Camping in Black Mountain & Tackling Mt. Mitchell

Last Christmas I bought Brandon some camping gear - a tent, sleeping bags, and few accessories.  This weekend we FINALLY put them to use!!!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to set off to Black Mountain for the night.  It's at the base of Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River.

We wanted to get there early to set up camp so we'd have plenty of daylight to hike up Mt. Mitchell!  We had read about the trail all week long in anticipation.  It's technically about 11 and a half miles round trip.  One website describes the trail as follows:

Level of Difficulty: Most Difficult

Trail Tread Condition: Very Rough

Climb: Climbs Steeply

Intimidating....yes!  But we figured we're fit, active, pretty in shape.....we can tackle it for sure!  And so we were determined to do so!  Hahahahaha....

**Disclaimer - lots of pictures start now!  :) **

We got to this point and stopped so I could hop out to take a pic.  I pulled out our camera and realized I left the battery charging at home!!!  :(  I was SO sad!!  I could've cried!  But surprisingly, my lovely iphone and B's phone did a pretty good job capturing pics and we got some pretty good ones I think!

Made it to camp!

Intimidating!!

Oh boy...what are we getting ourselves into!?!

Oh how our enthusiasm would waver, hah.

B + M 4 eva!  <3

Such pretty colors!

Strong man!

Enjoying a protein bar and taking a breather, already feeling it in the legs!  Haha

Can't really see me, but we were finally gettin' up there and enjoying a view!

We made it!!!  SUCCESS!!!!!  Ahh the feeling of accomplishment!

The view paid off!

Handsome hubs

Ughhh....we made it to the top, but we still had to go back down!!!  Holy moly!  It took us about 4 hours, including lunch, to make it to the top!  And then another 3 to make it back down.  This hike was not for the faint of heart my friends!!  What naive hikers we were!  Haha, on the way down our legs were literally shaking.  We weren't sure we were ever gonna make it!  The black diamond hike lived up to its "most difficult" description for sure!  But we did it!!

Our awesome set up =) 

And our fire!!  We had the perfect set up - some tunes, celebratory beers, and yummy food!  We roasted some awesome wieners and delish s'mores over this baby!

We spent the rest of the night hanging out by our fire and enjoying our little adventure!  The ibuprofen kicked in so our legs weren't quite as sore.  

Whoa buddy are they sore today!!!  Haha, just a little reminder of our adventure that will probably linger for a few days!  We drove home reeking smelling of campfire and looking forward to a shower :)  In fact, somehow my phone still smells like campfire!  But all in all, it was a blast and I survived!  

I MAY or MAY NOT have walked into a tree AND/OR submerged my foot into cold spring water while trying to cross....but again, I survived!  We encountered no bears or bugs and we climbed a MOUNTAIN!!

I'd say camping was a success!

Weekend Update

As it turns out, most of my weekend updates get posted on Tuesdays. Whoops.  Mondays are usually just too daggum busy.  So, a little late on Tuesdays, YES, but better late than never at all right!?

We had a fun little weekend over here.

Friday night was low key....work out, some delicious Crisp for dinner, then dropped a buck 30 at Target.  No big deal!  Hah

I swear that place is like a black hole for my money!!  We had our list all planned out and then of course added a few extras.  Then before ya know it, BAM, we're $130 poorer.  We got some good stuff though, including 2 new camping chairs for this weekend & a new cooler as well!  Worth it I'd say =)

Saturday we celebrated the birthday of this sweet thang....

My sweet Jude Leeland is 4!!!  How can my nephew be 4!?!  Just yesterday he was a day old.

 

And then he was this chunky monkey lovable thing!!

And then a toddler...

....and a sweet big brother....

And now practically grown! 

This weekend we had a fun party for Jude and my brother Josh as he truly enters the 30s this Friday!

Course Ro & Wells got a gift or 2 as well :)

And this little ham ALWAYS steals the show!!

Jude loves soccer (just like his daddy!) and has been in a soccer clinic this fall.  Brandon and I got him his very own soccer goal for the back yard!  It was a big hit!  I mean, I know it wasn't a contest...but if it was...our gift would have totally won!!!  Haha, jk.  But really, we had fun playing with it before we left!

We got dinner after the party with my fam and then met Justin and Andrea out since J was in town :)

Sunday was a perfect fall day, complete with brunch, a nap to the Panther's in the background (losing! so sad!), a short run, and relaxation on the couch with my babe before another week.

Now I'm back to counting down the sleeps until B's back home!  Only 2 to go.....and I have sushi with Hunter to look forward to tomorrow night & dinner with Ashley Thursday night :)  Yay for friends!!

And Happy early Birthday Josh!!!  Love you brother!

2 truths and a lie

I workout.....so I can eat!  More!

This is an absolute truth.  I have terrible will power, my friends, but I come by it honestly! My will power stops at the grocery store.

If I buy it, I WILL eat it.  Hands down.

Ice cream for example.  If I were to buy ice cream....I would eat 5-7 (or 10-20, whatever) bites a night.  I would surely not scoop out a bowl of ice cream, because therefore I would be having a bowl of ice cream!  But I would eat it. every. day. until the carton was empty.

So I don't buy ice cream :`(  <---- sad weeping crying face as ice cream is my FAVORITE!

Whenever I cave and buy some chocolate or we do actually have sweets in the house....

ie cupcakes for B's birthday a few weeks ago, some homemade chocolate chip cookies, a pack of m&ms from the register

.....my motto tends to be "well I might as well hurry up and eat it all so it's gone!"

m&m packs last a good 4 minutes before they're gone and the half uneaten cupcake in the fridge screams at me all night cause it misses the other half already in my belly!

Once it's gone though, it is no longer a temptation :)  Good motto, right!?!

I also possess little self control when delicious foods are available.  Staff meetings when the PTA provides snacks, wedding showers, baby showers, etc. If it's out, I'm gonna need a little of it all....and I might go back for seconds.

But then, I go to the gym and I run my a$$ off!!  I know my limitations, my temptations, and my metabolism.  I know what to do to lose and maintain, so I do it.  (More so just the maintain part actually, I often give up on the things required to lose :) but I know what they are!)

Whatev...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm also on steroids.

Another truth!  Topical steroids that is.  I suffer from eczema, which in my older age has become very mild and is largely under control!

Except my itchy, itchy legs.  I end up using my cream (gosh, I sound 80! ha) about once a week to keep the itch away.

Otherwise, Brandon will awake to scratching at 2:37 am and tell me to "quit it!" and my legs will look like Benson used them as a scratching post.

Attractive right?

However, I don't encourage nor do I agree with the use of steroids!  And I strongly dislike the fact that I use said cream.  I feel using a topical steroid once a week for a prolonged time period cannot be a good thing, right!?

I really need to look into some natural remedies....any suggestions??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just love bugs!

Not!  This would be the lie.

I strongly dislike bugs....of any kind really.  Obviously there are unmentionable bugs that I just don't do and don't want to even speak their name.

But I don't even like little bugs....ants, or bees, or creepy crawly anything!

I jump up with cat like reflexes at the pool just hearing some form of bug fly by and promptly run, flail my arms, and scream like a little girl if any bug flies by more than once, is crawling on me, or even near me for that matter!

This being said.....I'm SUPER excited to go camping in a few weekends!! Seriously!  No sarcasm was intended for that sentence.

But my fear of the nasty little boogers that mother nature may allow into my tent and/or heaven forbid my sleeping bag is already giving me the heebie jeebies!!!

I think I'm gonna bring lots of bug spray!

2 Weddings & a Weekend in the dirty D!

The last weekend of September, the same weekend as birthday celebrations galore, my parents, B and I got all gussied up to head to my good childhood friend's wedding!!!

My sweet friend Erin was the most GO-geous bride!!  She was beaming as she said her "I do's" to her now hubby David!

Erin, Ashley and I were like the 3 musketeers growing up!  Always having sleepovers, spreading roll-on glitter over every square in of our bodies, making homemade movies of us baking....never a dull moment ;)  and such sweet memories!!  Now we're all grown, married, and havin' babies!  (Well actually, just Ashley has a baby for now, haha.)

Ashley and I finally got that pic of she and I that we'd been meaning to take! We were matching in our navy :)  My parents and I had a blast hanging out with Ashley & John and Ashley's parents!!  We made sure to all sit together at the reception and we broke out our sweet dance moves, too!  Ashley & I try to get together at least once a month, but it was fun having our hubbies there for a change!  I see a couples fall cookout in the near future!

I thought B and I were awfully cute with our matching navy, too!  Just wanted to include an all dolled up pic to document our good lookingness while we're young and still got it ;)

I also experimented with my hair do....poofed it up a bit instead of the same ol' same ol' straight, side part!  I'm a fan, I think it looked very dressy & classy.  I'm becoming an expert poofer thanks to all the lessons from my friend Andrea!  I'm gettin' there.

This past weekend we flew off to the dirty D (Detroit for those of you not married to a Michigander or gangsta like myself) for back to back wedding weekends!  Our friends Kelly & Ryan were getting hitched so we made a weekend out of it!

I took some PTO from work Friday, so Thursday after school I promptly headed to Polished to get my nails beautified.

I was in love with my purple nail polish so I took a pic Friday morning on the way to the airport :) **side note - my husband thinks I take pictures of the silliest things, including myself, my nails, food, etc.  Whatev - its all for the blog baby!**

Anyway, Friday was amazing....we had a direct flight with ZERO complications or delays (that's like a miracle for us!), got to our hotel, ate a delish lunch, and then took a nap - in the middle of the day!!  Yessir.....cause we could!

Friday night, we went to go cheer on the Tigers in the MLB playoffs!  (Again, married to a Michigander so I'm now a tiggles fan :)  the Braves haven't been so hot in a while anyways!)  One of B's good friends from back home works at the restaurant/bar BlackFinn not too far from our hotel, so we set off for dinner & drinks there!

The game got rained out, but it was still a fun mini date on our weekend away!  (The Tiger's are now headed for game 5 in the playoffs, tied with the yanks 2-2...ahhh!!)

Saturday we slept in (yessir....cause we could!!), ran a little in the hotel gym, and lounged around before getting fancied up once again.  It's a tough job being fancy all the time, I tell ya.....

This time I thought I'd curl my hair....wasn't really feeling it!  It was alright....I think I'll stick with straight and a poof from now on, ha.

The wedding and reception were so beautiful!!!  Clearly I was not in charge of pics so of course there are a lot, haha.

I realize this is blurry, but Kelly's niece Kenzie, the flower girl, was SO shy & did not like anyone looking at her walk down the aisle!  She buried her head in her mom's bum the whole way down!!  Haha

The 1st kiss!!

The dress!  So beautiful!!!  The church was gorgeous as well!

 

The stunning atrium where the reception was held!  Right at our hotel, so convenient!

See, my hair just looks better straight.  This proves it!  B is handsome in his new suit though :)

Ashley & I!!

TABLE 3!!!  Woohoo!

Handome men, B with the groom!

And I just wouldn't be myself if I didn't ruin a cute pic :)

So much wedding fun two weekends in a row!!  Our early wake up call Sunday morning however, was terrible! less than so much fun....but well worth it in the end!

Sunday we made it back to the Queen City (glitch free again!) and now we're back to the daily grind.  We're so excited for our friends and couldn't be happier for them as they begin their marriages!!!

So now I'll leave you with the marriage advice I gave to both couples that I received some months ago.....in the words of my wise, eldest brother - 

fight naked ;)

September Birthdays

Well now that it's October.....I thought I'd finally post about the 2 awesome birthdays we celebrated the last two weeks of September!

My wonderful momma turned fifty some years young on the 22nd and my amazing husband turned the big 2-8 on the 27th!!

Typically my parents are in town about once a month, but between our travels and what not, we seemed to miss them the last time they were here. They were up the last weekend of September, though so we were able to get all the fam together that Saturday afternoon!

We went to the UH-may-ZING restaurant Pike's Old Fashion Soda Shop in South End.

Pike's is delish and the real deal.  They have the cutest old fashion counter when you walk in and a list of mouth watering milkshake flavors written on a hanging chalk board staring at you in the face begging to be bought and eaten!! Its torture really ;)

We had a special little room off to the side since there were 13 of us!  Haha, we travel in large groups....it's something Brandon's getting used to.

I had a grilled pimento cheese sandwich and a cookies and cream milkshake and B had an open faced turkey sandwich and a root beer float!  Are you running there yet!?

I'm pretty sure everyone indulged in either a milkshake, float, or sundae....and why not!?!?!  We were celebrating!!

I'm SO thankful for my wonderful momma!!!  She's such an awesome woman, whom I look up to so much!  She deserves every ounce of celebration, and more!  Hope your birthday was spectacular Mom!!

We were also celebrating this guy....

My fantastic, amazing, sweet husband!!  He does SO much to make me feel special all the time, so I hope I made him feel special on his birthday!!  

I mentioned his Omaha Steak Package as part of his gift that came a wee bit early, but I also planned for Brandon and I and a few of our friends to try out our new Comedy Zone in the Music Factory!!  

Not sure if you've ever heard of Anjelah Johnson, or better known as Bon qui qui from MadTV!?!?  Well if you haven't, you're missing out!  She's hilarious!!! I had to share her nail salon bit on here, it's THAT funny!!

The Comedy Zone was a blast and definitely something different, so we can't wait to go back again!  I bought a groupon there over the summer which has to be used by December....so we'll definitely be going back!

Brandon was traveling over his actual birthday.  Had to say in a hotel, all my himself :(  I could only wish him happy birthday from afar!  But he was in Daytona and woke up to this...

not too shabby, huh!?!

Thankfully his other gift finally arrived before he got back in to town that Thursday.  A 12 pack of beer!!

   

Ha, I got Brandon a 3 month subscription to a beer of the month club! So we'll be sampling some hopefully tasty & different beers over the upcoming holidays!  I'm pretty excited, hope he won't mind sharing his gift!!  :)  **I can't take full credit for this idea, my friend Ashley led me to her friend Rachel's blog, which is where I got the idea!  So thank's Rachel!!**

And happy, happy 28th babe!  I love you!!  You're my favorite - to the moon!!!

I'm SO, super glad I FINALLY got to blog again!  I will hopefully definitely be back sooner than 2 weeks later this time - hopefully in the next day or two with details on 2 weddings & a weekend away!

Adios amigos - its good to be back, but I'm off to bed!  Glad all of our Monday's are over!