Adapting to Change

The first challenge at work today was realizing it was only Thursday, not Friday. Especially difficult when we work from home on Fridays. Still, I had a tee tine with ladies at TriCity so we powered on as if this was our best round of golf ever.

In other words, we teed off from the Reds, which were the same for Gold and White at times. If you know golf, you know I bragged up teeing off from the Whites to hubby.

My partner Marigene and I had a great time golfing and trying to follow our balls and not focusing on the airplanes in the sky.

You wouldn't catch me in one of those! Even though we dubbed our round the "We Suck Scramble," we'll stick to golf.

Good Old Rocky Top

Every year of our sister weekend, my twin and I have an opening act. This year we created our own lyrics to "On Top of Old Smoky" but also had a random dance to "Rocky Top." Here are a few images to accompany it! 

Flying in.

From our cabin/vacation rental. 

Just Smoky Mountain views out the van window...

And the reason they're called The Smokies.

Of course we had sunset views, too!

And normal "these layers are pretty awesome" views, too!

By the end of our week, I learned that just hanging out with mountain views was pretty awesome and NEEDED for a vacation vibe. I also realized there is a certain relaxing Zen feel in the mountains.

Thanks, mountains, for secretly providing this for me!

Well, That's a Few Things I've Never Seen Before

So we'll skip the Biltmore Estate for now since that had a lot of things I've never seen before. But here are a few others...

At Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Asheville they had a saddle on a bear.  I lasted more than 8 seconds, thank you very much.

They also had something cooler than gazing balls in their wall...

Yup. Those are bowling balls!

In a dressing room in Gatlinburg, I was surprised to see a bear watching me. As a result, I grabbed and purchased the wrong size shirt. Stupid bear.

If you think your kids eat cereal with too much sugar, try this one with "no nutritional value" to it!

The same "sweet shop" also had a gummy bear chandelier. Pretty sweet!

Have you ever been on a road ABOVE the clouds? That was a first for me!

We stopped at the overlook just to prove we weren't imagining it!

We did not see elk or bear. If we had, we'd been warned.

We'd also been warned about snakes. But thank the Lord we didn't see any of those!

Purely random chance I saw my first blue butterfly that probably has an official name I obviously don't know. Very cool!

Also saw a bee trying to pollenate some wood. How'd that work for you, Buzz?

And saw a moth staring me down at our vacation home.

Also saw what our North Carolina residents Carter and Mamie thought was a cockroach. That's all I needed to know. And was grateful that was the only one I saw.

Of course we saw some spectacular views too. I'll try to share a few a day as I make my way through the work week. Thankfully we had golf league tonight, too, so my re-entry wasn't all work and no play.

Wild Women's Week

Our annual sister weekend was pretty different this year. First, since we decided to fly somewhere – Asheville, N.C. Second, since it was in summer not fall. Third, since it was much longer than a weekend. And finally, since there was less than 24 hours that all 7 of us were together at the same time!

Since I was 100% on vacation last week – including from blogging – here's a quick recap in words with many photos to come this week since nothing I have going on is as interesting or photo worthy.

So last Tuesday, August 1, all 7 sisters were going to fly out of Minneapolis. But my sister Romey's hubby fell ill and she decided to stay behind while they figured out if he was just dehydrated from the heat or what. So 6 of us flew to Asheville on Tuesday. 

We took the scenic route to the vacation rental home in Waynesville. That's when we learned quickly that just about every road was going to be twisty-turvy – as you'd expect on mountain roads. 

My poor sister Rachel was the only driver of the rental mini-van (aka R Bus – and yes, we all think ahead and R creative!) and she had to put up with 6 backseat drivers all week as some (OK, all) of us took turns freaking out about curves, heights, and traffic. Uff da.

But the views were worth it and so was the time with sisters. Romey was able to join us Wednesday night so we had all of us together that night and Thursday when we went to the Biltmore estate (pictured up top) before Raylene had to fly back home.

Since I was in the same state as my boy, he and Mamie made the 4-hour trek over from Raleigh to see us all Friday night. 

They had to leave Saturday morning for work, but it was worth it having a few awake hours together! Even though that breaks all rules since we never ever let anyone except our sisters participate in Wild Women's Weekend – except occasional dinners out with brother Ron. My grown-up nieces definitely called me out on that!

Sorry, not sorry. I missed my baby!

We flew back last evening and I got home about 12:30 a.m. I took today off to do laundry and recover (and golf, of course). I've learned you need a vacation or at least one vacation day after a vacation!

I look forward to sharing the beauty (and unique sights) of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee! Have a great week!

Silver Anniversary for the Silver Ladies

We're about to embark on our 25th annual sisters' weekend – aka Wild Women's Weekend (or WWW). But wait... it's only Monday. H-m-m...

Last fall during our 24th WWW, we decided we should do something big for our 25th. Because... why not? This tradition is longer than most marriages. And we've survived. So far!

So we voted on going somewhere with mountains. And someplace the majority of us haven't been. And we settled on the Great Smoky Mountains that border Tennessee and North Carolina. And decided to do it in the summer time.

And oh yeah, much longer than a weekend!

So here were are sleeping in a Park and Fly hotel in Minneapolis and we'll grab the 4 a.m. (gasp!) shuttle to the airport and fly out at 6:20 a.m.! First stop is Asheville, N.C., and from there we'll take our rental van westward to our place in the mountains. We're renting a house that will be our home base for the week. Well, almost a week. We fly back Sunday night.

Like I often say: Take the trip!!

Over Due Par-tee

By 100/% crazy chance, we were available to golf with our friends Scott and Sandy from the Green Bay area. Since they had a weekend in the Lake Arrowhead area, the Bullseye Country Club outside of Wisconsin Rapids was ideal today.

We had a great 18-hole round catching up and trying to get a skin – the guys were doing that, not me and Sandy.

Afterward, we enjoyed a great dinner at Ida's. And were super grateful that at the last minute we are both available for fun on the golf course and time to catch up on our busy lives. Thank you, golf gods!

Don't Bee Cruel

It was a typical Saturday of summer. Kind of. I slept in while hubby golfed at his usual 7:30 a.m. tee time. Then he came home and mowed the lawn and I took my sun-seeking sister out on the swing. Just two girls on a swing – watching our favorite human.

After we got enough heat, I took her inside and did some indoor chores. I had just finished vacuuming when Jim came in the house looking for ice. He accidentally disturbed a ground bees nest in the back yard and was stung in the ankle.

If you recall, he's extremely allergic. His epipen was in his golf bag but he didn't think he needed it just yet. It took less than 10 minutes for his palms to start itching like crazy (sometimes it's his fee) so we headed to the walk-in clinic, which thankfully is open until 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

When you have an bee sting allergy they push you to the front of the line and take you in while your spouse handles the paperwork. I remembered this from last time. Whew. Because they were busy enough he would have had serious issues be the time they called him in with the "regular" patients there.

One shot in the backside and a 20-minute wait, when just a trip to the pharmacy for additional meds and we were back to our normally scheduled Saturday programming.

First stop was a surprise 35th anniversary party for our friends Curt and Angie. And they were legitimately surprised. So that was cool. We were there an hour or so and by coincidence, we had another party in the Rudolph area about a mile or 2 away.

As soon as we got to Lars and Ashley's party, I felt like there was an angel (or devil) over my shoulder telling my to shake my hips and legs or, at a minimum, put on my blue suede shoes.

Too funny that for their annual summer party they hired an Elvis impersonator. And his voice was spot on!

And he was perfectly OK being part of our selfie. Thank you very much!

He also convinced Carter's former babysitters Jon and Audrey to dance!! 

During intermission, we returned to the anniversary party but we got evidence he changed into a typical Elvis jumpsuit. Pretty cool for someone who seems way too young to know Elvis!

We hung around the anniversary party campfire which was more like gasoline on plywood. But still, great company so how could we leave?

My camera phone captured the nearly full moon that lighted our way home. I don't know how Jim lasted all day with the Benedryl and other drugs without succumbing to sleep, but we made it home safe and sound. And while were gone, our next-door neighbor sprayed those two nests to death.

Have I mentioned lately how blessed we are? Hope you all are having a great (and safe) weekend too!