An Easy Little Sunday

I woke up today in a tent, in my little sleeping bag, next to my two favorites:

these two ♥

It was a beautiful morning, and we took it in stride, leisurely with  hearts full after the night camping out. We took our sweet time tearing down; with a nod, a 'see-ya-next-time,' and a super-helpful little girl helping tote our campsite out to the truck to pack up.

the best helper out there! 

We stopped at the house to drop off boat, gear and extra weight, then continued on out to Plain Folk Cafe for breakfast. Between the pancakes and hashbrowns, there were plenty of giggles and cheesy peace signs from this girl who's really just no so... little anymore. 

This is what I mean...

It's crazy how gratifying it is sometimes to just ... relax for a day. It was the perfect cap to a beautiful weekend, and I'm one happy gal to have spent it with some great friends, my better half and my mini me. Not bad at all! 
Now baaaa-ring on the week! 
xo | cmd

Uh Huh...

Marianne sent me this via Pinterest today:

Guys.. I can't. The truth in this is that I need this logo'd over everything I own. I need this. For sure.

Instead of wearing that around like I wanted to today, I took the expected route and went to work, then the gym, and then home... [rinse & repeat, amiright?]

Dinner was an easy selection, and part of what I love about workouts: less guilt on the carb side...

spaghetti carbonara

^ That's a stock photo; tonight we used veggie noodles and did not take a moment in the space between the stove and shoving it in our mouths to photograph. Noted, for next time though.

Phewwwwwwww.... yeah.
See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Smoky Mountains, Here We Come!

We left today for a weekend in the Smokies.

Before that could happen though, it was a prioritized early morning that began with yoga at 6AM.
That was followed by breakfast at First Watch once Becky came by to get us.

Here we go!

let's go! 

Here's the before shot... I can guarantee we'll be 1) nowhere near this clean in 3 days, and 2) probably still wearing these exact clothes [still] in 3 days. We've already accepted it.

The drive through Kentucky into Tennessee is beautiful enough when you're by yourself. When you're with two of your favorite friends, it warps into something beyond a scenic drive; it becomes a 5-hour launch into hilarity, during which you spend the entirety of your time doing one of three things:

1. Sleeping
2. Eating
3. Laughing so hard that you're crying & gasping for air. 

All of those things happened within the 5-hour confinement on the way down. 

WE MADE IT! 

Cataloochee is our starting point for the weekend; we're here in the lower portion of the North Carolina mountains, surrounded by trees, rivers, elks and hammocks. 

Our first order of business was a suspended timeout:

1-2-3, go. 

just... leave... me..... here.
forever.

 

Our contingency plan:

We broke out the JetBoils and had a successful first night of Mountain House dinners.

let's do it... 

Marianne and I managed to gather firewood; for Mare, this translated into full tree branches, but hey - noone's judging.. haha.

"wrist size or smaller.... " haha

Day 1: COMPLETE. We are here in the Smokies and ready for the weekend! 

xo | cmd

Backyard Camping

We set out on a mission today to purge whatever parts of our wardrobe we aren't using. That applied to all of us, and, after doing so, we were able to determine what we lacked and what we absolutely didn't need.

That led to a mini shopping trip; our objective was to get Rob some new shirts, since we counted past two hands how many he's had since he was in high school. Some of them looked like they hadn't been unfolded in the last 10 years either, judging by the deep fold lines. So yeah, a revamp was due.

Sydni got ready and waltzed out the door looking in a high school sophomore heading to the mall..

not so little anymore! :( 

I had a quick glimpse of what's in store for me ten years from now, and it made me both happy and a little sad at the same time. I think that's normal though.......... right?

"dream big" [her shirt]

Anyway, by the time we were halfway done with shopping, I was quickly reassured that my little girl is still the playful thing I hope she always will be:

run. play. love (: 

We made our way home to prepare for the night ahead of us: backyard camping!
I ran some errands and went grocery shopping while Rob and Sydni pitched the tent and got the bonfire going; by the time I got back, it was hot dogs and s'mores - the typical diet of all bonfire campers.

saturday nights: i'll take this over anything the city lights could offer ♥

Yes, this is backdated.
No, I did not have my computer out while we were camping ;) 


xo | cmd

Friends On The Water

We woke up this morning to that atmosphere you can only find when camping. The smell of dew from overnight was still hanging in the air when we crawled out of the tent, and the sun was peeking through between the trees. The campfire ashes were still smoldering, and the familiar feeling of being surrounded by mud and camping gear first thing in the morning set in immediately.

I LOVE it.

I also love being on a boat.
With Rob.
.. And our friends (:

This was day 2 of taking the boat out on the water; yesterday was her baptism to the 2014 season, and today we motored a course around the lake by ourselves for a couple hours before Kalyn, Brittany and Chad rolled in.

Here's the photographic story of that happening :P 

my love (:
day 2!

sparkly water (:

floatin' away!

We decided to dock up for a minute to get our friends in on the action!

hi guys!!!

laid out with my best friend

love. love. looooove. these girls.

And what's a boating trip without doing yoga on the bow of the boat? 

just a little yoga for the trip out

Oh, and the polar plunge, aka the cold water challenge... whatever you wanna call it. It might be warm out, but the water is still pretty.. freakin'... frigid.

trying to talk ourselves into it....

go!
.... coldcoldcoldcoldcold...

We talked Chad & Rob into doing it, as well... 

 

I love these people...  

loungin' out without a single thing on the agenda

besters.

It was finally time to tow in... we were all winding down and ready to eat.

headin' on home



i am one absolutely content girl (:

^ Yeah, lots of selfies on the boat today. None of us could help it; happy people, happy pictures!

 

Rob & I dropped the boat at the house, threw on some jeans and made a U-Turn back out of the neighborhood on the bike to meet the other three for dinner. Our destination: The Eagle in OTR. We hadn't yet been, but we'll be back!  

sweet potato bake, chicken sandwiches, mac & cheese, spoonbread..
... nomsssss.

Whew. That's the way to finish a Sunday! We definitely got some sun out there this weekend, but it's nice to be home again with our pups for a the rest of the night. We're gonna crash here in a minute, I can tell.

I'll deal with Monday when it gets here... hah. G'Nite!

xo | cmd 

LET'S.. GO... BOATING! [&CAMPING, TOO!]

Before the weekend could really begin, I had to make a very rare pitstop back at work for an hour or so. It felt so weird being there on a Saturday, but I counted my blessings of not having a job that required me to report in every weekend.

saturdays at the office?
rare. :p

The short office visit was worth it; I got to run a couple of other errands while I was out, too, in preparation for our mini getaway out to East Fork.

I headed back to meet up with Rob; he'd spent the morning at his shop cleaning up the interior of the boat, and together, we tied up all the loose ends and headed East.

campsite - check!

Our first priority -  find a campsite. That was as easy as a quick tour through the grounds; we pitched our tent and turned right back around to hit the water. After all, that's the real reason we're here this weekend (:

hello, 2014!

it. begins. yiiieee!

She did it! Her [the boat] 2014 debut went as smoothly as we planned. For that we have Rob to thank: I don't know that I'll ever get over how thankful I am for a hands-on guy who can spend a couple hours in the guts of a boat and get the thing running like a champ on his own. I love this guy.

Today was a bit chillier than what we would've ideally wanted, but it didn't sway us off the water until the early evening rolled around. We squeezed in a mini hike before settling into the campsite for the evening..

into the sunset.. haha (:

i love. this man.

It was back to the campsite to start a fire and cook after that.

marinated skewers?
.... yes. yes, please.

nom nom nom nom....

The last item on the agenda for the evening: NOTHING.

We sat by the campfire and watched the sun disappear, followed by the brighter shades of the sky fading into one smooth black canvas. The stars were bright and the campfire was sparkly.

beautiful ending to an awesome, awesome day.

I count myself among the luckiest out there. Life gets so busy sometimes that we forget to pause and extract ourselves from the tornado of routine activity, even just for a day. We are fortunate to have that ability, and were reminded tonight to take advantage of it whenever possible.

Here's to another awesome day tomorrow ♥.

xo | cmd

Gearing Up!

I got out of work early and must've blacked out... 

uhhhh..

Okay, so what really happened is that I got out of work a little early, and decided against my more rational judgment to make a quick stop at REI for a couple of things for the weekend.

Things that are wrong with that:
1. There is no such thing as a quick stop at REI.
2. Don't get me wrong, I love the REI co-op and wholly support its mission, but myyyyyylanta the inventory is heinously overpriced. THERE, I said it.
3. I dropped some decent dough and an hour of my time on what I told myself would be a quick stop.

Meh.
I got what I needed there and made a couple more pitstops before heading home. Rob stayed up later than usual doing final adjustments to the boat for the weekend, and we've voted on it being a low-key night. I have to stop in at work for a bit tomorrow before we head to East Fork Lake in the afternoon, so that's reall all we have to report from here for today.

IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!

xo | cmd