Mountain Girl

Hello! We’ve safely made it to North Carolina and are officially in vacation mode! The cabin we’re staying in is ridiculously gorgeous, we have great views, and it’s just lovely (which cancels out the rather perilous drive up the mountain to get here!). As can be imagined, I’ve been enjoying time with family, enjoying the great views, and just plain enjoying some good old relaxation! I’ll leave you with a bit of a photo montage of our travels and first day!

The most insanely sweet organic pluot to ever cross my lips!

Juicy.

Hey Gina, totally thought of you when we passed through Valdizzy. Let me know if you need anything from Trader Joe’s when we pass through on the way back!

Chik-fil-a grilled chicken sandwich for a traveling lunch.

Eat, Pray, Love. I’m re-reading it and remembering why I fell in love with it so much in the first place. Can’t wait for the movie!

Getting excited because we’re passing through Atlanta, and that means 1. we’re getting closer!! and 2….

Trader Joe’s! We’ll be stopping on the way back for more browsing and finding fun new things to try, but yesterday we picked up a couple things for car snacks and stuff for NC.

Frozen artichoke hearts…$2.29 for the whole bag, seemed like a pretty good deal! Ross and I are planning some sort of artichoke spinach stuffed chicken while we’re here, so that’s what these will be used for.

Triple Layer Hummus. Delicious! (And love that they make hummus like I do, so they add more water instead of oil to get the smooth texture, which cuts down on unnecessary fat and calories.)

Pita Bite Crackers. Good – very basic, but good for dipping into things, or using as an hors d’oeuvres serving vessel.

Pumpernickle Pretzel Sticks – fun, and tasty!

Freeze Dried Blueberries – yum! I think these would be great as a frozen yogurt or oatmeal topping.

Creamy with Sea Salt Almond Butter – haven’t broken into it yet, but standard.

Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. WOW, these things are a LOT sweeter than I remember! Almost make my teeth hurt! I really want to use them in a cookie or some sort of baked good.

Unfortunate rain exiting Atlanta = terrible, terrible traffic.

Getting closer! (These next two shots were taken out of a moving car window, so they’re not the best quality.)

Here! (I promise, this view of the cabin does NOT do it justice!)

Steam rising from the valleys below.

Herbed and BBQ chicken grilled by my sister’s boyfriend. 

Steamed veg!

Mashed Potatoes

Bread, which though a pretty picture, was unfortunately very dry and not worth it.

Today we ventured out to a local flea market which was….a small town, country flea market. We did see this ridiculous "zoo" (more of an arcade? with painted ceramic animals?) by it. Interesante….

Most of my day has spent here, napping and reading with my husband.

While simultaneously enjoying views like these.

Do I have to leave?! Why can’t vacations last forever??

Just a note – I doubt I’ll be updating very frequently, as I’m just going to enjoy this vacation with my family! I definitely won’t be responding to emails this week, I saw some already piling up, so just FYI I’ll get back to y’all after next week!

Also – what are you favorite blackberry recipes? There are TOS of wild blackberries around here, as in yesterday my family picked 20 cups of wild blackberries! So we need some blackberry uses!