Paige & Wes get hitched!

We travelled to Hot Springs, NC this weekend to see our friend Paige (from Bham) get married!  Hot Springs is about an hour northwest of Asheville, right smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian Trail. We had an absolute blast!  We arrived Friday night, just in time for the post-rehearsal dinner party. 

We stayed at the Iron Horse Station (one of three "hotels" in Hot Springs) where the party was being hosted.  We got to catch up with some old friends from Birmingham that we haven't seen since we left and some new friends of Wes's that we met a few weeks ago.  AND we got to have some YEUNGLING!!!  I was beyond excited!  Go figure, you can get Yeungling in the middle of the mountains, but in Chicago they won't sell it!  After the party, we experienced Hot Springs night life at the Spring Creek Tavern with live music and plenty of drinks, dancing, and conversation.

Live music at Spring Creek Tavern

The soon-to-be newlyweds

Saturday morning we didn't get up in time for breakfast, but had an awesome lunch at the Smokey Mountain Diner (complete with fried green tomatoes)!  After lunch, we took a drive up to Max Patch and hiked about a mile up the mountain for some ahhhhhmazing views. We met Luna at the top, a local dog who likes to go on hikes with vacationers (a couple staying at a local B&B brought her along on their hike).  She was so good, Bailey never would have hiked up and stayed with complete strangers!! Once we got to the top, there was a large clearing with a 360 degree view of hundreds of miles of mountains.

This is what it looked like when we started out...thankfully it passed over before we got to the top!!

Luna, the town hiking dog

After the hike we walked around the town for a little bit and went to this cute little ice cream shop for root beer floats.  They were delicious!!  And a perfect way to cool off after being up in the mountains!

The weather was in the high 80's all day and it seemed to cool off exactly at 6:00, when Paige and Wes got married.  The wedding was outside at the Mountain Magnolia Inn and it was beautiful!! After the wedding Tom and I entertained, (or rather were entertained by) Noah (Ashley and Tony's baby - who is no longer a baby anymore)!  Ashley was in the wedding so she was summoned for pictures and Tony unfortunately couldn't make it to the wedding.  Tom and Noah played "catch" or "baseball" or "hockey" (it changed each time) and we laughed at Noah's favorite phrases, "See that?!" and "I'll be right back."  After dinner we danced into the night and had a great time!! 

Noah still must be working on his aim ;)

Sunday we got up, said goodbye to everyone, and headed back to Asheville. We had some time to kill before our flight, so we stopped at the Stoney Knob Cafe in Weaverville, NC. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in the area! It's about 10 minutes north of Asheville and it was sooooo good!  I got the shrimp n' grits (I couldn't pass up grits since we were in the south) and Tom had biscuits and gravy.  After brunch we checked out Asheville and then finally headed to the airport to head home. We had a fabulous time!!

Garden Update!

These pics were taken last weekend. I'm kind of mad at my tomato plants.  It's almost the middle of JULY and I don't see a single tomato. Grrr.

Tomato plant #1
(My pride and joy)

Tomato plant #2

Oregano
He's going a little crazy



Cilantro
It's beginning to grow flowers which means it is finished producing cilantro leaves. But I have 2 more cups of seedlings on the window sill, just waiting until they get a little bigger to put them outside

"Dill".....if that's what it really is

Pepper plants
We had to move away from the railing because the wind kept blowing them over

Basil

Birthday Staycation: In Review!

I'm posting this a little prematurely as Birthday Week will continue into the weekend, but I am going back to work tomorrow (let's hear it for a 2 day work week) and to be honest I have already forgotten things that I've done at the beginning of Birthday Week so I figured I should blog about it now.

Friday
I don't really remember what I did on Friday, other than enjoying a relaxing morning with coffee. I know that I blogged and went to PT (for my back, btw I love my PT, she's so great).  I think I went to Target too, but no pics so I couldn't have scored that many good deals.  Friday night I made homemade pizza complete with basil and oregano from our "garden." 

Saturday
During the day we relaxed, cleaned, and prepared a little bit for Saturday night.  Our friend Paige was in town since her fiance was here for a conference so we had them over Saturday night. We grilled out and drank and ate entirely, entirely too much.  Wes's friends from the suburbs joined us, and we just hung out outside all night, catching up and enjoying the weather.  Bailey was exhausted and super excited to go to bed on the couch bed with her Aunt Paige and her new friend Wes. 

Birthday Cupcakes!

Bailey got a birthday cupcake from Aunt Paige too!

Chillin'

Sunday
For breakfast, we finally checked out this local diner right down the street from our apartment. Tom and I had been wanting to go there for a while, and what better time to check it out than after the night we had.  It was AH-maaazing!  So good and greasy and good we will definitely be going back.  Bailey was so happy to be able to hang out on the couch bed all day that I just couldn't put it up.  It was storming outside anyways so we spent a wonderfully lazy Sunday afternoon cuddling on the couch bed and watching bad tv.  The storm tried to destroy our entire garden, but thankfully it looked worse than it actually was, and everything was fine (stay tuned for a garden update!). 

Sunshine Diner

Lazy Sunday

Storm Damage

Monday
My fourth 29th Birthday!! I slept in, enjoyed coffee in the sunny living room (way too hot to sit outside) and went for a little run around the neighborhood with Bailey.  Tom unfortunately had to work Mon-Wed, but Bailey and I still managed to have a good time. I went to get my haircut Monday afternoon (I was waaaay overdo) and then I did a little shopping before picking Tom up from work.  We went out for sushi at Umi, our neighborhood sushi restaurant and it was a perfect birthday dinner. 



Birthday Sushi

Dessert

Tuesday
Tuesday was my Suzy Homemaker Day.  I knew I was going to have to plan at least one day to do a bunch of stuff around the house that has been on my To-Do list for a while.  I did a bunch of laundry, cleaned the bathroom, made homemade cleaner (why I had been putting this off, I have no idea...it was the easiest thing in the world!), made beercan chicken in the crockpot (too hot for the oven), whipped up some freezer meals for the upcoming weeks, paid bills, made chicken stock, cleaned the kitchen, and ran to CVS for a few good deals. 

Wednesday
Happy 4th of July! Unfortunately, Tom had to go into work today, so Bailey and I enjoyed another relaxing morning at home.  I got caught up on a few other things around the house, and might have played in the sprinkler in the back yard when I took Bailey down to go pee....it was just TOO hot! I went for a mani/pedi at this great little nail salon and then swung by to pick Tom up from work before heading home. We originally had plans to grill out, but it is just too hot. Instead, we're having soft shell tortillas with chicken, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro, and my famous avocado/cilantro/lime dipping sauce!  We plan to relax on the back deck when the sun goes down and toast America's birthday while watching people set off fireworks in the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Pedicure and new sandals!

It's BIRTHDAY WEEK!!! And Bailey's birthday too!

I officially declare it BIRTHDAY WEEK! I'm off today with my regular schedule and we're off work next Wednesday for the 4th, so I took off Monday and Tuesday as well for a little Birthday Staycation.  Soooo excited!

We also decided to celebrate Bailey's birthday last week (since we don't know her actual birthday....sad).  But we think she was about 6 months old when we adopted her in December of 2008, so that makes her 4 this summer! She had a great birthday!!

Licking her lips while we were out grilling the other night

Entertaining me when I was home sick

We got a $5 free toy coupon from Pet Supplies Plus for her bday, so we walked over to get her a new toy.  She couldn't wait to get at it!!

She tried to carry it home, but was more obsessed with "killing" the squeakers

What we've been up to lately...

I feel like I should do another garden update...it seems as though all of our plants took off over the past week.  And we think that we have finally solved the mystery of Mystery Plant. We think he is Dill. Which would be cool because I like dill.  But I've decided not to bore you with only plants.
Anyways we've done a few things the past week or so and I remembered to snap some pics.  Our new hospital has officially moved and our name has officially been changed.  We went to the CMH Closing Celebration and enjoyed some awesome free food from vendors around the old hospital. The weather was perfect and they did a great job making sure there were enough seats, food, drinks, etc.  I didn't really feel super sad about it since 1) I didn't work in inpatient here so I don't really have any memories in the old hospital, 2) I actually am not really being affected by the move as our outpatient locations are not moving, and 3) I've only been here a year and a half. 

Goodbye Celebration

Friday I had some errands to run but I managed to stop by the lake a little bit north of my usual spot for lunch.  I found a cute little spot that wasn't too populated and enjoyed some rays and the view.

I think we need to win the lottery and buy a place with a view of the lake.  I'm a tad obsessed.

Recently we went over to our friend Jess's place for one of her infamous Game Nights.  Now, you all know how I feel about games, but I think I'm starting to come around (as long as no one makes me play Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly).  We played a really fun game, Telestrations. After we finally figured out how to play, we had a blast.  Basically everyone gets a booklet and picks a phrase from a card.  You write the phrase down and then pass the book to the person next to you.  The person next to you then has to draw that phrase, and then you pass the books again and the next person has to guess what the phrase would be based on your drawing. You keep going until you have gone full circle. It was pretty hilarious to see some of the drawings and guesses.  I wish I had snapped a pic of my "zoo" drawing (which Tom guessed accurately by the way)!


Any guesses on Jess's artwork?  I bet you weren't thinking toilet paper roll.  Yeah, that's what she was trying to draw.

 We also visited with Marietta, a sweet 6 year old dog that Jess is fostering. I'm really hoping that someone wants to adopt her, because she is such a good dog and obviously had a tough life before she ended up in the shelter.  (Jess if you're reading this she is the perfect dog for you!!!)

"Someone PLEASE adopt me!"

Marietta and Tom were instant buddies

She loved to give me her paw and was always trying to hold hands!!!  Such a sweetie!