birthday getaway!

For my birthday this year, Jeff decided to go big.  While my birthday is at the end of September, he told me that he had something big planned but we wouldn't be celebrating until mid-October.  I love surprises so I was stoked.  I told him to tell me only what I absolutely needed to know and that's all.

 

And he followed that rule.

 

All I knew was that I needed to take a Friday off from work (so a weekend thing) and that the temps would be low to mid 60s during the day, low 40s at night.

 

I honestly didn't know and really couldn't even speculate where we were going until we rolled up HERE:

 

Ridgecrest is a retreat/conference center where the Festival of Marriage is held each year, during the fall season (among other things throughout the year).  Our church is a big proponent of this event but Jeff and I have never been able to go.  He decided to change that this year.

 

That man of mine...I love him.

 

This is how the plan rolled out (and keep in mind, all of this is news to me as it's happening. ALL.OF.IT.):  we, the 3 of us, left our house Thursday after work and drove to my parents' house in Lexington to stay overnight.  Jeff told me right before we got there that we'd be staying overnight and that we -- he and I -- would be continuing on tomorrow, leaving Deacon with my parents.

 

I was super-excited about that for numerous reasons, not the least of which was that it looked like we were getting away together for the weekend.  Suh-weet!  It pretty much didn't matter at that point where were going.  :)

 

We headed out Friday morning around 9am to...well, I still didn't know, of course.  I was loving this!  We traveled further into mountainous regions over the next couple of hours and it just kept getting better and better.  I know I commented at least once to Jeff that it didn't matter where we were going, that this scenery we were traveling through, with all the gorgeous fall foliage, made me so happy.  :)

 

We stopped in a small town called Black Mountain for lunch and to do a little shopping around the quaint little town square.  Jeff had heard that there were a few pottery shops there and he knows how I love pottery.  The thought he put into this birthday gift, whatever it was turning into, was becoming more evident.  And making me feel so special.

 

It was nice to get out and stretch our legs.  It was a beautiful sunny day -- just cool enough to keep from getting warm, but not cold enough to have to wear a coat/jacket.  We ate at the Black Mountain Ale House and both of our meals were delicious.  The pub was actually underground.  Very cool!

 

After hitting a few shops before and after lunch, Jeff said we needed to get back on the road.  Little did I know that we were only going a few miles up the road.  I soon found out what he had planned.

 

 

We had a great time!  It was so wonderful to be away with my man, in a gorgeous part of NC, with picture perfect weather the entire time.  We met new people who were there doing the same thing we were and there's such a connection in that.  The breakout sessions we went to had great information and the group sessions with worship and messages from our keynote speakers were wonderful, too.  It was so refreshing -- a welcome change of scenery, literally and figuratively.

 

 

During the weekend, we had a span of about 5 hours of free time, and we chose to spend that time driving around the area (well, after our nap :).  We went and drove around on the Blue Ridge Parkway...

 

 

And on the way back to Ridgecrest, we drove through a little place called Montreat (apparently, Billy Graham has a place there, which I didn't know about until later on)...

 

 

We headed home Sunday morning after our last group session, stopping to see a few sights...

 

 

...and then on to Lexington to get Deacon.  My parents had a blast with him all weekend.  I'm so thankful they had an opportunity to spend that time with him.  The whole weekend was fantastic -- for us and for them! 

 

Thank you, babe, for making my birthday this year so very special.  You are the best, and I love how you love me.

best 11 years of my life...

I was a little busy over the weekend so I'm just now getting a chance to type this special post -- Jeff and I celebrated 11 years of marriage on Saturday, June 20, and it has been THE BEST 11 years of my life!

Jeff is so good for me and to me...God truly created him just for me. I love him with all that I can hold in my heart; he is my very best friend.

Happy Anniversary, babe! I look forward to sooo many more wonderful years with you!

[photo taken by Julie S. Mixon, July 2008, Surf City, NC]

a walk down memory lane...

A year ago this week, we were having the time of our lives somewhere in the Western Caribbean on our very first cruise...let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

[video done in Sony Vegas Movie Studio]

wanna get away?

Back in November, our sweet Sunday School class threw us a "surprise!-you've-been-teaching-for-5+years!" party. It was completely unexpected and so very, very thoughtful of them. They had a photo slideshow going the entire time with past class events and kind words of encouragement that some of them had written. Everyone brought all kinds of good food and we just had a sweet time of fellowship & good fun. AND THEN, as if the party wasn't enough, they presented us with a night's stay in a bed & breakfast downtown and 2 movie tickets! We were speechless.

We still have the movie tickets to use, but we used the bed & breakfast gift certificate this past Thursday night and had a great time. We arrived at the Front Street Inn around 7pm and got settled into our room, the Pearl Buck suite. We then walked the block down to The Little Dipper for dinner reservations at 7:45pm. I have been to the Little Dipper once for a "ladies night out" type thing but Jeff had never been. What I experienced at the "ladies night out" was nothing like what we had that night! So it was kind of a new experience for both us. It was fantastic!

Around 9:30pm we headed back up to the FSI to use the nice jacuzzi hot tub in our room! It was so relaxing; we had bubble bath and just really enjoyed spending time together, talking over things going on in our lives.

The next morning they served a complimentary breakfast that included everything from bagels, to cereal, fruit, muffins, banana bread, 2 kinds of quiche/casserole...oh, it was all soo good! The coffee was the FSI's own special blend, too. Very tasty. We checked out around 10:30am and emerged to a beautiful, sunshine-y Good Friday.

I've included some of the photos from the "getaway" below -- a thousand thank yous to our fantastic Sunday School class, our "family"...we are so blessed to have each one of you in our lives!

[first course was cheese fondue -- we chose Baja Cheddar and got misc veggies & tortilla chips to dip in...next course was a salad but I didn't include a photo of those (a salad's a salad, right? but their ranch is fantastic!)]

[next course after the salads was our entree -- we chose Surf & Turf which included filet mignon, shrimp, lobster & cheese-filled ravioli and misc veggies with 4 dipping sauces (we chose marinara, creamy dill (my fave!), drawn butter & honey dijon)]

[this is the pot our entree cooked in -- steaming vegetable broth with rosemary; we got a "cheat sheet" of sorts that told us how long to leave our food in for]

[and then of course, there was DESSERT -- we chose milk chocolate & peanut butter fondue and got the following to dip in it...]

[H-E-A-V-E-N]

rare date night...

Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's Day a little later this year since we were apart on the actual day (I mentioned that in my last post). We normally don't really do much of anything to celebrate it however this year, Jeff sent this beautiful pot of tulips to me! Aren't they lovely?

I told Jeff that all I wanted was for us to go to the movies to celebrate Valentine's this year so we decided that Wednesday (yesterday) would be a good night to celebrate. I checked the movie schedule and the movie we wanted to see, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was showing at 7:20pm. Jeff told me Tuesday night that dinner was part of my gift and that he was going to take me to the Bento Box! Oh.my.word. We've only been one other time but it was fantastic! Now, before that visit, I was not a big fan of sushi. Jeff was, but I wasn't real wild about it. The owner of the restaurant, Chef Lee Grossman, completely changed that! He took such good care of us that night and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (and the sushi!). We sat at the bar and watched Lee and the other guys create these beautiful, edible works of art.

So when Jeff said he wanted to take me there, I was stoked! I made a reservation for us at their new place (our first visit was on the last night they were to be operating out of their former location), at the bar again and we had just as good a time this time as we did the first time. Lee took care of us again and we tried some new things. But we loved everything! We had a Rainbow KC Roll, a bowl of calamari, a Sesame Shrimp Roll (something we had the first time) and a special they had going for Valentine's, a Lobster Roll. And for dessert? Oh, yes. We HAD to have dessert! :) We had belgian chocolate fondue with fresh fruit, homeade pound cake and macadamia nut cookies! Yum.ie. :)

I took a few photos of some of our dishes last night --

After dinner, we hopped across the street and went to the movie. It was so, so funny! Us and one other couple shared the whole theater -- it was really cool!

The night was so great. It was wonderful to hang out with my best friend -- eat good food, watch a good show. I love you, babe! Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

happy (early) valentime's day...

Bless my husband's sweet heart, this is what he calls Valentine's -- Valentime's. And I just think it's the cutest thing...

We are apart this year on Valentine's (which is Saturday for those who've let it "slip up" on them!) but it's really not a big deal. We don't typically make a big fuss over that day in particular except to maybe give a card. However, this year we have some movie tickets that have slowly been burning a hole in my wallet for a while now. I've asked Jeff to take me to the movies some night to "celebrate Valentine's". If he takes me out to eat, bonus points for him! But I'd be fine if we just got into the movie free (which we will because of the tickets) and he bought me "movie food"! :) Do you not LOVE movie food? I didn't ask if you loved the price...only the food, the nature of it all. Junk. Love it. :)

I think he's attached strings somehow to this "date" by saying we have to see Mall Cop with Kevin James. That's fine with me. If he'll take me, we can watch whatever (within reason :). Besides, Kevin James reminds me an awful lot of my own husband so we're good.

I thought I would share this rather romantic video I put together last summer in honor of Valentine's day. We had these photos made in celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary with Julie Mixon, photographer extraordinaire! She took them at our very own beach, Topsail Island/Surf City, and they turned out fantastically! This video showcases quite a few of them -- I used a program called Sony Vegas Movie Studio to put it together and had a lot of fun with it.

Enjoy!

rotating off...

Happy new year! I've been trying to get back into the swing of things -- work, reconnecting with friends, etc. We've been pretty busy.

I wanted to share a small project I did for my husband a couple months ago. He's been a deacon at our church for the last 2 years -- this is his last year before he rotates off. Each year, he's taken the time to send a personal note to each of his families along with a magnet for them to put on their refrigerator. He asks each one to let the magnet serve as a reminder to pray for him and the church staff. This year, he asked me to design the magnet and this is what I came up with (of course, I've blurred out his personal contact information per his request, but you get the idea):

Merry Christmas to all...

I pray you all have a very blessed Christmas with your friends and families -- from our home to yours...