Yard Work & Bonfires

Rob and I got breakfast moving early this morning, as we anticipated a day full of yard and boat work. We chowed down and headed outdoor for a day of weed-pulling, grass-mowing, boat-buffing and other miscellaneous meanderings around the house.

i'm insanely in love

See ya later, weeds...

pre-weeding..

At some juncture in the day, I received a text from Chris, inviting us over for a bonfire later that evening, as one of their friends from Cleveland was in town visiting for the weekend. We happily obliged, and after the afternoon wore on, we cleaned up and made our way over for a relaxing evening of friends, loom bands, bonfires and smores.

The sun went down, and the sparks went higher! 

We sure have had a happy Saturday, and we hope you have too!

xo | cmd

A Day On Norris!

This is definitely a photo entry:

First, I made it a point to get up early and head down to the boat dock. The fog was starting to lift off the water, and there was only the occasional passing boat. With my mat in tow, I headed down, did some flow and sat for a bit just breathing it all in.

AND... I held this guy for a 30-count. It's not a huge brag, but I'm working into a scorpion and at this point, this is a pretty good feeling to accomplish this.

*Sigh. Okayokayokay... I've become a total hippie. Meh.
Stella joined in, for what it's worth...

happy girl! 

The sun crept its way little by little until it was visible, and then it seemed to all but leap from the mountain skyline to the top of the sky. Rob, Jesse and I did a little running around to get some grocery items [for later this evening], and then proceeded back into the boat for the meat of the day: LAKE TIME!

everywhere. | lake norris | lafollette, tn

I cannot believe it has taken us this long to discover and visit this lake. There are hundreds of miles of shoreline here, over a dozen marinas and just about everything in between. This place is heaven on earth, in my book.

We took the raft out, too, each of us taking turns. I, by the grace of wearing my favorite pair of sunglasses, did find myself tumbling over choppy wake, but I did fly - literally - a few times, on board the raft. Jesse and Rob both took spills off into the lake, but no harm was done and it was hilarious.

My run:

Jesse's run:

Rob's run (shortened by his spill into the lake, compliments of Jesse):

We rafted, then we cruised some more, then we drifted and relaxed a bit. The water was warm yet refreshing, and the clouds [as you can see] were sparse in contrast to the bright blue sky. Today... was... awesome.

♥♥♥♥♥♥ him 

We gave Rob's boat a run for her money today; we came to rest as the afternoon turned to evening in a cove, watching other boats pass by and waving to skiers and jetskiers. Rob and Jesse went for another dip in the water, while I took to laying across the front of the boat and soaking in the view of sun and sky meeting mountains meeting water.

perfect.

It was finally time to get back, so we headed on "home" to our dock, climbed up the hill to the cabin and started preparations for dinner. There is something about being in a kitchen with my friends collectively making dinner that is just.. familial to me. No TV, no cell phones, but actively engaged in something for the group. The bulk of my family lives at least 2.5 hours away; this was a small but perfect substitute for a night in with family making dinner together.

veggies!!! 

jesse doing some kabob prep work 

I kept an eye on the stovetop foods while the boys got the bonfire and the grill going. Within the hour, we had dinner and a warmed space to sit around.

dinner & a bonfire!! ♥

The table's cleared, sweats & hoodies are on, and we're watching this from the hammock:

good night, tennessee! 

I could re-do this day over and over again.
Norris, we'll be back!

xo | cmd 

Headin' To The Dren Lodge

It was definitely a feel-good Friday:


feel good colors!

It was one of those rare Fridays in which everything seems to fall into place as though you purposefully put it there. Including lunch:

nom!

Yessss.
It was also one of those Fridays that included a post-work road trip. This time it was north to good old Mt. Vernon. We're home.

We made better time on the road than we'd expected, so Mom & Dad, aka Nana & Pappy, set up a little bonfire and some treats for our hungry bellies.

pretty little glow

We roasted some hot dogs, ate our vegetable sticks [duh; we're at my mom's house now...] and then broke out the s'mores sticks and all the fixins.

pappy getting her started

love my little campfire bug!

telling nana secret ghost stories

*Yawn. We're HOME.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Dad's birthday. See you then!

xo | cmd

Family. Boating. Roasting!

My parents arrived, as promised this morning. We exchanged our usual hello's, which mainly included Sydni saying, "Nana! Look at ________!" a few hundred times within about five minutes. I love it. We helped them get settled in, and then started packing up for our day trip out to the lake.

We toted everything out to East Fork, somehow got my aquaphobic mom on a speedboat, and took off for a day on the water.

Yeah, it was a picture kind of day :)


mom & syd

^^ Look at my mom in her wayfarers! Haha. Freebie from the credit union, she told me, and really the perfect accessory for a boat trip. Love my mom (:

It wasn't long before we found a nice spot in a cove, where we ate our picnic lunch and started really enjoying the day. Sydni strapped on her lifejacket and hit the water right behind me. Swim time!

look at her go!!

thumbs up!

We floated and cruised, cruised and floated, and then rode up on one of the narrow strips of shore in one of the coves for some more fun in the shallows.

syd, dad & rob working on syd's fishing pole

syd finding good rocks for skipping!

nana & syd playing in the sand ♥♥

The day really was all about Sydni. She's like a fish when she's in the water, just as I was when I was little. It was tough telling this girl that it was time to go. I mean look at her! She looks like a little grown-up in the water....

little summer babe!

When it finally was time to head back, we of course let Sydni show Nana & Pappy how well she could drive her boat. She's a champ!

vroom vroom!

Fast forward through the trip back to the house, during which Sydni zonked out almost immediately; she got a healthy little snooze in before we were back at home and gearing up for round two.

Round 2 = Bonfire!
The only problem was.. we didn't have a fire pit.
I wanted a fire pit.

The best solution I could think of at that moment, was to make ... a fire pit.

SO, I DID. (:

boom. back yard fire pit.

I turned into a little sod farmer for about an hour, peeling the lawn up in a circle to form a little pit. We used the brick pavers we got from Jay & Trey's house to build a small outline, and while it's a bit lop-sided, we weren't going for an aesthetic accolade as much as functionality. Oh, and we didn't have sand or gravel at our immediate disposal, so yes, that's cat litter.

Rob fired up the grill, Mom and I skewered some chicken, Becky and Mike showed up with firewood, dad set up the chairs and coolers, and Sydni ran around with a headlamp attached to her head to occupy the dogs. Talk about teamwork (:

The sun eventually began to fade, our dinner plates were all empty, and it was time to get the real evening started with fire.


not too bad!

dad, mom, the dogs & a couple of my little pony characters

becky & sydni..
.. sydni's that blur of a headlamp running by ;)

S'mores.
It's not a family bonfire with smores. It's also not a real kick-off to Summer nights without smores. Becky got us started, using a peanut butter cup instead of the traditional Hershey bar.

nommmm!

Soon, we had a production line of smores lined up around the fire, a system in place, and seven sets of sticky fingers.

it's time for smores.
it's time for summer!

I could do this every weekend ♥

xo | cmd

Fun Little Saturday (:

We started off the day with a very early lunch at Olive Garden... honestly, I don't remember the last time I was there, so some OG salad, breadsticks and gnocchi soup really didn't hurt my feelings at all. From there, we took an impromptu run out to Highland to surprise a certain soooomeone at her work.... hehe..

 

I didn't get to take a picture with Ali today. Instead, I borrowed this off her Facebook from Halloween, which is way better anyway. Haha. Meet my great friend, the adorable lumberjack. I MISS YOU, ALI!!!!

my favorite ginger lumberjack friend

The rest of the day was filled with relaxing, a couple trips out on the bike [sorry, I don't trust myself enough to be phone-photogging from the back of the Harley...] and playing with the dogs. Dinner rolled around soon enough and for that, it was off to my favorite fried green bean venue, Bindy's. It didn't hurt that this gal was working either. And yes, Alicia I promise I will bring Syd back some weekend and we can do a playdate outside of Bindy's with you and little Cam! 

she's the best.

After Bindy's, we found ourselves parked in Kyle's backyard for a bonfire. This right here is my idea of a perfect Saturday - hanging with friends and just relaxing by a backyard fire pit - nothing fancy or extravagant.. just a simple good time (:


fire faces

 Our last stop of the night was to hold up on a promise of swinging by a send-off farewell shindig for Andy, who leaves shortly for military boot camp. THANK YOU in advance for the service you are about to give.. glad we could come and see you off!


celebrate and thank you!

It's always a good time coming out here to visit.
Tomorrow should be a good day, too (:

xo | cmd