Slot Machines and Bicycle Seats

This past weekend was a little insane. Well, for me at least. I typically have few plans on the weekends and I rarely travel a lot. However, this weekend included both. (I work Sunday through Thursday so my weekends are Friday and Saturday.)

Thursday night - Friday night
M and I left Thursday evening (well more like afternoon) and drove 3 hours from SC into the NC mountains. The next 24 hours were spent eating, gambling, losing at gambling, shopping and walking around in the quaint little "downtown" area of Cherokee

Best Parts - eating carbs (M and I temporarily suspended our keto diets for this weekend)/being with my in-laws
Worst Part - gambling (it's just not my scene and it's smoky and loud and gross)

Saturday
I got up early Saturday and drove from NC to TN so that I could bike down the Virginia Creeper trail in VA. It was my best friend's birthday on Saturday and they were staying at a house just over the VA/TN line. I met them there and we rode to the trail together. The trail was a lot of fun but I haven't been on a bike in at least a decade. AT LEAST.

Best Parts - the scenery of the trail and being with my friends
Worst Part - sore butt from the bike seat (it took us about 5 hours total to do the 17 mile trail including breaks and a lunch stop)

Spring To-Do List

It's starting to feel like spring in the Carolinas and that means there a springy to-do list on my radar. Below are the things I'd like to accomplish between now and the end of May. (But really, who am I fooling... it has felt like spring here since mid-February and will probably feel like summer in mid-May.)

• Plan and plant my garden. I will probably do my starters this weekend. So far I've planned for parsley, cilantro, snap beans, summer squash and maybe tomatoes. I'm still not sure about tomatoes because they are intimidating to me! 
• Plant flowers in the front flower beds. Last year I bought a few tiny impatiens and they took off! I loved them so much that I want to buy more and line the entire front flowerbed with them. They grow quickly and love the afternoon sun on that side of the house. 
• Repaint the kitchen cabinets. We painted them white a little over a year ago, but we used the wrong paint. So now, we want to go back over the cabinets with another white paint and reseal them. This is more in preparation for selling our house next year than because it looks bad. 
• Replace the sliding glass door. This thing is the bane of my existence. It sticks all the time and I have to pull with all of my strength to open or close it. I've broken way too many nails on this dang door and I can't wait to be done with it! 
• Put out my anniversary wreath. More on that here.
• Plan a fun anniversary outing. Our 3 year anniversary is April 12 so I want to plan something fun for us to do. 
• Declutter. I'm looking at you, linen closet and kitchen junk drawer. So far this "spring" I've already decluttered the kitchen pantry and my closets. :) 

What about you? Do you have a to-do list or goals for this spring?

The Best of Banff in 4 Days

We are back from our awesome trip to Banff, Alberta. If I could summarize it in one word it would be "wow". We traveled much of the day Friday and Wednesday so really we had 4 full days to get a lot done.

We didn't do EVERYTHING (gotta save some stuff for future trips, duh!) but we did do a lot in 4 days. Our pace was slightly rabid so if you are more of a low-key and slow paced vacationer, take this post with a grain of salt. :)

Full Day 1 

No matter what you do in Banff, you absolutely MUST go to Sunshine Meadows. This was my favorite hike of the entire trip. It offered stunning views of the Rockies, gorgeous wildflower meadows and great hiking. The hikes were challenging but not impossible. We did the Rock Island Lake Trail and the Grizzly/Laryx Lake Trail for a total of about 8 miles. It was tough and I had blisters (more from hiking shoes that hadn't been properly broken in) but it was totally worth it. 

We took the gondola up to the chair lift and then the chair lift up to the drop off point near Standish Viewpoint. The gondola to the chair lift was worth the extra cost. Trust me. I think we would still be hiking up the mountain if we hadn't sprung for the gondola trip up. And it was an amazing way to get a birds-eye view of local flora and fauna. 

Sunshine Meadows does have a cafe (Trapper Bill's or something like that) at the gondola exit but we opted to pack our own food and eat on some of the picnic tables around the drop off point. Sunshine Meadows is also right on the Great Divide between Alberta and British Columbia. That was cool to see!  

After Sunshine Meadows we decided to walk around the historic Fairmont Banff Springs hotel and then go see a couple of viewpoints around town. Check out Surprise Corner for great views of the hotel from across the Bow River and Bow River Falls. 

Full Day 2

After waking up to pretty stiff muscles, we opted for a no-hiking day. We started with renting a canoe from the Banff Canoe Club and canoeing down the Bow River. The views from the river were stunning and the water (like most of the glacier-fed water in the area) was a gorgeous turquoise color. We could actually see through to the bottom of the river which may or may not have slightly freaked me out. 

After a morning of canoeing, we decided to check out the Banff Gondola (Sulphur Mountain Gondola). This was also well worth the money. We took it to the top of Sulphur Mountain and were rewarded with great views of Banff and the surrounding mountain ranges. A short walk on the pathways took us up to the cosmic ray and weather observatory. These were walkways but there were a lot of steps and you're basically walking up to the top of a mountain. You've been warned. :) We saw some native wildlife in the form of prairie dogs, squirrels, a chipmunk looking thing and bighorn sheep. There was a whole herd of bighorn sheep and they were really cool to see up close! 

Full Day 3 

On our full day 3 (actual day 4) we had more typical Banff weather of chilly and rainy. The high was in the low-mid 50s all day. We decided to use the weather and my still-blistered feet as an excuse to do some driving. We headed out to the Icefields Parkway and did some sightseeing. The Icefields Parkway basically goes North so we watched the outside temperature drop to as low as 2 degrees (Celsius). We stopped at Bow Lake (top left), Peyto Lake (top right) and Herbert Lake. On the "hike" (paved uphill walk for maybe a half mile or so) to Peyto Lake it started snowing. Yes, snowing in August. And this native Southerner was absolutely delighted at it. Though the foggy weather blocked some of the mountain views, we still got some great photos of the water. (which, let's be honest, is why people drive up there!) Peyto Lake is about an hour from Banff. We drove up to Peyto and worked our way back to Banff from there. 

We had lunch in Lake Louise at Bill Peyto's Cafe, which is actually located in the Lake Louise International Hostel. Don't let that dissuade you. This little local gem was PERFECT. Though it's summer, it was chilly and rainy so M had the Alberta chili for lunch and it was amazing!

On the way back to Banff we decided to drive the Bow Valley Parkway for fun and saw a bear! It was the perfect (and only) way I'd want to see one. Close enough to get pictures but within the safety of a vehicle. We didn't disturb him and he didn't bother us. Although the campers in the tent less than 100 feet away might have been a little more nervous...

Full Day 4

Day 4 (full day 5) was the day I'd really been waiting for. It was still a bit cloudy but not raining and not quite as cold. We headed up to Lake Louise pretty early in the morning (left Banff at 8 am) to try and beat the crowds to Moraine. Moraine Lake was the place I was most excited about seeing and one of the most photographed places in all of the Banff area. The colors of the lakes and river vary depending on the amount of snow and glacier rock flour that flows into it. Moraine promised to be one of the most "blue" and it didn't disappoint. 

We did the Moraine Rock Pile "trail" (really more of just a pathway to climb the pile) to the top and the view almost took my breath away. No really. Just to prove here's a full size shot of Moraine from the top of the Rock Pile. 

I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful sight in my life. We spent some time up there taking pictures and just taking in the view. Then we descended the rock pile and took a few more shots from the ground, which made the water appear darker blue. 

We then ventured to the famous Lake Louise to do some hiking. Lake Louise (pictured as the more aqua lake above) is huge! It was gorgeous as well and provided some great photo ops along the lakeshore trail. Our intentions to do the Lake Agnes tea house hike were changed when there was another grizzly sighting. Um...no thanks. I'll just leave that for our next trip. :)

We ended this day with a quick pass by Lake Minnewanka and Two Jack Lake which are both closer to Banff. They were absolutely stunning as well! 

I'd love to do a recap post of all the things I learned about Canada during our vacation but I'll save that for later. We can't wait to go back to Banff and do some of the things we didn't have a chance to do the first time. Banff is AWESOME! You can see our travel journey by searching the hashtag #bamfsdobanff on Instagram. Yes, yes, hashtag game is strong. :)

The Tale of the Trees

Our townhome is the very end unit at the back of the neighborhood. So, basically, we butt up to trees and trees and trees. That was one of the biggest selling features of the house for us...it's quiet and you have nature right next to it. :)

We've been in the house a year and a month and have really loved the treeline and the quiet that comes with living next to the woods.

Well that all ended this weekend when, save for a 6 foot deep strip of vegetation, the woods were all cut down. Starting at 7 am Saturday morning, we heard loud machinery right beside the house and saw that they were pulling down the trees!

Back story, we knew that someone had bought the adjacent land to build a series of "fancy garages" (garages for boats, expensive cars and other luxuries the rich people around us want but don't want to keep at their house) but we were assured there would be some of the trees left in between our house and the garages.

Well "some of the trees" equated to about an 6 foot deep swatch of vegetation and some trees. All of these gorgeous, old, HUGE pines and hardwoods were cut down. To add insult to injury, after they spend the entire day cutting down the trees, they proceeded to mulch most of them.

We can now see the entire lot and the road about 100 yards away. And it has honestly changed the appearance of our building upon approach. Once, dwarfed by gigantic trees, our house now sticks out and looks large and weird.

The beautiful trees are gone. I was almost sick to my stomach on Saturday as I listened to them being cut down. M told me to start thinking about some of the positives that could come out of this. "At least it's not a neighborhood going in that close," he said, This is true. That would mean children and loud people to contend with. Thankfully, we just have the occasional yuppie that goes to get their Porche Boxter or RV out of the garage. "At least you don't have to worry about watching Hewitt with the hawks and coyotes around," he said, This is also true. We have a gorgeous (albeit deadly) red-tailed hawk that lived in those trees and our neighbors have seen coyotes before so I was always on the lookout when Hewitt was outside at certain times of the day/night.

So, I guess there are some positives to this. I'm trying hard not to be really bummed about it. The proximity of the trees are one of the reasons we bought the house...and though we aren't staying here forever, it was certainly a great selling point. Now? Well, we have no idea how it's going to end up over there in that now empty lot. We'll just have to wait and see.

For now, I'm trying to be positive. And this is a start...

The heavy woods would have blocked this gorgeous sunset from view. So, now the thinned-out woods makes for a gorgeous photo opp. That's the one positive for now. Give me some time...

Random Recent Photo Dump

I realized over the weekend that I had a bunch of photos I've taken recently of various things but no real place to put them since they aren't super cohesive. So today's blog post is fairly photo heavy. Bear with me. :)

First off - I sang in a wedding 3 weeks ago and took a number of photos but didn't really post them here. My friend's wedding was gorgeous! It was as this old cotton mill and the rehearsal dinner was at a real farm. I thought the setting was so gorgeous I documented it photographically as well.

The wedding was absolutely stunning and I didn't take a whole lot of photos during it because I was busy catching up with friends. But the rehearsal dinner was one for the books, y'all!

My flower garden is in full bloom! The sunflowers and cosmos are gorgeous and my home is full of fresh blooms. It's so beautiful to look at and the sunflowers grew super fast!

And, well, the photo dump post wouldn't be complete without one of the fur child. I couldn't resist buying this adorable 4th of July collar and tie. It's a little big for him but  still adorable. 

Happy Monday, y'all! 

Hike Training - Crowders Mountain State Park

In the last 2 years I've become a bonafide amateur hiker. I credit this 100% to meeting and marrying M because otherwise I'd probably just do it when forced to.

We are going on a vacation this summer where will be hiking almost every day so M and I are trying to prepare for this trip to the Canadian Rockies by hiking some of the local "mountains" to build up our hiking stamina. And yes, I fully realize that what we are climbing here on the East coast are a lot smaller than the Rockies we'll be climbing in August...but it's a start. :)

M and I decided to try hiking Crowders Mountain, about an hour away from where we live. This would be my first actual mountain hike since I've only done flat or hilly trails in the past. It was also a good opportunity to break in my new hiking shoes I bought for our trip.

This sign greeted us twice on the trip in two separate areas. Obviously these signs REALLY helped psych us up to hike. :) Also, you literally scale the back of the mountain here. Like climbing up and over rocks...the trail is marked but it's not really a trail. Where you see M in the right picture was part of the trail we hiked up. Crazy!

The views from some of the cliffs were amazing. The weather was absolutely perfect. A little cool and definitely not hot so perfect for hiking. At one cliff, you could even see uptown Charlotte which is over 30 miles away!

We could have just sat on the rocks and gazed for hours, but unfortunately everyone and their mother decided to go hiking so we only spent a little time at each cliff.

We had a great time hiking and definitely want to go back and do The Pinnacle and a few of the others trails as well. It was a pleasant surprise to see that according to my Fitbit we climbed 70 floors and had 84 minutes of hiking.

Maybe after a few more times we'll be considered legitimate hikers? Stay tuned for more hiking updates as we train.

Thursday Thoughts Vacation Edition

It's been...well, it's been a week since I've blogged. So why not bless this week with some vacay pics? As I mentioned last week, I took a short vacation to the Isle of Palms with some of my family. Here are a few of the pics I took.

The house was on the back side of the island overlooking the Intracoastal waterway and Hamlin Creek. It's brackish water that makes for some great fishing!

This little guy tagged along. He is a bonafide dock dog now...assisting with the fish watching.

The weather was a little weird the first couple of days, but the humidity was low and there was a glorious breeze. Then the sun came out the last few days and the humidity soared back in!

My sister and I hanging out on the dock. :) 

Growing up visiting Charleston, you kind of get used to the scenery...but sometimes it catches me off guard. These beautiful lowcountry oaks were in the front yard of the house we stayed in. 

Foggy, rainy weather does make for some awesome photos. 

Another upshot of the live oaks. BEAUTIFUL! 

Now that you've seen a few of my vacay photos, tell me what's been going on in your world.

My Worst Nightmare - The Tale of the Night Visitor

Last night one of my worst nightmares happened.

I opened the door to let Hewitt out right before bed. It was dark out and he just goes to pee in the bush and comes back in. I went into our bedroom and M came downstairs shortly after. Our bedroom light was on but the light in the living room was off. He came down and stopped at the entrance to our bedroom and told me to turn on the light. I did. Then he told me to close the door.

Now I'm freaked.

I close the door slightly but peek out and see what has capture M's attention. THERE IT IS. ON OUR COUCH! A DISGUSTING TREE FROG. Just sitting there for all to see. I almost peed my pants and squealed. I hate frogs so much. Well, I hate all things that hop and one of my biggest fears is that a frog will get loose in the house and we can't catch it.

Well, friends, that is exactly what happened. M is trying to catch it and it's hopping away behind the furniture. I'm alternating between squealing and gagging in disgust and yelling at M not to kill it. (if it were a cricket or grasshopper...which I equally hate, I would tell M to destroy it, but frogs are bigger and have faces...and thus, according to my logic, can feel pain.) I want M to catch it and take it back outside far away from our house.

After what seemed like 20 minutes of furniture moving, laughing (M), squealing (me), Hewitt barking and joining in on the fun and running around, M finally caught the little bugger and put him outside.

Needless to say, my adrenaline was at an all-time high and it took me a while to get to sleep. :(

I relayed the story to my sister this morning, who promptly sent me this meme and told me that it probably laid eggs in my house.

I relayed the story to my coworker who said, "That is worst nightmare? Really?". To which I replied that it was one of them. The others: dying in a house fire, dying suddenly so the paramedics find my body without cute underwear on. 

It's a legit fear. Frogs in your house. I don't know if I can handle another episode like that so I'll make sure to shut the door when I let Hewitt out at night and guard the doorway with my life.

Over the Weekend: Camping

Whenever I tell people that I'm going camping they seem surprised. I guess I don't really give off the outdoors vibe??

I might even venture to call my version of camping GLAMPING. Mostly because it does include an air mattress, sheet set, pillow and multiple sleeping bags. 

We ventured to a local nature preserve for the weekend to camp. Highlights of the weekend included hiking with gorgeous views, a successful Pinterest campfire hobo meal and a chance to use M's new camping hammock. The not-so-great parts of the weekend included record cold temps (I'm talking 25 degrees Saturday night) and a forgotten spatula that thwarted our attempt for pancakes over the fire. I apologize if you've already seen these pictures on Instagram...you will see some of the same here today...

M testing out his new camping hammock. I was nervous to get in. 

Saturday morning. Freezing my lily-white butt off. 

I was trying to show how hilly our trails were even though we don't live in a normally hilly area. This was my best attempt. 

Hiking views of some of many coves.

Trees for days! 

One of the other coves we encountered while hiking. 

M wanted to try to fish a little while we were there. It was very cold to fish...so he opted to dress like a fancy burglar. 

Not sure what I was saying...or singing at this moment. 

This was pretty much one of the few times we could keep the tent open. It was too chilly.

M lowered the hammock a little and I tried it out. I was nervous about both the mount and dismount but I didn't fall or flip. Hooray! 

Linking up! 

Top 5 Tuesday: Supermarket Flowers

Lately, I've been on a fresh flower kick. The only problem is, I don't think I'm really all that good at arranging them. I see beautiful pins of floral arrangements and think I could master something and then it ends up looking a little like a Pinterest fail. :)

Anywho, yesterday I found this blog that gives awesome instructions and tips for floral arrangements. If we weren't going out of town this weekend, I would have already tried some of these but I'll have to wait until next week so I can fully enjoy the fruits of my [floral] labor.

Reading the blog posts yesterday ignited my love for flowers and floral arrangements again and even gave me an ambitious sense of excitement...if that makes any sense. But I also am a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to flowers. I only buy them from the supermarket/grocery store or farmer's market. Often their selection is just as beautiful to me and it's much easier on the old wallet, you know? And since flowers usually only last a week or so, I just can't afford to drop $50 on something that dies in 6 days.

So, armed with my new floral arrangement knowledge, I'm sharing with you 5 of my favorite supermarket/grocery store flowers to use in home floral arrangements. These are flowers that are hardy and look great in arrangements. I'm a big fan of using any of these and my budget is too!

Row 1: Alstromeria - These come in a huge variety of colors and last forever! They look great by themselves or as filler flowers
Row 2: Chrysanthemums - Mums are beautiful standalone flowers. Spider mums look awesome in arrangements since they tend to stick out!
Row 3: Sunflowers - One of my all-time favorites.

Row 1: Flowering branches - Forsythia (left), Lily of the Valley (center) and Waxflower (right). These are great to add height and interest to arrangements.
Row 2: Spray roses - Though I'm not a huge fan of roses, I like that the spray roses are already bunched so they are great as filler flowers.

I left out some of the obvious supermarket flower contenders and I will explain why:
Lilies- they are beautiful but I'm highly allergic to them. I cannot use these in my home.
Carnations - just not a big fan
Daisies - see above
Roses (single stem) - also just not a big fan...and they tend to be pricey

It should be noted that some of my absolute favorite flowers are usually not found at supermarkets but at flower shops and florists. They are just a bit too unusual for the average grocery store to carry. However, if you find any grocery stores that carry poppies or ranunculus, let me know!

There are lots of great flower options at your local supermarket. If you are blessed to live near a Publix, they have some of the best flowers (and prices) I've seen grocery stores. Now, take your new floral arrangement tips and get to the store!