Family.

It's no secret that I'm a home body and am obsessed with my family. We are abnormally close and always have been! The past year and a half have been very hard for me. Moving 2-3 hours away from my family was never in my plan, but God had a different plan! Funny how that works, right? 

While we were still living in Dalton I spent the majority of weekends at my parents or my sisters to get out of town and our sad little condo. Now that we've moved into our house I spend much more time here and see my family a lot less than I was used to. 

About a month ago I went home for the first time in a few weeks and it worked out where everyone had a free weekend. The leaves were changing so my family took a drive to Highlands, North Carolina. We love eating at Madison's Restaurant at Old Edwards Inn and shopping around town. It's close enough to my parents to have a day trip and there's plenty to see along the way.

We had a yummy lunch, did a little shopping, and saw some beautiful scenery.

My sweet parents

We look like twins here, Hal!

So pretty

One of the look offs along the way

My precious dad, standing on the bridge where he used to race his old cars!

Haley's Quiche

Y'all know I love me some shrimp and grits!

My people

I'm missing my people today! Lucky for my I get to see my Mom and sister and go to the Rockettes on Wednesday! Have a great week, y'all!

Make ALL the wreaths!

Ok, so hopefully you got my reference without even needing to see the image below. If not, you're not spending enough time on Pinterest! Ha! 

My sister and I are insanely obsessed with this derp girl (or whatever the heck you call her) and reference her at least everyday! Now that you know just how crazy I am let's move on...

Here are a few of my latest projects. I've been a wreath making machine and have loved every second of it! They are tedious for sure, but it's therapeutic for me. I can't wait to get some supplies for Christmas wreaths!

fall

twin boys

baby girl

fall again

UGA wreath

A quick trip to the mountains!

I've mentioned before that Chris has been working an insane amount of hours the past few weeks. He has been working at least twelve hours a day for six days a week since the beginning of October. As of this weekend that insane schedule is officially over!

To celebrate we decided (very last minute) to take a road trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for the night. This is the first time in eight years that we didn't get to spend the weekend in a cabin with my husband's family in October. He couldn't get a break from work so we rescheduled and are staying in a cabin for the Christmas parade during the first weekend in December. Needless to say, we were so ready to get away for a bit and we so missed the fall foliage this year!

We woke up early Saturday morning, lounged around the house a bit, and got ready to hit the road. We headed to our favorite place, Martin's, to get a yummy biscuit for the ride. It's a much longer and much less scenic drive from west Georgia but we still enjoyed it. There's nothing in the world I love more than a road trip! I guess it's still the high schooler in me - I so looked forward to having Chris locked in the car with me for hours on end! ;)

Silly me thought we'd have no problem finding a hotel room in town… Oh, how wrong I was! I called several places that were totally booked up! We ended up getting a room at the Gatlinburg Inn. The Inn is in the middle of town, right next door to where my beloved Midtown Lodge was located. In all my life I've only seen it open a handful of times. It was built in 1937 and was the first hotel in town before the town we know existed. 

During our last stay at Midtown Lodge, a nice old man told us that the Inn had been owned all these years by an old couple, The Maples, and they chose to only open in the summer. The wife, Wilma Maples, owned and operated it until her death at at 88 years old. The couple donated over 100 acres to the GSM National Park and hosted their share of famous visitors, my favorites being Lady Bird Johnson and June Carter Cash.

I was always curious about the place and was so excited to finally get the chance to stay there! They are now open year round and are on the verge of some major renovations next year. I'm sure the majority of patrons would say it's past time since the Inn hasn't been seriously updated since the 1960's. I absolutely loved staying at the Inn and thought the decor was hilariously fun! It was like a step back in time! Y'all know I love that!

Anyway, enough of the history lesson! My husband's family came up at the same time so we got to spend some time with them. We shopped around, ate yummy food, played mini golf, and bought some new Christmas decorations! All in all it was a great little getaway! We will be back for the Christmas parade the first weekend in December and I am counting down the days!

The Inn: 

This is his face when I said, "This place has gotta be haunted!"

DD Hot Chocolate for the road!

Pizza at Smoky Mountain Brewery for lunch

Watching the dawgs play while we waited!

View off our balcony early Sunday morning

Breakfast at The Apple Barn - my favorite!

And of course, some putt-putt before we left!

Now, is it Christmas yet? Gatlinburg was already decorated so I'm definitely in the spirit now!