Birthday Bash: The Biltmore (Plan B)

 

Last Thursday I started telling you about our birthday trip, and then I took a break for all the weekend posts. Kind of mean, wasn’t it? Start a trip and then immediately take a break? Well, I’m back today with the next bit of the story.

            As I mentioned on Thursday, the whole reason for this trip was to visit the Biltmore. We received gifted tickets, so we built this trip around that. I should tell you from the start that this day was when Plan B launched into full effect.

            When Lynnette and I went to the Biltmore 12 years ago (almost to the day) one thing I remembered was that the house is not air conditioned and that it started to get pretty toasty as the day heated up. Thankfully we had arrived when they first opened, and we were through the house by late morning – before the day heated up miserably. I told Ryan we needed to be sure to do the same.

            So we got up, had breakfast at the hotel, hopped in the car and drove to the Biltmore. 

The nice lady who scanned our gifted tickets at the entrance asked if we planned to leave the property and come back, and we told her no. She reminded us that our tickets would not permit us to enter once we left, and then she sent us on our merry way. We parked walked up to the photo opp area and were thrilled to find that there weren’t too many people there yet, so we could get some good pictures.

            (If you haven’t been to the Biltmore before, there is a whole viewing area at the opposite end of the lawn from the mansion, so you can get pictures of/with the building from a distance. Here are pictures from my visit with Lynnette and from the time Ryan and I visited at Christmas!)

            We did our pictures and skipped merrily toward the house for our tour. We went through security and made our way to the front door. The gentleman there asked about our timed entry.

            Say what?

            “When is your entry time? It’s on your ticket.”

            I told him we didn’t have a timed entry, and he asked to see our tickets to prove me wrong. I handed him the tickets and, in fact, he was wrong. There wasn’t a time on there. Unfortunately, we still needed one of those.

            You see the Plan B coming into effect, don’t you?

            I had read the website before we came, but apparently, I didn’t read far enough into the FAQs to know I needed a timed entry. And no one who had checked our tickets leading up to the front door had noticed or mentioned it. I knew we had needed one at Christmas for the candlelight tour. I did not remember needing one when Lynnette and I came 12 years ago. The front door gentleman sent us to Guest Services, where the very sweet and apologetic lady told us that the soonest we could get in that day was 2:30 p.m.

            It was 9 a.m.

            To my credit, I did not cry, but I was so sad in my heart. What in the world would we do on a blistering hot day, waiting around until mid-afternoon? We couldn’t leave and come back. We’d already been told that!

            We took a couple of minutes for me to regroup and decided to walk around the grounds. Ryan had never seen the beautiful gardens and trails, because we came in the winter last time! So we set out to see all the beauty, and it was indeed stunning. Here are just a few of our pictures!

            It took us a couple of hours to see all this, and then we made our way to the courtyard to get some coffee. (Hot for Ryan, iced for me.) We hid away in a very shaded corner and people-watched while we formulated a new plan.

            We decided not to stay until our tour time. I’ve seen the inside twice, and Ryan has seen it once, and we decided we would just call it a day with a tour of the grounds. We had made enough use of the tickets to feel good about it.

            While I shopped for our ornament souvenir, Ryan found a new lunch plan for us, and we made our way back to our car and off to lunch.

            We went to Juicy Lucy’s, which was something else he’d seen on TV. It’s known for its burgers and milkshakes, and we tried both!

            Ryan got the Juicy Lucy, and I got a salad – and both were delicious.

            When lunch was over, we split a Snickers milkshake, which was SO GOOD. (Milkshakes are my downfall. I could drink one every minute of every day.)

            Totally recommend if you’re in the area!

            And so began our plan B portion of the trip...which was basically the rest of the trip. 

Sunday Sentiments: Being Still

 

This morning I’m sharing a message on stillness, and you know it’s a topic that is dear to my heart.

            This weekend I actually had extended periods of time to practice stillness in ways I’ve not been able to do for weeks. Months, maybe.

            Ryan had two days off work, and though we went on some dates and ran some errands, most of our time was spent at home. We ate meals outside by the lake. We talked with our neighbors. We rested. We made bread. It was so delightful.

            But my favorite part was yesterday when I had a little bit of time to lay in the hammock before my family came over for lunch. The lake was quiet, the sun was shining with clouds dancing across the sky, and I found myself praying quietly. Asking God specific questions about what He has for me.

            And I heard His quiet whisper.

            It wasn’t even so much about the answer as it was about the hearing. It took me back to fourteen summers ago when my heart was so broken and yet I was so close to the Lord and heard His whisper often. I miss hearing as much as I did then.

            But then again, I miss being as still as I was. To hear, I must be still. And I don’t think I’ve been quite still enough to hear.

            It was meaningful to hear at all. It was meaningful to hear on the eve of speaking on this topic. It was meaningful to hear words that settled over me in profound ways.

            If you haven’t been still for a while, I hope you’ll do it today. You don’t need a hammock (though it doesn’t hurt!). You just need some time and the determination to hear.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspiration for Your Weekend

 

Good morning, friends! Ryan and I have had the best weekend. He was off work for the 4^th and then took yesterday off too and we have just thoroughly enjoyed some rest and the ability to work on some projects at home. This whole year has been so wildly crazy that we haven’t had much time for weekends like this one. What a gift! We have some more fun planned for today, and while we enjoy that, I have some links for you to peruse!

ONE. 

I haven’t told you about this part of our trip yet, but we drove part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of my someday-trip dreams includes driving the entire parkway and seeing sights along the way. If you aren’t familiar, the road itself isn’t terribly long for a road trip (somewhere around 500 miles, I think) but if you want to enjoy things along the way, it takes a little longer to explore. I’m saving this list for later, because it has a pretty big list of attractions along the way! BONUS: Hereare some pictures of some of those stops on the parkway, if you want a feel for what you could see!

TWO. 

Ryan and I have one giant wall in our bedroom that is completely blank. We’ve left it that way intentionally, because although we know we want to feature pictures from our adventures, we aren’t sure how we want to do it. Do we want big photos? Small ones? We aren’t sure. I found some ideas on Pinterest. Maybe this? (Easy to swap out as we update our adventures…) Or more like this? (Because it’s unique…) A bigger print option like this? (Traditional and easy to see…) Thoughts?

THREE: 

You know what we haven’t done for a long, long time? Roast our own coffee beans. I gave Ryan a roaster (small one) when we lived in Kokomo, and then in the chaos of not having a good space to roast when we lived at WillowBridge, we just got away from doing it entirely. This post made me want to try again!

FOUR: 

One of the ladies I follow on Instagram just turned 40 and had a book-themed party. Doesn’t that sound fun? I love it that a book themed party works for ANY kind of party – not just birthdays. Here are some ideas for food and décor (and invitations!) if you ever want to try it! BONUS: Here are somemore ideas, and I have to say that the library tapestry is pretty amazing!

FIVE: 

Somesimple summer décor ideas for inside your home! Summer is probably the season I decorate the least (at least specific to the season) but I love the way the just uses simple towels and fresh cut flowers to make a big impact!

SIX: 

Over the course of several years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking at the women’s retreat for Big Lake Church of God in Columbia City. When you keep going back year after year, you start to make friends and feel like you know people pretty well! One of the sweet ladies at the retreat has been working hard to build an Airbnb out of shipping containers. I’ve had the best time following the journey on social media, and now it’s OPEN and ready for business! Hereis the link. Isn’t it gorgeous???

BONUS:

And now…some capsule wardrobe fun!

Saturday, June 29, 2024

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Thursday, July 04, 2024

Friday, July 05, 2024

Foodie Friday: Homemade Granola

 

For the first half of this year, I devoted Friday posts to sharing with you some ways to write your own life story, one week at a time. I decided to switch things up starting this month (and we’ll see how long it goes) to start sharing some recipes. I used to share recipes regularly and got away from it over the years. But right now I’m actively working to create a recipe box for our home, and I thought I’d share some of our favorites with you.

            Ryan and I have worked hard on our health in the last ten months. We’ve made a lot of changes in what we eat and how we cook. (And we almost never eat fast food anymore. And while we never ate out a ton, in our opinion, we do so even less now.)

            So I’m sharing today one of the new recipes we are enjoying!

            Several year ago, I shared a homemade granola recipe I made, and I probably used it for a good five years, if not longer. It’s still a good one! But then I found the recipe for the granola we had at a bed and breakfast on our honeymoon. They shared it on their website, and I was thrilled to have it. I shared it here, and it was so good. But it’s not so good for you.

            I wondered if I could find a recipe that was not so full of processed sugar but still tasted as yummy as the bed and breakfast granola recipe.

            And you know? I did!

            If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I have often cooked from the Dashing Dish website. And that’s where I found my new granola recipe. If you’re not familiar, Dashing Dish is a website full of recipes created by Katie Farrell. She’s a former nurse who now devotes her life to helping women live healthier, more confident lives. She creates recipes and workouts that I love! Some of the recipes are free for the public and some are for website-members. The granola recipe is one of the member-only ones, so I don’t feel like it’s right to share it in full here. But I will tell you that a membership to Katie’s site is totally worth it, and I’ll tell you the things included in this granola that we have come to love so much!

Almond Flour: Obviously you’ll want to do some kind of swap if you have a nut allergy, but I think the almond flour might be one of the best things about this recipe! It adds some protein and healthy fat – and flavor!

Old-Fashioned Oats: I use these exclusively now – eliminating quick oats entirely.

Sweetener: The whole topic of sweetener can be really controversial, and ultimately we all have to choose what we feel most comfortable with. I have used baking stevia in the last few months and it’s working well for us. If you prefer not to use that, you could choose something else.

Cinnamon

Salt

Maple Syrup: I have started using this much more often in the last handful of years. Ryan’s stepdad tapped trees and would give us maple syrup! I miss that!

Almonds: I use sliced almonds, because I like how delicate they are. If I can’t find them, I use slivered.

The recipe comes together quickly and only uses one bowl, making it easy for cleanup. One thing I have noticed about this recipe is to bake it on the lower end of the suggested time. Our oven doesn’t tend to bake hot or fast, but I have had problems with this recipe burning if I bake it the full/longer suggested time.

I normally make a double batch each time I bake it, just because it is a smaller recipe and I don’t want to keep baking so often. I store it in a cute little glass jar I received as a Christmas gift a few years ago and eat it almost every day on Greek yogurt, lightly sweetened with honey. I add berries on top – usually strawberries and/or blueberries. It makes a fantastic breakfast or snack. It’s sweet, flavorful, and full of protein!

Two final notes:

 It doesn’t matter how healthy anything is if you eat the full batch in one sitting, which would be easy to do with this recipe because it is SO GOOD! I eat just a small portion on my yogurt!

            And secondly, this granola makes a great traveling snack. When we went on vacation, I took disposable spoons, some honey, and cleaned berries, and then I purchased single serving Greek yogurt cups. I made little yogurt parfaits to eat in the hotel room, and they were so good!