Finally, A Weekend of Rest

"A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air." - Eric Sloane

    This past weekend Justin and I met my parents and my brother in the mountains. They rented a house at Lake Junaluska and invited us to come along! It was a nice break from our normal mountain routine, considering we were not spending our time painting, nailing, gluing. Even though it was past the peak Fall leaves, the foliage was still beautiful.

       Of course you can't go to the mountains in the Fall without going to the apple orchard. When we arrived the aroma of apple turnovers captured Justin's attention more than the sight of heaps of apples. For only $1.75, Justin was in heaven!

    There were only a couple items on my agenda, one was to go to the apple orchard, the other to Mast General Store! So, after downing his turnover, we hopped in the car and headed towards Waynesville, NC.

  The leaves were the prettiest in Waynesville. As we walked downtown we couldn't help but stop and act like total tourists! The whole Parrott side of the family used to vacation at Lake Junaluska every summer. So this weekend brought back some great memories! It was good to spend the weekend with my family, also!

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The season for enjoying the fullness of life -- partaking of the harvest, sharing the harvest with others, and reinvesting and saving portions of the harvest for yet another season of growth."- Denis Waitley

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."- Albert Camus

    When we made it to Mast General Store I was so excited! Everything about the store makes me smile: the squeaks in the floor, the rustic feel, and, I can't forget, the candy! Mast has so much more, but the only thing I usually ever purchase is candy! They have dozens of barrels filled with different types of candy, it is always a hard decision. They charge by the pound, so we picked out a variety of  items. Of course we intended only to get a pound, however we ended up going WAY over! From fake cigarettes and Pixie Stix to green apple bubble gum and sour gummy bears, everything was a must have! : )

    When we got back to the house we figured we needed to walk off a good bit of the candy we ate on the way home. Since Lake Junaluska has a 2.6 mile walking path that runs alongside the entire lake, that's where we went. From what I remembered, there were always a lot of ducks in certain areas of the lake...and they liked to be fed! As we approached the lake, we were greeted with several types of geese and duck breeds and they appeared to be hungry--and unafraid!  When you would stop feeding them, some would peck you and some just follow you. Either way, they let their presence be known!

   It was a fun and restful weekend. It was nice to be able to sit on the front porch and enjoy the view of the lake surrounded by the colorful mountains. I would recommend this place to anyone!

Back on track...

    After a brief hiatus due to our inability to mooch off of our neighbors wireless internet, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase internet of our own. Surprisingly, AT&T is remarkably easy to set up, I was able to do it all on my own..before Justin even got home from work! (He's going to be stoked!)

    Anyway, we are back. We do not have any cute pictures of new born babies for you to "ooh and awe" over, but we have to inform you that we have had a birth of our own...a birth of a KITCHEN! :)

   After all, I did create this blog to document the journey of remodeling a house, however I lost my focus a long time ago. But today, I will regain it. After months and months of remodeling the living room, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, several closets, and (the most work of all) a kitchen, we are finished. Finished to the extent that all of the crown molding is up, baseboards are nailed, puttied, and painted and the carport flooring is now a solid gray color instead of the various chipping red, green, and blue paint spots.

   We do need to make one more visit to move a few things out and clean up. Do you know how exciting this is? This started back when Justin was single. However, when I met him he had only completely finished the first bathroom. Now, 2 years later we have tackled the rest of the jobs I listed earlier together...We've had a lot of time invested in this baby...and it is finished! *Sigh of relief*

Today, I will focus on the kitchen!

   I am saddened by the fact that we do not have pictures of how awesomely awful the house looked before the remodel, but I do have a few that give hints. If you look closely to the picture above you will notice a "vintage" feel. 

            1. The green and white plastic marble countertop bar.

            2. The green stained trim around the window.

            3. The gloomy fake walnut cabinets.

Things you can't see from the picture:

           1. The hideous shade of yellow paint that adorned the walls before we painted it blue.

           2. The green and yellow speckled linoleum.

           3. The colony created by moths in the space between the ceiling and the cabinets that prevented any bread, flour, cereal, cayenne pepper to be stored anywhere but the fridge.

          

       4. The picture above shows the previous draw and shelf liner. I've never been a fan of floral patterns anyway, and this yellow and orange pattern is not about to change that.

   One of my favorite features is the random width White Oak flooring Justin made! 

  To modernize the kitchen, we painted the cabinets white, replaced the countertops,

 made new cabinet doors,

and added a light above the newly installed (white) sink!

      After the remodeling is all said and done, I can say I have learned a valuable lesson. I can trust Justin's judgement with decorating and remodeling ideas. I will admit, throughout the journey I would say something like, "are you sure?" or "that won't look good!" But, he was always right! :)

     At this point we are getting a little sentimental and are not really sure what we are going to end up doing with the house. We've had some great times and have poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it our first few months of marriage. Finishing everything up in the Fall has been wonderful. The last few times we visited we have been able to see the leaves change and do Fall-ish things! We've really enjoyed Clayton..and the view from our front porch!

      Next time we go to the house I'll take more pictures to share of the living room and bathrooms! To take a trip around memory lane check out our living room remodel!  :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Okay. So I am aware that the most wonderful time of the year generally refers to Christmas. However, I am going to have to disagree. Fall is full of fun, like, pumpkin carving, pumpkin pie, and watching football.

 It's also about the smells.

The decorations and candy!

 Did I mention the Pumpkin pie?

 Oh, I love Fall.

Hope y'all are enjoying it as much as we are! :)

It's Low Tide!

Who's afraid of the big bad elephant? :)

I'm not going to tell stories, I was just as skeptical about pulling out a win over Alabama as Lee Corso was, but at the end of the day, Carolina fans are the ones smiling over our biggest win in school history and the 1st time we've ever beaten a #1 ranked opponent.

As Justin and I headed down to Columbia from Augusta yesterday, it seemed as if we were passed by more Alabama fans than USC.  I guess seeing the opposing fans inspired several quotes by Justin that were similar to this one: "Now Casie, they are a #1 team, I don't want to see that same temper I saw after the Auburn game..."

After sitting in traffic for an hour and only traveling 6 miles, we finally made it to our tailgating spot! :) My long lost bridesmaid, Hillary, met us for a little while to talk about hopes, expectations, and how badly we were going to get beat. Well, to be honest, I was the pessimist and Hillary predicted the biggest upset of the season. We laughed at her prediction and moved on.

Oh...did I mention it was GAMEDAY in Columbia? Gameday! Oh my, it made my day to know that ESPN was covering this game on our turf!

It was a sold-out crowd at Williams Brice! We used my grandma's season tickets and sat in the lower deck around others who have had their tickets as long as my grandma (44 consecutive years)! When I sit in these seats I am used to being the only one standing, cheering, and otherwise being a football fan. It was a completely different experience last night. Old men were dancing, twirling rags, jumping. Oh it was a sight.

The enthusiasm stayed the entire game. The only time it was quiet was on the snap. Carolina seemed to just do everything right (except for the play made by Garcia when we gave Alabama a safety.)

Justin kept telling me not to take a picture of the scoreboard until it was 0:00. He mentioned after the game that at half time (when we were up 21-9) he thought, "Casie's really going to be upset now when Alabama makes a come back!" :) I guess he knows me!

 When the game ended a roar sounded throughout the stadium. The loudest I have ever heard it. Everyone around us (except for the lone Alabama fan three seats down) was laughing, cheering, dancing, excited.

This picture was taken at least 15 minutes after the game. It was apparent no one wanted to leave. There were a lot of happy people in Columbia and we just weren't ready to stop celebrating!  

Final Score: 35-21. Good day!