Random Pictures & the Rest of Vacation

Well - I'm back in the Commonwealth and couldn't be more pleased about that. It was good to spend time with family and see friends (really just a friend) that I haven't seen in a while, but I also feel pretty strongly that when I go to Mississippi - I know that's not where I belong anymore. 

It's also really nice to sleep in my own bed again and snuggle my sweet puppy who has been at the kennel for the past 10 days! Whoosh! I wanted to share some pictures that somehow missed the Five on Friday post about all the going and comings of vacation - so those are below. 

This shop sold products made from honey & beeswax - it was fascinating & the doormat was fabulous!

Wandering along the tree top canopy walkway at Anakeesta!

Goofing off after coming back from Anakeesta. You can see the ski lift up the mountain in the background!

I sort of had a dream come true while we were in Gatlinburg... y'all will laugh at this one, but that's alright. I have always loved eating raw cookie dough (I know - it's not good for you, but I haven't died yet); my Aunt used to invite me over when I was little to eat cookie dough with her! Well I've seen all about "Do"- the shop in NYC who sells edible cookie dough like ice cream and wanted to give it a whirl... imagine my joy when we stumbled on a shop called Cookie Dough Bliss in Gatlinburg! And yes - it was as yummy as you'd imagine!

The mountains - smoking...

We discovered a new restaurant to add to our list of favorites while we were in the Smokies - it's called Five Oaks Farm Kitchen and the atmosphere, staff and most importantly the food were all excellent! We will definitely be going back and if you're in Pigeon Forge, you should give the place a try. What I will tell you is that you should arrive hungry because along with monster portions, all meals are served with a cup of soup, a salad and rolls to start. And my food was literally delivered to the table in a shield sized skillet - I can confirm it was all divine but I barely made it through half of it!

Who eats this much food?!?

Having lunch @ one of our favorite - Applewood Farmhouse Kitchen!

Peanut Butter Pie @ The Old Mill Pottery Cafe - it was divine!

One of our traditions when we vacation in the Smokey Mountains is to eat at Pancake Pantry on the morning we head "home" and so before we started the drive down to Mississippi last Monday, we popped over to Pancake Pantry and had breakfast. I'm not a huge breakfast eater and sometimes having sweet things for breakfast really turns me off - but I was craving cherries and so I grabbed a cherry waffle that was to die for!

The rest of the trip was outlined and cataloged in my LONG Five on Friday post, so I'll go ahead and jump to the weekend and share that with y'all. I may or may not have gone back to that Five on Friday post and done some editing that made it even longer... but oh well, ha-ha! We didn't do too much on Friday but when the evening rolled around, we made our way into the backwoods of Mississippi to meet up with some extended family and eat at Bloomo Junction.

The food was great and the company was even better - imagine a table of genteel Southern ladies and their spouses - but never be fooled by a genteel Southern lady; she's usually spicy and made of steel. That definitely describes these fabulous and fabulously fun Southern ladies that are my distant relatives - they are so much fun to talk with and learn from and I love spending time sharing their company! I did leave smelling like fried food - but oh well, such is life! It was time well spent and thoroughly enjoyed.

The whole reason we planned this trip was to see my cousin Alex get married to his longtime sweetheart Alexia (no kidding, their names are Alex and Alexia - too funny, right?). Saturday morning we slept in, had lunch at Mugshots and then around 3:30 packed up the car and headed for the wedding. The ceremony was so sweet, the groom was quite dapper and the bride looked lovely - it was a wonderful wedding!

Alexia & Alex - exchanging vows. 

The new Mr. & Mrs. Summerlin, being married by my Uncle!

We popped into the reception for about an hour to visit with family, have some dinner and watch a few dances by the bride and groom before we headed out to start the drive back to Virginia. The food was tasty, the company was entertaining and I loved the sugar cookie with a stylized "S" on it that I had for my dessert! 

Wedding Cake & Groom's Cake...and some beer in the background... *face palm*

Cutting the cakes!

The weather all day Saturday was really... spastic. For the first time in probably at least a year, if not longer...my phone dinged to tell me we were under a tornado watch. That was a regular occurrence when I lived in Mississippi, but I don't think I've heard thunder more than twice since I've lived in Virginia. Virginia just doesn't have really crazy, intense thunderstorms (or at least - they haven't in the past five years...). We were hoping we'd be able to make it to Fort Payne, Alabama on Saturday evening without encountering any rain or strong storms - and by some miracle we did!

Rocking my second day hair & Laurel Mercantile sweatshirt somewhere in the midst of Tennessee...

Home Sweet Home!

Our drive back wasn't too bad and we arrived back in Northern Virginia around 6:30 on Sunday night - which left plenty of time to un-pack, snuggle my precious pup, have some delicious pizza for dinner, take a long shower and read in bed before calling it a night. I enjoyed vacation - but boy am I enjoying being home again! I'll leave you with a snapshop of my favorite fur ball, sitting next to me last night at home.