The past few days have been of the kind that are fairly uneventful. Lest I be one to complain about lack of events, I’ll go through what has happened as some is of interest to others.
As mentioned in an earlier posting by Joel, we took our anniversary trip to the Biltmore. What a welcomed time away. Since starting my new job, I’ve been looking forward to an extended weekend vacation that could clear my mind. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day as we left town for our 6 hour trip to Asheville. The Biltmore has opened 10 new rooms to the general tour. Seeing that I had previously visited and Joel hadn’t, it was exciting for me to give him “heads up” moments and also to share in the history of the building with someone that enjoys history as much as I do. Part of my interest I must admit is in the “high life” that is exemplified. But knowing that Joel will never be able to come up with 10 Billion dollars to build me such an extravegant home, I’ll be happy with the house that I have. Leather walls or not.
I looked through the house with a different set of eyes than I had on my prevous visit. Little things seemed to intrigue me. The trap door in the “Winter Garden” for the servants to bring plants in unbeknownst to the owners. The fact that the forest was pretty much designed and planted by a contractor hired by Mr. Vanderbilt. Then it was the neat growth of grapes and cucumbers along the trellis leading down to the Conservatory. We toured the house, bought a few items in the gift shop and headed down to the Conservatory. By the end of our visit, my desire to go see the Winery had dwindled due to exhaustion so we headed for the hotel and tried to locate a nice place for dinner. Our exhaustion got the best of us so we ended up at Chili’s.
Early Sunday morning we headed to Maryville to meet Tia, David, and the kids at their church. We ate lunch and celebrated my birthday on the Greenbelt. Again, it was a gorgeous day complete with breeze and low humidity. When we left the park, we checked into the hotel and then headed back to the apartment. Following dinner we watched the infamous Napoleon Dynamite. It’s rather intriguing to watch the kids act out scenes and recite almost word for word such a strange movie, and the fact that they understand it and get the humor is even more intriguing. Oh, I can’t forget to mention hearing David mimic Kip. That is just something Mastercard and money can’t buy. Priceless.
We ended our trip with an attempt at picking grapes and apples. I say attempt because due to some van trouble, we ended the search for the farm and found ourselves back on the Greenbelt. Not that we didn’t enjoy it. It was again, a beautiful day. It was there that we said our goodbyes until Thanksgiving.
After having such a wonderful weekend, the week seemed to drag by with a list of stuff to do a mile long. I had Bible Study on Tuesday night, choir on Wednesday night, and IAAP on Thursday night. Friday night Joel and I went out to dinner and then ran some errands leaving most everything else to do on Saturday. I made Tia’s pancakes on Saturday morning (of which were delicious) and then cleaned while Joel mowed the yard. Exciting I know.
Monday morning I got my new office at work. Much to my surprise it is rather large but I won’t complain. It’s far better than what I had initially. Joel and I started walking this week and I’m try to watch what I eat closer and be more disciplined with not only eating but my Quiet Time as well. Day one down, six more to go. I’ve started on a good footing today though.
Below you’ll find the two most recent and best pictures of my girls. It’s rare that they are actually so posed and well behaved. Trust me, it didn’t last long.
So for now, that is all the excitement of which my life can boast. Mama always said, “Give it three days and everything will change.” I’m sure it will prove true yet again. I’m waiting.
