Hello Monday

How was your week and weekend? I worked my second full week of work at work. This hasn’t happened in a few weeks because of vacation and work travel. For some reason I think being at my work place all week has been even more tiring than all of the travel. Go figure.

Last week we celebrated my nephew Caleb’s Birthday. He turned 20. It’s so hard to believe he can be that old. We had dinner at our local Mexican restaurant that we all love.

His favorite gift was these orange and white overalls. He loves University of Tennessee Volunteers. He is such a fan.

Saturday morning I walked down to the lake and took some pictures. It was quite chilly and a fog was coming off of the water. The temperatures here have been chilly in the mornings and then warming up in the afternoon. I think that later this week the daily highs are supposed to be close to 80 degrees.

A few weeks ago this long beanstalk looking thing started to grow from one of my succulents. I have had this one for several years and it has never done this. It looks like it is going to bloom any minute. There is a close up view of it below. I posted it on FaceBook a few nights ago and several people responded with pictures of their own. I am eagerly waiting to see if it will bloom.

It looks like it will bloom any second.

I have been trying to get outside as much as possible to enjoy the fall colors. Because we had such a dry September our colors haven’t peaked yet. We usually have much more color by this time of the year. Hopefully the next couple of weeks will bring more color.

On Friday after work I met my friend Lorie for a margarita and some Mexican food. It was so yummy and we got some to catch up on some much needed girl time. Saturday and Sunday was the usual laundry, groceries, cleaning and etc. I need to make plans to attend a fall festival or something fally. Fall is my favorite time of year and it passes so fast.

What things have you been up to? Join me on Wednesday I have a wonderful display of fall colors for Wordless Wednesday.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Visiting Anakeesta in Gatlinburg TN

A couple of weeks ago my sisters and I took our annual Sister Trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. I touched on some of this in a previous post if you missed it check it out here. We finally got to visit Anakeesta.

What is Anakeesta? Anakeesta is located in the heart of Gatlinburg Tennessee. It is a mountaintop adventure. How do you get to the top of the mountain to experience this adventure? Well let me explain:

First you must get to the top of the mountain. You can ride a chairlift, chondola, or ride a bus up a crazy winding mountain. The sisters and I chose to ride the little pods, the chondola. They felt somewhat safer or maybe I should say comfier than the chairs. Also if you did plummet down the mountain at least in the chondola you would be covered with a bit of metal.

You see why we preferred the pods.

Once you get to the top of the mountain you will find gift shops, restaurants, chairs where you can sit and enjoy the beautiful views, a treetop Skywalk with over 880 feet of connected bridges hanging 50-60 feet in the air. You may also want to zipline, ride the Rail Runner mountain coaster, or for an add on you can experience Astra Lumina. Astra Lumina is an illuminated encounter of lighting projection and sound. It will feel as if the stars are falling from the sky, regenerating and returning to the sky above. It is very beautiful. This is an add on to the normal priced ticket. I will have to say there is a lot of things for kids to do here but even if you are not taking children you will still enjoy it.

Lots of fall and Halloween decorations.

The views were spectacular

Look at this wild cabbage. It’s beautiful. I love all the colors.

Entrance to the Treetop Skywalk. The Skywalk is made up of 14 suspension bridges spanning 880 feet hanging from 50-60′ in the air.

This sign explains the mystery of why the mountains are called the Smoky Mountains. You may have to zoom in to read it.
AnaVista Tower. The views are breathtaking. (Anakeesta Photo)

After getting back down the mountain we stopped at the Daiquiri Shack and had a nice Bahama Mama.

If you ever find yourself in Gatlinburg Tennessee don’t forget to check out beautiful Anakeesta in the Smoky Mountains. You should allow a few hours to experience this beautiful adventure. Check out the Anakeesta website here:

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Meanwhile, Back At The House

I am sure that everyone has insomnia from time to time. I know a lot of people have it worse than others. The old insomnia bug has bitten me in the last few days. It could be that traveling is catching up with me and I am in need of some down time. It could be just a lot on my mind from day to day living and life. That’s just the way it is sometimes and I am hoping that will take care of itself soon

I feel like I have been playing catch up after being gone so much the last few weeks. I had to repot one of my orchids and give the rest of the orchids their weekly watering. Simone is blooming again. I just love this color.

This is Simone.

My father in law passed away several years ago. He lived next door to us. We kept the house and my brother in law used it a couple of times. We finally decided to put it on the market. We had to clear everything out of it. We decided to buy a small storage building to put on our property to store what was left from his house and put some things from our house in it as well.

Mark and my nephew Tyler worked last Friday and Saturday getting everything cleared out of the house and moved to the storage building. I was able to help them on Saturday. Lots of memories came up while sorting through the house. Old pictures and letters and stuff. Lots of stuff.

All of this has to be taken to the dump. We also had things to take to Goodwill and some things we took to our house for safe keeping.
This is Allie Cat (Our mama cat). I call her camo cat this time of the year because her colors blend with the colors of the leaves.

We have a blink security system. Last week when I was in California I heard the alert one night around midnight. I saw this bobcat. We have seen bobcats before but it was a little unnerving seeing it so close to the house. I am so glad I bring my outside kitties in at night.

The picture is not the greatest but you can see it is a bobcat and close to the house.

My sister trip to Gatlinburg a few weeks ago wound up costing me more money than I had planned. I left my bite splint, which I sleep with every night because I grind my teeth, behind in one of the drawers in the bathroom. I immediately realized it the night I got home. The next day I called the condo association. They are just a call center and weren’t actually on site. I told them the room number and exactly where I had left it. They charged me $25.00 just to have someone look for it. They told me they would be in touch. After a week I called back and they said no one had found it. I am thinking it was probably thrown away. On Tuesday I had a dental cleaning and I was fitted for another bite splint. $525.00. OUCH!!!! So yes a much more costly trip than what I had planned. A lesson learned always double check everything before you check out. I usually do and I can’t believe I left it behind.

The weather here has been great!! Cooler temps. We do need some rain. It would help the leaf colors change quicker. Right now the leaves are so dry they are falling off of the trees before changing colors. Some rain is expected here this weekend so maybe that will bring some color changes.

The Goldenrod is everywhere. I think it’s beautiful even though it is a source of a lot of allergies.
You can see some color starting here but not much at all for this time of the year.

A lot going on right now. This was the first week I have worked five consecutive days in a while. I am happy to see the weekend. I am trying not to be overwhelmed by things. I always think I have to fix things and make everything right and do and be for everyone and make everyone happy and do all of this without making it seem tough. WOW!!! Sometimes that is just not possible. I have to remind myself of that daily. Sometimes it’s easier than others.

I am glad to be taking a breather this weekend with not a lot to do. What wonderful things do you have planned for the weekend?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!