Foothills Parkway & Gatlinburg Shenanigans

Happy Weekend Y'all!!! 

This past week has been completely full of snow, mountains, and magic. 

There is something magical about snow, especially high up in the mountains. Whenever it snows, Nathan and I like to cruise into the mountains because the beauty never disappoints.
Last week, the hubs and I were super excited about our first "snow." Knoxville only got a few flurries, but we knew the mountains would have more!
Up we went, into the Foothills Parkway!

We were hoping to see much more snow, but it was still a gorgeous day and enough snow to tie us over until the next "real" snowfall!

On a separate occasion, hubby and I went up into Gatlinburg! It has probably been a few years since we have been up there.

As soon as we drove into Gatlinburg, we were ready for some breakfast/lunch.

Pancake Pantry ended up being our decision, and wow, that was a HUGE mistake.

Nathan and I were both incredibly disappointed with Pancake Pantry. It wasn't very busy, but we waited a while for a hostess to sit us at a table. Then we waited forever for one of the many waitresses to come by just get our drinks and give us silverware. We were both starving so we each ordered omelettes. Nathan had the ham and cheese, and I ordered a western omelette. When our plates arrived, I think I actually laughed out loud. The "omelette" I ordered, was literally cooked flat eggs with vegetables (barely cooked), and a non-melted cheese slice on top. The three tiny pancakes on the side were nothing special. For $15 EACH a plate, it was ridiculous. Even the maple syrup was watered down. Phew, at least now we know we won't be going back there. Luckily, Gatlinburg has TONS of other pancake/breakfast restaurants around the area. 

After our sad breakfast, we walked around "The Village" area in Gatlinburg to cheer us up.

I adore the old European feel you get in The Village section.

The Spice & Tea Exchange

Pop Culture

I was thrilled when I saw there was a "Zi Olive" store! We had a Zi Olive right down the road from us not too long ago, but they left! Their gourmet olive oil's and balsamic vinegars are delicious and make cooking easier!

I had to try the smoked pecan olive oil, and it was alright. However, the employee had me try it mixed WITH the Kentucky Bourbon balsamic vinegar and WOW that was SO GOOD! 

I'm looking forward to trying these for some new recipes soon!

Wednesday was National Hot Cocoa Day! I've been celebrating with hot cocoa quite a bit this season. 😏

As far as Christmas music goes...there is no better Christmas song than "O'Holy Night," and my favorite version is O Holy Night - Glee Cast

 It's a gorgeous song, and this version does this song completely beautifully. 

However, if you do enjoy something more modern (I do, as well), try out (on iTunes) Kaskade Christmas! I've enjoyed this album a LOT this Holiday Season! It's modern and unique!!

QUESTIONS:

* How do you enjoy your Hot Cocoa?

* What is your favorite Christmas Song?

* What is your favorite Christmas movie?

7 Year Wedding Anniversary!

Wow guys! I've been slacking on my blog posts! I have been crazy busy lately but hopefully things will slow down a bit here soon.

This is what has been going on:

Nathan and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary on April 17th!!!

Seven years ago, we were married at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC! This June we will have been together for 10 years! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! <3 I am truly blessed to have found such an incredible man to spend the rest of my life with!

To celebrate our anniversary, we did what we love to do - explore & hike!

We made our way up to Pickett State Park on our anniversary and checked out the second natural bridge!

The weather was certainly in our favor this whole past week, so it was a no brainer to enjoy the sunshine and be outside! It was wonderful to have a "staycation." 

It's exciting to find random spots like the silo emerged in water below:

Or even admiring beautiful flowers:

We headed through Townsend and ended up in the Great Smoky Mountains. We saw a baby black bear! He was surprisingly close to the road, but there was also a ranger there to keep an eye on him (as well as the other people watching). It was such a cutie! I was worried that Mamma bear would be around, but the ranger said after the cubs turn about 2 years old, the Mamma leaves and lets them go their own way. 

I was happy to hear that, especially since I just saw the movie "The Revenant" with Leonardo DiCaprio...

If you have seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

 There is something magical about the mountains! I love when Nate and I have the opportunity to go out and explore! :)

Anyway, the rest of our staycation was extremely enjoyable because we had the chance to relax and try out a few places around town that we never have checked out before!

Holly's Gourmet Cafe:

The atmosphere was really cool! The display of baked goods was incredible - thankfully I resisted (for now). 

I had the egg white scramble with goat cheese. Yum! It was very good! It can be hard finding healthier options sometimes at restaurants that actually taste great, so I'm definitely going back!

I had a little bit of time to volunteer last week. I always look forward to volunteering and spending time with all the animals. It was wonderful hanging out with the cats and giving them love. They were the sweetest and they loved that I was in there giving them rubs! 

I also got to walk two adorable dogs, Princess and Sammy! :) 

Princess

Sammy

For one of our breakfast outings, we went to Best Bagels and Deli. I had the Asiago bagel with bacon, egg, and cheese. Nathan had an onion bagel with sausage, egg, and cheese. There was quite a line, but it was worth it. The bagel sandwich was hot, fresh & delicious! 

For our celebratory anniversary lunch, we went to Copper Cellar! Copper Cellar has amazing prime rib and steaks! Copper Cellar is our go-to for Christmas parties for work, and it is always delicious! I was excited to finally go with Nathan! :) 

Afterward, we stopped at Barnes & Noble for coffee and to look around. Even though the majority of my books are on my iPad, I still love bookstores! Barnes & Noble has such a relaxing atmosphere, it is fun to sit and read books/magazines with a hot cup of coffee. 

Haha, so basically all of our fun consisted of FOOD. At least we went hiking, etc. but we obviously, need to start eating more at home. As fun as it is trying out new restaurants, it can be too tempting to eat unhealthy meals. 

Time to start looking up recipes and figuring out what to make for at home meals! ;)

Question Time:

* Do you prefer reading real books or books on iPad/Tablet?

* Do you enjoy hiking/exploring?

* Have you tried out many local restaurants? Or do you have a favorite local place?

A Weekend in Nashville!

Hey lovelies! It has been a little while since my last blog post! Last weekend I was in Nashville, so I'll catch you up on that amazing weekend! :) I'm finally getting back into the swing of things and can't wait to tell you all about my time in Nashville! Be prepared for a long post!! Hehe!

I really had an awesome time in Nashville with my Momma-in-law! It was her Birthday weekend and it was great to celebrate with her! She and I had a wonderful girl's weekend exploring Nashville together!

Nathan and I got to Nashville a few hours before his parents, so we took a short drive over to the Bluebird Cafe! The Bluebird Cafe is featured a lot on the show, Nashville! I had to stop and take a picture of it. Hehe!

We all met up late afternoon and decided to head downtown for dinner. We stopped at Acme Feed & Seed on Broadway for a quick appetizer and drinks. I wanted to check it out because the restaurant had been featured on the show, American Pickers!

We had dinner next door at the restaurant, Rock Bottom. The food there is very, very good! Too good because I forgot to take pictures! ;p 

Friday morning the boys headed out to Pickett State Park for a star party. We headed down the road to Franklin! We both love looking at antiques and there is a huge antique store downtown Franklin - in the Factory. It took us a good amount of time walking around checking out all the beautiful antiques.

The Factory at Franklin

In the Factory, there were tons of other stores for us to stop and look at. We had a late lunch at Saffire.

Saffire Martini

Fried Green Tomatoes

Friday night, we went to a concert at the Grand Ole Opry! There were multiple artists that performed:

Jeannie Seely, Elizabeth Cook, Mike Snider, Pam Tillis, Ray Pillow, Striking Matches, Connie Smith, Bobby Osbourne & The Rocky Top X-Press, Craig Wayne Boyd, Vince Gill, Aubrey Peeples, and Mickey Gilley.

I couldn't believe when I saw that Aubrey Peeples was performing! She is on the show, Nashville! I'm a huge fan of the show, as well as the actors! When she came out to perform, she also brought out TWO other cast members from the show!! Sam Palladio and Lennon Stella!! I think I am still in shock! :) Never in a million years did I think I would have the chance to see anyone from the show Nashville!! Ahhh!!!

Each artist/band was extremely talented. I enjoyed every single performance! Besides the Nashville cast, my other favorite performance was by the band, Striking Matches. They actually have written many songs for the show, Nashville. Talk about being talented, wow! If you go to Nashville, seeing a show at the Opry is a MUST!

Saturday, we decided to check out Antique Archaeology - which is the store from the guys on American Pickers! There was a massive line waiting to get in to the store, so we checked out a wine tasting and other adorable stores within the warehouse building.

The wine tasting at Grinders Switch was fun! We tried just the dry wines that they offered. They were all good! :)

The building was huge and filled with different unique shops. You know I love to shop, so we checked them all out! :) We finally got into Antique Archaeology, where there was a band performing. Of course, they were awesome too! There are so many talented people in Nashville!

The store was cool, but it was smaller than I imagined.

Across the street was an art gallery, and right outside were two artists, Whitney Stewart and Terry Anderson. Whitney Stewart (WHS Designs) was displaying her gorgeous handmade jewelry. I'm in love with stones and gems, so I had to pick up one of her beautiful pieces!
Right next to her display was Terry Andersen (Andersen Art & Accessories). I loved all of his exquisite pieces, and how unique each piece was. I noticed one piece with brass antique lion head knockers. It has a "The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe" feel to it. I couldn't leave Nashville without it. I am so happy I was able to meet these extremely talented local artists!!
To check them out, you can find them on Facebook or on their websites! I will post pictures of the pieces I purchased in the next blog post!
WHS Designs
Andersen Art & Accessories

Our next stop was the Goo Goo Factory downtown! YUM!! It was interesting to watch them make the Goo Goo clusters in person!

Since we were downtown, it was time to check out the infamous Broadway street! We had lunch at Merchant's - another tasty restaurant!

We ended up making our way through at least 40% of the bars on Broadway!! Haha! It was incredible checking out each place and listening to the live music and dancing!

On Sunday, the boys met back up with us and we headed over to brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe.
After breakfast, we went to the Parthenon in Nashville's Centennial Park. The Parthenon was awesome! The art displayed inside was stunning! Upstairs was a massive statue of the Goddess Athena!

Next, we headed back downtown and walked the bridge to see the skyline of Nashville.

Since Kay and I had such an exciting time on Broadway, we took the boys to some of the places we loved! For dinner we ate at the restaurant Rippy's! I had the pulled chicken barbecue which was super delicious!!

Again, it was an incredible time!

I absolutely love Nashville! 

Question Time:

* Have you ever been to Nashville?

* Do you watch the show "Nashville?"

* What would be your first attraction to check out in Nashville?

Valentine's Day Recap

Happy Wednesday! I hope y'all have been having a good week so far! Who all is ready for the weekend?

So, as you know, this past Sunday was Valentine's Day! Nathan and I had the day off together, but since I haven't been feeling too well here lately, we took it easy and went for a cruise up toward Big South Fork/Pickett State Park! We both love going exploring, even if it is just driving around. Tennessee truly is such an incredible, beautiful state!

First, we stopped and grabbed some Starbucks!
They had some cute cut-outs to take pictures with! We couldn't resist!

For a late morning snack, I had an almond coconut cashew chai KIND bar. I will definitely buy this again, it was SO GOOD!!

On our way to Pickett State Park, we spotted a random train caboose in the middle of nowhere! We drove up to it, and it had a sign stating that coming soon there will be a unique way to stay overnight - how cool would it be to sleep in a renovated train caboose?
I know there is a train hotel in Chattanooga, called the "Chattanooga Choo Choo," where you can sleep in train cars as well! That would be so much fun!

Pickett State Park was actually the first area in the southeast to be listed as a certified dark sky area. Naturally, we wanted to check it out because Nathan is big into astronomy/astrophotography. He will be going back to the park later on this year for a star party!


When we finally arrived at Pickett State Park, there were a couple of pull offs that lured us in, especially since they were close by and easy walks.
We stopped to take a look at one of the two natural bridges in the park, then we explored the Hazard Cave!

I slipped and fell shortly after that last picture....ouch! I was actually pretty sore not too long after falling down, so we ended up cancelling our reservations for dinner.  :(
Luckily, I have been using my Panaway essential oil to rub on my back, etc. to help keep the pain and soreness away! Again, I love these oils!!

However, we still had a nice, intimate, relaxing Valentine's Day! I just love when we are able to spend quality time together!

You can't have Valentine's Day without chocolate!  <3


Since we were basically stuck at home the rest of the day, the decision to make guacamole was made!

Who doesn't love guacamole?! I buy it all the time, but have never tried making my own before.

Ingredients:

3 avocados

2 cloves garlic

1 tomato

1 lime

1/4 red onion

salt

First, I split open the avocados in half and spooned them into a bowl. The next step was spritzing the avocados with lime juice and mashing them up. Separately, the tomatoes, garlic, and red onion were cut into small pieces. Lastly those ingredients were added to the mashed avocado and all mixed together!

My advice would be to mix up the avocado into a food processor or blender. Mashing them by hand left the guacamole a little too chunky. Next time, I would add some Cilantro essential oil to the guacamole for a little bit of extra flavor.

It still tasted awesome! Nathan and I devoured it quickly! 

The past couple of mornings have literally been icy! Yikes! The bad weather makes it even more perfect to be inside and have a cup of hot coffee from my lovely friends at Real Good Coffee Co.! 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!    :)

Question Time!

* What did you do for Valentine's Day?

* Do you like to go exploring and/or hiking?

* Do you like guacamole? Which ingredients do you prefer in your guacamole?