Bling in Dallas!

Vacation has officially begun! By now, I've boarded my plane and I'm heading to Dallas, the first leg of my vacation. If you didn't already know, I am a Premier Designs Independent Consultant (check out my jewelry site here). It's a fun gig where I get to give away free bling and make a little money on the side. This week is our National Rally. Our new Fall/Winter line of jewelry will be out and I can't wait to see it. Basically, the entire week (well, four days) is one big girls' night out. Just what the doctor ordered. I'm already drooling over the thought of some good tex mex and margaritas.

On Saturday, my sister is picking me up and we're heading back to OKC. Do you know she's lived there for 3 or 4 years and I've never been to visit? How awful am  I? So, I'm definitely looking forward to checking out her new hometown. I'm thinking since I'll be in cowboy territory, I might even break out the cowboy boots. Of course, I'll still need to accessorize. lol

Source: via Kerry on Pinterest

 

 

Hopefully, I'll have lots of fun pictures and stories to share with you when I get home! Adios!

Holiday Fun

Next week we are doing something different. We're piling in the van and heading south to the Great Smoky Mountains for Thanksgiving. I thought I'd share some of our plans with you. I've mentioned them before, but I'm in the mood for a sneak peak. This year, we're visiting two brand new shows, along with an old favorite. Woo hoo, can't wait!

Wednesday - Dixie Stampede

*borrowed from the Dixie Stampede
facebook page.

Most of my family has attended Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. However, I have never been and I'm looking forward to it. There are nine of us going. There's a live nativity and of course Santa and his elves for the kids (and big kids too). 

And let's not forget the meal! Straight from the website:  

• A Mouth-Watering Tender Whole Rotisserie Chicken
• Delicious Hickory Smoked Barbecued Pork Loin
• Dixie Stampede's Original Creamy Vegetable Soup
• Scrumptious Homemade Biscuit
• Hot Buttered Corn on the Cob
• Tasty Herb-basted Potato
• Dixie's very own Specialty Dessert
• Unlimited Pepsi®, tea or coffee

Whoa! That's a lot of food! 

Thursday - Thanksgiving lunch at the Apple Barn, followed by the Smoky Mountain Opry's Christmas Spectacular.

OMG, how I love Apple Barn's apple fritters!! They are to-die-for yummy.

After lunch, we'll head down the road to The Smoky Mountain Opry. This is a brand new show. It looks great! Check out their brochure here. (Picture courtesy of their website.)

They also have something called Christmasfest Village, which is a part of the Christmas Spectacular show. There are carnival rides (ferris wheel, merry-go-round, etc), ice skating, holiday light shows, Santa and live reindeer, food vendors, horse-drawn carriage rides, Smore's pit, train rides, and a Christmas village. Fun!

Friday - Black Friday & The Hatfields & McCoys Dinner Feud

Obviously, the women in the group will be shopping bright and early. How can you pass up the outlet malls on Black Friday? You can't! I've got my checkbook ready!

For dinner, we're trying out another new show to Pigeon Forge - The Hatfields and McCoys Dinner Feud. I don't know anything about it or anyone that's been yet, but it looks fun and entertaining.

Saturday - Home

I'm sure we'll stop by the Apple Barn again for breakfast on the way out of town. We usually do. Just can't get enough of those apple fritters! All in all, it looks like we've got a fun Thanksgiving holiday coming up, don't you think? 

Family Time

On our last day of vacation, my Mom and I met up with our Florida cousins. Unfortunately, our last day was rainy and nasty, so we had to come up with something other than a beach day. Ashley hit the jackpot when she suggested we go to one of the restaurants featured on Man vs Food - Yoders in Sarasota, FL. You can catch the episode from Man vs Food here. The place was packed and needless to say Weight Watchers went out the window that day. I felt like I was looking at a menu from my grandmother's Sunday after church dinners. There was meatloaf, fried chicken, turkey and dressing, roast beef, BLTs, not to mention all the different pies - coconut cream, strawberry rhubarb, peanut butter, chocolate, apple, pecan, and on and on. It was a southern cookin' feast!

My meal for the day (pardon the bad pictures, I didn't have my camera, only my phone) - 

My dessert for the day (peanut butter cream pie) - 

And of course, the best part of the day was getting to see family, especially Baby CC! Despite the rain, it was a great day. I hope next time we get to spend a little more than a day together. :)

BOO!

Beware the birds

Just in time for Halloween, the birds descended today. I have never seen so many in one place. They would take off and fly just a few feet above our heads. I was ducking left and right all day. I am sure we were all quite the sight! I wanted to take a picture of the birds flying over me, but when I finally decided to take one, they broke up into three groups and flew to different parts of the beach. I did, however, get a picture of one group in flight. Have a look...

A Walk to Remember

Early morning walk on the beach.

The Beach

Today was our first day at the beach. Wow, it was perfect. It wasn't too hot. There was a constant breeze. It wasn't crowded. I read a little, listened to my audiobook, and just relaxed. Our condo is bea-u-ti-ful! Here are a few pictures.

Knee Deep in the Water Somewhere...

See those umbrellas?

I'm going to be sitting in one in three short weeks! Six of us are going on a girls' vacation to Siesta Key. I am so looking forward to getting away for a few days. You know...Gonna put the the world away for a minute, Pretend I don't live in it, Sunshine gonna wash my blues away...

I've got my kindle, my iPod, and nothing but sugar sand beaches. Heaven. Don't worry, I'll have a cocktail or two for all of you.

Dog Days of Summer

After what seems like for-ev-er, I am on vacation. Unfortunately, we didn't go anywhere, but just being able to sleep in, lounge around in my sweats, hang out on the boat and do basically whatever I please is nice for once. I've taken a few days off here and there over the past year, but I was in such a fog at the time it didn't do any good. I'm hoping for some serious R&R this week. So far, it's gotten off to a good start. I do have a doctor's appointment out of town tomorrow (ugh), but I can handle one day of being poked and prodded.

I have some things around the house I want to get to this week, but I'm not going to bust my butt doing it. I'm also getting my butt back on the treadmill. My Nike Connect is charging as we speak. My sister is getting married in two months and I have to stand up next to a bunch of gorgeous superstars. Me and my stretch marks (yes, I know that's grammatically incorrect) will be out in all their glory, so the least I can do is lose a few pounds and try to tone up some. LOL All of my sister's friends are gorgeous. We always called them the movie stars...and there I'll be, right next to them in this wedding. Thank God for spray tans. That will help a little. :)

No news on the adoption front. :(  We still want to sign with an additional agency, and we still may at some point, but we want to try to save as much as possible before we do. I still have to finish cleaning out closets and rearrange some things around the house, so there's still plenty to do on my end to get ready.

Other than that, nothing is going on and I have to say, I love it. No news is good news around here. Things are drama free. We've been getting out and enjoying ourselves. There's been neighborhood cookouts, fireworks at the lake and last night we hopped in our old VW bug convertible and took a drive. We stopped at Sonic for dinner. Stuffed our faces with a big Chicago style hot dog (how much more American can you get on July 4th?) and headed home to watch the fireworks.

Well, it's time for me to get back to vacationing. I'm going to fix myself a big bowl of watermelon and sit back and catch up on my DVR. Hope all of you have a great week. :)