Once again.. it's been way too long!

I've done lots this year and taken lots of pictures, but never seem to have the time or energy left to download all these pictures and upload them here! I just downloaded over 700 pictures I had taken since August of this year. What a pain. I must remember to download more often so it's not so painful!

Here are some pictures from our Wisconsin trip this year. We stayed on Plum Lake again, one of our favorite lakes in the area. It was a nice place despite the bed falling apart in the middle of the night. I was able to lug my sewing supplies up and set up shop on the kitchen table for the week. I got a lot done on a baby quilt for my new friend Max.

We went boating, ate out at some of our favorite resturants, visited a beautiful waterfall in the U.P. (I need to figure out the name of that one - it was amazing!), and of course did a lot of relaxing. As much as I claim to be a southern gal at heart, I really do love spending time in the northwoods. Maybe it's just that I get to spend some quality time with nature. I don't get enough of that living in the city.

Summer Vacay 2009

Hubby and I went on a vacation in late August. It was our "last hurrah" before I headed back to school. We went up to Northern Wisconsin to our "usual hangout" near St. Germain, Sayner, and Eagle River. We had a fabulous relaxing week doing whatever we wanted. Mostly that meant we toodled around on the boat, slept in every morning, watched some movies, did some shopping, and ate out a lot. Woohoo!
One day we drove up into the UP of Michigan to see Bond Falls. It was really pretty and had some good hiking trails.
We toodled around in the boats a lot for the first few days. Our friends Bill & Scott were with us for the first half of the week and the weather was great. The water is always a bit too cold for me to go swimming, though.
And I made another feline friend while out shopping on Thursday. I always seem to find a surrogate kitty to spend some time with while away from Stinky. By Thursday, the weather had turned cold and drizzly, so no more boating for us. It wasn't too hard to convince hubby to go see the sights and visit some stores.

And of course, we had to stop by my favorite breakfast place, the cook shanty. I really just like the homemade doughnuts they make fresh every morning. Next time, I think I'll just run in for some doughnuts and skip the family style breakfast. All in all.. great trip!

Fourth of July

We drove up to Door County, Wisconsin for the 4th of July weekend. We had great weather, fun bike rides (that almost killed me!), artsy shops, pebbly beaches, light houses, goats on a roof, and of course, lots of cherries! Yum!

Visiting North Georgia (part 2)

We did so much, I had to break it up into several blog entries....

Mom & I went down to Dahlonega and visited Consolidated Mines which is the site of one of the largest gold deposits in the US. Dahlonega was the first gold rush town in the US as well.

We panned for gold and then took a tour of the mine. There's mom with her hard hat on!

We also took a day trip to Vogel State Park and hiked to a waterfall. There's lots of iron in the water and it leaves this reddish smelly deposit where the water flows down.






Mom & I also took a day trip to Amicalola falls. It's a great place to hike - there are 604 steps up to the top of the falls. And I walked them all! Mom drove it up to meet me.

Here's my self portrait in front of part of the falls. You can't tell, but I'm pretty hot & sweaty by this point. It was a fun day trip, though.

On a side note, when we were kids, my sister and a friend made up a song to the tune of Copacabana by Barry Manilow about Amicalola falls. I wish I remembered all the words so I could sing it to you now... Maybe my sis can remember them for me...

Georgia Critters II

More critters I saw on my vacation down south...

A cool Red Velvet Ant (actually, they're a type of flightless wasp!)







Another Georgia Mountain Kitty





Moo cows on the Rankin's farm. They loved watching dad work with the bees.





A tiger swallowtail butterfly.
We saw lots of these.




And a female ruby-throated hummingbird.
Look to the left of the feeder. They
fought with the wasps & hornets for
the feeder openings.

Georgia Critters I

So it seems, looking at all my photos from my Georgia vacation,
that I like to take pictures of critters. And lots of them.

So here are some pictures from my Georgia trip...

A fruit stand kitty



A skink on a rock.






A teensy garter snake






A crawdad/crayfish in the stream





a butterfly

Eating our Way Across Georgia

It always seems that when I head back down south for a vacation, I seek out my favorite southern foods. And since there are a LOT of favorite southern foods for me, I tend to eat eat eat all vacation long. And this one was no different....

Mom & I had some fabulous smoked pork sandwiches in Hiawassee at a place called Smoke Rings.

I also found my mostest favoritest drink of all time..... the elusive PEACH NEHI! Hooray! I got some extra to bring back home with me but realized that since they were glass bottles, they wouldn't fly well.

So mom agreed to bring them up to me in October when she'll be driving up.

We also cooked quite a bit.. There's dad eating freshly picked sweet corn.

And on the last night I was there, we had a weenie roast around the fire
with marshmellows, of course.

Who doesn't like a good roasted marshmellow??

And not pictured, but definitely enjoyed, was some good fried catfish, homemade peach preserves and some fresh cut peaches, and mom's "ozark pudding" with local tart apples. So good!

Visiting North Georgia (part 1)

Just got back from a vacation to the North Georgia Mountains to visit with my folks. We stayed up near Ellijay at the cabin of a family friend. It's a georgous location on several acres of land right near where a stream meets a river.

During the time I was there, I spent a lot of quality time outside communing with nature, I guess. It's just so peaceful there & it's so good to get away from the "big city".

I also got to spend some quality time with my parents. Dad was working on various projects - but never the ones he planned to work on.

I dragged my mom to several quilt shops in the area. Some I had found online, and others we found by mistake. Either way, I found some fabulous fabrics. I also became a fan of the super inexpensive fabric section of the many local Walmart stores we visited. We don't really have Walmarts in my area and I have mixed feelings about that chain of stores, but down in Georgia, that was frequently the only option. And when you have to drive 30 minutes for the only shopping option, you take what you can get.

I took lots of pictures and have lots to share, but not all at once, so expect more from me about my trip! I've been distracted lately 'cause I'm getting geared up to get back into the classroom again. I've been putting my classroom back in order and tomorrow have to attend the beginning of the schoolyear "pep rally" for the school district. Not really looking forward to all that just because it seems like the official END to my summer.

Oh well. It had to end sometime, right?

Gettin' back into the swing of things...

I've been away!

And now I'm back. So I can get back to all those projects I left unfinished. Hooray!

I was in N. Georgia visiting with my folks and also got to spend some time with my college roomie and her family, too. I dragged my mom to lots of quilt/fabric shops down there. I found lots of good stuff, too! I'll be downloading pics and posting stuff all this week, so come back by! I have so much to share!

I Love the Quilt Cottage!

While up north last week, I found a great little quilt shop called the Quilt Cottage. We were driving up Rt 51 towards Sayner, WI and we passed this shop. As we drove by with my face pressed to the glass of the window, my hubby actually suggested we go back the next day to visit. YAY, hubby!

The building itself is charming - a real log cabin-style. The first floor is crammed with fabrics and they had an extensive "civil war" area with repro vintage fabrics of all colors and patterns. I stayed in that area for a while! There was also a large wool section, a batik section, and a quilting cotton section.

Downstairs is the "bargain basement" with all the sale fabrics plus some cool antique furniture and quilts for sale.

The best part was the upstairs, though. There were three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and large work space with irons and tables. They have classes in the workspace, but the store also rents out the space for quilting retreats. It was so nice! I could imagine myself there with other quilty ladies working on some fun projects and having a great "girls weekend". Anyone wanna go? :)

Of course I bought some great fabrics. I also got a few quilt project patterns on sale and they even gave me a cool reusable canvas tote bag to carry it all. So next time you're in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin....