Grandfather Mountain :: Two

While on our day excursion to Grandfather Mountain, we crossed the famous Mile High Swinging Bridge.



It used to be the classic wood and rope structure that you conjure in your mind when someone says "swinging bridge." Fortunately, that has been replaced with a much more sturdy and less death-inducing metal bridge. I would not have crossed the old bridge. Especially since inside the nearby building that houses memorabilia and the history of the mountain (and, of course, a gift shop) there is an old photograph of the wood/rope bridge after a storm. Let me see if I can describe the picture to you. ... There was the top rope used for hand rails and the bottom rope used to secure the wooden planks... and then there were about three or four dangling planks that were caught in the ropes. That is it. I don't mean three or four out of the hundreds of planks were dangling. I mean there were only three or four planks. Period. The rest had been carried off by the wind. YIKES!




It was very foggy and much of the view was obscured by fog. Which was probably a good thing when you are walking across a narrow bridge that reminds you at the exact point you are one mile above ground. On a narrow bridge. With no life-saving equipment in case of need. Fortunately we were not of need.



But we made it! And it really couldn't have been a prettier day!




The only thing that could have made it prettier would have been if I had worn make up. And therefore not looked like someone smacked me in the face with a hammer. But no such luck. Plus, I thought you should all have to suffer in the way DM did that day :) Seriously though, I just wanted to share what is quite possibly the worst picture ever taken of me. This is right up there with any photos taken during my 7th grade year. Fortunately - or unfortunately?- I'm not sure which is the proper way to go here- you don't really get to see the ever rounding mid-section that matches the ever rounding face. :)

Grandfather Mountain :: One

August 25th is the anniversary of our marriage. I really can't believe it has already been three years since we said I do! We wanted to do something together on our anniversary this year but schedules wouldn't allow any sort of out-of-town trip. So, we decided to take a day trip up to nearby Grandfather Mountain.



The weather was beautiful. About 72 degrees all day! It did not help ease my undying desire to move to the mountains. Didn't help at all, I tell ya.



On the mountain, they have a little animal refuge/zoo. Which is where we saw these bears. But if you'd like you can pretend we stumbled upon them while hiking in the woods...



I sort of love bears. Well, in all honesty, I sort of love all animals.

But there is something about a few species of bears (including black bears seen here and sun bears not seen here) that I really love. I don't know what it is about them... probably their sweet little faces. Don't get me wrong, I have a very healthy respect for the creatures and would reeeaaally prefer to not meet them in the wild. Not that I think they are people-eaters or out to get humans.... but, like I said, I just have a healthy respect for their abilities.



Their abilities are quite frightening, actually. You can't out run them. You can't out climb them. You can't out swim them. So.... our human capabilities do not compare well in a match up. Think about it. They run, swim, and climb. What would you do? Growing up we used to take an annual trip to northern Wisconsin. My youngster self was pretty terrified that I would walk outside and come face-to-face with a wild black bear. We were taught what to do if that happened but I was always afraid of the worst that could happen. I think I watched too many movies.



I'm really not sure how I went from "this is our anniversary trip" to "humans are not much of a match against a bear" but..... here we are. Maybe next time I'll be able to stay on topic. Either that or we'll discuss what to do if attacked by an alligator.

Playing Favorites

This is Baxter. Do you remember him?



This is Baxter with his favorite toy. We gave it to him less than a week ago and as you can see he was so taken with it we couldn't even get the plastic hangy piece off quickly enough. You see, Baxter has a severe weakness for stuffed toys. And I mean severe.



Since the moment we gave him this teddy bear he doesn't want to spend a second away from it. He carries it everywhere with him. I use the term "carries" loosely since he spends most of his time snoozing. But when he sleeps, he typically sleeps like this.... toy in mouth.... face perpendicular to the floor. He's very odd.



And because he barely drops it from his jowls to eat.... the thing smells. I don't know what he has done to it in such a short amount of time but poor teddy was suffering from some severe body odor. So, I swiped it and stuck it in the wash. Why do you care? You don't. Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to suffer with me. Because right now as I type, as all of the other wonderful puppies are literally snoozing on the front porch on this glorious morning, one Mr. Baxter is standing at the top of the stairs barking incessantly for me to give him his teddy back. And I am not using the word incessantly lightly. Literally incessantly. Joke's on him! I had to sanitize that sucker so it will be another two hours before it is ready to see his droopy lips again!

...it is coming, I promise...

Posting again veeeerrrrryyyy soon. Just have to find the time to get the pictures downloaded!

NC Wine Festival

Back in May (I know, I know... May...that was only three months ago) we went to the NC Wine Festival. We were invited along by our friends Jason and Dana.



This is Jason and Dana.

They are Virginia Tech fanatics.



It was really, really, really hot that day. Really. At one point I thought I would keel over dead from heat exhaustion but then I knew David would just leave me there and tell me to quit being a "drama queen" so I pulled through to prevent the people at the funeral home from having to do too much work to mask over all of the footprints that would have been left across my face from all of the drunkards tripping over my body as they rushed to the next tasting booth. Run on sentences.... they are good for the soul.



Since I was A) secretly unable to try any wine due to my newly discovered "condition" and B) not a huge lover of the vino to begin with (I know, I know... I think most of my family has disowned me. Maybe I should have taken that into consideration at the festival...if my family wasn't going to attend my funeral maybe they wouldn't have wanted an open casket and the shoe marks wouldn't have made one bit of difference. Next time I need to think through these things more completely).

Ummm, where was I? Oh yeah. Since I wasn't drinking, I spent a lot of my time snapping pictures.





Like this one! Of Dana! Which makes me look like a weird psycho stalker! Look at it. Doesn't it look like a picture you would see on an episode of Criminal Minds or Law and Order where they go into the suspects house, open the closet door and there is a massive collage of pictures on the wall that the suspect obviously took from afar while stalking the victim? Don't lie. It does.



All in all, we had a great time! I think they tasted every wine there! Poor David was feeling slightly guilty that I had to just stand around sweltering in the heat while he drank to his delight so he sprung for not one but two cups of Italian Ice for me. It was pretty awesome. And then, he felt all better and remembered how much he loves having a permanent Designated Driver!

Bambino Update :: 22 Weeks

For the family members out there (since I fully understand that others have no interest in this whatsoever)! Just a quick update. I went to the Dr. yesterday and everything seems to be going well! They ask a bunch of questions, test a few things to make sure I'm not diseased (obviously I have no idea what they test for so I am just making that up) and then we listen to the baby's heartbeat. My doctor is part of a fairly large practice and since they don't know who will be on call when Baby M decides to make his escape they have a rotation schedule for their patients. This week was supposed to be my first week meeting with a new doctor (and I did meet someone different). I, however, am super special and already met with a different doctor last month for the big gender reveal since my primary was out of town and the girl who made my appointment in June was convinced I couldn't wait the few extra days to find out!

We are over halfway there!

Summertime Wedding :: Part Two

As promised... more wedding photos from the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sheley!



Who is that most handsome groomsman I see?




Fortunately, there were no wedding snags and everything went smoothly. Maybe one slip of the tongue by the groom... but it was pretty funny.



The bride gave the groom a new camcorder as his wedding present. Towards the end of the ceremony, immediately before the pastor pronounced them husband and wife, the groom grabbed the camera and turned toward the congregation. You see, he wanted to use the camera and pan across the crowd showing who was present at their wedding.



He shouted, "I WANT TO GET MY FIRST MARRIAGE ON CAMERA!"




It was quite funny and the entire congregation was in hysterics. The silver lining? I assume he will have an awesome shot of everyone happy, smiling, laughing, etc for the video!