Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Our Cottage

I am so grateful we had a full week off at Thanksgiving this year! It was definitely much needed and appreciated.  Dana (who always has the best ideas!)
 found an adorable cottage in the mountains on one of her favorite blogs~ The Nester.  We immediately fell in love with the pictures and booked it for two nights, which was not quite long enough, but still a fun getaway.  I had school the first Saturday of the break up in TN, so Jonathan, Ryan, and Dana met me in Ellijay to pick me up, and off to Waynesville we went! We had dinner at a cute little local Italian restaurant and then headed to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries for our stay. We arrived at the cottage around 9 to find that the cottage exceeded all of our expectations! It was so quaint and beautifully decorated.  We looked around for awhile, admiring all the creativity, trying to figure out how the owner completed some of the projects. Surely we can do that too, right?
 
 We spent some time talking and finally decided to check out the hot tub.  It was such a cool view at night.  Unfortunately I spent the majority of our time in the hot tub annoying everyone with my fearful concerns...but geez, there were noises everywhere! (That happens in the mountains.)  There were men talking, flashlights, and gunshots in the woods just above where we were, and they kept coming closer- surely some crazy mountain folk coming to kidnap us! Oh no, just coon hunters. Finally everyone had enough of me and we headed back in for a restful night's sleep.
We woke up around 10 am the next morning. None of us could believe we slept in that late, but it was just so peaceful.  We found a great devotion in the drawer
and enjoyed a special time with Dana and Ryan reading about having a thankful attitude.  We also read the devotion that went along with each of our birthdates, and it was interesting to see how the devotion for each dated "fit" each of us.
 We made a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast, grapes, and coffee, and ate in the screened in porch area so we could enjoy the view. 
After lots more talking an sharing fun stories we decided to head out for a "nature walk."  The downhill walk was easy, but the boys didn't appreciate it burning the calories as much on the way back up. 
 
 
After our walk, we headed into town for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.  It was the best sopa de pollo I have ever had! Seriously!

When we returned to the cottage we snuggled up downstairs to watch the Karate Kid. 
Great movie.  For dinner the boys grilled kabobs and shrimp while we sauteed some veggies. 
 For dessert, our favorite, some s'mores over the grill.  Impatience got the best of us and we just used lighters- is that safe? 
We headed back in to play several rounds of Catch Phrase.  Then we decided to make a music video. Hahha!! (what? is that weird?)  Dana used her Mac to record us and and edit it.  It is HYSTERICAL, but a little embarrassing, so only those who we feel would truly appreciate it and not judge us were allowed to see it.  :) Trust me though, it will be looked back on as one of my favorite and most hilarious memories for years to come.  The boys were so into it! I guess they didn't do "stuff" like that with their friends when they were little like all us girls did, but I'm sure they always wanted to, so they finally got to live out their dreams.  We tried it several times, so the outtakes are my favorite part.

We were so sad to leave the next morning. I thought it'd be a good idea to stop at the Dillard House for lunch on the way home, and it was delicious!

 I can't wait till we get to visit "our cottage" again~ sooner than later, hopefully! We are so thankful for such dear friends.

1 comment:

Emily Griffin said...

This cottage is BEAUTIFUL!!! HOw do you view it online to book?