We had a long day of traveling today, but we are home and happy to see the kitties! So, let me recap from Thursday…

Thursday: went to Asheville to hang out with Val, Jason & Aggie. Val, Aggie, John & I roamed around the Grove Arcade district for lunch and window shopping, then Val made us dinner (yum)! After dinner, we played Evo (Val’s species was rampant before the meteor hit). What a great game! John & I drove back to Lake Lure after the game, stopping at Sonic for a late night snack. I got a cream watermelon slush!

Friday: drove back to Asheville and went with Val & Aggie to the Nature Center, and I got to see foxes and bears! It was a great little place!!! Very serene! We then had lunch at a great greek/italian place! So yummy! At night, Jason, Val, John & I went to see Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull at Cinabarre (dinner and a movie). I really enjoyed it! We all did 🙂

Saturday: John & I checked out early, then drove to Hiddenite to dig in the emerald mine. The line was an hour to get in, then a 20 min wait to get a digging set. We started digging in the red clay around 1:30pm and found nothing! We spent a little bit of time at the creek, but also found nothing. We left around 5:45pm, with a few free stones from the sympathetic staff. Haha!

We drove to Charlotte to the Gallers’ house, and started the night with a chocolate martini and a shot of goldschlager. We played a great game of Loaded Questions with Mike, Angelle, and their neighbors: Laurie & Brian. It was a hilarious game, best I’ve played in years!! Angelle won, and then John & I went upstairs to pack.

Today, we woke up at 8am, left the Gallers’ home at 9am, got to Charlotte airport at 10am, and had a long day of flying. We had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta, but I got to have a Dunkin’ Donuts bagel w/veggie cream cheese (which made the layover totally worth it). We got to LAX around 5:45pm, took a flyaway to Van Nuys, and our friend Matt picked us up and drove us home! The kitties were so happy to see us!

It was a great week!!! I want to thank Mike, Angelle, Leah, Erin, Val, Jason, Aggie, Ron, JoAnn, Kate, Brian & Laurie for making this an amazing trip for us! I will truly miss NC and all the great people there!!!

On Monday, John & I went to the Broad River Gem Co. and sluiced for gems in a shared bucket. They were seeded buckets, but the experience was worth it to learn about gems from the owner, talk about Queensryche, learn about gems in the area and panning the creeks, learn what gems look like in raw form, and learn what’s native to the area!

After leaving the Gem Co., we drove down to Rutherfordton to visit Kate. She owns the property next to ours (Elysia & I). John & I spent some time with her, then drove the Jetta up a very grassy field to the top of the hill on my property. We got out of the car, amazed that we made it (considering the grass was over 2 feet high), then started walking to the forest. Poof! A bambi deer popped out of the grass and bounced away in fear. We must have woke it up. It was TINY!!!! Soooooo adorable! We must have been less than 5 feet from it when we woke it up.

After walking down the hill through the forest to our creek, we met up with our neighbor Brian, on his 4-Wheeler. He showed us where to get down to the creek safely, and we went over to that area and started panning. We found lots of pretty things, but mostly river rocks. We did walk away with some garnets though! It was so much fun, and we didn’t want to stop. Sadly, the sun was setting in the forest, and we had to head out.

We drove to Walmart to buy a card reader for my laptop, then had dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Hendersonville before heading back to our timeshare. We passed out pretty early and fully exhausted that night!

Tuesday morning: we drove to Waynesville and had lunch at Panacea on the River. After that, we went to Cullowhee to hang out with Ron & JoAnn Raccioppi for a few hours. Ron took us out on his 4-Wheeler, then we hung around the house chatting for a while before going to Franklin for dinner at “the Gas Station” restaurant. Great food!!!

On the way home, John & I stopped in Asheville to pick up Oh Brother Where Art Thou from Blockbuster, and we watched it before bed.

Today, Wednesday, we went to Chimney Rock with Val & Aggie. We hiked the upper trail, then the lower falls trail. Aggie was soooooo good all day! I am amazed at how much fun she had going hiking with us! And Val… she’s Wonder Woman! She was able to breast feed and hike at the same time! Incredible!!

After the hike and a very nice picnic on the falls, John & I went to a craft and country store. I got some Apple Butter and Plum Jam! We then tried to find a creek to pan in, but had no luck. Most creeks were private or hard to get down to.

Now, we’re back in the bar, researching gems and doin’ recaps! I am happy I haven’t heard from Erica yet on Elena’s arrival. Nik, hold her in there for a bit longer! You’re doing great!!!!

Tomorrow, off to Asheville to hang out with Val & Aggie again. Melisa may join us for lunch!

John & I flew to Charlotte on a redeye from LAX on Friday night. Lyse, thank you so much for taking us to the Flyaway!! So helpful and perfect!

Our plane arrived late, just as our connector was closing it’s gates. Luckily, Delta recognized this before we did, and booked us on the next flight. Our seats were together in a row all to ourselves, an hour later. That gave me a chance to hit up Dunkin Donuts for breakfast!

Once we arrived in Charlotte, we drove to the Gallers’ home for Leah’s birthday party! I took lots of pix, and played with the kids for a few hours! It was a lot of fun! Leah & Erin are totally adorable! I love how much Erin smiles and laughs! Leah’s so precious and I love watching her dance to the kid’s radio station! It’s so awesome how intelligent she is! They are such great kids!

Around 5pm, we got on the road to drive to Lake Lure (2 hours west). We arrived just before sunset, and I was so tired! I barely was able to shower and change for dinner. We decided to have dinner nearby at the local pub. They had greek salad and fried mozzarella, yum! John & I then went to Ingles to buy groceries for the week. Before bed, we watched an episode of 30 Days.

This morning, we got up early and went to the Welcome Center to check in officially and learn about what there is to do around here. Val, Jason & Aggie met up with us at the visitor’s center. We came back to our condo to figure out a plan, then drove to Chimney Rock for lunch and wandering. We ate at the River Rock Cafe, then wandered around the creek for a bit. I had these great socks on that repel water! It was great! My feet stayed warm and dry as I waded the shallow water!

After that, we walked through shops while it rained, ending our afternoon at the coffee shop. This coffee shop had an Old Timey Photo booth, and there were three men in drag taking old timey photos there! Hilarious! We had some great coffee and hot chocolate before saying good-bye to Val, Jason & Aggie for the afternoon. Aggie is such a happy baby! It was so wonderful to spend the day with them!

The rain let up during our drive back to Lake Lure, so we decided around Fairfield Mtns to see if we could find my childhood home where I spent almost every summer of my life as a kid! We ended up finding it almost accidentally, since I had no clue where I was going and became more excited about seeing more deer than actually looking for the house. When we got to the top of the mountain, I saw a road I recognized, and immediately recognized my old house on the corner! We decided to knock to see if the family would let us walk around the outside. They were so nice, they invited us in! The gave us a tour and I shared childhood stories with them about the house. They seemed to really like us, so much so we exchanged email addresses and they invited us back! Then, after we left, Joe (the owner and his grandson) drove us out to Ken’s rock (we followed in our car) and hiked down to the rock with us. That was soooooooooooooooo nice of them!!! We hung out with them for a few minutes, then they took off. John & I stuck around for another 20 min or so. It’s so sad that the property is up for sale and someone may buy it, taking it away from the public to visit. Joe said he and his wife, Bea, go up there all the time to read. I really hope the new owners of the property don’t take away that special area from the public who love it so much!

Now, John & I are in a bar with wi-fi at our resort. The drinks are only $6 and we have free wi-fi. This is great! We’ll be heading back up to our condo soon, as it’s 11pm and they probably want to close up in a few minutes.

Tomorrow… paddle-boating, sifting for gems at Broad River, heading to see if we can find mom’s property in Rutherfordton, then going to Hendersonville for dinner!

On Thursday morning, John drove me to Burbank Airport to catch an early flight to FL for Brandon & Christina’s wedding. I got there just in time for the rehearsal. Afterwards, there was a dinner at Christina’s place (now the Bach Apt). I left around 11pm to head to Emily’s to get some sleep.

Friday: woke up early (couldn’t sleep in) and met my grandma for breakfast, got a mani/pedi, went to a camera store in Miami and then met up with Christina at the reception hall to decorate. Ended up running errands for a few hours, decorating and heading back to Em’s early enough to prep for the wedding and pass out at a reasonable time.

Saturday: woke up super early and headed to Christina’s to photograph the bride / bridesmaids getting ready. Got some great shots, then headed straight to the church to get pix of the guys and the limo arriving. The ceremony was really beautiful, but the lighting was a bit dark. The formals were slightly rushed, but I got a lot of great, fun shots there too! The reception hall was well lit, but fluorescent. I still got some great shots there. It was a fun reception. The caterers were not very professional, but the room looked great and the food was excellent. Great job, Christina!

Saturday night: after the wedding, I went over to Brandon’s mom’s to drop off Christina’s car and some things from the reception hall. Em picked me up there, and we headed into downtown Ft. Laud to visit James at Fat Cat’s. We spent an hour there, then met up with Cannon, Paul & friends at Lipp’s for a drag show & dinner. Good food, good fun, good drinks! After the show, Em & I went to Le Tub for some all night Key Lime Pie! That place is like an obstacle course inside a labyrinth. Sadly, I slid over on a wooden bench and got a splinter in my ass. You know you have a great friend when they’re willing to pluck a splinter out of your butt cheek! Thanks, Em!!! She & I stayed up til after 2am chatting. I already miss her! Em is so awesome!

Sunday: woke up at 5am, Em took me to Dunkin Donuts then to the airport. I had a layover in DFW, where I relaxed in the SkyLounge (nice). I got home at noon; and, after lunch with my hottie, I passed out for a few hours. I was so exhausted all day. I could barely stay awake all day! I ended up passing out pretty early.

Overall, an excellent weekend!!!

Last week, I applied for an American Express Open for Business credit card because I finally decided it was time to become a Professional Photographer. I want to build up my wedding, event, portrait and headshot business to the point where that replaces my full time income! I hope I can do it! It’s a very scary and exciting step!

So, my card came in on Friday, and the first thing I did was head to Samy’s Camera on Saturday morning! I got some new equipment, signed up for the PPA & WPPI associations, and started working on my websites. I only have splash pages up right now, but I’ll have more to see in the next few weeks! Oh, I also ordered business cards! Woohoo!

What else did I do this weekend?! Hmmm… John & I spent Friday night in. We watched TV and roamed around online. Saturday, I spent with Barry (Penny’s roommate to be) looking for apartments in Glendale. We found a few, and they applied for one that was really cool. It’s very close to John & I too! Then, Saturday night was Josef’s housewarming party, which was quite fun. Sunday was a focused photo day – web sites, business strategizing, and photo editing. Then, at night, John & I went to see Mac Duffy’s improv show (for charity). It was excellent fun!

Today, back at work… I leave on Thursday for Brandon & Christina’s wedding in FL. I can’t wait to shoot my first wedding with my wide-angle lens! I am so excited! 🙂