Greetings from North Carolina

Okay, so I'm not actually in NC anymore. But I was there just 26 hours ago and it was nothing short of wonderful. Our friends Whitney and Andrew invited us up to their family's mountain place for a weekend of relaxation and luxury.

And it was just that...relaxing, luxurious, indulgent. It is such a beautiful part of the country and I swear we saw the leaves change colors before our eyes. When we arrived on Friday SG and I commented that things were still pretty green. When we left on Sunday red, yellow, and orange abounded everywhere!

One of our group goals was to get a scenic photo of all 4 of us. Forty shots with the timer later we got a few we could live with. Thank goodness you can set my camera to take timed shots in sets of 10!

Here's a few of our "failed" attempts.

 {too far to the left}

 {Whitney helping us center the camera. Accidentally took 10 of these.}

{I was actually okay with this one of myself, but the others each had words of self criticism.}

Don't you love Stephen Grande's hand on hip pose? He didn't like it so much. I think his words were "I look like such an a** hole."

Oh well.We tried. And I think we took some good ones.

Backing up a little to the earlier part of the weekend, Stephen Grande and I set out Thursday evening leaving Smalls with his dear ol' Aunt Lu. We went to dinner with my in-laws and spent the night at their house which gave us an hour head start the next morning.

Friday morning we had second breakfast at Dunkin donuts. My whole goal for the weekend was to eat like a French woman, not depriving myself, but not eating every meal as if it would be my last. Portion control was key with a weekend that involved so much amazing FOOD!

{my driver}

Our first stop once we reached the mountain foothills was to eat at the Dillard House for lunch. There is no menu and the way they do things is to just serve you a little bowl of everything, and I mean everything. I could not stop laughing at all the bowls the waitress kept bringing to the table.

After lunch, SG and I pressed on to the Highlands where we window shopped till we dropped.

I fell in love and considered purchasing this antique sugar canister until I found out the price. It is 100 years old and could have been mine for $100. How cool! But not quite what I was willing to pay.

{Loved this painting!}

Worn slap out, we stopped for iced coffee and water.

And then we zigged and zagged around the mountain to Franklin to the house where we were staying.

Have I ever told you how grateful I am to be married to a man with such a great sense of direction? He really gets us around.

We arrived at the house with a beautiful view and watched the sunset over cocktails.

On the porch A. Lee discovered a beautiful young bird, whose time has passed. We all admired its gorgeous colors, but were a little freaked by Andrew's handling of a bird carcass.

After the happy hours I, the pregnant and therefore designated driver, drove my crew to Paoletti's for our 9:15 dinner reservation. It was well worth the wait. Bread, wine, Italian food, good company, a dinner uninterrupted by toddlers - it was heavenly.

Saturday morning Stephen Grande made his specialty - FRENCH TOAST.

We had a leisurely morning, barely looking at the clock. But we eventually got motivated enough to venture out into some of North Carolina's beautiful scenery.

Our "hike" was followed up with a little jam and jelly shopping at a local produce stand. I confess I have had absolutely zero interest in jam, jelly, and all things canned until very recently (like until this year). Now I wouldn't dream of passing up the opportunity to get my hands on some home canned goods. I guess that's what maturity does to ya. And an appreciation for the whole canning process. 

Wrapping up our adventures, we drove back to the house for some SEC football. Because what would a fall weekend be like without it? Really. It was victories around the table for us with our vested interest in South Carolina, Auburn, and LSU.

Gumbo, made by my dad and sent all the way from Mississippi, was a perfect Saturday night supper.

We then hit the hay at a semi reasonable hour, had a restful night in the cool Carolina air, enjoyed sleeping late (for us), ate a hearty breakfast, and then began our five hour drive home.

That's it. Back to reality.

Big thank you to my mom and dad {and sister} for keeping our Peanut Butter Man for the weekend. And really big thank you to Whitney and Andrew for being the hosts with the mosts and driving me 2 miles out of the way just so I could get a picture of the 'Welcome to North Carolina' sign for my blog. Y'all are the best. The weekend was perfect! Can't wait to do it again!