Home away from home

We spent the weekend in a little cabin by the stream in the mountains of Georgia. We call it camp, most people probably wouldn’t call having high speed Internet and Directv camping. This is about a rough as I want it to get.

There’s a little living room – the leather couch and chair are so very comfy, perfect for an afternoon nap.

Looking into the kitchen area, you can see the stairs to the loft and through the archways is a sunporch. We love this table, and will keep it in mind for our “forever home” if we ever get it built. We both feel it would be perfect for the downstairs.

The view upstream.

The view downstream. The water is VERY cold, but refreshing at the same time. We tried to float downstream this time, but it was just way too cold.

This is the view from up the driveway. The little gazebo holds the hot tub. There is a charcoal grill, a fire-pit, a zip-line and horseshoes.  Yes, I think we’ll probably return to this little cabin in the woods again.  Maybe in the fall.  It’s the perfect place to relax and get-a-way from it all.

 

Snapshots of Camp

Snapshots of Camp, originally uploaded by Stephanie’s Shutter.

We’re at camp this weekend… The guys are fishing, and I’m taking photos. It’s a very quiet get-a-way. I’ll be back soon.

 

Sunday Morning Flight

J and I took a flight near the mountains today.   Here are some of the highlights.

Taking off from Concord Regional.

Hey, that’s my house down there. Very cool to see it from the air.

Around Lake Norman – that’s Midtown Sundries.

Farmland in the Foothills

The mountains through the haze

And returning safely home

I love being the wife of a private pilot. The fact that we can just pick up and go simply amazes me. And even though the mountains totally freaked me out, and we turned before we got to our final banana pudding having final destination, I still had a great time. I’ll get more comfortable each time we go.

 

Garden Greatness…

The fruits of my labor…  It’s almost time to enjoy some of our fresh garden products.  We’ve already eaten the first round of lettuce, and one helping of green beans.  These photos were taken about two weeks ago, we’ve progressed even further since then.

The cucumbers are blooming and have tiny little cukes on them. They’re growing on cucumber ladders now, it won’t be long before they are in fresh salads, and being a mid-day snack.

These yellow cherry tomatoes will taste so good in a basil, mozzarella salad or just picked fresh off the vine.

And finally, strawberries – true summer sweetness. We’ve had 3 so far, the birds unknown. They are now covered up in netting to protect them. These are everbearing strawberries so we should get a few fruits all summer long. Hopefully next years batch will be a little bigger.

 

Silence… It’s golden right?

I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth again. I’m so sorry dear reader. I think about blogging daily. I’ve take a few photos for it even. I’ve got things to say, just can’t seem to find the time. Let me catch you up with where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.

• Camping trip to Blue Ridge, GA. ~ If you are close to Blue Ridge, and need to get away from it all I highly suggest you go. J and I spent 2 days there a week ago and it was perfect. Just what we needed. But be warned, it’s out there. It’s in the country, and there is nothing to do but rest and relax. I’ve got photos. They haven’t gotten downloaded yet. This weekend, I promise.
• Some good thoughts please? The Wednesday before our trip to GA, I had nerve block injection for the degenerative disc disease issue. I feel better. It doesn’t feel like my foot is 2x too big anymore, and most of the time I can actually feel it. I hope it works this time. This is my 2nd shot in 3 months. I am really looking forward to getting back to being me. And looking forward to walking again, and doing pilates. It’s been so long since I’ve felt like me.
• Work – Work is crazy. But I think it’s going to be getting better. I got a semi-promotion, and the paperwork is in process to make it real. We’re busy, but I guess that’s a good thing in this day and age.
• The garden, the garden is my daily obsession.   I’ve got tomatoes, cukes, zukes, and beans all growing.   I’m waiting to see the peppers and the melons.  I ate my first home grown strawberry yesterday.  Today the birds at the other one, I ordered netting  it’ll be here in a week.   We used all fresh herbs for dinner tonight – thyme, oregano, parsley, basil.  All good things.

I’ve been bad for the first 6 months of this year at keeping my New Years Goals, Changes, and Challenges.   I’m resetting now, and so for the next 6 months I’m challenging myself again.  To do at least one of these a month.  By the time 2010 rolls around, I’ll be into the swing and it’ll be a beautiful thing.

• Keep in Touch – I mean the old fashioned way – Snail Mail!  I love to get snail mail, I so this year I’m going to try and remember to send more “Hi, How are you cards”.  A little something to brighten someones day.
• Getting Heathy – I know I said it a while back, but it’s time to buckle down and get started moving again.  To start eating better, and taking better care of me.  How – WiiFit is going to be part of it. 
• Learning – I want to learn something new, it can be as simple as that sewing class I talked of last fall or as complex as taking a class at the community college.
• Me Time – Ok, that sounds really selfish but I want to find more time for things I love.   Crafting, getting a mani/pedi, going to the coffee shop, reading.  Just 30 minutes a week would be great.  I think it’ll help with the Getting Healthy goal.

 

Milo on a Monday

Ok, so these pictures were actually taken on probably a Thursday, but Milo on a Thursday doesn’t have that certain ring to it….  

Milo who will be 10 years old in May, still thinks most of the time that he is still just a pup.  It probably doesn’t help that we call him Puppy most of the time.  Milo is more like the middle name, it only comes out when he’s getting in trouble. 

We still get in our daily walk.  Now instead of pushing him and walking all the way to the parkway, we turn around when he wants.  Sometimes that means 1/10 of a mile, sometimes a little more.
 

He’ll still play ball with the best of them, but then it’ll take more time to get up the stairs at the end of the night to make it to bed. In fact most days he’d rather curl up at the end of the couch than play with his favorite stuffed toy, the doggie.  But that’s OK.  I’m just happy that he’s here with us where he belongs.

If you’ve not been here before and are wondering – What is Milo? Milo is a Doberman/Basset Hound mix. He’s comes to about my knees and weighs 80 pounds. Please don’t call him a Dauschaund, it hurts his feelings.

 

Scrappin’ Sunday – A challenge

I love a good challenge, and the one on the Scrapbook Express blog is no exception.  As soon as I saw the challenge, I was instantly inspired, and knew exactly which papers I wanted to use.   The greens just screamed to me, followed closely by the orange and the leaves in the quilt.

I love this photo of Milo in the tall grass. You could tell he’s part Beagle, he was all hunting dog running around in this field.

 

Not my Mother’s decor…

 

Growing up I can remember my Mom, Aunts, family friends, neighbors (well you get the idea) gathering around the family living room to watch a presentation from some woman dressed in a suit.   What was she peddling – Home Interiors.    I can remember the pictures, candles, fake flowers, and knick knacks plain as day.  Most still hang on the walls of my childhood home.   I don’t know why, but for some odd reason the other day I Googled “Home Interiors”, and learned they have merged with another company, and now they are called Celebrating Home.  I was pleasantly surprised – this didn’t look like my Mother’s home ~ it was casual, fun, and while they still have their fake flowers, I actually found a few things I couldn’t live without.   One of them is the sign shown above.  With the touch of pink flowers, and the small blue robin eggs I fell in love instantly and knew that it was perfect accent for my Spring mantle.

 

Looking ahead

It’s going to be a tasty summer….

I know, I only have one lone strawberry blossom so far.  But it’s a sign of good things to come.  Hopefully.  This is my first year growing strawberries.  I purchased this strawberry pot with plants from Spring Hill Nursery.  It couldn’t have been easier to start to grow.   The strawberries come as bare root.  I put some dirt in the jar, layered in a few of the strawberry plants, layered more dirt until I was at the next set of holes, and just kept going.   I set these out in the middle of March.  I did bring them back in a few times when we were under freeze/frost warnings, but for the most part they are taking care of themselves.  I can almost taste the fresh strawberry jam, strawberry shortcake, plain strawberries, strawberry milkshakes.  The possibilities are endless.

 

Walk with Me!

Parents.com Walking Widget

It’s time, time to start getting healthy – what a better way on a nice spring day than to take a walk….  I stumbled across this challenge today, and it seems like the perfect motivation.  Won’t you join me?