Friday Favorites - Life Lately

It's Friday - but this week my favorites are going to be a little different. I wanted to play a little bit of catch up with all the things that have been going on in the last few weeks. I have been in and out of blogging land (it feels like to me) and so I wanted to do a little photo dump and share quite a few of my faves! 

When we returned from vacation on Wednesday evening, I had the joy of knowing I was off on Thursday and Friday as well. We mostly poked around at the house on Thursday and just had a bit of a lazy day - Ryan came over for dinner and we played some games afterward. Friday was especially wonderful for me because we took Lindsey to Ryan and I's new hometown and showed her our home and some of the places we are coming to love in our little town! And y'all - look at our rose bush!

 

After we showed Lindsey around our house, we had lunch together at Woodstock Café and then popped into The Buttercup across the street! The Buttercup (as I think I've already mentioned) is the cutest little boutique; it has really cute clothes and excellent prices! I will definitely be supporting this small business - it's great! We decided to pop into Flour and Water Co. for our desserts: a slice of Key Lime Pie, a Cruffin filled with Strawberry Rhubarb Cream, Tiramisu and a Lemon Tart - all were divine!

 

 

Watson was well and truly spoiled with Lindsey being in town - she is always a sympathetic ear to his little cries for a bite, ha-ha! He sampled cupcakes and a slice of peanut butter and jelly pie but what he did NOT sample were the Fortnum & Mason Jubilee chocolate truffles. Sorry bud - your vet would probably have a fit if she knew you were getting pie and cupcake... but chocolate is always a no.

I will say - as the little fella gets older, I am a bit more lenient with what treats I'll offer him. You only live once, so as long as I know it's not dangerous to him (like chocolate) - I'll give him a wee bite.

 

 

Is it wild that I can't remember a whole lot about Saturday from two weeks ago? Probably not, huh? I know we had breakfast at the house and just bummed around a bit - and then I snuck Lindsey off to do a little shopping before bringing her home to a little surprise get together to celebrate her graduating with her Master's from Liberty! Way to go Beast!

Sunday after church, we couldn't resist wearing our matching dresses! I purchased the orange blossom print dress from Draper James about two months ago and lo and behold - when Lindsey got to VA, she'd purchased the same print in a different style! So we felt we had to wear them to brunch at Regions and we all had a laugh about it! Growing up, my Mom always tried to match us and here we were - 37 and 31, wearing matching dresses to brunch! A photo shoot followed brunch, of course!

And then - the work week began again and let me tell you, it was a rough week. Not kind of rough or a little rough, it was just rough! I was glad to see Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday pass and was thrilled to head to Ryan and I's little home after work on Thursday and spend some time on some trails near our house with Ryan. The weekend arrived in the nick of time and I was thrilled to see 5:00 on Friday!

Saturday was a wonderful day - I was able to sleep in for a bit and then Ryan and I joined my parents to see Top Gun: Maverick in IMAX! The movie was incredible and we all thoroughly enjoyed it! Once we returned to my parent's house, Ryan crashed ahead of an overnight shift and I freshened up and headed to meet my friend Katie at The Vine & Leaf in Front Royal! The Vine & Leaf has a wall of loose leaf teas, another wall filled with Virginia Wines and a display case filled with fudge and chocolate - it is the best little spot to catch up! 

Sunday was church and tackling a mountain of thank you notes that I wanted to finish before the week and extra day off got started. I started the fourth season of Stranger Things while I wrote my thank you cards and enjoyed managing to get some things done while also relaxing. And it was so nice to not have to get up until around 8 AM on Monday!

Ryan worked all night on Sunday night but he was determined that we were finally going to conquer the hike around Lake Frederick on Memorial Day, so I made us some hash browns and sausage for breakfast before we put on our hiking boots, sprayed on the sunscreen and bug spray and headed out into the wilderness! The hike was really beautiful and it was amazing to watch the forest change as we cruised along... we started at mile 7.5 and around the lake we went... mile 7, mile 6.5, mile 6, mile 5.5, mile 5... and then we stopped for a bite of lunch!

 

After our lunch stop, we got back at it but my hiking boots had only been worn once or twice and they were starting to rub my heels. *sigh* I ended up feeling a blister pop on my left heel and I had to tell Ryan we needed to find an alternate route off the trail. Luckily he's smart and used his phone to find a way to exit the trail early and walk us out into the neighborhood - since my heel was bothering me, he sat me under a tree in the shade with water and walked to the house to get the car and come pick me up! He is absolutely a knight in shining armor... or sweaty hiking clothes - it's all the same.

We both ended up taking naps after our 5 mile hike and I finished up the last of the thank you cards before we had pork ribs and corn for dinner... and then went to Newtown Creamery for our dessert! Don't let Ryan's face fool you - he ate all of his ice cream!

I leave you with a snapshot of Watson, myself and a giant frog that hopped up to us in the backyard on Wednesday night. I would say this week has been smoother - and it has - but Watson is under the weather and his age is really showing this week. May into June has been a wild few days and I'm glad the weekend is almost here! Y'all enjoy!

Mountain Madness - The Wrap Up

I have been home now for almost two weeks, and I am finally getting this last little post up! Goodness y’all, but the last week was an absolute roller coaster, and this week has been a bit wild in and of itself. Suffice it to say, there are a multitude of reasons why I am just now getting this post done! *wipes brow*

I have a multitude of pictures to share from our final day and a half of spending time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as a family - and that's just what this post is for! We started our morning at Pancake Pantry for breakfast; a tradition that we've had for years, we usually eat at Pancake Pantry on our final day of vacation. Since this wasn't our final day of vacation, Lindsey said this was basically stripping away a tradition - but then again, she's a little dramatic! 

After eating all the pancakes… actually, I had a waffle – sacrilege, I know. After eating all the breakfast foods, we headed up the opposite side of the mountain on another ski lift to Anakeesta! My little sister has never experienced the joy and happiness that is Anakeesta and so we were thrilled to show her around! We perused some of the shops and made our way all the way to the top of the hill (yep – a hill at the top of a mountain) where the swings are and plopped down for a hot minute. Seriously – it was HOT at the top of the mountain. So hot. 

 

We contemplated the alpine coaster – I should say, the rest of my family did – I did not. However, it was something like 25+ additional dollars to ride the coaster and so we passed. I mean, I’d have passed anyway because if I’d gotten on it, I probably would have passed out. Ha! We did walk to the top of the Ana Vista Tower with Lindsey and Ryan and I ended up in a conversation with some people who recognized our Lapp shirts and were from Lancaster! We snapped pictures and headed back down and around to the Ropes Course to try our hand – although only Lindsey and I were bold enough to try it this time! 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop was to experience the Treetop Walkway – which I always really love doing, even if it does involve both suspension bridges and heights! Those are two things that I would usually pass on, but when in the mountains at Anakeesta, I can’t resist a good treetop walkway in the afternoon sun. We thought about waiting to see the first zip-liners head out on their adventure but there were a few shops Ryan wanted to pop into, so we headed down the mountain ahead of my parents and sister to race into the shops before heading back to the car to drive over to Pigeon Forge!

Oh wait! How did I forget?!? The first shop we stepped into was the Savannah Bee Company and we tried honeycomb and y’all, I would like some more! Ryan and I saw a sign that said “Try Honeycomb – Just Ask!” and I was immediately intrigued. They gave us each a little spoon with honeycomb, one blueberry and one small cube of white cheese and told us to eat it all in one bite – and it was DIVINE! Now, the smallest jar of honeycomb was over $20 so I am just holding that memory in my mind for now… but that stuff was amazing!

The next stop on our journey was The Island in Pigeon Forge! I should mention - we were sort of hitting the "high notes" of places Lindsey has never been in the Smokies, since she hasn't been able to vacation there in years. A new experience at The Island was something called Flight (or something like that) - and y'all, it was just like Soarin at Disneyland - so we grabbed tickets and hopped right on that! It was so much fun... my only complaint is that the six minute ride wasn't quite long enough, ha-ha! We perused a few shops and then decided to head back toward Gatlinburg and hop on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

 

A friend had mentioned to my Mom that they'd driven the Cades Cove Loop around dusk and ended up seeing tons of wildlife, so we figured that the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail would be similar - and y'all, we were NOT let down! We sighted a momma bear and three cubs not long after turning onto the roadway - they were far enough off the road that they were a bit hard to see and the cubs were quite small, which made them even harder to spot.

However - about five miles in, we came across cars backed up and so Ryan, Lindsey and I hopped out and walked ahead to investigate. Right above our heads, perched in the tree tops having their evening meal: a momma bear and her three cubs - this time the cubs were a few months older and since they were right above our heads, they were crystal clear and it was incredible! 

 

 

We were absolutely enchanted with these little guys (probably not actually that little) and watching them scramble across the branches to get the best leaves and berries. One of the small cubs was very intent on getting himself some leaves from a branch far above him... and he would climb and wobble and retreat and repeat, ha-ha! It was absolutely the closest I have ever seen black bears in all my years of visiting the Smokies! And another note - the minute that bear started down the tree, everyone ran for their vehicles. A healthy respect for wildlife! 

The rest of the evening was spent exploring some shops in downtown Gatlinburg and then grabbing Marble Slab for our dinner - when on vacation, you know? I somehow forgot that in the midst of all our shopping, Ryan and I popped into a boot outlet and ended up taking advantage of the buy 2 get the third pair free. I now have a killer pair of cowboy boots!

After a good night's sleep, we headed to Ogle Farmhouse Kitchen for breakfast and I got griddle cakes that were the size of my face! What?!? I could barely eat one of them - thankfully I only got two. Ryan also loved the John Deere outside the restaurant because it was just like the tractor his family had growing up - so we had to snap pictures! We did a little outlet shopping, grabbed fuel for the road from Black Rifle Coffee Company and then headed out for the highway and home!

The trip was so, so great and also felt like an absolute whirlwind! I can't believe in just six short days we drove to Mississippi, spent time with family and friends, drove back to Gatlinburg, took in so much in just 48 hours there and then headed on home! Ryan and I came back with a car filled with gifts from our shower - we were well and truly blessed - and we also grabbed a couple souvenirs! I am in love with my Smoky Mountain mug and Ryan looks especially dapper in his hat - don't you think?

And now it's time to settle in to work for the Summer - my next vacation is to Germany in September and together we are headed to Jamaica for our honeymoon in November!