Birthday Bash!!

This almost concludes the vacation fun... thanks for hanging in there with me while I told you about my trip!!

After Lynnette and I went on our Blue Ridge Parkway drive, we spent the afternoon shopping in Biltmore Village and then...time for the birthday fun!!

I had this in the weekly recap a couple of weeks ago as my Pinterest inspiration, but here's more elaboration. I'd seen this idea to wrap up a bunch of gifts and have the recipient open one every hour. That was my plan, but since we were out and about all day, that was harder to do than I anticipated, so instead, I had her open them all at one time. Each gift was marked with a number so she could open them in a specific order.

As she unwrapped...she found everything she needed for a luau party!

Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Balloons, candles, decorations, outfits, and party supplies!!

We waited to have the actual party, because....look what we went to see!

She found (in her handy dandy research) that the Montford Park Players were doing a play in an outdoor amphitheater in Asheville! Shakespeare, no less. She loves Shakespeare, so she asked if that would be okay for us to do, and I said sure! (I always need some culture in my life.)

The amphitheater was REALLY cool. It was built into the side of a hill like this:

We could bring lawn chairs or blankets or whatever...and picnics, even!!! We brought a blanket and a picnic, which was SUPER exciting to me because you know...picnics were on my summer livin' list! CHECK!!!!

The people in front of us were hard core. They brought a table and everything!!  Here is Lynnette with the stage behind her.

Our picnic!! We just went to a grocery store and got little sammiches and took chips and no-bake cookies we brought with us from home. :)

The play??? Well it was none other than the story of my life: Much Ado About Nothing!

The play lasted about 3 hours and was REALLY well done. The actors were funny and engaging. (They even mingled in the audience some.) Here was the final bow....

Our fuzzy self-photogrpahy during intermission. (No flash allowed, so we couldn't do better.)

By the time we got back to our hotel, it was almost 11:00. We still had to pack so we could leave early Sunday morning. But no time for that....we had a party to attend!! I'd brought sparkling grape juice (which had been attempting to chill in the ice bucket) and I went out to buy iced brownies for our snack. We donned our matching flip flops and leis and grass skirts and decorated the room...minus lighting the candles because I LOST THE MATCHES I BROUGHT FROM 500 MILES AWAY - which we found about 10 minutes AFTER the party. Good grief.

She said it was an amazing birthday...and I'm so glad! I had so much fun with her and hope we can road trip again! FUN!!!!!!!

Blue Ridge Parkway Tour

The last full day of our vacation was Lynnette's birthday, so we spent the day celebrating her! After we visited the Farmer's Market, we went driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We started out at a Visitor's Center, so we could get an idea of where we were going. On our way into the center from the parking lot, we passed several tents set up...kind of a little information fair of different kinds park/hiking stuff. Lynnette casually said, "Oh look! A snake!!" And I was stupid enough to look.

One of the information booth people was indeed holding an honest to goodness snake. I about died.

So much so that on the way back OUT of the center, I was so mentally focused on ignoring that stupid snake, I got in the wrong car!!!!

Oh yes.

I did.

I quickly got out of the random stranger's car and INTO Lynnette's car where we began a very long trek up a gorgeous, winding NARROW two-lane wooded road....

...which was occasionally filled with rock walls....

...and little overlook places where we could pull to the side and get out to see the gorgeous sites. Please make note of the increase in elevation....

Interesting Bekah fact: I have a love/fear of heights. I love heights. I love being able to be up there and able to see what's going on. I am scared to death of the EDGE of heights. Like I love sitting in a balcony, but I'm petrified to walk the stairway of a balcony because I am afraid I'll trip and snowball my way down. So I LOVED this sight....but I was totally sweating to be standing this close to the edge.

And we're climbing!!!!

At this point I began having a (semi-honest) panic attack that I would run out of oxygen. No ceiling for little mask to fall out for me!! This sign says that this was the location of the last known buffalo in the area, which was killed in the late 1700s. I told Lynnette that we should be good to go on the winding road...no surprise buffalo.

I thought this said LAKE Pinnacle, so it took me a while to figure out why I didn't have a lake in my view. GOOD GRIEF.

And finally - our destination!! This was about the top of the line for this road. It was blissfully cool up at this elevation and though it was a sunny day, we were in the clouds!

This was 7/10ths of a mile away from us and we'd been told we could walk up (you can see people standing just above the brown spot on the picture) but um....we didn't realize it would be an honest to goodness hike...and guess who wore flip flops???

So rather than hiking it....we watched these people milling about at the top. (I would have passed right out that close to the edge, I'm sure of it.)

Here we are!!! (We were self-portraiting and some nice people offered to take our picture for us.)

The birthday girl and the spectacular Blue Ridge Mountain view....

Absolutely stunning.

On the way back down, we were passed by TWO vehicles. Stupid drivers. Who passes on a 2 lane curvy mountain???? Just because you drive a sports car doesn't mean you can put people's lives at risk. HELLO!!!!!!!

That, of course, made me wonder how in the world emergency crews got on any scene quickly that high up...I wonder what my blood pressure was by the time we got back on level ground? LOL!!!

Loved the drive (seriously!) and would 100% do it again - in regular shoes this time, so I could go up that last bit of the way!!! (And hold tightly to someone's hand - even if it's a perfect stranger - so I could get as near to the edge as possible!)

Just Some Miscellany

Here are some random moments from vacation....

There are times when the phone just isn't reliable for weather. Please note the forecast on the phone....and the weather outside the window.

We had a couple of ice cream treats along the way! In this one we were huddled under a ginormous umbrella in the 2 tiny dry seats following the above "mostly sunny" rainstorm.

So one morning, I opened the hotel door to find a USA Today outside in the hallway. Not being a big fan of news reading, I tossed it on Lynnette's bed, and she read it while she ate breakfast. I heard her say, "Marion, Indiana??" I said, "Oh great. Did someone get shot?" Turns out...not so much....just an update on the 4H fair. Seriously? I go five states away and the 4H fair follows me????

We may or may not have done a little shopping while we were gone. :) Among our stops....A FARMER'S MARKET!!!!!!! I was so excited! My second time this year - and it was on my summer livin' list. I guess I'm REALLY livin'! This one was much more of a permanent establishment than the one I went to in Granville. Multiple buildings and open every day.

The "ice cream garden." Could anything be more lovely? Ahhhh the garden of ice cream.

We ended up shopping at Belks (we don't have those here - but maybe some of you know what I'm talking about) and I got a SUPER cute dress...which I'm sure you'll see soon. And we made our way around the Biltmore Village, which was a collection of stores just outside the estate. I didn't buy anything there except lunch. :)

Everyone knows a good girls' weekend out includes SHOPPING!!!!

Outside the Biltmore

The Biltmore is as stunning OUTSIDE as it is INSIDE. So here's a sampling (and only a sampling...you're welcome) of our outdoor tour.

We ate lunch there on the grounds. Just outside the house was the carriage house area...renovated into gift shops and an eatery. We ate at the Courtyard Market which is hiding behind that palm tree looking thing.

We opted to share a pizza (we got the half-serving and it was PLENTY enough) - kind of a chicken florentine sort of thing. We ate outside, and the weather was just perfect!!

Okay you all know I'm a dork, so this picture won't surprise you. :) Found me a man:

He's quiet and sits very still. :) And apparently I wouldn't have to spend much time doing laundry!

When we were done eating and looking around the area immediately outside the house, we ventured over into the gardens. BEAUTIFUL rose gardens...even though rose season is largely over:

This was the hot house. Had my picture taken with the sign in honor of my broken internal thermostat, which makes EVERY house a hot house for this girl. (The thermometer in here registered 105. Yep. That's hot.)

Always take time to stop and smell the roses.

We stopped to get a bottle of water, because it was REALLY hot outside. THREE DOLLARS AND TWENTY ONE CENTS FOR THAT BOTTLE OF WATER. Did I keep it? As my mother would say, you bet your sweet bippy!! (No idea what a bippy is or why in the world someone would bet it.)

This little creek wandered all through the gardens and finally I could stand it no more. I had to get my toes wet. :)

Gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. (Talking about the scenery, not me. HELLO!)

Loved this bridge. And reflecting pictures. Love those too.

Lynnette standing on this really weird "bridge." It was just two stones sticking up even with the path. No room for error on that one!!

Some really nice guy took our picture in front of this waterfall. It was at this point that the thunder rumbling in the distance was becoming louder and more frequent, so we hurried back to the house after this one!

We paused to take the outside pictures at the house (that you already saw) and then caught the shuttle back to the parking lot. It was SO HOT - and I was desperate for air conditioning. When we got back to Sammy, we just sat there for a while with the air blasting full force. Our faces had completely slid off and our hair had wilted. Good thing we have been friends for a long time and are not offended by that sort of thing.

Praising in the Storm

Yesterday I mentioned the nasty storm that rolled (slammed) through Fort Wayne on Friday. After coming home, calming down, and thinking more about it...I had some observations that I think deserve their own post, so I'm interrupting my vacation chatter to tell you about this.

* I hate storms. HATE storms. Never loved them, came to entirely hate them after the tornado of 1997 and spent several years actually paralyzed in fear every time even the tiniest storm came along. I'm much better now. Ironically the Greensburg tornado taught me that if the big one REALLY does happen, you can't stop it...and life can be rebuilt. So a lot of the fears went away after that. Having said that...I still hate storms and while I can now make it through a regular thunderstorm without incident, I freak out in really bad storms.

*91 mile an hour winds constitute a "really bad storm." And that's exactly what Fort Wayne got on Friday. And because of that, I'm not going to feel bad about crying at work.

* My car was parked under a tree. A nice, young, healthy tree, to be honest, but I also don't think 91 mile an hour winds care much about which trees are young and healthy. Trees are trees and the fine city lost a great number of them on Friday. Thankfully NOT the one perched above my car.

* The roof leaked right above my desk. And by leaked, I mean a waterfall. Water poured down for about 5 minutes before we found a satisfactory tub to catch it (at which point we caught about an inch in a 66 quart tote). Had this storm happened even 2 hours later, we would have been gone from work, and the water would have soaked into all the books on that shelf, ruining them.

* It's been weeks since I had to stay late to work, but Friday night, Lynne and I were scheduled to take food to the Party Palooza winner's party. At the regular quitting time for work, I could not have gotten home, because that way were closed...because of overturned vehicles and downed trees. By the time I finished working the party and headed home, the road was open again.

* 50,000 people and businesses were out of power after the storm. Our party was scheduled to be held at a store near one mall and the restaurant catering the meal was in another mall. Though power was out all around both malls, those two particular businesses had power and the party went on as scheduled.

You can't tell me God doesn't care about the details. Even if, in the grand scheme of life, they're completely insignificant.

It's the Weekly Recap!!

* Last Sunday I drove 500 miles in one day, through five states, to get home from vacation, THUS MARKING - my longest solo drive ever at one time. (Pathetic but true.) There was one furry little occupant of this house who was so excited to see me that she skipped eating her treat. (No occupants of this house often skip food, so that's kind of a big deal.) HOME SAFE! Praise the Lord!

* Monday I made my first pilgrimage to the lake (this year, anyway) and had a BLAST out on the water. And um....got totally crispy fried, DESPITE two applications of sunscreen and wearing a beach towel over my legs and feet for the last hour of the adventure. Still, important lesson learned: if you're going to get burned, take the band-aids off your feet first. (And sorry for the rest of the view. I am not a foot model! ICK!!)

* Tuesday I drove to Indianapolis to visit one of my college roommates, Jenny and we spent the day together! Her little boy is HILARIOUS and he cracked me right up. I also stopped to see my sister, Julie, and we had dinner together. And....guess what this girl did to continue the vacation adventure? Want a hint?

Second piercing! That is as close to the edge as I live.

* Wednesday was my last day off work, and my first day to be completely lazy. I slept in...watched TV...did some scrapping...you know, lazy stuff. Had some help with it too:

 Yep. She missed me. I went to visit my old office and then (sniff, sniff, moment of silence) I had to take my precious Sammy back to the rental place. Man, I loved that car. Wanted to keep him.

* Thursday I returned to work and actually enjoyed doing so!! (Hope you were sitting down for that!!) Lynne welcomed me back in style:

And we shared the airwaves for a show all about weddings. We had a blast. I just love working with her. Have I mentioned that?? And Thursday was also the day it was 106 degrees IN OUR STATE. That's about the hottest I ever remember it being in my adult (or ever) life. You can imagine my joy.

* Friday was a very full day. We had a ridiculously horrible storm in the afternoon. It blew up out of nowhere and Ms. Scared-to-Death-of Storms was in actual tears at her desk. I hate crying at work. Especially over dumb things like storms. This was Lynne's solution to my storm-drama:

It's not there if you can't see it, she says! It lasted a while and resulted in TONS of downed trees and debris in town...and 50,000 people without power...and much cooler temps! In other news...Lynne and I went to our party palooza winner's luau party (dressed for the occasion) - and I ran one mile without stopping. In nine minutes. Thankyouverymuch.

* Saturday night I hosted game night at my house!!! I had to miss the last one because I had the flu, so it was great to be back with my friends! And by that, of course, I mean getting my tail KICKED. I cannot win with these people. But I'm very good for their self-esteem!! :)

One Thousand Gifts: I will write more about this later, I'm sure, but on Friday, when Fort Wayne got blasted with the horrible storm, there were 50,000 people/places without electricity throughout the county. It was the night of our party palooza winner's party and despite the closed roads and lack of power, everyone was able to make it to the party, and both the store hosting the party AND the restaurant providing the food had power. I call that a miracle.

Pinterest Inspiration: People. Prepare to be amazed. (Are you prepared???)

I had to make a dessert for work this week, for a co-worker who is an amazing cook. Nothing puts fear in a girl like cooking for a cook. So, because THIS is a smart solution to that problem, I thought...hey! Let's try something brand new! (Never claimed to be intelligent, my friends.) So I made this:

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Here is mine:

They. Loved. It. At. Work.