I Pulled Off A Big One!

This past weekend I planned a little mini get-a-way for Ryan as a surprise. He had no clue where we were going, I just told him what items to pack and to be ready. I am so happy that I did not give it away and that he had a great time!!

Where did we go? Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg

As a child I grew up going here on family vacations. I love Dollywood today as much as I did 20 years ago. The mountains are always so beautiful and the area is very family friendly. Not only did I go there as a child but I helped take care of Jay and Olivia on many Cowan Family vacations there. The memories are endless. I always talk to Ryan about my memories there and through these talks found out that he had NEVER been. I knew I had to be the one to change that!

This was in 2008 ....Jay is now 16.

Cowan Family Vacation 

The weather was terrible and rained the entire weekend. We did not get to go to Dollywood but there is always another trip. However, we did make it to a couple of dinner shows, went site seeing, shopped, ate more homemade goodies than we needed to and acted like kids again by playing in an arcade all night. We did not have cell phone service for most of the trip which was actually really nice. Sometimes we need to relax, enjoy nature, and get away from all the emails, texting, and phone calls.

Our first stop was to tour the Titanic Museum. My feet were killing me after this because it is huge. The exhibit itself was great and actually had real artifacts from the boat. There was a violin that was played on the boat until it finally sank. He strapped it to his chest and it was salvaged even though he did not make it. The violin is only on exhibit for a few weeks and will then be sent back to London and auctioned off. They are saying that the numbers will start with six figures. We were not allowed to take pictures inside or I would have a picture to show you.

We found it interesting that they can make and sale moonshine in the middle of town. We of course had to check it out. I will say it was pretty interesting to watch it in person and see what all they do. The smell on the other hand...I was not a fan of!

Ryan loves history as I have mentioned before. He also loved when the series came out about the Hatfields and McCoys. Needless to say we went to the dinner show while on our trip. It was a lot of fun and the food was DELISH!

Traveling always involves good food. Here are a few of the things we had over our weekend trip!

The Apple Barn 

Pancake Pantry 

I am sure I am leaving out some fun things that we did but you at least get a glimpse of what I remember!! 

I'm off to Baton Rouge for the week for work. I hope to get another post in sometime while I am gone. After move ins of all of our residents I should be back a little more often. For now I'm giving all I can but I hope you at least enjoy that much of me! 

Have a great week! 

Viva Las Vegas...The Honeymoon Part One!

Yes, I am back at blogging but it is still hard for me this time of the year to post each night. I am doing my best in the midst of traveling each week for work, moving, and trying to see my Husband. And yes, I said moving...that post will be coming soon!

Ryan and I had never been to Las Vegas. We had actually been talking about possibly going around Christmas for a trip when we were just dating. Then I got the job with Peak, became engaged, and our plans changed for the better.

My very first week working with Peak guess what??? They told me we were going to Vegas the next week. I was obviously there for work not play so I never left The Hard Rock. Since I did not see anything and Ryan was still wanting to go we decided this would be our Honeymoon trip!

I LOVED every minute of our trip however, if you are wanting to relax on your honeymoon Vegas is not the place for you. There is just way to much to do and see there.

Ryan is a very good listener....when he wants to be! From the way he proposed to the first night of the honeymoon I know he selected and did things a certain way because of listening to me talk about my dreams. For the first night of our honeymoon we drove back to Atlanta. Keep in mind I live in Atlanta but Ryan made sure our first married night we were not just hanging out in my apartment. As most of you that read this know, The University of Alabama is very special to me and for a lot of reasons. Football is just an added bonus and not just because we win. I love getting to spend Saturdays with my Dad. Each week I look forward to seeing his face light up with the band starts to warm up, the team takes the field for warm ups (yes we will be seated 2 hours prior to kick off), and most of all I love getting to chat with him and just spend time with him. My mom sometimes will come but football is one of the things that is a LaLa and Dad thing! Several years back the first season opener being held in Atlanta asked Alabama to be the SEC team that played. We decided we would make the trip and Dad left me in charge of getting the hotel. I found a great place called The Georgian Terrace in downtown Atlanta. We loved it and have stayed there anytime we come here since. I have talked about those trips so many times to Ryan and how much I enjoyed The Georgian Terrace.

You know where this is going...he remembered those talks and that is where we spent the night before we flew out the next day!! I was so excited not that is was The Georgian Terrace but that I had a husband that picked up on things I say that make me happy!

Next stop was the airport for the long flight to Vegas! We were exhausted but it was a great time for us to catch up and talk about our wedding and how much we loved every minute of it!

Our first night in Vegas we stayed at The Flamingo. Look at this incredible view!!! Our room was amazing, the location was central to everything, would love to go back there!

The beds were so comfy and I loved the huge headboard. He might kill me for this picture but I had to note that we took our wedding cake across the US and ate it for breakfast!

Don't Judge all the tourist pictures....we loved every minute!

We stopped for a mid afternoon snack at Serendipity's. I wanted to try it in New York years ago but the line was to long. So glad we had the chance to go in Vegas. The deserts were HUGE.

 He is super excited because he LOVES cheesecake and this was the biggest piece he had ever had!

I had the cookie sundae ...or something along those lines!

 Ryan with his ladies outside of Planet Hollywood!

They let me try on the head piece. Then of course asked me to be part of the show!!

One of the top things to do on my list was eat at Pink's. In college in my branding class Mrs. Daria made up create and come up with branding for a business. I somehow managed to draw a Hot Dog company. I had to do research on existing hot dog places and Pink's was one of them. We tried eating at one in LA when we went to the national Championship however it was too packed. I was so excited to finally try it. I was not as impressed as I wanted to be.

Walking over to the Bellagio!

This painting was made of real flowers! I loved it!

As you can see there is so much to do. This is just the first day into our trip! My feet were killing me to say the least. I was getting some exercise in so I could eat all that good Vegas food!


Stay tuned Part 2 coming soon!