War Eagles play at Coolray Field

I finally got to go to one of Billy's games this season! They've been snowed out and away for the past 3 weeks. It didn't hurt a bit that the first game I got to go to this year was at Coolray Field, the Atlanta Braves AAA field in Buford.

South Forsyth faced off against Dunwoody high school Saturday afternoon. We finished the game throwing a 1 hitter winning 2-0. It was so nice to be back at the field. Come October, I know am going to be so tired of the baseball life, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

#ValensVersary

This Friday, Billy and I were FINALLY able to celebrate Valentines and our 4 year anniversary. The snow and baseball kept postponing the night, and I was getting quite frustrated, but we finally made it happen!!

I still had a rather large gift card to Buckhead Life Restaurants as a work anniversary gift that we decided to finally cash in! I let Billy chose which one of the restaurants we ate at, and after much, much deliberation and a few recommendations, we ended up choosing Buckhead Diner. 

I was so, so excited about my outift for the night. I may have been a smidge fancy for the Carolina Leagues, but initially when I was shopping I had no idea where he was planning on us going. I knew Buckhead Diner wasn't over the top and I may had been a bit over dressed. Then again, I loved the dress and I was totally ready to rock it!

I was so tickled pink when Billy arrived at my apartment all dressed up with flowers in hand. It has been a while since he has picked me up with flowers, and it was so sweet to see that sight again. I felt like a pretty darn lucky girl.

We were told that we could not visit without having the Chili Thai Calamari. It was absolutely amazing, and I would order two of these again the next time we go. Delicious!

I chose the Blue Plate Special for the night, which was a grilled hanger steak topped with maitre d' hotel butter and cracked pepper steak sauce paired with green beans and Yukon Whipped potatoes  as sides. Oh, so, so good

Here's to many, many more #ValensVersary dates with this handsome sweetheart!!

I don't believe in soul mates

I love Billy beyond words. I couldn't imagine doing life without him. He is my rock and my best friend. We make a team that is unbreakable, even in the toughest of times. However, he is not my soul mate.

Interestingly enough, I do believe in soul mates--Billy just isn't mine yet. 

I read a blog recently that detailed almost the same emotions that I have always used to describe my take on relationships, marriage, and soul mates that inspired this post..

Hannah, the blog writer, and I both agree that we think there is no one person out there for everyone. There are probably a lot of qualified men to take the role of "person whom I will soon drive crazy." Of course, timing is everything as well as a mutual desire to make things work--we all know what I mean by those things.

Our first picture together as an official couple

Billy and I were lucky enough to cross paths at a great time in our lives. We had had time to find ourselves in college, and become comfortable with who we were as individuals, thus making us finally ready to settle down into a serious relationship that had potential of working without all the petty drama that most couples our age were going through. We were close enough to starting our big people lives, yet still close enough to being kids that we still were able to relax and not have the stresses of the real world that came after college. He was the first to graduate, and since we had such a solid foundation started in our relationship, we were able to make long distance work well. Baseball prepared me well for that. I graduated a year later and was so beyond blessed to find a job in Atlanta near Billy. We are still going strong after 3 and a half years of him being my main squeeze.

I really hope he pops the question any day now. I am so ready to start a marriage and share my life more with him. I have realized that, at this point in my life, he is the right one for me. Life makes perfect sense him, and I want to make many memories with him and little Miss Casey Michelle.

At the cabin our first Christmas together

I know you're thinking, if Billy's not my soul mate, then why am I wanting to run to the little white church and become Mrs. Henley?! Well, I believe soul mates are made, not born. I really established my firm feelings towards this in high school so this isn't a sudden idea that has popped up in to the danger zone known as my brain. I even believe I mentioned it as one of my random Liebster facts somewhere along the road. I decided that I felt this way many moons ago, because I saw that many people are able to have more than one happy, successful marriage, therefore I don't believe that that magic can only exists with one person.

I believe that soul mates are created after years of love, experience, hard work, and companionship. Soul mates are those two people that are able to sit in silence for hours, and walk away feeling like they have had the best conversation of their life. Soul mates are two people that can read each others thoughts and finish their sentences. They know each other inside and out. They know all of their best stories, because they lived it with them.
Whenever an older person would pass away, my wise grandma would say, their spouse would follow soon, because the other would die of heartache. The closest of those couples would always follow that prediction. Those are soul mates.. people who have developed such a deep, loving, overwhelming love for each other that life was not worth living without the other half of their being.

I hope that when I am older, wiser, and more worn, that I am still holding Billy's calloused, tender hand. He is my world. I hope that we continue to grow more in love with each other with each passing day. I hope that we become each other's soul mate. In time, work, laughter, tears, pain, and endless joy, I know it will be possible.

Back to business

I hate seeing weekends leave. At least this one, being 3 days, was able to stick around a smidge longer than the rest. {Bless you, weekend} Now it's time for another rousing rendition of, "Let's recap Megan's weekend" {Queue the weekend recap theme song that sounds identical to the Family Feud theme music}

Thursday my boss told me to take Friday off as a mental health day. I may have tried to hug him. He may have looked at me like I was crazy. This all hypothetical ..maybe

 I ran home as quickly as I could and packed to try to make it to the cabin before dinner time. Little did I know prior to my arrival, we were going to eat with some of Billy's old family friends--their neighbors of 30 something years from when they lived in Florida. It was great getting to meet and hear stories of Billy's childhood. I love hearing stories of baby Billiam. We ate at one of my Blue Ridge favorites, the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant. It is literally a mile from the cabin, and it is overflowing with guests everytime we pass by. It's a wonderful little restaurant right along the Toccoa River with a beautiful patio area right over the water. It burned  to the ground about a year and a half ago, and thank goodness they rebuilt, because I don't know where we'd be without this gem!

via

Friday we had more friends from Miami back to visit while on their way headed back south for the winter from their annual summer road trip. Joy and Tick are such blessings to have around every summer. We had planned on going tubing that day, but of course, it rained again. So our plans changed to a quick trip into town for lots of sugary snacks at Merciers and the chocolate store downtown. After the rain subsided, we got lots of meat to throw on the grill.
Have I mentioned before that Billy is an awesome grill master?! Because he is phenomenal! He even grilled peaches that were out of this world! I had never heard of grilling peaches before, but they were fab with a little cinnamon, rum, and brown sugar!

After dinner we went for a moonlit walk to enjoy the crickets, lightning bugs, and the almost full moon we had. It was so nice to finally take in some of the slower, simple things in life for a change. It was such a breath of fresh air.

Saturday we made plans to head up to the North Georgia Mountain Fair as we do every year. Except, when we got there, we found out we had missed all of the shows for the day :( Instead of letting the trip go to waste, we kept on the highway for an extra 30 mins and found ourselves in Helen for the afternoon.

When I was a kid, we'd go to Helen at least once a summer to go tubing. As I got older, we stopped going. After revisiting for the first time in years, I found out why we stopped going. This place is like Disney meets Myrtle Manor meets gross. I lost count of how many people I sincerely believed were on Meth. We pretty much got out of there as fast as we could. I was too afraid to even partake in the funnel cake for fear it was laced with heroine.. then again, I feel like that might be too classy of a drug.

Sunday we vowed "Good lord willin, and the creek don't rise" that we were going to the fair. By george, we finally made one of our plans work before getting ruined by rain. We got to catch the racing pigs, eat some mouth watering fried green tomatoes and BBQ, and take in a few of the fun vendors. One of my favorite moments was while wandering through the exhibit hall, I found  a very old wood burning stove that once belonged to my great grand parents. I had no idea it was even there! It stopped me in my tracks. What a fun find!

Billy's brother made it a point to photo bomb as many pictures as he could that day. We finally played along.

Today, sadly, it was back to the Monday grind. However, let's keep Mondays as positive as can be. Let's announce the winner of the Escape Monthly Box that I talked about here! Congratulations to Carlee for winning the first box! It should be arriving to you soon in the mail!

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The story behind Treetops Cabin

This story actually begins back in the early 70's. Billy's grandmother was a librarian at a school and his grandpa was a professor at a community college in Miami, Florida. Billy's grandmother, Bonnie, worked with a lady who's mother lived in the North Georgia Mountains. This lady always insisted that they bring the kids up over the summer. Billy's grandpa had some obligations with work, so Bonnie found it to be the perfect time to take her friend up on the offer so she piled the 3 kids into the car and made the long (even longer then) drive to Blue Ridge.

They found their way to a cozy little valley right in the middle of the Cohutta wilderness. They stayed at a very old family cabin, that I believe has been around since the mid 1800's. They fell in love. They loved the people, the mountains, the area, the foods, the streams and waterfalls. I think right then and there, they decided they were going to take a piece of that place with them everywhere, because they never wanted to leave.

The creek that runs through the valley that the house sits on.

The next school year rolled back around, and as I believe the story goes, both of Billy's grandparents got raises. They had narrowed down what they wanted to do with their new income to two things, and decided to let their 3 children decide. Their choices were to hire a housekeeper that would come in and help do laundry and keep the house in order, or they would buy a small cabin up in the mountains where they could spend every summer from there on out (of course with the stipulation that the kids would have to step it up in the chores department as they were getting to that age). Unanimously they chose the cabin.

They were able to purchase a cabin just down the creek from where they had spent their first visit to the mountains. It started out as a very, very small cabin on the side of the mountain that looked like it was perched up in the trees. That was when Billy's grandmother, gave it a name, treetops, and it has stuck ever since. This cabin was so small that the kitchen and bathroom were the same room. From there on out, every summer on the last day of school, their car would already be loaded and they would drive up to Georgia to spend the entire summer. Day after day they would enjoy life and take in every second of their time there--hiking, biking, tubing the river, and having adventures. hey would stay here until the week before they headed back to school.

The view from the Swiss family Robinson-esk porch. You can see that during the summer it stays very shaded. 

Eventually, they had to add on to the original structure. Presently, this cabin has 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and a real kitchen that only serves only as a place to cook and eat, and a precious screened in porch. That was the place that Billy spent every day of his summers, Christmas breaks, and hurricane seasons as a child. As Billy got older, and started getting more involved in baseball, summers began to get shorter as they didn't get started until after summer ball ended. As much as he loved baseball, I think he loved his cabin more. If you ask him about memories from his childhood, he will tell you that his best memories were from the cabin.. almost as if he actually lived there year round.

You can see the expanded original cabin in the background

As the family got bigger, and those 3 kids at the beginning of this story had children of their own, it was time to expand again. This time, they decided to just start over, and build a brand new cabin right next door. Billy's grandpa was on the verge of retirement, and his retirement plan consisted of him propping his feet up at the cabin and never returning to South Florida, so he figured he'd build himself a newer, modern place to enjoy once he did.

Construction began sometime in the early 2000's and now we have the big cabin adjacent to treetops. 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, and a large multipurpose garage/gym/game room type thing downstairs. The two cabins were adjoined with a huge porch and awning that is perfect for early morning reading and mid afternoon cards games.

The view from upstairs loft which is home to a bedroom, office space, and bathroom

After Billy graduated high school, his mom decided to move to Georgia full time, and his grandfather saw that as a good reason to go ahead and retire from teaching. Thank goodness they did, otherwise Billy and I probably would have never met. Now time spent here isn't limited to the months of May-August. However, his aunt (until next week) still lives in South Miami and still makes the drive up every summer wither her little ones to share the same nostalgia she experienced with them. I've only been around for 3 summers, and this place already holds a special place in my heart.

I, myself, can't wait to make more memories with a family of my own here. We are so incredibly blessed to have a place to share together and to enjoy God's incredible creation. Every free weekend we get is spent there, we love when friends come to visit us and help to add to the stories these logs tell. Though I'll be busy the next two weekends, I cannot wait to get up there the next chance I get. I can hear her calling me now.

Taking a second to brag

The 2013 MLB draft is this week--Thursday to be exact. This is a big deal in my world, as Billy's life and career is devoted to baseball. Every year it is crazy to see friends or people we have met get selected to go play ball professionally. This year, it is extra special as he is about to see another handful of his former players' dreams come true.
Even more cool, two boys that play for Team Elite are projected to be top 1st round selections! That's a pretty big deal! Such a big deal, that those two boys are actually featured in the latest issues of Baseball America AND Sports Illustrated, because they are the top high school prospects in the country!!

Uh-hellerrr! That's pretty freaking sweet!

Right inside the front cover of Sports Illustrated

The first page of the article in SI

COVER of Baseball America

I am so freaking proud of what this means for all of the boys and the Team Elite staff! Both the boys and their coaches bust their buts in and out of the season, and I love to see them reaping the benefits. Go out and grab a copy and read about the baseball powerhouse factory we have here in metro Atlanta and about Clint and Austin, the two studs. I can't wait to see what Thursday night holds for them! If you get the MLB network, you can watch and see both of the boys Thursday night!

We saw Alabama!

A few months ago while I was on my lunch break, I saw on the billboard out in front of the fox that Alabama was coming to town. I told Billy about it and he was determined to buy tickets. The morning of tickets were selling like wild fire, so I just went ahead walked over to the box office and jumped on them before he missed out! So for Billy's birthday, he got two tickets to see Alabama! Fast foward to about 2 weeks ago, I found out that my favorite aunt and uncle had also received tickets to the same show as an anniversary present. This made me doubly excited!!

To explain why a 24 year old would care to see a bunch of old guys: I have been a huge fan of the band since I was pipsqueak. Yes I agree, I had a slighted warped taste of music as a child, because I would just steal my dad's cds because I didn't have money (this is back when they were expensive) and this was even before Kazaa was around. So I listened to "Song of the South" on repeat as child--perfectly normal!

The show finally came last night! It was so great to finally be back at the Fabulous Fox Theatre!! I got to show my aunt and uncle around my new town. I even got to introduce them to the legendary Atlanta landmark  Mary Mac's! If you've never been to Mary Mac's, you are missing out! Here are a few pictures from our night out!

Also notice my work home's head got cut out of the shot. WTG Billiam.

Mary Mac's Tea Room! Love this Place! Yes, I had tomato pie. :)

Billiam looks like a possessed children's doll. Way to ruin a good picture, boss.

You bet you buttons I was wearing my boots!

I loved the entire thing! Oh yea, and Billy did too, of course :) I felt a little teased, when Randy put on an Atlanta Braves hat. My eyes lit up and I looked at Billy and said, "I hope that means they're going to play cheap seats!" {You can take the girl out of the ball park, but you can't take the ball park out of the girl} Unfortunately they didn't, but I got to hear all my other favorites, and scream COLD BEER during Dixieland Delight, so all is well in the world! :)