biltmore visit!

As part of our girls weekend to celebrate Lindi's birthday we spent the day at the Biltmore in Asheville - which means I also knocked another thing of my 30 before 30 list! We were both in complete awe of the house, gardens and grounds and had a great time exploring - we grabbed a quick lunch [pizza + lemonade] before venturing out to explore the gardens! The gardens are breathtaking and I'm going to do a whole other post with all of the flower pictures I took, there were just so many beautiful blooms everywhere! We also ventured out to the waterfall, which was great and a nice workout to "earn" the ice cream we would later eat.  We lucked out because the weather was perfect, a nice 70-75 degrees all day so we were cool and comfortable and not sweaty [I can imagine how uncomfortable I would be if I was hot].  We did the audio tour [$10 extra] in the house and it was definitely worth to hear some extra stories and have a tour, but on our own pace [everyone recommended that we do it and they were right, definitely worth it!].  

unfortunately, photography isn't allowed in the house so you'll just have to go visit for yourself to see it! we kept calling it the adult version of disney world when we were there and it definitely had some truth to it. either way, we had a blast and I'm excited to return - I think I might be able to convince DJ to join me during the holidays to see the house all decorated!

girls weekend glory...

This weekend was an absolute blast with Lindi, we had a great time out and about in  Knoxville on Friday - margaritas, Harry Potter and some hilarious people watching.  It was so great to explore Lindi's new home with her and see where she lives and works.   I also met Lindi's co-worker Danny (a fellow HESA/USC grad) who worked in the same office I did when he was at Carolina... just four years after me [I'm old]. We also met up with our friend Chris from college (who I probably hadn't seen in a good 5 years) so it was great to catch-up with him and meet his girlfriend. All in all, a little too much fun as I'm still exhausted today from our shennanigans but had a blast...

friday night fun...  

after a day of fun at the biltmore, we explored downtown asheville on saturday night [after surviving a crazy shuttle drive] we walked around for a bit, had a great dinner at fiores [where our sweet server gave us free tirimasu for lindi's birthday!] and then did a little barhopping to wrap up the night - it was a TON of fun [after I got reprimanded by DJ for not calling him, oops bad wife] but it was definitely a night full of laughs, mostly at each other... 

what a great weekend celebrating one of my favorite people... with plenty of fun times and laughs - of course I missed DJ [and sweet Ollie] and now it's great to be home but it was great to have some girly time with my other love! more on our Biltmore adventure coming soon!

puppy love.

lots of baby talk going around, just needed to remind everyone [and myself] that I've got a sweet baby boy at home already...

  how can you not love that sweet [smushy] face?

I have a friend...

I have a friend who I'm lucky enough to call my sister...

[zeta is forever]

...a friend who reminds me of when I was young and clueless....

[zta formal 2003]

...a friend who I've always celebrated in style with...

[twenty one!]

...a friend who will remind me of times I don't remember....

[aka, when I black out - booze cruise, always a bad idea]

...a friend who I like to walk home with...

["you want to walk home?" "OK!" "we should sneak out now then"]

...a friend who gets me into trouble...

["remember in college in Atlanta?" "did we end up at LXA at GTech?" "weren't we on a roof at one point?" "wasn't there a pool?!"]

...a friend who I get into trouble...

 [thanks for the shots joe!]

...a friend who is beautiful....

...a friend who will always try something new....

[special.]

...a friend who always lifts me up when I'm down...

[ucf dance marathon 2002]

...a friend who is a hard worker...

[take your best friend to work day 2011, duh]

...a friend who puts up with my antics...

[she secretly loves it]

...a friend who makes friends wherever she goes...

... a friend who can always make me laugh...

[moh toast, 2010]

...a friend who is a master...

[big time with the university president, 2006]

...a friend who I climbed a mountain with... 

[literally and figuratively] 

...a friend who I've shared the past decade of my life with...

[lindi's birthday, 2007]

...a friend who I always feel at home with...

[porch swings, forever ours]

...a friend who knows all my secrets...

...a friend who I share a brain with...

[we share a great taste in cell phones and teen dramas...]

...a friend who is always on my team....

[go knights!]

...a friend I can always turn to...

... a friend who always makes me feel special...

...a friend my husband adores [sometimes, more than me] and actually listens to [always more than me]....

["you and lindi are really the same person, except she's the nicer version of you" - direct quote from DJ, 2010]

...a friend who is family...

... a friend who will one day be an Aunt to my children...

[but for now, just bunny and penguin]

...a friend who is thirty today...

happy thirtieth birthday to my oabfffl

[overall, best friend, forever, for life...duh]

to the smed-b to my smed-a,

my smedie,

my lindi-lou....

happy birthday my love, 

thanks for being the best friend a girl could ever ask for over the past decade!

it was fate [and alphabetical order] that brought us together in 2000, 

but so much more that has kept us so close over the years. 

you are such an amazing person, and words can't describe how important you are to me,

you truly are the meaning of sisterhood and I am so lucky to have you in my life.

I treasure our past, live for our present and can't wait for our future!

thank you for everything, but most of all, for being you!

love you!

can't wait to celebrate this weekend!

smed-a :)

[smeds for life, duh]