Our Weekend In Gatlinburg

Jason and I decided to trek down to The Burg for a weekend of fun...in celebration of his birthday, of course! We stayed in a really cool log cabin resort right outside of Gatlinburg. It was beautiful and I think we were the first people to ever stay in that room - it was so nice and new!! Enjoy the pictures!

Thursday night (Jason's actual birthday) we celebrated with his Mom, Greg, and his grandmother. We had dinner and birthday cake!

On Saturday Jason and I decided to go hiking all day...well, okay - I decided that it would be a great idea - and we had a blast. This is us at the trailhead of Laurel Falls in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park...this hike was about 3 miles, roundtrip, and very easy.

We later took a trip to Elkmont campground - this is us on the bridge over the creek.

After our hike, we drove into town for some lunch and stopped by the winery. Jason got some blackberry wine and I got some white muskadine wine for Suzie's visit next month!

Later, we drove toward Townsend and stopped along the way at Campbell's Overlook - this picture's for you, Dave and Jen!!

Next we hiked only half a mile up to Clingman's Dome. Only half a mile that almost kicked our butts! It was straight up and it's the highest point in Tennessee at 6,645 feet, so the air is a little bit thinner. Needless to say, I LOVED IT! Great hike! This is us at the top of the dome.

We hope you enjoyed! Until next time...

Jason's Birthday!

As most of you, who know Jason, know...he LOVES fish and aquariums. Well, I decided a few months ago that I would give him an aquarium of his very own for his birthday :) For those of you who have set up aquariums in the past, you know it is not an easy thing. So I decided I would take a day off of work and get all the supplies and set it up myself. Needless to say - that was TOUGH! Anyway - I got it all set up and when Jason came home from work Monday, May 5th - he got a HUGE surprise. I made him call me when he was in the driveway and then I made him wear a blindfold to walk into the house. I set the ambiance by playing Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffet, in the background. It was awesome. And if you guys could have seen the look on his face! WOW! He was SHOCKED! He LOVED it! I was so happy - it's the best gift I've ever given anyone! Anyway - here are some pictures of it. I decided to go with fresh water for our first tank because of the expense and difficulty in keeping a salt water tank. We are going to keep it fresh for at least a year and then we might convert it to salt. It's a 50 gallon tank and it stands "upright" so it's tall. I went with this style because I knew it would fit better in the house and it also looks cooler - I think :) Anyway - when you see it - imagine little me carrying the tank, and stand up the stairs of the house to get in the front door - NOT pretty. But I did it. AND it was the first tank I've ever set up - and nothing broke and no one got shocked or dismembered - so YEA ME!!

Ok - check it out! Oh - and that's a ship wreck and a coral reef in the bottom - and some random plants. I got the ship wreck because Jason and I are Lost fanatics and that ship represents "The Black Rock" for those of you who follow the show. Also - the coral reef reminded me of a reef Jason and I snorkled over in Aruba on our honeymoon :)

And, of course, we had to get our "signature shot" with the tank in the background!

Our Sunday Drive

On Sunday, April 20th, Jason and I decided to take a trip across the mountains to explore. We took a back road from Bristol, 421, and took a WINDING trip through the top of the mountains to Boone, North Carolina. We passed through Mountain City on the way and decided to keep going once we saw the Boone signs. When we were in Boone we decided to stop at our favorite coffee shop, which we discovered last October when we visited my parents at thier cabin in Blowing Rock. It's called BeansTalk - this is me, after enjoying a YUMMY white chocolate mocha latte!

This is Jason, talking a rest, along the sidewalk downtown...

On our way back, we saw a cute little puss near our house - I also wanted to show you the beautiful pink flowering trees that we are seeing everywhere right now...

Have a great week!

xoxo

Trip to Gastonia, North Carolina

On Saturday, April 12th, Jason and I decided to drive a couple of hours across the mountains to visit my Great Uncle Glenn and Aunt Shirley, in Gastonia, NC! We had a wonderful visit with them and really enjoyed the day! These are some pictures from our trip!

We stopped at an "overlook" on the way across the mountains to take some pictures, but it was so dreary and cold that the landscape was not very pretty - so instead I give you "Us" :)

We went to lunch with Uncle Glenn, Aunt Shirley, my dad's cousin, Ann, and her husband, Doug. This is a picture of me with Ann and Doug at Panera Bread!

This is a picture of Jason and I with Uncle Glenn and Aunt Shirley!

We miss you all!

Springtime in Florida

After a busy March, I was able to take a relaxing vacation in Orlando, Florida! While Jason wanted to come with me, he did not have enough vacation saved up since beginning his new job. I had a wonderful trip with my family and even got to sneak down to Fort Lauderdale for a day to see my best friend, Misty, who just had her second baby in February!

These are pictures of me and Misty with her newest son, Landon!

We also got to see my Uncle Bill and Aunt Bonnie. This is a picture of me with my parents and my aunt and uncle.

We all took a trip to New Smyrna Beach (my favorite beach) on Monday. After eating lunch at JB's we went to the National Coast - which is a National Park - and enjoyed the wildlife - here are a few pictures from our trip to the beach...

Yes, I was actually that close to that nasty armadillo and I touched it! I was so excited by this that I had to call Jason and tell him all about it - thus the phone :)

I hope you all enjoyed and are doing well!

Happy Birthday, Bubbie!

For those of you who don't know - it's Diablo's 3rd Birthday today! Unfortunately he is very sneezy because of all the blooms outside so I don't think he's enjoying it very much!

Asheville for a Day...

After a LONG and productive week of working, Jason and I decided to take a day trip to Asheville, North Carolina to relax and explore! We had a wonderful time, despite the nasty weather - it was very cloudy and only about 50 degrees, even though it was finally up to 70 on Thursday. As we didn't get into town until around 1:00 we decided to eat lunch first. As those of you who have been to Asheville know, they have tons of GREAT restaurants so we had quite a choice to make. We both decided that we wanted to go for some Chinese food and ended up eating at a great little place called The Noodle. This is a picture of Jason and I after chowing down on some great noodles!

Next Jason and I attempted to see a cultural exhibit at the YMI Cultural Center called "Africa," however, after purchasing tickets and walking a couple of blocks, we realized that the exhibit had closed for the day. So instead, we walked through the city and saw some strange dancing group. I think they were from some local college and doing English Country Dancing. It was very interesting - as we the crowd that formed around them.

We then decided to walk around the shops down town.

Jason and I found an old Woolworth's with a really cool soda fountain in it and had cappacino's which were YUMMY. This is a silly picture we took with our capacino mustaches :)

We then visited Jason's favorite bookstore, where we read for a couple of hours.

We hope you all enjoyed our blog about Asheville as much as we enjoyed our day trip!