Friday Favorites

Happy weekend y'all!

 This made me laugh out loud! Awkward moments that every vegetarian understands. Spot on!

 VICE magazine did this short documentary that follows the true story around the criminal plot of True Detective Season 1. I'm going to avoid Ponchatoula, Louisana!

 The best 5 countries for vegetarian travelers. Yes, please! The girl pictured at the top of the article is probably my kindred spirit. Haha.

Lovely quote. Words to truly live by.

Twenty-five famous women on aging. Really beautiful and funny. Many of them acknowledge that the alternative to growing old is death so embrace those wrinkles! :)

This video of my friend, Adam Newman, doing stand up in NYC and being told to "shut the f*&k up" by the NYPD is insane...and super funny. This is the second time he has had hecklers that went viral. He has the worst luck with hecklers...or the best luck. You decide!

Hope your weekend is one for the books!

xo

Thursday Tunes

With Halloween right around the corner, one of my favorite movies to watch this time of year is Edward Scissorhands. It's such a good movie: amazing actors (Vincent Price!), beautifully tragic story line, and Danny Elfman did the full music score.

The scene with Winona Ryder spinning under the falling snow/ ice feels so magical - especially with the instrumental song, The Ice Dance, playing in the background.

The Ice Dance is top of my list for favorite movie instrumental pieces (Amélie features some, as well)! When I close my eyes, I feel like I'm pulled away to a whimsical world. It's amazing the way music can do that.

Enjoy!

♥

What's your favorite score from a film?

Wise Words

While in the mountains last week, I read the latest October Southern Living magazine. This issue featured amazing cottages, recipes, Asheville road trip ideas, and my favorite: an interview with Dolly Parton! 

I've always loved Dolly's music and her positive outlook on life. Her song "Coat of Many Colors" makes me misty-eyed every time! 

One of my favorite quotes from the article is: "People always say “You seem to always be so happy.” But I’m not always happy. Nobody is happy all the time. I’m a very sensitive person. I’m a songwriter, so I have to live with my feelings on my sleeve. I have to not harden my heart, because I want to stay open to feel things. So when I hurt, I hurt all over. And when I cry, I cry real hard. And when I’m mad, I’m mad all over. I’m just a person; I like to experience whatever the feeling is and whatever I’m going through. But I have a good attitude. And I was born with a happy heart. I’m always looking for things to be better."

Such an inspiration! It's still on my bucket list to see her perform!

xo

5th Anniversary Theme DIY: Wood

Every year for our anniversary so far, J + I try to stick with the traditional anniversary gift themes; however, we try to do something unique each year. The gifts typically include something handmade. 

See past years' gifts here, here, here.

Since the 5th anniversary theme is wood, I figured I'd try to make something on one of the pieces of wood that was used as a centerpiece at our wedding:

What tools you'll need for this wood-burning project:

- Wooden plaque

- Wood-burning tool

- Alphabet set

- Needle nose pliers

I chose a quote and then got to work. The hardest part was figuring out the spacing. Since I had to use the pliers to unscrew each letter, I thought I'd try to do all of the same letters in 1 run to reduce having to switch out the letters, but I don't recommend it. The "I" in the bottom row below ended up having to be a "R" so thankfully it worked out!

 Once the iron got hot (it took about 4 minutes), the letters would warm up very quickly so be very careful! Pliers really are your best friend.

I only made one mistake (besides the spacing on the 2nd row wording, but it ended up fine), because I was distracted. Nightmare, eh?

Thankfully, I was able to get out a small sander and sand out the mistake. It left a slight discoloration that I may try to use dirt on to darken, but it's not really noticeable. 

As I got into the areas where I was worried about space, I used the pieces to determine placement so I could use the same letter more than once to save time. A tip: I used 2 separate metal lids to place the hot letters in: one with letters that I was done with and another with letters I would need again. This saved me time looking through every letter for the right one!

 The finished product! 

This photo was taken with a flash so the sanded part stands out a bit more here than it does in normal lighting. I did this completely free-handed so next time I'll use a ruler to ensure straight lines, but I kind of like the fact that it isn't perfect. As long as it's made with love, right? :)

I will add a hanging bracket to the back in case we want to put it on the wall. My favorite part about this piece is on the back, because there is wax and water stains from the vases and candles from our wedding night 5 years ago...there's something really cool about making one of our centerpieces into a true keepsake!

If you'd like to commission a custom piece, let me know!

xo

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was spent in Macon County, NC. We stayed at a cabin in Franklin, NC that we found on Airbnb (feel free to email if you'd like the link). The cabin location was perfect - quiet, private, had a great mountain view, but was very close to downtown historic Franklin.

We stopped at a local roadside market and bought some pumpkins (apparently the grey squash make the best pies)! We walked along the Little Tennesee Greenway and even spent some time at the dog park right outside of downtown! We met a great local guy, John, who gave us awesome advice on local hikes! We ended up seeing him both Friday + Saturday! :)

The leaves were already changing in NC and naturally no camera could truly capture the beauty!

 Since Friday was our anniversary, I made veggie chili and cornbread and we exchanged gifts. The anniversary gift theme for year 5 is wood. J + I both went a similar route and did different wood pieces and wood burning. I'll share more of the gifts soon, but below is the piece I made for J on a piece of wood used from our wedding (DIY instructions on the blog tomorrow)!

We spent the rest of the day, relaxing and enjoying the fireplace.

 On Saturday  morning, I woke up early and spent some quiet time downstairs with Townes. 

I made a huge breakfast: potatoes, maple soysage gravy, fried egg, and honey wheat biscuits. Can't forget the Cholula! It was the perfect food to start a full day of being outside!

After breakfast, we headed to the Nantahala National Forest to hike up to the Wayah Bald Tower that is along the Appalachian Trail. The fog was pretty thick, but thankfully we got to see a bit of the view! Once again, the leaves were magical!

After our hike, we stopped downtown at Motor Company Grill a quick lunch (they have a pet-friendly patio!) and then walked around the various antique shops and the vintage car show. Downtown Franklin, NC is awesome, because everyone is so friendly and the little town is surrounded by mountains!

 Saturday night, we laid low by the fire (of course) and I knitted a bit. We made veggie "chicken" pot pie for dinner - YUM!

 On Sunday, we took John's (from the dog park) advice and went to the Cowee Mound. It's an old burial ground from the 1700's and the area used to be principal diplomatic and commercial center of the 18th century Cherokees. The land is protected, but we got the local scoop on how to get there. The photos do not do the area justice...the burial mound is HUGE and surrounded by the mountains and runs along the river. It felt very surreal to be in this desolate area and to imagine the history that took place there. Even more special since I have Cherokee ancestry.

We decided to go to Highlands, NC for the rest of the day before heading home. We stopped at some falls along Highway 64 into the Highlands. The drive between Franklin and Highlands was incredible - the winding mountain roads, rock cliffs, waterfalls, and vibrant leaf colors made my day!

Here we are at Dry Falls. Despite being invaded by tourists (ourselves included), it's a pretty incredible sight!

We went hiking at Whiteside Mountain right outside of Highlands. It was a beautiful 2 mile loop; however, we were engulfed in fog so we missed out on the views. Next time!

For reference, this is what we could see...

 ...and this is what one normally sees! Go figure!

Townes was officially tuckered out, so he slept the whole way home. We did stop at Jaemor Farms for some fresh strawberry ice cream and boiled peanuts!

It was a great weekend getaway - a strong reminder that we need to actually buy or build a place of our own sooner than later! It's amazing what a weekend away from yard work and obligations does for the soul...

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."
― William Cullen Bryant

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

♥