Hello and happy Monday!! I was gone all last week on a work trip to North Carolina. Well most of the week anyway. I am so glad to be back to a regular routine. I was even glad to get back to work today. What???
I did take a couple of days off at the end of the week to sort of rest and rejuvenate. I did some work outside in my yard, and trimmed shrubs and some overgrown hedges. I still have a lot to do. I was just reading that and I was thinking, where was the rest? If you are like me working outside is restful. The temps have cooled a little and will be even cooler this week. I am loving it!!!
I stayed home most of the weekend. On Saturday, Mark and I drove to Knoxville with my niece and picked up her kayak from a friends’ house. It was in an area I had never been to before. I just love looking at homes and yards in places I haven’t been.
We also worked on the house a bit and it seems so clean and shiny. Too bad it won’t last long.
I thought I would show you some of my projects I am working on. You know it isn’t me if I don’t have several going at one time. Sorry for the wrinkled comforter. The color is a great background for my projects.
This is the granny square afghan I am working on for my nephew. This is Tennessee Titans colors. One of his favorite teams.
My Hats off to Halloween cross stitch. I really need to get to work on this one. I want to get it finished, framed and out before Halloween.
This is a shawl I started yesterday. It is sort of a trial and error. I am going with a pattern as I go along. I’m not sure if it will work out. I used an inexpensive yarn so if it doesn’t work out, it’s no loss. I just realized it looks sort of like candy corn. You see where my mind is. There’s several other colors as well.
This scarf. I love the pattern and I love this green color.
I am also reading a couple of good books.
First Lie Wins. I just started this one on my Libby App. It is already full of secrets and suspense. I will let you know what I think of it.
Isadora is a University researcher. On her 30th Birthday she reads an article about 31 ways to be happy. Being the researcher she is she tries to prove the article may not make everyone happy. A lot of things happen for Isadora along the way. I have heard a lot of good things about this book. I can’t wait to read it.
That is pretty much what I have been up to. A little boring I know but just the way I love it. I have a sister trip coming up in a couple of weeks and a work trip in October. So for now I am just going to hang out at the house and enjoy some quiet time with my husband and the kitties. Speaking of kitties, I will leave you with a picture of Kitty Kitty. She was very cool to me when I returned home. I think she was mad that I left her behind. She’s starting to come around. Silly kitties.
Kitty Kitty
How is your week? Do you have lots of plans and fun things to do?
I just returned from a short trip to Lake Lure North Carolina. I went there for an attractions meeting. I mentioned before that I work in Tourism and attend these meetings three times a year. The meetings are held at a different place each time. This time we met at Lake Lure and the beautiful Chimney Rock State Park. I was there Sunday through Wednesday. This post will be about staying at the Lake Lure Inn & Spa. I will have other posts about different parts of my stay in this beautiful part of the country.
I left on Sunday. I knew I had about a four hour drive ahead of me. I was off work on Saturday and did all of the usual weekend things that needed to be done, buying groceries, laundry and cleaning the house etc etc. I don’t know about you but I have to have a clean house before I leave. Fortunately my husband was home most of the time with the kitty babies.
Before I left on Sunday I had a quick lunch with my nephew and my sister and niece at a small restaurant in town. It was so good to catch up. Now that my nephew has moved over two hours away I don’t get to see him a lot.
Oh the weather was beautiful on Sunday. The temps were in the mid 70’s F and there was a slight breeze blowing. You could feel fall in the air. I had a very uneventful drive and I even saw some leaves falling along the road. The traffic was a little heavy for a Sunday but I made really good time. I listened to an audio book most of the drive. Sometimes those make me sleepy so I had to switch to music.
I checked into the Inn. We stayed at the Lake Lure Inn and Spa. This Inn, which is on the historic register, was built in 1927. The lobby area is absolutely beautiful with lots of antiques and beautiful furniture. Lots of famous people, even Presidents have stayed at this hotel. This area is also where some of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed and both Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey stayed at the Inn while filming the movie. None of the movie was actually filmed at the Inn but parts of Lake Lure was used in the famous Baby and Johnny dance practice in the lake. More on that in the next post.
After checking in I went to my room. I had been given an old fashioned key on a huge plastic key chain. The doors still had actual locks. I would like to say the room was beautiful and stylish but it was old and somewhat musty. I understand that a 1927 Inn is going to have some challenges but I could lie on the bed and touch the door. I do know that some of the rooms at the Inn are quite luxurious. My room was very small with a huge king sized bed in the middle, the bed was actually quite heavenly and took up almost the entire room. Fortunately on these trips we do not spend a lot of time in our rooms .I will tell you that bed felt wonderful at the end of our long days of meetings and visiting area attractions. I sank blissfully into it at the end of each day.
After getting settled I went downstairs to find some dinner. The hotel had a nice little restaurant and the food was delicious. A lot of our crew was not arriving until the next day so the hotel was a bit quiet.
Our meeting didn’t start until noon the following day so I slept in and had coffee in my room. I had a quick breakfast downstairs and did a long walk around the lake and property. Again the weather was picture perfect. The Inn also had this huge porch with rocking chairs it was the perfect place to sit and relax.
You can close your eyes and imagine the town during the summer. Lots of families hanging out and swimming and eating ice cream. I’m sure the town is really hopping during the summer months. I can almost hear children yelling and running into the water. It would be such a fun place to be with the little beach area and small mom and pop restaurants. All of these areas are within walking distance of the Inn. Most of them have closed for the season.
After my walk I headed back to the Inn to get ready for my meeting. It was a great way to start the day.
Happy Labor Day. If you work in tourism, as I do, there’s two very important days in the season. Memorial Day is very important because it is sort of the kick-off to the summer season. And then Labor Day is the last big hurrah for the season. Whew!!! I am happy to see you Labor Day and the start of a slower work pace.
I have to go back and give August its due, all thirty minutes of it. That’s how fast it seems like it flew by. August was a very busy month.
I started August in Las Vegas at the Star Trek Convention and then had a short visit to Utah and Zion National Park. It seems like as soon as I got back home work was busier than ever and I was trying to juggle everything again.
Star Trek Convention.
We visited the Sphere in Las Vegas
A beautiful drive into Utah.
We are still dealing with a lot of final issues with my mother in law. She passed away in July. We are still settling things with the nursing facility and continuing to clean out her house, which is going to be quite the undertaking.
We had a quick day trip to Nashville for the Time Traveler’s Vintage Expo. That was a lot of fun. And then last week we, hubs and I, had a quick overnight to Nashville for a four month doctor visit for him. We always eat at a nice restaurant and spend the night in the same hotel near the hospital. That makes our trip over and back, about four hours each way, much easier.
Because of my job the summer months are really hard and stressful. Luckily, I have amazing and wonderful co-workers. We try to have as much fun as I can during these times. Life is way too short not to try and enjoy something about every season. But I’m always happy to see the fall season arrive. What is your favorite time of year?
Labor Day is almost over. I am home where I love to be. I just came in and fed the kitties and had some dinner and gave all eighteen orchids a water bath. Now I am off to work on a knitting stitch that I just learned from a YouTube video. Life is good, precious, wonderful!!!!
Southern Patches 