Dream On!

As usual - I'm a little confused as to how Monday has already arrived but here we are and it's a Monday that comes after a wonderful weekend with friends, my fiancé and my church family! Happily I was able to get off work early and head home around four, which meant I had time to change clothes (it's always cold at the church y'all) and eat some delicious dinner before heading back out.

I'm sure everyone feels this way - but I feel like I hit the jackpot with my fiancé! He made the most delicious Jambalaya with Chicken for dinner on Friday night (the chicken was hands down some of the best I've had) so that I was all fed up before I headed off to church for Lavish Conference. I told him on Friday night that I'd already told him I'd marry him... but I'd definitely marry him! *laughs*

Lavish Conference is my church's annual women's conference and every year it is so wonderful There are guest speakers, incredible worship time and so much more. Friday night I snapped some pictures with precious friends I've made since moving to Virginia and love hearing the guest speaker, Jessica Amsler. I headed home around 9:30 feeling refreshed and inspired to live my God-given dream(s).

 

Saturday arrived bright and early - I caught the pretty glorious snapshot of the sunrise as I was taking Ryan to work for a few hours. After some coffee, I headed back to the church for the Saturday morning sessions of conference. Getting to goof off with friends who are like-minded and love the Lord like I do is such a blessing and the speakers on Saturday morning (Julia and our pastor's wife - a pastor in her own right - Kristen) were just as excellent as Friday night.

 

The conference ended around 12:00 and I headed home to have lunch with Ryan. Once we'd eaten our sandwiches and taken Watson on a walk, we climbed into the car and headed into the Shenandoah National Park - because it was a free entry day! Ryan and I intended to hike to Stony Man... but due to my navigational error, we ended up getting to see both Little Stony Man and Stony Man all in one afternoon. I mean - that's a win, right?

 

 

The views from both summits were pretty spectacular - although Stony Man itself has the edge on the grandeur - in my opinion. The hike(s) themselves were pretty good; I did feel a little winded from time to time but that's because I need to work on my fitness more... *sigh* We ended up doing just over four miles when the original hike was only supposed to be 1.5 - but hey, who's counting?

The only thing I can't stop thinking about is the fact that I assured people if they followed the trail we were on - they'd get to the summit of Stony Man - and that wasn't correct. Oops - I am so very sorry random tourists in the National Park.

After we finished our hikes we made our way to Skyland Lodge and had dinner at the restaurant at the top of the mountain (so to speak). The food is simple but always very good and we finished off our meal with a slice of Blackberry Ice Cream pie that Ryan was utterly astounded by... his face when he saw it coming to the table makes me laugh. We headed back down the mountain to the puppy dog and some football before calling it a day!

Sunday morning was church and then a quick stop at the store to get some groceries for the week ahead before Ryan grilled us steaks for lunch - and I don't normally eat steaks - but I ate this one! We did laundry and watched some of the NFL until around 2:30 and then we headed into the woods again, although this time a little closer to home. We walked a portion of the eight mile trail around the lake near the house - and we took Watson along for this hike. 

The weather was in the mid-70's with perfect blue skies and the hike was enjoyable - even when we stumbled onto a little species of "Nope Rope" that I could always do without! Ryan shoo'd the little snake on it's way and we continued on our hike, having some great conversation along the way. Once we finished the hike and arrived back at the house we finished up laundry and I made some Cowboy Stew for dinner.

I closed out my weekend giving myself a manicure with Olive & June - I've never used their manicure system before as I'm a die-hard fan of Color Street, but it turned out really well and is supposed to last 7-14 days without chipping. I can't wait to see how well it holds up! I can't believe that September ends this week and October will be here - I really can't believe there are only (almost) three months left in 2021.