Travel wish

Instead of going to work today, I'm wishing I was swimming with the manatees in a beautiful foreign country. Oh how I wish! :)

Remember me telling you about Josh and my trip to mine gemstones? I just got six of them back that I had cut and I can't wait to show you, they're GORGEOUS! I'll be sure to post pics next week.

Happy Friday friends!

(image via here)

I'm Back! {And I missed you!}

My dear friends! Oh, how I've missed you! I never knew how much blogging meant to me until I took this little two week break. With that being said, I wanted to kick off my first post filling you in with what I've been doing...

This weekend we went to our house on Lake Martin for some serious R&R. I managed to dig down to my deep southern roots and pretty much drank cold ones on the river banks all day (how classy do I look by the way?).

Josh, on the other hand, managed to conquer every cliff on the river.

And the pups? Well, they just oversaw the entire operation :)

Besides our river time we've been going to downtown Columbus, Georgia's Saturday market to sell Josh's wares. A sweet lady who owns a gallery in midtown Columbus asked if he'd be interested in having a few of his creations in her shop. So now we can say that he's officially in a gallery!

All in all, this break was very much needed. Sometimes I like to think I'm Superwoman and end up spreading myself too thin. I've really enjoyed this time working hard on our new website ( I can't WAIT for you to see it!) and should have it ready to reveal in the next two weeks.

What have you been doing since I've been away? I wanna know!

Callaway Gardens for Easter

Yesterday, we continued the Wright's family tradition of going to Callaway Garden's Easter sunrise service and then spending the entire day riding bikes and playing around the beautiful 14,000 acre preserve (This is also where our engagement photos were taken).

My favorite exhibit to visit is the Sibley Horticulture Center, a garden/greenhouse that encompasses five acres of native and exotic plants– it even has a 22 ft. waterfall! Hubs and I just love walking around it and get inspiration for our own little garden...

Do you celebrate Easter? What is your family tradition if so?

Gem Mining 101

Well, we didn't find the next Hope Diamond [boo], but we did manage to mine over 120 carats of Sapphires in 48 hours! I never EVER imagined how strenuous gem mining might be until this weekend.

We pulled into Mason's Sapphire and Ruby Mine just after noon on Wednesday; It was a bit overcast but quickly warmed up. Charlie, the mining expert of the bunch, quickly gave us a run down of exactly what we were looking for. As soon as we took his advice we were picking sapphires out of the flumes just as quickly as we could clear away the dirt.

By the end of the day we had managed to gather over 23 carats of sapphires. We were quite satisfied with ourselves and decided to call it a day. We decided to camp at the campsites beside the mine in order to get an early start on the next morning...

We were pro's by noon on Thursday. Patsy, one of the sweet workers at the mine, showed me how to find large carat sapphires and rubies laying on the hillside after a rain. In fact, she nabbed a 10 carat pink sapphire right off of a small hillside when she bent down to show me where they form..talk about some teaching skills!

By sunset, we had collected an additional 99.99 carats of sapphires (Seriously..could we not just say 100?), they all ranged from violet, to bright pink, to blue. Stunning. It was by far one of my most fun experiences with Josh since we've been married.

We plan on getting a few of the gems cut for the ladies in our families and I'm saving the nice large 8 carat button sapphire for the main stone in a ring I'm getting made. I'll post pics once I get it back!

Happy Sunday,

xoxo Rach

Hello, from Asheville- My hometown!

One of eight Tannenberg Organs in the US we saw in Salem today!

Hello my friends! I'm writing from the beautiful mountains of Asheville, NC! We have had such a great day today visiting the old town of Salem, NC and finally ended up here in Asheville for the night.  We're gearing up for our fun-filled day of gem mining tomorrow, stay tuned for my update on the gems we find!

The reason I'm writing is because I must tell you about Travelocity's "Top Secret Hotels" option on their site. Josh and I were in a bar downtown tonight and decided to chance it and book right on the site..now we're sitting in a 4 star hotel that we got for $50 a night (and the room is originally $120). It's the only way we're going to book now..so awesome.

I hope you have a happy hump day! I'll let you know how my gem mining goes tomorrow ;)

xoxo rach

Hello, from Virginia!

still just a country girl

 

Hello from Lexington, VA!

We've successfully made it to our friends' house and have had so much fun the past few days. Richard and Sara live on the outskirts of Lexington, VA on the most adorably quaint farm you could ever imagine. It looks as if it is straight out of a storybook!

Richard and Josh went kayaking down the Maury River, we toured his Law school, Washington and Lee University, we soaked up the history of Lexington and ended our trip with a sunset skeet shoot;)

It's been so nice to get away and enjoy the beauful rivers and rolling mountains of Virginia...

We're going to be camping tonight and are starting our journey to the gem mines tomorrow..stay tuned!

It's roadtrip time, baby.

My dear loyal readers, what do you have planned this weekend? Up to anything fun?

I wanted you all to know that, starting tomorrow, I will be taking a week-long roadtrip and will be a little sporadic on my postings, although I do plan on having a guest blogger on Wednesday and sharing photos of wherever we end up along the way!

Our plans are pretty loose, but we know that we will be camping here and there in the Blue Ridge mountains and ending up in Virginia to go kayaking with another couple. The only other plan we have is to go gem mining! When I lived in Asheville, NC, my family took a weekend trip to the mines and I brought home a  12 ct. sapphire! Here's to hoping for another big one!

Have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend everyone, I'll see you next week!

xoxo Rachel

(image via here)

What helpful signage...

 Cherry Glass

Just 'cause it's funny and sometimes I like to be childish ok? ok?  Don't you wish that this sign was in close proximity to you when you're, ahem, "giving directions"?

But seriously, have you ever visited Hell (MI)? Just wondering...I've been told a few times in my life to go there, so it must be quite divine :)

Vintage vacay

Do you ever have the urge to jump in the car and take off for a moment? I've got the worst case of that right now!

Is it the weather? Or maybe it's because I haven't had a vacay since my honeymoon last May? I dunno..just ignore my words and look at these fun vintage motel signs ;)

P.S. Don't forget our blog crawl-A Toast to the Oscar's this week starting with  Cornflake Dreams!

Thanksgiving Vacay: Part 3

Front row: Grandmother, Mom, Me, sis-in-law Janie. Back row: Dad, hubby Josh, and brother Ryan.

Alas, we finally made it to New Bern!

Thanksgiving Vacay: Part 2

We decided to make a stop in Wilmington, NC to see the USS North Carolina Battleship and take a tour the town. I was so pumped to get on that ship!

But once we got there they had closed off the gates and stopped selling the tickets. I was soo depressed.

But I had come all this way and then, as it usually does, my persistence took over...

I saw a child coming down the ramp to the exit only doors ( there were no door handles on my side), and just as quickly as he opened the door I impulsively jumped on to the deck and scurried up the ramp to the ship. I felt like such a rebel!

With my size the crew probably thought I was just a kid and ignored me, but unfortunately Josh and his 6'5" self couldn't make it without being noticed. So I relished in my rebellious moment and toured the ship by myself. It was a blast!

Thanksgiving Vacay: Part 1

On our way to my brother's house we took a detour over to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was COLD but absolutely beautiful. We were so anxious to get out of the car after so many hours and enjoyed walking barefoot on the sand. ( Sorry about the giant arm shadow..we couldn't find anyone to take our pic!)

I'll post more of our vacay as well as my adventures of sneaking onto a battleship tomorrow ;)