Officially Hitched

After 14 years of being engaged, my sister and her fiancé, Michael finally made it official and tied the knot! The ceremony was short and sweet and took place at the courthouse. My sister was stunning in her vintage-inspired, yet modern dress paired with to-die-for shoes. Michael looked sharp as well, sporting a button-down and tie which is always a swanky look for him. He only wears a tie on special occasions and I'd say this was one of them.

That night, close friends and family gathered to celebrate the much anticipated wedding ceremony. We enjoyed dinner overlooking the Charlotte Skyline at Fahrenheit where we devoured their delicious calamari, gourmet burgers (can you guess who ordered that?), filet mignon and grilled salmon. The happy couple finished off their meal with a surprise dessert that was rich with peanut butter and chocolate. I may or may not have helped them eat it :)

We are over the moon that Nickie and Michael are officially official. NOW he can say that I am his sister-in-law :)

Switch-Up!

Sometimes you need to break out of your regular routine of burger joints and movies for date nights and do something a little different. This October we did just that by heading to the Comedy Zone for a double date and a night with Justin Willman, comedian AND magician. Yes, magician. It sounds nerdy but his stuff is pretty cool. Justin has a great way of making fun of magic but blowing your mind all at the same time. He brings technology and members of the audience into the picture making his act more unique than most. He made our first experience at the Comedy Zone a great one and we plan to go back in the future.

Photo by Jonathan Bayme

Photo by Jonathan Bayme

Oh, and if Justin looks familiar it's probably because you've seen him hosting Cupcake Wars in the past. Does that show still come on? His recent wedding has also gone viral. He and his wife had an epic first dance to, "I put a spell on You" (fitting coming from marrying a magician) and their Drunk History parody of how they met. It was pretty hilarious.

What's a better way to mix up date night than going out on a Monday night? You guys....going out on Monday is HARD. I was mixed up on days for the rest of the week. It felt like Monday on Tuesday and Wednesday on Thursday....it was a mess but it was fun staying up past our bedtimes. I was able to pry Jeremy away from football and take him to see the awkwardly awesome, Brett Dennen. I missed him play earlier this year in Charlotte and I didn't want to miss my second chance. Brett put on a great show, reminding me how much I loved his folky, soulful and playful voice. His personality was also quite the entertainment for the night.

We can't go out every Monday night. One, because Monday = Football. Two, because we're old. Tuesday morning was a struggle getting out of bed but it was totally worth it to switch things up and get out of our normal routine for the week.

You win some, You lose some

Jeremy and I have been traveling to see our Appalachian State Mountaineers play since 2008 when we randomly decided to take a road trip to watch our boys take on Michigan in the Big House.  Needless to say, it was a great decision in the end as we joyously jumped up and down, fearful of being up so high, but couldn't help but celebrate nonetheless.

Since then, we've traveled to small schools and big schools with the hope of seeing wins for our beloved alma mater. Chattanooga, NC State, LSU, East Carolina and the Citadel have been a few of the schools that we have visited to cheer on our Mountaineers.

This year, Clemson was on our schedule and we headed to Death Vally hoping to witness an upset. Notice I said HOPE. The thing about traveling to these different home turfs is that you have a chance of losing. And sometimes it's big-time losing, like we did down in Clemson a few weeks ago. You also never know how fans are going to be. Michigan fans constantly mis-pronounced "Appalachian" and asked who we were and LSU fans screamed "tiger bait" at us with an annoyingly southern twang. But Clemson... Clemson was different. Before we even started the game and losing badly, they were nothing but nice. They were helpful telling us where to go and had southern charm like no other. It was like the chancellor told them to be on their best behavior. It made losing a little more bearable.

We were getting beat by Clemson pretty badly but we had a great time supporting our school while we were there. We had great seats, were able to walk some of the beautiful campus and experience another school's spirt among our own. Jeremy and I consider App football games some of our first dates so to experience them year after year reminds us of the time we started to fall for each other. Win or lose, we love our Mountaineers. Go! Fight! Kick Ass!

A is for Apple

This year the mission for apple picking was Honey Crisp Apples. Lucky for us, Sky Top Orchard had some in stock so it was off to the Western mountains of NC we went. It was nice to escape to the mountains for the day and enjoy it's crisp, fresh air, rolling hills and good eats.

Sky Top Orchard was crawling with groups of families and friends but it was still an enjoyable experience. We had the best time filling our red baskets with various apples and exploring the different fruit crops like grapes and peaches the orchard had to offer. I believe it's safe to say that Keegan's favorite part of the day was the hayride where we rode along the bumpy path spotting a barnyard full of animals and forest of bamboo. He also enjoyed spotting the queen bee in the working beehive.

The boy loves to run. He takes after his Auntie :)

We couldn't leave Sky Top without purchasing apple cider, apple pie and of course, apple cider donuts.  They were so good! So, so good. That alone was worth the trip.

We ended our mountain day trip with some delicious wood-fired BBQ and southern-style sides at Hubba Hubba Smokehouse. We loved the quaint, little outdoor area that featured side walk chalk to entertain Keegan. All in all, it was a great way to start our Labor Day weekend and was a trip we won't forget!