Asheville anniversary trip

We left Friday afternoon for our 11th anniversary trip to Asheville, NC. We checked into our hotel, got situated and scooted around town, doing some shopping. That evening, we had sushi and Japanese at PF Changs. We went back to the hotel and walked to the Ruby Tuesday in front of the hotel to have dessert and drinks..

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and left to do more walking around. We go to Hole after a friend recommended it. They are made to order doughnuts and are the best doughnut I've ever had. It was SO good! 

We went to the outlet mall and scored some sunglasses for Alan and some clothes for Madison and Alan. 

I had made plans/reservations at a nice restaurant downtown and thought we could hop around to some breweries after supper, but we decided to change up those plans to be more casual, laid back and not on a schedule. I cancelled our dinner plans and Alan gets on the phone and makes a couples hand and foot reflexology appointment. I get massages monthly but had never had actual reflexology done. It.was.amazing. I need one every month now! My feet typically bother me a good bit but did not hurt for 3 days after that appointment. It was very relaxing and much needed! I highly recommend Sole Haven: A foot reflexology lounge on Hendersonville Road in Asheville.

After that, we went to the mall, for Alan to get a new wedding band.  His current band is black Tungsten and all of the black has worn off, which we didn't realize it would do.. Luckily, the manager let Alan switch out rings! He decided to go with a carbon fiber inlay ring in Tungsten.

We decided that BBQ would be good, so we went back to Luella's BBQ, which we had eaten at a few months ago and it's SO good! A huge rain storm came up but we were able to sit on the patio where it was nice out. We talked about seeing a movie but decided against it.. 

We went back to the outlets on Sunday before heading home and ended up getting all of us new shoes and a few more pieces of clothes. The Dillard's outlet there is great!  We ate brunch at Tupelo Honey before heading home.

It was a really nice, laid back weekend. We didn't get any pictures of us, other then my legs above.

Apple farm fun!

 We took a trip to an Apple Farm in the mountains and then to an apple festival in the same town. It was HOT that day!! The girls had fun!

apple cider slushies

Madison's 6th Birthday

 Her actual birthday...

Her birthday party

Menu Sept 7-21

I am trying to do better about not planning for 14 individual meals. We have leftovers most of the time. Sometimes we just want a salad or a bowl of cereal.. I mean, we are 4 days into our new "plan" and I've only made the southwest pasta dish.  We grilled out chicken, pork, burgers and hot dogs the night of Madison's party so that has lasted us a couple of days. With dance and choir 3 days a week, I need to utilize my crock pot 2 or 3 of those days, or we will eat at church on choir night. Trying to get this schedule all figured out ;) 

I did not include the recipe links but a quick Pinterest search will give you many choices!

crock pot recipes;
taco soup
beef stroganoff
crock pot chicken queso
Lazy crock pot lasagna
chicken ranch tacos

non crock pot recipes;
black beans and rice casserole
mexican zucchini and beef
baked burrito casserole
Mexican Dorito casserole
Southwest pasta

Lots of yard work

We've been super busy lately working in the yard..

For some reason, we thought this little jutted out spot was a good idea 🤷🏻‍♀️ I had a rose planted there, but on a whim, pulled the rose up and straightened the rocks out. Looks so much better and easier to mow the grass, too. 

We never did anything under the deck since that's where the dogs stayed. They liked the cool dirt and shade. 

Weed mat down, mulched and rock border added! 

Also finished up the border at the crawl space door. It had originally just connected to the fence.

Pulled up the dying tomato plants and planted 12 broccoli plants. I'm hoping it isn't too hot.. I've never planted them before.. half of them look really good still and it's been a week. 

We used to have a flower garden at the road here. We never put weed barrier mat down and just never maintained it, so we pulled it up a while back. I hate that cable box so I'd been toying with the idea of replanting stuff to hide it. The garden on the other side is our neighbors. 

A few hours later, weed mat down, some evergreen mini cypress and some ornamental perennial grasses. The cypresses will grow 3x6 or s, so hopefully that box will be hidden. Yes, I meant to plant the lower right one like that. Unfortunately, that cable wires are not 3' underground, but barely skim the surface of the grass 🙄😑

Alan pressure washed the sidewalk and gutters while I worked on the garden above. 

Yard work

Finished up our border that goes around the rest of the house. The vines that were under there were taking over! They were growing up the columns on the deck. Plus they didn't come out to the rocks..

..so I ripped them out and mulched the whole area.

No before picture but right beside the steps was a huge yellow rose bush. It was too tall and was so wide, it covered almost half of the stairs. So Alan ripped them out. We got a Firepower Nandena and transferred 2 Gerbera Daisies that weren't getting much sun. This opened the stairs up and made this space look much bigger. See the vine creeping under the stairs?

 

U2 concert

Alan had a work meeting planned in Ohio. I flew up by myself and met him in Ohio, after his meetings on Friday, he took a half day and picked me up at the Ohio airport. I did great and didn't get lost or scared once! Even flying through Atlanta! From Ohio, we picked up a rental car and drove the hour and half to Louisville, Kentucky. We made it to our hotel, unpacked, cleaned up and headed to the 6:30 concert around 5:00. We get in, buy a couple of tshirts and go find our seats. 

One Republic was their opening act and they didn't come on stage until after 7:00. Considering it felt like 103* in that stadium, that was a bit annoying. They sang for an hour and sounded great! I'm a fan of their music, so I knew most of the songs they sang.

It took an hour, after One Republic left the stage for them to break down and set up for U2. So by the time U2 came on stage, it was around 9:00. They played a few songs that aren't Joshua Tree songs and then started into the Joshua Tree album.  The graphics on the screen were pretty amazing. The lighting and story line with the video along with the songs were great! Bono was very uplifting when he spoke, as well. They finished up the album, left the stage and then did an encore of 4 more songs that aren't Joshua Tree songs. 

The concert lasted about 2 hours. Alan was pumped and is ready to see them again!