Heart of Dixie

 

Pigeon Forge is my absolute favorite place to go. I make that fact no secret. I'm plotting to get all of my friends to go on a vacation there together. I keep telling them about the great hotels and cabins, Dollywood and all the dinner theater shows and things to do. I think I'm finally making progress on them and we may go sometime in 2016. I'm crossing my fingers that's for sure! Here is five things you have to see or do if you are in the area...

1. Gift shop at the Country Barn Gift Shop.

 

This store has everything from bear statues, t-shirts, magnets, pens to Minnetonka moccasins. The Country Barn is also conveniently located between the gem mine and the Three Bears so you can park and hit three places all at once and within steps of each other. I always stop and shop here when I'm in Pigeon Forge.

2. The Country Candy Kitchen.

 

This place seriously has the best candy in the land. They have everything but my favorites are the chocolate covered peanuts, cashew clusters and the white chocolate dipped Oreo cookies. They also have candy apples, fresh made taffy, rock candy and of course fudge! The options are endless. I always end up leaving the store with a giant bag of sweet treats. I always go at the beginning of my trip so I can enjoy the sweets while I'm running around town then usually once more before we leave so I can bring the goodies home too.

3. A Christmas Place.

The largest Christmas store in the south also known as the mother ship calling all lovers of Christmas home. Not only do they have spectacular Christmas trees on display, they have massive Christmas Villages on display. The store also have anything and everything you could ever think of for sell that you would need to decorate your tree or village for the holiday season. They also have a rewards program and for every 250.00 dollars you spend you get 10.00 off your next purchase.

4. Star Cars!

I have been going to Hollywood Star Cars in Gatlinburg for years and they always have new cars to see in person. They currently have a huge line of cars from the Fast and Furious franchise. They also have classic cars from Twister, Batman, The Flintstones and more. They also have original movie posters and props on display. There are several cars that you can sit in and take a photo. Before going in they have several cars on display that you can see before going into the museum.

5. Titanic.

Since I was 12 years old and Leonardo hit the screen in Titanic, I have been fascinated with the real events of Titanic. When Pigeon Forge dedicated a museum to Titanic I knew I had to visit it. I've walked through Titanic a few times and each time I learn and see something new. They have artifacts lifted from the bottom of the ocean and brought back to life. They also have a recreation of the grand staircase. You'll see photos that can't be seen anywhere else and since the museum has rotating artifacts if you go twice in a year you may not see the same items as the other visit.

There is so many things to do and see in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg it could take hours and countless posts to tell you all about it. I didn't even go over the different dinner-theater shows that the town offers. The restaurants are also some of the best you'll find! So what are you waiting for? Get to town and start visiting all of these fun places!

The Tri-State's Finest

Have you ever heard the saying, "Art imitates life and life imitates art"?

In the movie You've Got Mail, a lady Kathleen owns an independent bookstore. It was her mother's and when her mother died she took it over and became the owner. The shop has been open for over 30 years. She goes to the shop everyday and is hands on with the daily operations. When a rival bookstore comes into the neighborhood, she tries everything to keep her business a float. Now of course, there is more to the movie, but I wouldn't want to spoil it.

In real life my mom, Kathleen owns an independent bookstore... a comic book store. It's been her store since she opened it in 1980. She opened it four years before I was born. I grew up in that store. I was there everyday with her until I started kindergarten. I went there everyday in middle school after school and in high school I would help run the place on my weekends and in the evenings. In college, there were days that I ran the store all by myself. My mom though, she goes to the store everyday. She is hands on with the daily operations. She does all of the ordering, up keep etc. When a rival store moved into town and when other stores in the area have came and gone, she has remained a constant.

If you happen to be in Huntington then check out the store. She's got everything from new comics to back issues. If you don't see it, just ask her and she'll see what she can do. If you're in the middle of no where and can't get your comics, call her up. She can do an over the phone order and ship them to you. My soon to be husband has started collecting a few comics and she takes  his order ad ships it to us once a month.

Did I mention my mom and Comic World have been featured in a movie and in a book? Mr. American Splendor did an entire graphic novel on coming to Huntington, shopping at Comic World and meeting my mom. Want to read the novel? Don't buy it on Amazon, call the store and she'll get you a copy! She'll even sign it for you!

Weekend Review

This past weekend started with a real bang. Friday night, I get home from work and Beezy had fixed my favorite dinner... Fettuccini Alfredo. I was very happy and ate way more than I should have. After dinner, I went into our bathroom that's off the master. The bedroom is set up a little odd because the wall that has our television doesn't have any power outlets so we had an extension cord plugged in that had yet to be put under the carpet. Silly me. I come out of the bathroom, flip the light out and my eyes hadn't adjusted. Needless to say, my foot got caught in the cord, I tripped and hit the ground. Now this is where it gets really interesting.

The next thing I know Beezy is on top of me touching my face trying to wake me up. Apparently, when I fell my head hit the end of the bed and I knocked myself out. Yep. Out cold! So when he heard the thump of me hitting the ground he didn't know what the noise was. He comes to the bedroom which is completely dark and finds me face down in the carpet. To say he was freaked out is an understatement. When I went down my knee apparently took a major hit cause it was very red and swollen. We even had to ice it.

 

After all of the excitement Friday night, Saturday was a breeze! I did wake up feeling very sore. I took it easy in the morning and sat down to take down the last of our Christmas decorations. I had taken everything down except our last tree, the Beach tree. Sadly, we wont get to see it again till next year. I'm pretty for sure Tesco was sad to see it come down because he loved sitting under and beside them.

 

We also went to his cousin's house and he played poker. Their kids have two tropical pet turtles that I'm obsessed with. I think they are the cutest little things! His cousin's wife was showing me everything they have to do for their glass case they live in and it's a ton of work! Because their tropical they have to keep it hot and humid so they have to spray it with water twice a day. They have to turn the lights off and on twice a day because they have differentiate night and day etc. It was a lot! I still think their super cute. I want one...

On Sunday, I went out and found my engagement party outfit! I was lucky enough to find a dress and shoes literally within 5 minutes of each other. I don't want to share my dress until the party but check out the shoes that I got to go with it...

Now it's back to another week of work!

Weekend Update

My weekend is technically still going since today is a holiday.

On Friday, Beezy and I headed out to the Kings vs. Miami Heat game.

The Kings started off their season doing good. For some reason unbeknownst to the public, they fired their head coach and since then they've lost some games they should have won. Lately, it feels like all they've done is lose. We still go to the games though because a lot of times they pull out a win! Plus this is the place we first started really hanging out. It always bring back those memories. Sadly, Friday night the Kings lost to the heat. They were missing one of their best players due to injury. It was also Knock Out Cancer night at the arena...

On Saturday, we started shopping for outfits for our engagement photos. Our photographer has been great so far. He's giving us unlimited time, is willing to drive to our locations that we want to shoot at and letting us change our clothes as much as we want for these photos. We plan on shooting basically all day so we'll be able to capture day and night photos. So they gives us a wide range of what we'll need to wear. Here's a really honest moment for me, I'm the heaviest I think I have ever been in my life right now. So picking out outfits is hard. I've been watching what I eat and trying to be better the last two weeks but obviously it takes time to lose weight the right way. In the meantime though, we have engagement photos to take so I'm trying to hide the weight and look nice in these photos. I'm hoping to lose at least 10 pounds for this wedding. So far I've got one outfit together, which is our casual one. We are wearing Kings clothing so I got these pants at Bebe...

As for the other outfits, I have no idea. The hunt will continue. Suggestions are very welcome. We are also having an engagement party and I'm trying to find a dress for that.

 

On Sunday, we hung out at home and it was amazing. We haven't done this on a weekend since before December. We didn't have any obligations to go places, we didn't need to be anywhere at a specific time. It was magical. I did go and get my nails done so that was nice. I think I've found the polish I want for the wedding...

 

Minus the teal. I'll do all silver and glitter for the wedding. I love it! Besides getting my nails done, we watched Jack Ryan. Neither one of us had seen it before. I thought it was good, he thought it sucked. Tamato tomato.

 

The highlight of the weekend was when we went to eat at Lucilles. I was very excited about the macaroni and cheese side. That was until it was served to me with a curly black hair embedded into it. Gag! I get that mistakes happen but that will take away your appetite real quick. They were really nice though and comp'ed me my meal.

Weekend Review

Friday night Beezy and I headed out to the theater to watch...

I love this series. I read all the books, seen every movie and just can't get enough. We would have went to the midnight showing but we were at the Kings game watching them take on the Chicago Bulls.  The Kings won that game and are looking good so far this season. They are definitely in a better position than they were last year at this time.

Saturday, we headed to Oakland to watch this guy in concert...

Beezy surprised me with tickets a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen him in concert since he was in Nsync. It was a good show! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed our night out! We also had some pretty good seats.

 The view from our seats of the stage...

On Sunday, Beezy and I went to Apple Hill. I had been wanting to go there for awhile and he was determined to take me. I had a really great time! We ate apple donuts, bought fudge and walked around the little shops.

 

It was a great weekend of spending time together and gearing up for Thanksgiving!

Weekend Review

This weekend definitely had it's ups and downs. Let's start with the ups!

On Saturday, I spent the day attempting to Christmas shop. I have realized that I'm totally an online Christmas shopper. I was only able to find a few items in store. Amazon just kills stores on their prices. The same thing is SO much cheaper and with free shipping. I ended up with way more stuff for myself than I did for other people. Which isn't what should happen when you are going Christmas shopping. The items that I got for myself? Well I got this little beauty from Beezy as an early Christmas present...

Remember the nutcrackers that I was obsessed with buying the last two years? Well guess what... Cost World Market came out with a new set for this Christmas season. Instead of chasing them all over town before they start to sell out, I went ahead and bought the entire set. Yep. Sure did. Judge away. But guess what, I'm happy!

 

Now for the bad. My finger nails have taken a beating over the last few years. My last job which was with government required that I wear disposable gloves a lot. Have you ever had your hand in a glove like that for hours of the day? No. Well guess what they'll kill your nails. So I would never get them done. I didn't see the point in basically wasting money on doing my nails. They wouldn't been seen half the day, they'd get tore up and basically be a waste of my hard earned money. So after years of not getting them done, I went to a nail place to get them done. I went in wanting a gel manicure on a full set of nails. My real nails are too short and uneven. She placed my hands on the table where I couldn't really see them because they hung in her direction. She did one hand and I was like OH MY!

 

She literally didn't file them down even. She put gel on them. On my real nail and didn't even do a good job painting them. Take a look for yourself...

HORRIBLE! I wanted to cry! I tried to explain to her that I needed a nail placed on my nail. She wasn't understanding at all. There was a language barrier and it wasn't working out. So I left. Now I've got to wait till this gel starts to wear off and then I can go get it done at a DIFFERENT place. So the poor girl at Top Nail who couldn't even paint each nail all the way, thank you. Seriously, I could have done a better job painting my own nails with one eye shut and using my left hand to paint.

 

Other than that... my weekend was pretty good!

 

Oh! I ate at PF Changs for the first time and it was SO good!

Weekend Review

Beezy and I took the plunge. Last week we took advantage of the Labor Day sales and bought a giant television. He had been pouring over the Sunday ads for months, comparing tv against tv, commenting about how he'd like a new one and even made it number one on his Christmas wish list. When the Labor Day ads came out, I knew it was time to give in and give up a large portion of the living room to an over 40 inch screen. Monday off we went to the store. What did Beezy want? He originally wanted a 60 inch television. We left the store with this one...

He read so many reviews that we went with the Samsung 55 inch Smart TV. Once we bought it, we were so nervous. The boxes on TV's are huge and we were so nervous that it wasn't going to fit in his car. We had to put the backseats down and it barely made it. We got it home and it was the fastest I've ever seen someone set up an electronic. I'm glad he likes it. We made a compromise that this is the last tv we are buying for a few years.

In other news, I tried making something new! Beezy always makes dinner and I'm usually the one to do breakfast. I decided to mix things up and make dinner one night during the week. This was the first time I had ever made stuffed peppers and I think they turned out pretty good.

I used red and green peppers because honestly I didn't know which one Beezy would like better. I stuffed them with hamburger meat, cheese and rice. I also topped them off with a lot of cheese. The peppers could have been a little softer but overall he really liked them. I'm going to try to make them again but a little different so I'm hoping that works out.

I also started reading a new book...

It was recommended to me by one of my best friends who's a librarian. I'm about ten pages in because I haven't had a lot of time to read but it's good! Why haven't I had a lot of time to read? Well Sunday started the NFL season and we have Sunday ticket so of course guess what I had to watch...

And that's a weekend folks.

Weekend Update

It's Labor Day weekend! I want to give a shout out to everyone who works hard in the United States!

This weekend, I took advantage of the Labor Day sales and hit the mall. I was in desperate need of some additions to my work clothing closet. I hit three stores and found some great stuff for amazing savings. My first stop as Forever 21. I think this is a great store to find cute tops for cheap prices. I found this cute polka dot shirt for under 20.00 dollars.

I don't know why but I had been wanting a polka dot shirt and when I saw it, I knew I had to try it on. It worked so I got it. It'll be great to wear in the winter and summer because it's a little sheer so it'll stay cool in the summer heat.

My next stop was New York & Company. This place is the epitome of work clothing. I love this store and they have great stuff. I always feel the prices are a little high so I was very excited to see that they had pants 50% off! So what would normally got 53.00 a pair, I got for half that. So of course I bought three pairs of pants.

The great thing about these pants they all fit in length! I am short. To not have to hem these pants is amazing. They also have pockets and their very comfortable!

My last stop was to JCPenny. I hadn't been there in a long time but I know they always have great business tops for a cheaper price. They also had a huge sale going on. All items were reduced and then you got another 15% off the sale price. I walked away with two more tops for only 12.00 dollars total! These shirts are normally 20.00 a piece.

I'm definitely set for awhile and was lucky to find everything on sale. This was definitely the weekend to go shopping! I think most of these sales are going through to today so if you see something you might want check out those places today!

Besides all of the shopping, I partook in Beezy's Fantasy Draft Football meeting. When I say meeting. These 10 guys met in someone's garage, ate pizza, drank and yelled like 10 year olds at each other until they got what they wanted for 6 HOURS! I've never seen anything like it. I ate pizza, scrolled through instagram for entertainment and prayed they'd get to round 15 fast.

 

Clearly, Beezy's real name was on there... but that's his draft! He better win that money! We could go on a cruise with it. Besides that I tried to relax all weekend. I'm also working on a craft project that I'll share soon. Have a great one!

Seeing Red

February is the month of love. Lately, I have been loving some reds and pinks. Here's some beauties I want to add to my closet...

 

Hunter Boots.

Classic short in Red.

Alex and Ani...

The Love Wrap

Unique Vintage...

 Red, White & Blue Stars & Stripes Ruched Gloria Swimsuit

 

These boots which look like Uggs to me...

 

Nike Shoes...

 

What have you had your eyes on lately?