Three Days In Asheville

On Monday I headed out for Asheville North Carolina. Asheville is about three hours from where I live. I had a meeting with a group of tourism people. We meet three times a year. Each meeting is themed around a particular topic and we also get to visit other tourism attractions.

I have been to Asheville many times throughout the years and I love it. This city has something for everyone.

My meeting didn’t start until noon on Monday so I didn’t have to leave until Monday morning. I made the trip easily traffic was not bad. I was really excited because I would be seeing my tourism buddies that I only get to see a few times a year.

The meeting and our lodging was at the Cambria Downtown Asheville. And it was downtown right in the middle of things. The service there was outstanding. Being in tourism myself it’s always something I am very conscious of. They have customer service down pat. This is a fairly new hotel. There is a restaurant and bar on the 4th floor and the food is amazing. More about that in just a minute.

I was on the 11th floor and the view was breathtaking. The hotel is very modern with all new amenities. The view was great both day and night.

Our meeting started at noon with a light lunch served in the meeting room. We had a brief bit of business and then a speaker who was great!!! He was one of those speakers who keeps you interested and made two hours seem like ten minutes.

We stayed at the hotel for dinner. The hotel has a bar and restaurant on the 4th floor, Hemmingway’s Cuba Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, and the food there was ahhhhhmazing. The rooftop bar was just perfect with a light breeze blowing and another spectacular view of the city. We had drinks there before dinner. For dinner I ordered the frita cubana, seasoned ground beef and pork sliders with onions and shoestring potatoes, and for a side, congri. I was a little taken aback by the color of the congri but it tasted fantastic.

After dinner we went on the Lazoom Party Bus. If you have been to Asheville you may have been on the Lazoom Bus. This is a comedy bus that takes you through different parts of the city. Your guide is hilarious. This particular ride had a haunted theme. We drove all over the city for an hour and our guide pointed out different parts of the city that were supposedly haunted. At several of the stops a ghost would get on the bus and make jokes and interact with the group. It turns out the same person played the role of all the ghosts. He was really talented. http://www.lazoomtours.com

The next day we did the touristy thing and visited several attractions. We started out at The Biltmore Estate. It is beautiful. I have been here so many times I like to pretend it is my second home. It is hard to believe that this used to be a private home to the Vanderbilts. Biltmore currently has a display of period costumes throughout the house. When you visit each room there is a mannequin with the costume from that time period. It was really interesting. http://www.biltmore.com

And of course the gardens were beautiful there were so many different things in bloom.

We also visited the Blue Ridge National Heritage Center where we saw a video about local artisans and then on to the Southern Highland Craft Guild and Folk Art Center where we were able to see some of the handmade items. All of the items on display were for sale. I probably could have stayed there all day. The talent displayed at the Folk Art Center just blows me away. http://www.Southernhighlandguild.org/folk-art-center

That night for dinner we went to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. You just have to check this one out for yourself http://www.sierranevada.com  There is a brewery where you can do tours, an amazing restaurant and you can even play corn hole there. Again the food and beer was great!!!

On Wednesday we had meetings until noon and then everyone went our separate ways. Our meetings and the events we attend are always super casual. I always get chilly in the meeting rooms. I took a couple of photos of what I wore to the meetings. I usually wear the same thing into the evenings and maybe just add a different jacket or sweater.

This shirt is the one I bought when I was in Orlando at Macy’s on super clearance sale. I think it was $19.99. I love it. It is so comfy. The vest and shoes are from Kohl’s and the pants are from Cato’s.

This shirt is also from Kohl’s and the sweater is from Target. Same shoes and pants I try to pack light when I am traveling and if possible wear my pants or jeans a couple of times. And we do so much walking I have to have comfortable shoes.

But probably the best part of the trip was on my way home. I was able to stop and have lunch with a precious friend of mine. Laura, I don’t get to see her very often. She used to live in my area and through the years we have done a lot of fun things together. She moved to Asheville about three years ago and this was the first time I had seen her since she moved. The thing about a wonderful friend like Laura is that you can not see each other for a long long time but when you do its like no time has passed at all. Now Laura is moving out west and it will probably be a long time before I see her again but I know when we do we will pick up right where we left off.

So all in all a short but fun trip. Catching up with Laura was the best. It was good to get back home to the familiar and my own bed of course. Have a wonderful weekend.

Love your day your way!!!

Another Trip Around the Sun and some fun!!!

Last Sunday was not only Easter but it was also my Birthday and my wedding Anniversary ( I know I got married on my Birthday) I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly when I did that. Two celebrations in one, what?? But anyway, it all happened on Easter this year. Annnnd throw a family get together for Easter and my Birthday into the mix and this is what you get. But first let me take you back a couple of months ago.

A couple of months ago, while having our weekly “Sister Lunch” and solving all the world’s problems, me and my sisters were talking about having an Easter get together with all of the family. You know I have a very large family right? six brothers and sisters make for a lot of in-laws and nieces and nephews. So I said “It’s spring we can have the get together at my house.” We started thinking about a menu. For Easter, we usually do a cookout at my sister Sandy’s house and my brother in law grills hamburgers and hot dogs.

I was thinking that this would be a good excuse to buy a new grill. Mark and I do not grill out a lot. We probably haven’t grilled in years. My husband and I have a crazy work schedule and we rarely even get to eat dinner together. Mark works a twelve hour shift and alternates days off. Usually by the time he gets home from work I have already eaten dinner. I don’t like to eat too late.

So the plan was hatched and we would have our Easter get together at my house. I was thinking to myself, sure I have a couple of months to make my yard look good, clean my house from top to bottom, buy some new deck furniture, and a grill. Being the procrastinator that I am you can imagine how it went down. Fast forward to two weeks ago and I am thinking to myself, I still have a week to clean my house from top to bottom, do all the yard work that needs to be done, buy a grill, luckily we had bought the new deck furniture but we hadn’t put it together, and get ready for the Easter Birthday family get together. just to explain myself here in case you think I’m acting nutty about my family coming, yes I know I really am. I live at least thirty minutes away from most of my family and to be honest they just don’t come to my house that much. They think I live in the sticks. So when they do come to visit I like for my home to look especially nice. And then out of the blue my husband, very nonchalantly. says “oh by the way that’s my Sunday to work” WHAT?? well there goes the grilling I said to myself. So the menu changed from grilling to the traditional ham for Easter dinner. A new menu was put together. My family contributes all the side dishes and some desserts. I would cook the ham.

I did find some time to make this Easter wreath

One week down and counting. So the week before the big event. My husband did all the yard work which included mowing, weeding and trimming up some bushes. It still wasn’t everything that needed to be done but at this point we were happy with it. I started cleaning the inside of the house. Let me mention that I still had to work everyday that week and we had to put the new deck furniture together.

The Friday before the Easter Birthday extravaganza finds me working late and not stopping on my way home to get groceries as I had planned. I had planned to do the grocery shopping on Friday night and clean house on Saturday and make an Easter cake and do last minute preparations. But the groceries didn’t get bought until Saturday morning. I live about fifteen minutes from town so it is never a quick trip. I did get the Easter cake made and it turned out really nice. My niece and I had seen the cake on Pinterest. It was blue and a little complicated so I did my own version.

Sunday came and it was Easter and my Birthday and Anniversary and I felt guilty with all the running around crazy and forgetting the real reason for the Easter season. And the fact that I was fortunate enough to be a year older and have another year of marriage with my husband and have all of my wonderful family coming to visit on this day was everything. So I said STOP IT GIRL!!!! everything is fine. Have fun!!!!

Birthday/Anniversary flowers my husband sent to my work.

And I did. The day was great and we had so much fun and food and talking and laughing. It was so worth all the work. Was my house as clean as I wanted it? No. But you know what? that didn’t matter I was with my loved ones and they didn’t care either.

Even Scruffy and Molly enjoyed everyone. Kitty Kitty flew up the stairs as soon as the first person arrived and did not come down again until they all left.
Poor Scruffy was exhausted

Love you day your way!!!

Do You Always Know When You’re Being a B*tch?

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Hello everyone,

I feel like this month is speeding by. I love April and it’s also my Birthday month. My Birthday this year is on Easter I don’t think that has ever happened before. Not that I can remember anyway. I also got married on my Birthday, don’t ask me why it seemed like a good idea at the time, so it will also be my wedding anniversary!!!! Wow so much will be going on next week. We are having a big Easter get together at my house next Sunday and I wanted some new deck furniture and that is how this blog post came to be.

I like to keep it real with you and I am not one of those bloggers who constantly blog sunshine and lollipops. So today I am asking you, whether you are woman or man, do you always know when you are acting ugly and rude? can you stop it once you have started? Do you always realize when you are being a bitch? Can you make yourself stop?

This morning me and my husband went to Home Depot in a nearby town. I had spotted some deck furniture I wanted there. We looked around a little but it seemed like they had everything we wanted. The bistro type chairs and table had a sign on them that indicated they had two left in stock. The large umbrella was on the shelf where we could see it. So a very nice sales associate came over to help. She didn’t know a lot about the large umbrella we wanted to purchase but maybe she didn’t always work in that department, maybe she was new. I don’t know. She seemed to want to steer us to ordering online and picking it up there at a later date. She said we would have more options. Well we really didn’t need options we knew what we wanted and the signs on the items indicated they were in stock. We had a big truck to haul it home in. Why would we wait? right? She did say the table and chairs were in a box on the back wall and she would get someone with a lift to get them down. She checked her device and said they would be brought up to the front of the store and we were to pull around. She said this could take a few minutes. She wrote the numbers of each item on a piece of paper and we took that to the register to check out. Once we checked out we brought the truck to the front of the store where they would load the items. The same sales assistant came out just about five minutes later and we were thinking, wow!!! that was fast.

I noticed the cart she was pulling looked rather sparse for everything we had gotten. She said the table and chairs actually weren’t available. I was thinking then why did that not come up in the system when we paid for everything? I did ask her that question and she said she was not sure. She told us she would call a store in north Knoxville to see if they had one in stock. This is where I felt my bitch mode start to take over. I didn’t want to be ugly and I guess I was just disappointed that it hadn’t worked out and we were now going to have to drive to north Knoxville to pick it up. Because we live in the boonies, and I know that is my choosing and no one else’s, getting to Knoxville for us is about an hour and ten minute drive. Of course we were already a little closer so it wouldn’t take quite that long.

That didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me is they told me they had not one but two in stock. Now they were saying they didn’t, after I had paid for it of course, and I would have to go somewhere else to get it. So I said “well obviously it doesn’t matter if they tell you they have it or not because you “thought” you had it here and now you don’t. What is going to keep us from driving to Knoxville to pick it up and them tell us they don’t have it either even though their system showed that they did?” I thought this was a valid question. I also muttered several things of questionable content half-way under my breath and was pretty much acting like a spoiled brat. I’m not proud of it.

My husband Mark has often told me it’s not what I say but how I say it to people that truly makes them mad at me. I felt this time was both!!! And of course my husband looked like he wanted to crawl under the truck because of the way I was acting. I could almost feel myself step out of my body and watch me being an utter bitch about a dang table and chairs!!! She called the other store and yes they said they had it and would pull it and bring it to will-call and we could pick it up there. She took our name. She then told me I would have to come back in the store and get a will-call ticket to take to the other store. I went to wait in the truck because it was raining.

I told the sales associate I knew it wasn’t her fault and to be honest it wasn’t. Someone overlooked the table and chairs the first time. She was only going by the information she was given.

Mark comes over to the window and says “guess what they found a table and chairs here!!” Well that made me feel really bad about the way I had acted. We loaded everything up and took it home. But I guess I had a bit of a bitch hangover from the way I had acted. I went home and took a three hour nap.

I say all of this because I am just wondering if you ever feel yourself being unreasonable? and when you feel disappointed or upset do you sometimes turn to bitch mode? this is where you actually feel yourself step outside of your body and watch yourself. You may not want to say the things you do but by golly they are going to come out of your mouth one way or the other. I hope I am not the only one. Mark could stand there all day and not be frustrated or angry with them. He probably wouldn’t even get mad if they sent us home with the wrong boxes. They didn’t luckily. But I am not that person.

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My Happy Place

Love you day your way!!!!!

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Redbud Winter

Well hello April how did you get here so fast? Spring? it is supposed to be spring but here in East Tennessee this morning it was 36 degrees!!!! I think this is officially called Redbud Winter. The Redbuds are blooming and they are beautiful. The buds actually emerge right from the bark of twigs and branches and even parts of the trunk. You can see this from my picture I took. Why are they called Redbuds when they actually look purple? its because when they first bud out they are red and then when they start blooming they turn a beautiful purple color. Now Redbud Winter is not to be confused with Dogwood Winter. Redbud Winter usually arrives in early April and then Dogwood Winter is later in April. Of course you also have Blackberry Winter which is usually mid May or near Mother’s Day. But wait there is one more it is called Whippoorwill Winter and this is the last cold snap before the temperatures get warm and stay that way until fall. This is when you will start to hear the whippoorwills in the evening. I always heard about these winters from my parents. My husband makes fun of me and says there is no such thing but the temperatures always drop around these “winters”. The Dogwood trees haven’t started blooming much yet so I can only assume this is Red Bud Winter. Just a little southern trivia for you.

See how the buds are redder when they first appear.

And then they turn a purple color as they start blooming.

What a great weekend!!! How was yours? A lot of knitting, cooking, picture taking, and reading. It was so so enjoyable and lazy. Especially on Sunday when I didn’t even leave the house. My work life has been really crazy lately and its like I can’t wait for the weekend to get a bit of downtime. I think when this happens my creativity takes over just to keep my mind off of everything else. So I have been taking advantage of that. It seems like I am coming up with a different project every time I turn around. I decided over the weekend to make a granny square afghan. I have several of these I made over the years but I wanted one made of only about 15 or 20 large squares and with a spring color theme. So here are the colors: I will add a row of white to each one and then sew them all together using white yarn. Wish me luck I will let you know how it goes.

Don’t you just love these springy colors. Reminds me of Easter eggs.

Last weekend I made a quilt top with pre cut quilt squares I bought over a year ago when I was in Hannibal Missouri. There was a wonderful quilt shop in the small town of Hannibal and I bought these squares. I had put them aside and done nothing with them so I decided to sew them together last weekend. I laid out all the colors on the bed so that no two would be side by side. I then sewed them in rows of seven and then attached all the rows. I did this with my sewing machine but I plan to quilt it by hand. I haven’t decided on the color of the backing just yet. I have a very old Brother sewing machine that I have had for about 25 years. I love it. It is very plain and doesn’t do a lot of fancy things but it is just what I need most of the time. I also have a new Singer machine that I have had for about 10 years. The Singer can do a lot more but I always go for this one.

A couple of weeks ago my niece Hailey came to spend the day with me. We went to an Estate sale. Hailey’s first estate sale, she is only nine but seemed to have a pretty good time. I bought a few things. I have been into collecting these small plates with flower patterns on them. I found a couple at this sale. I sometimes find estate sales to be sad. You are looking through a lot of cherished items that once belonged to someone. Someone who loved them. Some of these items are quilts and cross stitched things or knitted or crocheted items that took a lot of time and effort to make. And here they are being offered to people who probably couldn’t care less about them. I made Hailey promise that my things would never be scattered through an estate sale. ha ha. Sometimes when I find a quilt or cross stitched piece, that I know took a lot of time to make, I purchase it or as I like to think, I rescue it.

This quilt looked beautiful hanging up and was said to have been made in the late 1800’s. But the entire middle was missing. You couldn’t even make cushions out of it. I had to pass on this one.

A few of my purchases

You may remember last year when our company decorated a table at our local Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet. We won third place last year for our table decorations. This year we did sort of a farm to table theme and didn’t win anything but I thought it was really nice.

Our table at the banquet. There were so many beautiful ones.

This is a picture of Hailey and Scruffy taken when she came to visit a couple of weeks ago. She loves Scruffy and he loves her.

Join me again later this week. I am trying an experiment with my blogging and I am trying to post more frequently. I really like blogging its sort of like keeping an online diary. It’s fun to go back and read posts from the previous year. I encourage you to start a blog of your own. Anyway thank you for being here and sharing a little part of my life with me, and remember:

Love you your day your way