Tuesday, September 30, 2014

6 Gap or My Name Isn't Muffin


This weekend, Muffin rode the 6 Gap Century.  Meaning, he rode 104 miles over 6 of the steepest mountains in North Georgia with more than 11,200 feet of climbing!  My sweet muffin has always loved exercising and cycling (heck, he even ran a marathon for fun), and I couldn't imagine him without a bike.  When we first started dating, I worked at a book store that was next to his bike shop.  Some really great memories from that summer are of Sunshine Bicycle and Daniel passing time there until my shift was over.  His love of cycling is such a huge part of who he is, and I am in awe of his athletic abilities.  6 Gap was the ultimate challenge and I honestly know it is his stubborn streak and will power that got him through such a difficult ride!

 The day started at 4 am. This chick is not a morning person, so the first few hours of the day were a sleepy haze!  Luckily, I packed enough Diet Coke to wake me up so I was able to help him pack his jersey with snacks and get him all situated!


Muffin is ready to ride!
6 Gap has over 3,000 riders, and I truly haven't ever seen anything like it.  There were cyclists from 18 countries and the oldest rider was over 70 years old!

Cyclists taking off!
After the riders were gone, Daniel's mom and I took the "short" 2 mile walk back to our car.  We then set out in search of breakfast.  Dahlonega, where the race starts, has the cutest downtown area!  We found a local café and had a great breakfast.  

After breakfast, we had a hard time deciding what to do!  We originally planned to just shop around the town, but Daniel's dad, via a phone call, suggested that we go meet Muffin at Hogpen Mountain (aka the hardest climb of the entire ride) and offer some encouragement.  

Robin, Daniel's mom, and I had quite an adventure heading out to the course to find him.  3 GPS attempts and 1 dog chase later we were in place!  We chose to be at the bottom of the mountain, and it's a good thing!  The course signs were missing and it was a left hand turn where the riders could definitely use a road block.  We "worked our street corner" (hahaha) and directed traffic for a few hours waiting on Daniel to get to us.  In that time, we saw a couple of riders get picked up in the service vehicle.  One wrecked in a curve and the other just couldn't keep up the pace of the ride.  I felt terrible for them!

Blurry, I know!

I also had my sign while we were directing traffic.  I didn't hold it for all to see, but it was visible and leaning against my legs.   I got lots of great comments from riders on it!  I had some requests for muffins and many told me "Hey! My name's not muffin!"  I ended up deeming the 6 Gap ride the official Muffin For A Day ride.  Everyone was my muffin and got some encouraging words :)  My mother-in-law got the best praise though!  We had a gentleman tell her that she was his favorite girl for directing traffic...but apparently that's also what he tells all his ladies.  Cyclists are definitely characters!

After Daniel passed us (throwing out unwanted items to me as he turned) we packed up and headed to the finish line.  They finally replaced the directional sign and we felt safe to go!


There is honestly nothing like watching him pass the finish line!  I was so proud for him and knew he must be bursting with excitement!


After the ride was over, Muffin got a leg massage and a huge spaghetti dinner and we headed home.  He then got a second dinner at our favorite pizza place at home!  Muffin burned more than 6,000 calories and definitely needed to load up on carbs.

His first ride since the race is today.  If it were me, I would've taken the whole week off.  Then again, nobody has will power like Muffin does!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Catching Up


Hi Everyone!

It's been a crazy few weeks of business travel for me!  I wanted to catch up with what's been going on with us!  I feel like time is flying and I'm just hanging on by fingernails :)  Things will slow down soon and my travel should be over for a while.

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks:

San Francisco (the work trip, not the vacation)

Last week I traveled to San Francisco for an event.  It was a whirlwind trip, so I spent most of the time at the hotel catching up on work.  However, I did get to enjoy this gorgeous view from the hotel's outdoor dining/relaxing space.

Watching airplanes land.

Enjoying breakfast by the bay.
The event space was gorgeous and they already had a lot of orange outdoor décor.  The crowd was a great size and really seemed to enjoy themselves.


Weekend Fun

Last weekend, my Aunt Joy and Uncle Walker came to visit. After the week's travels, it was nice to spend time with family members I don't get to see as much as I would like to!  We had some great food (prepared by my dad who could truly be a chef) and Walker brought some AMAZING wine!  After our trip to Sonoma, I think I appreciate wine even more!

Me with my sweet uncle!

My mom had me make this little cheese spread.  Clearly I am proud of how it turned out ;)
Once we got back from my parents, I spent TONS of time with my dogs.  Sometimes I just feel like they don't get enough attention when our schedule is busy.  We had a great time together playing all afternoon!

All 3 being so sweet.

They love their new zombie hand toy!


Georgetown Work Trip

This week, I was in Georgetown for work.  We were dedicating a building with 3 consecutive events (so 3 events in 1 day = insanity).  I should've known things were going to go a little haywire when I started off my first travel day with sick dogs.  Luna had an upset tummy.  All I can gracefully say about the experience is that it was horrifying.  In addition to that, Lucy had a problem with one of her eyes.  The poor thing couldn't see out of one of them from swelling.  I was late getting to work just cleaning those two up!

If that wasn't awful enough, once we got to Georgetown, the weather decided to be terrible and POUR all. day. long.  The events were outside to showcase the beautiful grounds of the event locations so we had to go to plan b.  For ALL 3 events.  It was crazy to say the least.  I think you have to love adrenaline to plan events, because sometimes things just never happen the way you plan it and you just fly by the seat of your pants!  I was lucky to have some great co-workers there to help figure things out.

One of our plan b set ups!
Daniel made this 3 day 2 night adventure better by sending me updates of the puppies each day.  These two snuggle pups are loving the new Halloween decorations.  When I got home yesterday, all three fur children almost knocked me over with kisses and love!

Luna and Lola missing their mommy!  Lucy was sleeping under the bed.

Last night, Muffin and I went on a nice, quiet date night.  I was so happy to be home and just spend some quality time with him!

Thanks for being patient with me while work has kept me away from the blog!  Stay tuned for updates from our house, vacation, and halloween festivities!


Monday, September 15, 2014

Monday Musings


Happy Monday everyone!

Today I'm traveling BACK to San Francisco, but this time for work.  We spent our weekend resting at home and hanging out with some of our favorite people.

Friday

Friday night I worked late at a Gala for work.  This particular event gives out the highest award our University bestows on an individual.  I always look forward to it because the decor is so over the top and fun!

The Stage.
Entire room.
Head table looking at the stage.
After I got home from work, I went out to dinner with Daniel and his best friend.  We went to our favorite italian place because I was in the mood for good wine and hearty food!  


Their Chiantis are great, but the Garlic knots are sinfully delicious!

Saturday

On Saturday, Daniel went for a bike ride while I cleaned up the house and did a load of laundry.  He spent the afternoon marinating and cooking the dove he got while hunting on Labor Day.  





The final product was wrapped in  bacon and stuffed with Jalapeño and Cream Cheese.  We paired it with a suggested wine from our trip ( A 2012 Charbono from Kachina).  The final meal was amazing!

Sunday


Sunday we watched the movie Bottle Shock (yes I know I'm out of control with the wine love right now) and decorated for Halloween.  While I know it's early, I just can't help myself.


A Halloween Home Tour is in the works soon!

I hope you all have a great week!  I can't wait to be home from my travels and back with my sweet husband and fur children!

Friday, September 12, 2014

Building Our Home Weeks 10-12


So, all of our travel has set us back a few weeks on house updates!  I definitely owe everyone some new pictures! A lot has happened since we last updated everyone.  We have the majority of our windows installed, shingles, AND they've started plumbing and electric.

Before Shingles


Looking into the living room.  The top windows will be in very soon!

Looking into the breakfast nook area.

Looking into the dining room area.

Master Bathroom windows.  Corner tub will be right below them!

Master Bedroom

Back view before clean up!

Shingles!

Lighting for Kitchen is starting to go in.

Plumbing for my vanity in the Master Bathroom.

Starting to frame out our windows.
Next week we will start putting up the Hardie Boards!  I can't wait to see that Builder's wrap covered up!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone!

I know you missed me!  We are officially back from our trip and getting our schedules going again.  Our California journey took us so many places that I thought I would break that down to three posts over the next few weeks (San Francisco, Sonoma, Redwoods/Morgan's Wedding).  So stay tuned for that.

For now, I will give some updates about what happened leading up to our trip.  The Thursday before Labor Day, our sweet baby Luna graduated from her first puppy class.


I'm so proud of her and she's made so much progress since we started.  She still generally only takes commands from me (and sometimes Daniel), but we are working on it!  Luna starts her intermediate class in mid-September.  I love that particular class because they really move from puppy energy to semi-grown ups and learn really useful commands.

We spent Labor Day weekend with friends and family.  Friday night, one of our best friends came to visit and we made tacos and watched movies.  It was a nice, relaxing evening.  On Saturday, we celebrated my niece Amanda's 7th birthday with an Olaf themed birthday party!  She had a great time and snow cones were enjoyed by all!

My mother-in-law hosted and decorated it all!  She had the cutest food!


That night, Daniel had another birthday celebration for his 29th with my parents.  Sunday, we loaded up into the car and headed out towards the mountains to see the Southern Living Showcase home.  Since we are building, I loved seeing how the "professionals" build and decorate a home.






Monday found us at the annual dove hunt on the farm.  While I don't partake in the actual hunting, the food is wonderful!  Maggie, the construction site mascot aka my parent's dog, had a great time in the sunshine.

Picture stolen from my dad's facebook :)
To end this post, I want to give special thanks to Stephanie Gimlin at How Sweet Designs for Farm to Fête's new look!  She made the design process so easy and I think the new look really is more representative of me!




PS- check back for house updates and posts about our trip!