...well, I felt like one anyway! Here is my weekend castle (well, a replica). Isn't it beautiful??! We got to get away to the Grove Park Inn for a long anniversary weekend and we had a blast!
They knew it was our Anniversary and found so many little ways to show us they cared!
Roses in the room. Look at our view!
Cozy corner chair with fireplace. How comfy that corner was... until clothes started getting piled on it! Hey, we were on vacay!
Hello, big comfy bed! The bed was just like ours at home and we LOVE our bed! It is so comfy! This is the room before we got in it good (still clean).
We stayed on Club Level, which means that you get a very nice breakfast every morning and cocktails and finger foods (there is another word for finger foods, but I would truly butcher it). every afternoon from 5 to 7:30. Here we are our first night at cocktail time! Look at our view!
And the food was delicious! You could sit here and make a meal!
But we didn't. We went to a restaurant at the Inn and ate some really good food. Derek and I decided to try one of the recommended Martini drinks. He had this pretty green Martini with a lemon on the rim...
And I got THIS! My little red cocktail had some sort of weed in it! Ok, I know it was some kind of herb, but we joked for a bit about my drinking weeds! It was pretty good though. There aren't many drinks that make you check your teeth when you are finished for little pieces of herb!
During our stay, there were so many little touches that made me think "Hey, I should do that more at home"! Like this...
Simple, pretty flowers in a vase on the table.
We took a walk around the Inn and here are some of the pics from that. This place is truly beautiful. I just wish the leaves were already changing.
We stopped in some of the shops and of course, I ended up in the toy section. I picked up this cute and cuddly monkey and had to have my picture with him! Isn't he cute? I loved on him for a minute and nearly threw him across the room when, to my surprise, I saw that he was a hundred and fifty dollars (150.00 for a monkey?)! What??!! Glad I got the pic anyway! Did NOT get the monkey!
We went to dinner on the second night (after changing our reservation so we could go back and watch the Georgia game! Go Dawgs!) at a real fancy restaurant called Horizons at the Inn. check out their Tablescape! I am thinking "I want plates with our Family Name on them". They did not let us eat on these plates. They were just part of the decor.
This plate looked much better! This was one of the best steaks I have ever had! It was melt in your mouth good!
And then we got a nice surprise!
Guys, I do not write this good with a pen! This was chocolate! Pure talent!
We had a very nice Server who took several pics of us.
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Ok, some goofy moments (because I am going to have them) happened in the bathroom.
I walked in and the first thing that caught my eye was this!
Come on, people! Who wants to look into one of these? Well, not me. I see all I need to see in a regular mirror. No need for a 1000x magnification (that is what is seems anyway). I walked in with my face covered like I was a kid at a Haunted House until I could get it turned away! You are not ruining my day with your wrinkle enlarger and your need to show me that I really did not tweeze very well at all!... Ok, I did end up using it to tweeze. It really was good for that, but I did not stand and stare at my other parts of my face!
When I went in for my first shower, they really did have the multiple shower heads they advertised. The shower was great. I only had one problem.. I could NOT figure out how to turn it on! Now, I am not a dummy. I am the one around here who hooks up DVD's and Video Games. I can usually figure things out. I turned on what I thought was the main head at the front of the shower and OMGosh! I got the coldest spray of water on my back! There was a handheld shower head behind me! Then, I turned it a different way and Whoa Momma! I got a cold shower from the "Rain Head" above! I was laughing so hard at myself jumping around in all my glory and dodging cold water! I finally got it!
Here is where I wanted it!
I laugh at myself alot! It is still the best medicine, even when you are alone!
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As I said before, we were on Club Level. Another perk to club level was that you could come and go as you pleased to the SPA. The Grove Park Inn has the most amazing Spa I have ever been to. It is so relaxing and beautiful and the smells and sounds are wonderful!
Here is the entrance.
Now, if you are on Club Level, you get to go in this way. We go to the elevator from our room IN OUR ROBES and head down to the Spa level floor. See, the robes are a certain color if you are Club Level and you just wear them as your ticket in. You also wear them to breakfast if you want! Now that is relaxing!
Cameras are not allowed in the Spa, so I took a shot of the hallway going in. I loved it!
Just as you enter the main area, there is a waterfall.
And this is where I wanted to stay! The pool! Is this not the most beautiful pool you have ever seen? I did not take this picture. It was on the website. The pools are different temperatures, so you can choose, but the really neat thing is there are speakers UNDER WATER playing the relaxing music you hear all over the SPA. I stayed on my back with my ears underwater for so long and could have just stayed there. That was truly the most relaxed I have ever been.
While we were there, Derek had a Deep Tissue Massage and I had a Carolina Mud Pie Wrap. Sounds a little funny but it is the exact same treatment I will do when we go back! I LOVED it. I was exfoliated, covered in this silky feeling mud and wrapped up. I had stones between my toes and on my tummy and got a massage! It was heavenly!
The Spa also had both a Sauna and Steam Room, which I have never tried. I liked the Sauna (for a few minutes) and the Steam Room made me feel like I was going to suffocate! My lips were burning! Is that what it is supposed to feel like? Well, there was also a plunge pool. There is a high temp hot tub and right next to it is a very cold plunge pool. The idea is to get really hot and then plunge in the really cold pool to tighten your pores or something like that. There were so many women there, including me, trying to pump themselves and each other up to take the plunge. I finally did it about four times and it was amazing! Funny we used to do that when we were kids with hot tubs and pools and they say it is good for you!
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We stayed up late one night and I was up and ready to go get breakfast and coffee but the Mr. was not. I was in the bathroom in my robe ready to go and there hung his robe!
Please Mr. Come get in this robe! The Mrs. needs some coffee!
I am just like my Momma!
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I took a walk one afternoon and did some shopping (not for a monkey). Here are some pics from my walk. We had kind of dreary weather the whole time, not that we cared, but I really wanted to get a sunset. Maybe next time!
They are renovating part of the building.
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And on our last night, another nice Anniversary surprise!
We really had a great time and I hope to go back there many times!
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Sunday, it was hurry back home for the funeral of the Mother of my lifelong Friend, Christy. She died after a long struggle with brain cancer. We made it home and I changed and got right back in the car for the 1.5 hour drive to make the 4:00 funeral.
I was with Mom and we were admiring the clouds.
Mom said Dinosaur and I said Elephant...
The funeral was very sad. She planned it all. Every song (even one she wrote) and detail was all her doing. Imagine planning your own funeral knowing it is coming soon. Please pray for that Family. I pray that Christy's Family will encounter little reasons to smile more and more as time goes by.
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Monday was back to preschool and my little ones have this box of tissues with girls from High School Musical (I think) on it. They wanted their hair done like the girls on the tissue box, so I tried my best. Alex wanted Gabriella...
And Avery wanted Sharpay!
How did I do?
It is nice to know they still need you. Avery argued with me for ten minutes about whether or not there was a button on the back of this dress. She finally gave up and let me unbutton it!
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My random picture I took this week was another dude on the side of the road holding a sign. Please tell me you can enlarge this one and see where the pointer happens to be located! It was taken from my moving car with my cell phone, so sorry if you can not see it.
Hope you are still awake after my very long post! I had a lot to talk about! Thanks for reading!
As always, have a wonderful week!
..............Until next week!!
My sweet Alex, today is your Birthday! Five years old! My, how the time has flown. I love you so much and just cannot believe you are mine! You are so very sweet.
Autumn and Austin were so very excited to get a baby sister! Here is the announcement we sent out.
You were such a sweet baby from the very start.
Here is Daddy introducing you to Autumn and Austin.
Home, Sweet Home!
Your first bath!
Your Cousins sure were happy to have you in the family!
Of course, silliness with Pa is a must!
Our first trip to Gatlinburg. We had alot of fun.
It was very cold, but Mommy kept you nice and warm.
