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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Summer Obsessions

Every summer has it's obsessions, new discoveries, and fads. These are a few that could be found in my summer!!

This is my happy place. Billy's family has a cabin

in Blue Ridge, GA right in the valley of Cold and Rich mountains along a creek that runs down to the Toccoa river. It's so peaceful there. When we arrive it's like we leave all of our cares and the rest of the world back on the highway. The only way I can describe the drive down into the valley is that it's like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the first book when the siblings find the closet that leads to Narnia and they walk through the closet and it slowly turns into this paradise. Well, that's how the road that leads up to the cabin feels for us. It's a mix between a fairy tale and an 1800's novel. They call the Cabin Treetops--it's what Billy's grandma used to call it. It's seriously as if it was perched on the tops of trees that line the creek. There is never a day, rain or shine, that we don't say "it's a pretty day today." Even thunderstorms are wonderful up there. I can't wait to go back and spend a few days this weekend.

I would like to thank McDonalds for making my favorite drink available to me every single day of this incredibly hot summer. Strawberry Lemonade was made for me and my taste buds. AND it's in slushie form! Thank you God as well!

Molly! She's my new car that I really needed, hate paying for, but love her nonetheless. Jenna and I had a very long, wonderful ride together. Well, until she started costing me more than she was worth. She stood by me through a lot. If only cars could talk--she'd hate me, but she'd have some great stories to tell. Well, Molly is a 2010 Mazda3 and she is wonderful. She's so much fun to drive. I'd comment on her dependability, but I hope to not find out for a while how dependable she is. She's great on gas, she loves the road trips I take her own. We're like peas and carrots. Not to mention, she's pretty cute! ;)

So I've seen this little logo floating around Milledgeville for a couple of months now, and finally tracked down it's meaning/brand. Peach State Pride is an awesome idea that a GCSU alumni and a fellow North Georgia native came up with to promote pride of the state of Georgia. I describe it to all of my friends as the equivalence of the Palmetto Tree for South Carolina residents (being from a SC boarder county, they all undersand what it means. Unlike others who just think it's a palm tree for people that like the beach.. Sorry, my rant caused my to digress). I'm absolutely in love with the logo, the brand, the purpose. I want one of everything that he has to offer!!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my best friend this summer. I would not have made it though a summer as a baseball coach's girlfriend without it. If you've ever had to follow a summer league of any outdoor sport in the south, you know how hot it can get. Baseball games are unbearably hot and typically there is no shade to be found. I purchased this battery powered fan to take with me to the games, because I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the summer without some way of beating the heat. I'm able to put it in my bag and set it up wherever my blanket lands. Very handy, convenient, portable quiet, cheap, and worth it!

One of my newest discovers, and probably the worst of my obsession is Axxium Nail Polish. It's some type of gel that is cured after applied to the nail to ensure that it is very, very hard. It doesn't chip!! It's so good that some salons will guarantee it for at least two weeks. If it peels or or chips, they'll replace it for free! I'm on my second color and even through all the crap I put my nails through, I haven't had a single chip, scratch, or anything less than an awesome looking polish.

This is my first summer of Netflix, and possibly my last depending on how I feel after the price hike. So I have started watching tv shows religiously. My two favorites that I watched this summer have been Dexter and Bones. Not sure what this says about me, but I love them regardless!