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Adventure

BLUE RIDGE, GA

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Last weekend was spent in North Georgia with Dustin, his cousin and her husband.  They have three kids and wanted an adult-only weekend in the mountains taking in the changing leaves, sipping pumpkin beers and chilling out. We gladly accepted the downtime! We even got to sleep in, which is always amazing since a lot of weekends we get up naturally early or have to be somewhere. Saturday while we were hiking around the backyard I snapped photos of the surroundings.  The backyard was STUNNING! There was a big creek, man made waterfall and water collecting system, several porches and bridge. We didn’t have to go far to feel like we were way up in the mountains!
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After exploring on Saturday we went to downtown Blue Ridge to check out the cute little town.  The only photo I took was of this train that does a scenic tour of the mountains. We climbed aboard and peeked in but didn’t ride it since it didn’t seem to be active at the time. While in the city we grabbed some locally brewed beers, German pretzels, played corn hole and popped in a few shops. Adorable!

If this post didn’t get you in the Fall spirit – I don’t know what will!

Have a great weekend, hope it’s filled with pumpkin patches, spiced apple cider and sweaters!

Cirque du Soleil AMALUNA + a GIVEAWAY (closed)

DATE NIGHT
Sunday evening we were invited to check out the new Cirque du Soleil act in town called Amaluna as media.  I had been to the Totem performance back in December of 2012 and was excited to check out a new act!  I was excited to learn that it was Cirque’s 30th anniversary because I knew they’d probably go all out with this act-and that they DID! 15348969338_9043cb39a4_k
What I wore: TOMS shades, H&M jacket, Rag-O-Rama dress (sorry can’t remember the brand!) Ali Sage necklace and Nine West booties. When I asked Dustin to jump in front of the camera he was such a good sport. Adore him! What Dustin wore: a shirt from TJ Maxx I saw and loved and surprised him with, we both like the arrow details in the pattern. Gap jeans, Clarks oxfords.
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Without giving too much away…the story line of the show goes something like this:  a young woman living on a mysterious island that is governed by goddesses is being given a coming-of-age celebration by her mother.  A storm lands a group of men on the shore leading to the main character, Miranda, meeting one of the men and falling in love. They face many trials and obstacles before they can trust one another and properly be blessed by the community.

Here are some stills to give you an idea of what to expect, though it’s so much more magical in real life!
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Cirque du Soleil Photos by Pouya Dianat/Allied Integrated Marketing

The actors show just how much the human body can really do!  With a cast of 70% women this particular performance is unlike any others in years past.  Even the band is made up of all women, pretty cool!  I especially enjoyed the quirkiness of the “ring leaders” who kept the crowd distracted and involved in between acts.  At one point during the performances I thought to myself, “this is like being at a REALLY eclectic gymnastics meet” and when I told Dustin this thought, he agreed.  At the Q&A we learned they actually cast gymnasts and brought in some aspects that had never been done, like the uneven bars, so I was pretty spot on!  That “pool” you see above was another never-been-done-before part of the show. Well, it had never been done for a traveling show.  It’s filled with water and is actually being filtered and heated to 98 degrees.  It took four hours to fill and so they don’t drain it until they hit the road to the next city-that’s why it has a filtration system. Also, it’s SO HEAVY they can’t remove it from the stage-so it’s integrated into the set for each performance.  The Q&A at the end was so interesting, I could go on and on about all the stuff we learned but I want to get to the exciting part of this post-

THE GIVEAWAY!
To win a pair of tickets to see Amaluna, Tuesday Oct. 28th at 7:30 all you have to do is comment here with how you follow along the blog – is it through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? If none-then you better get to liking/following to be entered to win! :) I’ve got 2 sets of tickets to give away-a total of 4 tickets!! Include your email as well so I can get you the PDF tickets. I’ll pick the 2 winners on the 21st. Good luck!

Twitter: @cirque, #Amaluna
Instagram: cirquedusoleil

CHARLESTON, SC

This past weekend Dustin and I went on a inpromptu trip with my brother and his wife down to Edisto, SC. We got in late Friday night and went to the beach all day Saturday — playing in the waves, throwing frisbees and super bouncy ocean toys and sipping island drinks. On Sunday we did a quick run through of Charleston as Dustin and I hadn’t been there before–I know, I know..HOW have we not been there?! Unsure because it’s absolutely adorable! We walked along The Battery and Rainbow Row taking in the sights. I quickly took notice to the amazing windows and the mini gardens hanging outside of them. The shutters were also super neat–even found one with crescent moons! Before it was too late and we were no longer passing along said windows, I snapped some of my favorites:

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As I’m typing this Dustin is waiting in the car for me as we are leaving for yet another trip! This one has been planned for some time now. We are heading to FL to meet up with my parents and then driving down to Key Largo for a week of deep sea fishing! Have a good rest of the week!

Next up: I’ll be sharing more photos from Charleston!

WE’RE ENGAGED!

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How it happened…
A few weeks leading up to the 4th of July weekend Dustin put on our shared calendar “surprise fun” and told me not to worry he’s got something planned. I was immediately excited because while he’s daily sweet I knew something extra special was planned and hoped it was an engagement! As the weekend approached he informed me that it was a weekend trip and not just an overnight and then gave me a packing list.  The list wasn’t a dead giveaway of our trip because it was so well-rounded and included things like hiking boots and swim suits, so I was extra curious! He told me that we’d be getting picked up the morning of the July 4th at 8:00am. Picked up? Talk about crazy levels of curiosity!

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The morning of we got up, gathered our things and went downstairs and were greeted by Dustin’s best friend Matt and his wife Aleah. “I knew it!” I yelled and then gave them hugs. I looked at them and asked where we were going and they looked at Dustin and said the same. They didn’t know either! Dustin then pulled out two envelopes labeled “1” and “2” and said “Jess gets to pick where we’re going!” The pressure was on! Before I picked he told us that there was a catch, the catch was that whatever envelope I chose I could never know the other envelopes contents. Crazy right?! So, instead of making a tough choice I closed my eyes and grabbed for an envelope choosing number 1! I opened it and it read “We’re going to Daufuskie Island!” HELL YA! I’ve been wanting to go ever since I met Dustin because he has so many great stories from the island as does Matt and Aleah hadn’t been either so we were both very excited. After regrouping our emotions we settled into the car and went to priority number two, coffee, and then it was the open road all the way to Hilton Head.

Dustin’s parents own a home on Daufuskie but it was booked for the Forth so for the first night we stayed in Bluffton, SC which is pretty much Hilton Head. Once we got there we checked into our Air B&B spot and went to the neighborhood pool.  Matt and Aleah opted out claiming they were napping but I later found out they were up to additional surprises. After getting cleaned up we took the ferry to Daufuskie Island for dinner. Once we arrived at the island we grabbed the family golf cart and Dustin gave us a tour. We had time to kill before our reservation so we parked and went to take a stroll on the beach and that’s when he paused, said really sweet things and asked if I’d marry him!!!!

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Matt had rented a really great lens and put it on Dustin’s Nikon and was snapping photos as it all went down.  They all went above and beyond to make this a special day that I will never forget! After Dustin and I hugged, cried and both stared at the gorgeous ring we ran over and had a group hug. We hung out on the beach for around and hour or so, looking at shells, horseshoe crabs and washed up jelly fish before heading to dinner. I can’t thank Matt and Aleah enough for all the effort they put in to the surprise. Later that night we discovered what they were up to when we were swimming. They had decorated the room at the b&b with strung lights, daisies, gifts, wine and chocolate!

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Dustin and I are over the moon with excitement! It was nice being away and having privacy to enjoy the first couple of days as an engaged couple. We did a lot of staring at the ring which is super special as it was originally my grandmothers and given to us from my mom. We were given the option of keeping it as is or making changes and opted to make it our own. Dustin worked with a jeweler and did just that and together made it very much “us.” He upgraded the largest stone to a bigger more clear estate diamond, added two baguette diamonds, kept two small ones from the original and added two sapphire triangles to the underneath, side area for a total of 7 stones which is a lucky number to us.  The touch of blue represents Dustin and the triangles were a little something for me. We wanted it to remain two-tone, yellow gold and white gold to be able to go with whatever I want to wear with it and It’s perfect!

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I don’t think I could begin to put into words how thrilled I am that I have found my forever partner in love, crime, silliness and all things that life brings us. One last thank you to Matt, Aleah and my future husband Dustin for making this new chapter off to the best possible start!

THE WEEKEND

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This weekend friends and I headed up north to Cleveland, GA (sound familiar? I was just there, read about it here) for our friend Jessica’s bachelorette weekend. The intentions of the weekend were to relax, chill by the pool, EAT, sip on drinks, hike and of course celebrate J Step’s upcoming nuptials. We managed to check it all off our to-do list and more! Here’s a short recap..

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After arriving and unpacking the car we noshed on a cheese platter and hung by the pool. We all pitched in and brought floats, squirt guns and other water accessories. I made a white and red sangria for the night and we all combined forces to make about 6 pizzas of different fresh ingredient varieties. The next day we went for a hike behind the house but realized it wasn’t as “legit” as we wanted so we set out for Duke’s Creek Falls but on the way got distracted by “Helen Tubing” signs and decided that was more our speed! We spent about 2.5 hours floating down the Chattahoochee with several hundred other people from all walks of life, it was something else!

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Saturday’s delicious breakfast provided by Muriel included a blueberry “french toast” casserole, an egg and bacon spinach dish and fresh watermelon. Take me back to this meal! But not that coffee, it was gross, we couldn’t figure out the fancy coffee machine and this ended up tasting like glorified gas station coffee..
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Despite being gross from our float we couldn’t resist a photobooth in Helen which was obviously made for two people max!
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I brought friendship bracelet materials and on Saturday after we sat by the pool and made alphabet bracelets. There was a “Bitch Please” “Stepweber” (bride+groom combo) and I went with “LF FTW”
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On Sunday I got dropped off at Dustin’s place and we made our way to Sweet Water Brewery with some of his family and friends and my little brother. A nice end cap to a pretty chill weekend. Yesterday Dustin and I started our Summer kickball season with our team “Community Bucket.” It was my first time playing kickball as an adult and I wasn’t half bad but still very much competitive! Hope everyone out there is having a swell start to the week!