Candles, Cake & Apple Pickin!

I flew the friendly skies (yes, this time they were friendly!) to Virginia to spend my 29th birthday weekend with my family. It was a whirlwind weekend for sure, since I didn't arrive until 10:45 on Thursday night and I was airborne again by 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, but we made the most of the time we had together and I was able to celebrate turning 29 in the best way possible - with my sweet family and one of my oldest friends!

I left out of Jackson on Thursday at 4:30 and I thought I'd never get to the airport without some kind of incident. My car has been acting up lately and I just knew that something would happen - a tire would explode, the engine would crash...something. Granted, I went through a torrential downpour somewhere around Lake but otherwise, I arrived without incident and all my flights went smoothly - which was awesome! The best part - on the second flight, there was no one in the middle seat, so there was extra room! My seatmate and I high-fived, spread our stuff out and thoroughly enjoyed that flight; I even managed to sneak in a short mid-flight nap!

Pictures from Jackson to Dallas - and I completely took the picture on the bottom left because that double interstate makes me think of the opening credits of "Dallas"...which, I know...giant nerd alert. That's fine.

Curbside pick-up from the best "taxi" service there ever was!

Back in my room again - I absolutely love it!

Friday morning in all it's glory...man, I love the view from the back deck.

I got up around 8 in the morning...even though I'd only gone to bed at 1:15 in the morning. I'm telling you, there is something about being near the mountains, it calls my name and I just have to get up, get coffee and get out on the porch to take it all in. We all took it easy for the morning and then my Daddy cooked one of my favorite things - hamburgers on the grill! We all gathered around the table and had a delicious lunch before cutting my amazing birthday cake, which came from Coldstone Creamery! It's so wonderful to have a meal with my whole family; growing up that was a priority at our house, we always had dinner together every night and I've certainly missed that the most since I've been on my own. I love spending time with my family period but it's special to sit together at the end of the day, talk about your life and just share things with one another - I hope to do the same with my own family one day.

Also - cake is delicious and should be shared!

Happy (early) Birthday to me!

A gift from my sweet parents - a Pandora bracelet. I especially love the adorable owl charm!

Unfortunately, my Dad had to go into work on Friday afternoon so after eating lunch and sharing some cake, we waved a good-bye to him and as he went to work, we headed in the direction of Marker Miller Orchard. Apples are in season and we decided we'd pick our very own; we've never done that before and it seemed like something neat and different to experience. I should mention that I absolutely love Marker Miller Orchard - all the fruits and vegetables spread out in the big open-air building, the rows upon rows of apple trees stretching as far as the eye can see, specially made jams, jellies, butters and salsa lining rows of wooden shelves and fruit wines on a center rack. Not to mention, they always have amazing things in the bakery case - their whoopie pies are not to be missed!

We stopped by the tasting area, where a little guy would slice you samples of each apple you could pick - we chose to pick Nittany and Crispin apples (and also Rome, since I veered off course when I saw a gorgeous pale red apple hanging on a tree one row over and had to have it...) and we took our map of the Orchard and our bag that would hold a peck of apples and set out!

Are you ready to pick some apples?

It was so cool to hunt around on the tree, find the perfect apple and pluck it off - it made a very satisfying little "snap" as you pulled it free! Also, check out the one apple; it has a leaf tan!

We picked a peck of apples...

The sights, sounds and bounty of Marker Miller Orchard...

Autumn in full swing on the way home from the Orchard.

After the apple picking, we went shopping because I actually had a little bit of birthday money to spend. I don't know about you, but I do love shopping at Old Navy and unfortunately, Meridian doesn't even have an Old Navy anymore. It was one of the few good stores that Meridian still had and it up and left us over a year ago - so now I have to find it online or go to Jackson/Hattiesburg if I want to look around. Lindsey and I had just a little too much fun in Target with the Halloween "wigs"...if you can even call them that and my Mom made the comment that we always make shopping so interesting. I'm sure we do, between dancing in the dressing room, trying on every hat and headpiece that a place offers and cheesing it up for photos or just being downright goofy and giggly...shopping with Lindsey and I is never dull!

Friday night, my oldest friend (seriously - I've known her since I was born) and her adorable little girl came over to go out to eat with us. We had some delicious Mexican food and we were entertained by her daughter at every turn. Things got especially interesting when we got home and she proceeded to make a house on top of Lindsey's stomach - I'm sure there is never a dull moment with Rachel's little girl around!

Doing some serious house construction in the middle of the living room floor...

Getting into the Halloween spirit in the middle of Target!

Friday was a great way to start the weekend - candles, cake and apple picking...with a little coffee, shopping, friend visiting and a great view thrown in for good measure!