#babymoon in the Highlands

Yes I named this "babymoon" and this weekend was just that. Tommy and I hadn't taken a weekend to just spend the two of us since last July. We have traveled a lot since then but not just the two of us. We both took Friday off work and headed up to the HIglands, NC in the morning. It was just about 2 hours exactly from our house to the house we rented. We rented a little VRBO two bedroom cabin that was perfect. It was almost exactly halfway between Cashiers and Highlands. 

We dropped Cooper off at the house and headed into Highlands to find some lunch. We ate at Wild Thyme which was delicious. Cute little lunch spot in the middle of downtown. We then walked to see Old Edwards Inn and walked along Main Street. Old Edwards is HUGE and takes up a good portion of the one end of Downtown. We window shopped and just wandered around town before heading back to the house to change. We wanted to do some exploring since it was such a pretty day out. We drove to Dry Falls with Cooper to see the waterfall. It was HUGE and I'm sure had more running water due to all the snow melting from the storm the day before. We couldn't get behind the waterfall due to ice and do the whole walk but we atleast were able to get closer to it.

Just a man and his dog

We then continued down the road to see what other areas we could come across and to just enjoy the scenery. We stopped at a day only spot and wandered down to the pond where in the summer I'm sure there are tons of people swimming. We threw the stick a few times for Cooper to swim and wandered around the pond. 

From here we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner. We headed into Cashiers to find dinner and landed at The Ugly Dog Pub House. It was really good and had live music. We ended our night with a fire while watching "House of Cards." It was a jam packed wonderful day! 

Saturday morning we had some breakfast at the house (and I had myself some hot chocolate!)

Around 10 we headed into town to get Tommy some coffee at Buck's. We sat and talked over lattes for a bit. It was a cute little coffee shop with tons of choices. From here we walked down the street to find an earlier lunch spot. I had a 1 pm prenatal massage appointment (thanks hubby for the birthday present!). My massage was fantastic! I felt so much better afterwards. 

After the massage we headed back to the house for a little rest. This pregnant momma wanted a little nap. We then walked the neighborhood exploring with Cooper. 

 I then showered and got myself ready for our night out on the town. We headed to Old Edwards Inn for their happy hour in their hummingbird lounge. I got a non-alcoholic champagne and he got an old fashioned. There was a piano player in the lounge. We enjoyed just chatting. We then walked down the street to our dinner reservations at Wolfgang's Restaurant and Wine Bistro. I'm drooling just thinking about how delicious our meal was. We shared a grilled romaine Caesar salad to start. I got the pecan crusted shrimp, asiago grits, and crab cake. It was probably the best crab cake I've ever had because there was barely any breading on it. It was SO yummy! Tommy got the short rib, collard, and mashed potatoes. We were both stuffed after dinner that there wasn't room for dessert. We ended our night again with a nice fire while watching "House of Cards." 

We were in much need of some along time and some R&R. We had a fabulous trip! Now we are in the single digit countown to baby Emma's arrival! Bring on Baby! 

Weekend Recap

This weekend was great! Friday night we met Bonnie, Brett, and Collier for dinner at Verde. It's always a crowd favorite. Collier really enjoys sitting in the big high chair these days. He had himself in stitches over nothing. It was too funny!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_gvpSenhm7Yc0Q5SEpxWWlMMEk

Saturday morning we woke up super early to get ready for game day. We met at the Reynolds at 7am to drive to Auburn for the Uga vs Auburn game. We had a breakfast food tailgate at Ansley and Matt's parents tailgate. We only had a few hours because the game started at eleven central time. 

We met up with Tyler and Lindsay Maxey for the game. They were gracious enough to offer us tickets. We had great seats below the massive jumbo tron. Georgia played great so I had a very sour husband by the end. My dear friend Jessica who lives in Alabama now has season tickets just one section over so after the third quarter we met out by the concessions for a quick catch up session. Was so great to see her and sweet Hylan! 

Go dawgs! We needed that win! Sorry Auburn. 

It was a great day with friends. James stopped by our tailgate to say hi for a bit. Always a good time having my "little" brother around. 

Cooper was happy to see us when we got home! 

Today we had a late sleep in to make up for not being able to sleep in yesterday. I then did a big grocery run for the ingredients for what I was making for dinner for some of my girlfriends tomorrow. I made orzo tomato soup from the Barefoot Contessa Foolproof cookbook and I'll make Gouda grilled cheeses tomorrow to go with. I also made her salted caramel brownies for dessert. They look so good it was hard not to try! 

Then I posted up in baby girls empty room with a pallet on the wall to watch a Gossip Girl marathon. It was exactly the relaxing Sunday I needed. 

And lastly I made us some potato and chicken chowder for dinner. It was delicious! A recipe to keep around for the cold days of winter to still come. 

We had a great weekend. Only five days of work separate me and the beach for a week with my family for Thanksgiving. We are all in need of a vacation and break from work. So much to be thankful for this year! 

Labor Day Weekend

You To say I needed a long weekend is an understatement. Last week at school was rough. Everyone needed a break and I'm hoping when we get back at it everyone will feel rested and refreshed. 

The Auburn game was at the dome this weekend in Atlanta so Tommy had some friends come to town. A big group of us went to Smokebelly on Friday night for dinner. It was delicious! I had never been. They had a huge farm table on the deck that was great because we could all sit together and the weather was perfect patio temp. We turned in after dinner so save up for a full day of football on Saturday. 

Saturday morning we woke up early, grabbed some breakfast, and picked up the Reynolds and Christy. We parked in the yellow lot by the dome which was great because we had some tree coverage and it wasn't a terrible walk from the game. We set up our first adult tailgate. We had WAY too much food! I borrowed my parents tent and table which were life savers. The weather was perfect in the morning but come midday it started to get really warm. 

Yes I'm wearing an Auburn shirt. No I haven't abandoned my team! It's just not worth sticking out in the crowd when I'm going to the Auburn game. Anyway, we had a fun-filled day of tailgating before heading the the game. To say I was melting by the time we got inside is underplaying the situation.  Thank goodness for air conditioning! Auburn played Louisville and for most of the game it looked like auburn would win no problem but it got pretty close near the end but Auburn still came away with a win! 

Sunday, I was supposed to go rafting with a group of our friends but I just wasn't feeling up for it. Tommy still went and I just rested at home. We made tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner. Perfect sick day dinner! Thankful for a husband who takes good care of me. 

Monday we had a great day! We got some things done around the house this morning before going to my parents for lunch. The best part of a holiday weekend is everyone being off work. James and Claire came home for a few days after the UGA game so we had the whole family there for lunch (minus nana). We hadn't all been together since the beach in early July so it was wonderful! Mom made coronation chicken and we enjoyed the screened porch and each other's company. 

Monday night we met our good friends, Andrew and Kyle Hartman, for dinner to catch up. They were traveling last weekend and are traveling again this coming week so we took advantage of the holiday to see them. We attempted to go to Verde but totally forgot with it being a holiday that they might be closed so we ended up at Mellow Mushroom. 

It was a great holiday weekend and we felt refreshed and renewed! 

Weekend recap

We had a pretty busy weekend to bring July to a close. Friday was my older sister's, Bonnie, birthday. My nana and I went to lunch with her and collier. From lunch I went to my first admin meeting at school to get caught up on everything I missed while I was away. 

Friday night we had a party for Bonnir and two other girls on our tennis team that have July birthdays. We went to the Kilch's house for a margaritas and mustaches party! So fun and great night. 

Saturday morning I woke up early to head to my parents church for a charity event that my mother is the co-chairman of. Cool girls is an organization that's been in Atlanta for 26 years and my parents church as been involved with them for 24 of those years. St. Peter and St. Paul's always hosts them for a back to school shopping day where they get some fun things, do crafts, dance, and eat chick fil a lunch. At the end of the day they each get to take home a new backpack filled with school supplies and other goodies to start their year off. We had about 115 inner city girls come and they had a great day. It's a huge undertaking for my mom but the girls really enjoyed themselves! 

Saturday night I had a beautifully relaxing night babysitting collier. Miss this little boy when I'm away! Bonnie and Brett went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday so I got to hang with little guy!

Sunday morning we woke up (to NO running water because a few houses down had a water main break!) got ourselves looking halfway decent and headed to church. From church we went to Lowe's to pick out some flowers for by our mailbox. We dropped the flowers at my parents while we went out to family brunch for Bonnie's birthday. We went to "Niecy's Cafe" which opened right around the corner from my parents. It was great! 

After brunch we hoped we would come home to water but NO. Tommy went ahead and took on the yard work and did a beautiful job! 

While I grocery shopped for the week and cleaned the house. We had invited 6 couples over for dinner that night and at 4pm I still had no running water. Cue panic. I ran to Bonnie's house to shower and when I got back we had WATER! Phew. Dinner party back in full swing. 

We provided the main neat and everyone else brought side dishes and appetizers. It worked out great! We had the Hartmans, Reynolds, Mitchlers, and soon-to-be Stellings over.  The soon-to-be Bobinski's weren't feeling well. It was a great night catching up with our best friends. 

We had a wonderful weekend and ready to take on my last week (day now) before going back to work full time. 

(Side note. I'm always looking for a good morning devotional that doesn't take half an hour that I can do during the school year. Today the author of the study I did over the summer just launched a new devotional app called First 5 and I tried it today and thought it was great! You can set your alarm through the app so when you turn your alarm off in the morning it goes straight into your daily lesson. ) 

Half Monday!