stop: Biltmore Winery

A free tasting was included in our ticket, and we took full advantage by tasting all 20 wines they had available. Ryan and I were both surprised to find we liked one of their Chardonnays the best (it's our least favorite wine), so we purchased a bottle and a cheese plate and soaked up the sunshine on the winery's patio.

Next stop: Downtown Asheville

Drinks at Thirsty Monk and dinner at The Southern (both are places we had visited back in July)

Final Stop: The Sky Bar

My coworker, Whitney, used to live in Asheville and told me this place had the best view of Asheville (I'd have to agree with her)! The bar is a little secretive in that you enter through the old Flatiron building and ring a doorbell for the elevator attendant. He then takes you up to the 8th floor in the hand-operated elevator, and you step outside into the "bar," which is basically just 3 levels of fire escapes. They had a fire brewing on the middle level, so Ryan and I huddled there to watch the sunset.

A perfect ending to a perfect day in Asheville!

Weekend Update ~ Queen City

I actually did something other than work this weekend! But I've been doing nothing but work since so it's taken me this long to post an update!

Ryan's friend growing up in Texas happened to be in Charlotte, NC for work this past weekend, so we made a spontaneous trip to visit him! Several of our friends from Clemson live in Charlotte, so we decided to make a reunion out of it!

Burt first, this happened:

I got to leave work early Friday to make sure I was safely at home when the ice started falling. I will say my apartment parking lot was a skating rink that night, but otherwise no harm was done! It was quite nice working in my pajamas under a blanket while it was "snowing" outstide!

Saturday involved breakfast, work, and then we were off to the big city!

Let me tell you, my namesake sure is pretty!

How cool does the sky look?

We had dinner at Midwood Smokehouse and bar-hopped in Uptown Charlotte.

A brunch complete with bloody marys and then we were back on the road home Sunday.

How many more of these mini getaways can I take to survive busy season?

.......................................................

In other news, I had lunch with my realtor Tuesday and we're going to look at a few houses on Saturday! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I've been having pretty hilarious dreams about the house hunt. Like just last night, I had a dream I went to look at a house and Phil and Claire from "Modern Family" were living there. Haha :)

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tied for my favorite holiday and this year lived up to its expectations yet again.

I took Wednesday off, picked up my sister at the airport, then we were off to the mountains to spend Thanksgiving with the family! My mom and dad were already at the house and we spent the rest of the day chatting and doing some Thanksgiving day prep.

My mom had purchased a spaghetti casserole to keep us from dirtying up the whole kitchen trying to cook dinner. The 4 of us hadn't had a meal together since May! We enjoyed some wine, Dad built a nice fire, and we all fell asleep early with happy thoughts!

I woke up early Thanksgiving morning and was ready to get cooking! Dad was already up with the coffee brewing, and I started prepping my corn casserole which I also made for the Friendsgiving! We were all taking our time getting ready, until my aunt and uncle called and said they'd be there by 11 am! We kicked it into high gear but were still running around the kitchen when everyone arrived.

My cousin, his wife, their two children, and my cousin's wife's sister showed up shortly after my aunt and uncle, but we were still waiting on my other cousin Matt to make the drive from Greenville. We had a full house with 10 adults and 2 kids! I know that's not as many as most families have at Thanksgiving, but we still had to pull the table inside from the porch to fit everyone!

We sat down to eat about 12:30 or 1 pm and of course went back for seconds! The food was all so delicious, and I was surprised I wasn't sick of it by then since it was my third Thanksgiving meal!

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching my little cousin throw the football around, flipping the TV between football and the James Bond marathon (Thanksgiving tradition), and catching up with family we don't get to see too often. We finally managed to pull ourselves off the couch and head out for a walk around the neighborhood, which was refreshing after all that tryptophan!

My cousin, his wife, and the kiddies headed home but my aunt and uncle stayed with us in the mountains for a night!

 

We lounged on the couch, watched football, and went to bed early! Thanksgiving 2012 was a successful one!

 

On Friday, we bundled up and headed out to cut down our Christmas tree! This was a new tradition for our family and one I can't wait to repeat in the future. It was so fun walking around the farm before we picked the one we wanted to cut down. My sister and I couldn't help but laugh while reenacting all the scenes from "Christmas Vacation," our favorite Christmas movie!

 

The "One"

We decided to go to the first annual "tree lighting" on the square in Cashiers on Friday night, and were surprised at the turnout! There was cider, smores, and a little orchestra. It was a cute start to the Christmas season.

 

 

 

 

Saturday was the Clemson/USC rivalry game, so my sister and I spent the day tailgating and then headed to the game to watch us lose freeze our tails off.

 

 

 

 

Still proud each and every day to be a Clemson Tiger!

 

And that's how I spent my Thanksgiving holiday! I hope everyone had a great time with their families as well, and are gearing up for Christmas!

 

I promise I'll get caught up on my blog posts eventually...Ryan and I just returned from our anniversary trip in Kentucky, which I can't wait to share with y'all!

 

Until then!