Asheville again

We took another trip to Aheville, this time with a couple of friends. The main reason was to see the Rusko show (which was uh-mazing!), but we also toured Biltmore (my second time, their first), ate at LAB (where the menu was completely different, but the food and beer still tasty), and visited the NC Arboretum. As always, we had a great time. I love taking trips with my husband!

the creamery at Biltmore Village. I haven't had an ice cream cone in years!



these flowers were at the NC arboretum.  You can't really tell, but the Coralish pink ones glittered. How do flowers get metallic in them? Crazy beautiful.

these begonias were HUGE!

iced chai and a St. Peters porter at  a fantastic restaurant near the hotel. (Sunny something....)

....waiting....

I should have written about this sooner, but I didn't really know how. You know how sometimes you're not sure how much of your life you really want out there, especially when it involves other people. But, I don't think this post will hurt anybody. If anything, it will help. You guys have never been anything but supportive.

A week ago, we got some bad news. My husband's grandma was hospitalized the night before. It was a tough day, because we didn't really know what happened. Here's the gist of it- She wasn't feeling well for a few days but didn't want to go to the doctor. (She's stubborn and doesn't like to be poked. Can you blame her?) Finally, Thursday night, she called the aunt that lives down the road and had her take her to the hospital. While she was there, she flat lined and had to be resuscitated. When we got the call on Friday, she was in Urgent care, heavily sedated. We had so much going on Friday, and it was hard to make decisions. Chris' family lives about three hours away, and he needed to be there with them. I wasn't sure if I should go with him or stay. I didn't want to be in the way, but more so, I wanted to provide support for my new family, and especially for my husband. He and his grandma are very close. Chris family told us to do what we had to do, and come afterward; that she wouldn't be awake anyway. So that's what we did.

We spent the weekend in a waiting room. Long story short, Chris' grandmother made nothing short of a miraculous recovery. It turns out she had congestive heart failure and double pneumonia.On Friday, everybody feared the worst, but she stabilized and was moved to ICU. Saturday, she was awake, but not really "with it" or recognizing people. Sunday, she was able to recognize us all and tell us she loves us. With her seeming to be out of the woods, we came back home on Sunday night, promising to return this weekend.

On Monday, Chris family provided updates, and they have continued to do so every day. They are hard to receive, but sometimes I wonder if it would have been harder to experience. For example, On Monday, Chris' family was visiting her, and she asked why Chris hadn't come to see her... They told her that he had to go back to Charlotte but that he would be back, and realized she didn't remember anything about the day before. She didn't even know we had been there. She's had some minor recognition problems too. And yesterday they had to put in a small pace maker because her heart rate had dropped to 30 BPM. But she was fine after the surgery, and apparently talking up a storm. :)

On a side note, Chris' family keeps growing! lol. And I don't mean because of births. Last weekend I met extended family I've never met before. Some cousins drove down from school in other states. And Chris' grandma has 4 siblings that are still with us, and I enjoyed meeting them very much. They are wonderful people, even in a difficult situation. And it was a difficult situation. I've never had anyone close to me go through anything like that. The only time I've ever spent in hospitals was for minor surgeries or new babies. It was so hard to see Chris' grandma laying there with all kinds of tubes sticking out of her- especially when she was non responsive. But I swear, she looked better every time I went back to see her, and I hope it continues.

Chris is heading back down this afternoon. I have some things to take care of here, so I will be here by myself. I like my alone time, and am not afraid to be without him this weekend, but I have been having bouts of sadness lately, so hopefully I can keep those at bay.

So, I ask that you keep our family in your prayers. We've seen what the power of prayer can do, and I selfishly hope that we can keep her around a bit longer. Yes, she has had health problems that will continue to be bothersome. And yes, she's a believer who says she's ready to "go home." But she is kind of the glue that holds their family together... Also, Chris' sister is getting married in June, and if we could have her with us for that... (sigh.) That's really all I'm asking for. I know it seems audacious that I should specifically ask the Lord for something like that, but if we don't ask, then what? Besides a recovery, of course, I am praying for strength and comfort for the family. I pray for my husband's safety while he's driving down and back, and I pray for my own comfort in solitude, and that I can be productive during this weekend on my own.

Will you pray with me?

Asheville!

Last month, as I realized the year’s end is looming up ahead, I also realized I had to use up the remaining vacation hours that my (very corporate) job had given me. So, I timed those hours with Veteran’s Day, packed up the hubs and the dog, and headed on up to the mountains. We had a beautiful 3 days. The weather was around 70 the whole time, and there was still brightly colored fall foliage on most of the trees.

The drive from Charlotte was smooth and easy. It took about 2 hours, and was quiet and traffic free. We stopped once to take let the dog out, and pulled into our destination mid afternoon.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the tiny town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, called the Madison Inn . I have always been hesitant about staying in a B&B. Something about going downstairs in the morning to eat in a small kitchen with a bunch of strangers with morning breath just doesn't appeal to me... But this place was recommended by some friends, so we checked them out online and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad we did. We loved this place.



We arrived at the inn, and walked in to find the front desk was basically the hostess station of a dimly lit restaurant. Actually, at the time, it was a dark restaurant. They are not open for lunch, so only the desk area was lit. We were greeted by a lady that we came to enjoy talking to during the short length of our stay. After checking in, we let Aramis stretch his legs in the dog run, and proceeded up to our room. All of the rooms in the inn are themed. We were staying in the "fine arts room".

It was comfy and quiet. I think there was only one other room occupied while we were there. We really had a good time. That afternoon, after we checked in, we went to downtown Black Mountain to see what there was to see. Downtown is tiny! Like, 4 square blocks. And super quaint. There was an Apple a Day- an all organic cafe where the stuffed avacado was Uh-mazing. And at the homey Veranda cafe, the sweet potato corn soup almost made me cry it was so good. Haha. Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but it was so good. And they had all kinds of cool gifts and knick knacks to look at, which is good, cuz that place filled up quick! There were people milling arround outside waiting to get seated when we left our early lunch on a Thursday afternoon.



We went in the fun general store, the yarn shop, the dog bakery, artisan jewelry stores, and so many more cool places. I don't know how they fit so many neat things in such a small area!


It was on to downtown Asheville the next day. It was just as artsy, if not more so, and much, much, bigger! There was art, and food, and beverages galore. There were a few different places we stopped at to try flights of their craft- beer!

This was at one of our favorites of the trip- LAB (Lexington Avenue Brewery). They had good food (we had frog legs, sweet potato frites, jalepeno hush puppy funnel cake, white meatloaf, curry pastries, and more!) and a great range of beer. Even the types of beer I tend to stay away from, like IPAs, were pretty good. We were both was pleasantly surprised.

Wall street was lined with vibrant gold Ginko trees.
We went into several galleries, ran into a re-plant from Charlotte that my husband knew, and met lots of interesting people. There were dreadheads everywhere. I might have got a case of whiplash from looking at all of them! I bought some beads from a couple of the many bead stores, and strung them in my hair. We wandered through hippy stores and looked at all kinds of quirky things and people. Standing on a streetcorner, some guy in a truck actually called out of his window and thanked me for existing, lol. I guess my fierce beauty made his day. Haha.

mmm beer! Before we left the next day, we went to the Asheville River Arts district. We looked at more artisan crafts, wandered through some very cool galleries, and then took a 5 minute drive to the new and improved Highland Brewing Company taproom and brewhouse. It was awesome. They have a huge, clean space, where they have live shows weekly, and of course we took the free sample filled tour of the brewery. We also got to sample their newest seasonal- one day before it's official release. If you get a chance to try the Cold Mountain, (or any of their beer, actually,) I highly encourage you to do so. Yum!

Before we headed home that night, we ate at the restaurant at the inn. We had great service, a quiet, warm, and comfortable ambiance, and great food. We even left with a cake recipe made from a highland beer- which I made last night. It was so good! Straight from the menu, this is what we ate:

Chicken Piccatta $14.95
Twin boneless breasts… dusted in seasoned flour and pan sautéed to a golden brown..topped with our made from scratch Piccatta sauce, a delicious combination of sweet cream, fresh lemon, garlic and capers

Chicken Madison $15.95
Our signature dish… boneless breast of chicken, stuffed with herbed cream cheese, baby spinach
and diced artichokes… dusted in seasoned flour and pan sautéed in butter to a golden brown…
drizzled with Béarnaise sauce!

We took a pumpkin pound cake home that was scrumptious!

Aaand, then we drove home. We got home late, and worked the next day, but we had a great time. Definitely a good spot for a short trip. We'll be sure to go back again.