The Smokies (and not those little cocktail weenies either)

Have you ever had one of those "spur of the moment" ideas? You know, the "it's 2 in the morning and I just have to have ice cream" idea or the "let's sell the car and buy a boat" idea, or the "let's drive down to Tennessee and rent a cabin for the weekend" idea. Well, I can't say that I have participated in the first two, but my husband and I did decide to head down to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee a couple of weekends ago for a little getaway.

If you have never been to the Smokies, you have got to go! The mountains are absolutely beautiful and there is so much to do in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Now I will say that a short trip to the Smokies can turn out to be a pretty expensive trip, but there are plenty of good deals if you can find them. First of all, there are coupon books everywhere! Just about every place we visited we had a coupon for -- restaurants, museums, etc. Also, you can either stay in a hotel or a cabin/chalet -- both are about the same price. We found a nice little cozy cabin about a mile from the Pigeon Forge "strip" but very private for about $90 a night. Here are a couple of pictures of it:

The Kitchen

The Cabin from the outside

Some of the things we did while on vacation (besides eat, of course!) were: played indoor blacklight miniature golf, toured the Hollywood Wax Museum, toured the Guinness World Records museum, had a blast at WonderWorks, walked the streets of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and did a little shopping at the Tanger Five Oaks outlet mall. But...enough about that. Let's get to the good stuff -- the food!!

Okay, what is a vacation (even a mini-vacation) without eating at some unique restaurants? Not the "chain" restaurants that you are used to eating at (McDonald's, Applebees, etc.). Jason and I actually made a rule that we would not eat at any chain restaurants or restaurants we could find in Louisville while we were on vacation. Let me tell you, it was pretty hard, especially at 8:30 at night when you are starving! (That was only the first night though).

Day 1: "Not so Happy Days"
After traveling for 4 hours, finding our cabin, and settling in; we finally found a little diner called Happy Days on the strip in PF and scarfed down a hamburger and fries. I don't have pictures (because it was late and we were hungry), but I will tell you that I do not recommend this place. Not too clean, not too friendly, and the food wasn't that great (and you know that says something when you are so hungry you could eat a cow!).

Day 2: Flapjacks, Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, and The Diner
Since we were on a "mini-vacation" we decided to get up pretty early Friday morning to take advantage of the day. We headed down the strip to a little place called Flapjacks Pancake Cabin. It is very cozy inside and we were welcomed by a black bear statue. Our waitress was great! We both had pancakes with eggs and bacon (Jason) and sausage links (me). Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them -- they were gone too fast! Everything was delicious.

After Flapjacks, we decided to do a little walking and shopping. At about 2:00 pm we decided to go to the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant (our favorite restaurant of all time) for a late lunch. Since I have several pictures of this place, and it is my absolute favorite restaurant, I have decided to dedicate the next post to the "Apple Barn" as I call it.

(And, since this post is getting quite long and I don't want you to lose interest, I will post about the rest of our trip in the next blogpost as well.)

Stay Tuned!!

How could I forget...

Cheesecake Brownies??? My friend Kim made me these DeLiCiOuS cheesecake brownies for my birthday!! They were soooo yummy! In fact, they went so fast I did not get a picture of them. Here is her post with the recipe. Thanks Kim!!!!

Apologies & Birthday Week, continued

I apologize for being MIA for the past week or so in "blogworld". Things have been super busy around here...not to mention I was on vaction for a few days -- woohoo!! I will blog about that very soon. For now, please enjoy a few pictures of my "Birthday Week, continued". :)

Yes, I know. I only have one real birthday. How much fun it is to have your birthday extended for an entire week, though! Or even two weeks! My sister came to visit me this past Sunday and brought me one of her special cakes for my birthday. I had requested a "wedding cake" birthday cake -- white cake with buttercream frosting and strawberry filling. It was DeLiCiOuS!!! Here is a picture of it:

Isn't it beautiful?? I still have a little piece left of it. It was soooo good!! The people I shared it with thought so as well. :) While my sister and bro-in-law were up, we took them to Lynn's Paradise Cafe, played miniature golf at Putt Putt Fun Center, and had ice cream at Graeter's. We had so much fun!! Plus, she got me a beautiful silver business card holder engraved with my initials. :)

My mom and dad sent me gifts as well. Here is a peek at them (minus my turtle necklace and two purses):

Now, let's go back in time about a week or so. I never had a chance to show you my other gifts from my wonderful friends! Here is a short breakdown of what "birthday week" entailed:

Birthday Week = 3 cakes (only one for me) + 1 special dessert + lunch with 3 friends + dinner with my wonderful husband + a "pizza party" with more friends + gifts + a partridge in a pear tree

Needless to say, I am BLESSED!!! I had lunch with Kim at Fazolis, lunch with Melissa at KT's, and lunch with Donna at The Cheesecake Factory. I had dinner with my amazing husband, Jason, at Texas Roadhouse. We had "Pizza Mia" pizzas from Pizza Hut (I do not recommend them) and an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. The other two cakes were a dark chocolate cake w/cherry sauce that I made for my boss's birthday (July 28) and a Paula Deen chocolate chip gooey butter cake I made for Beth for her birthday (July 29). Here are two of the cakes:

The Monkey Cake (ice cream cake)

Beth's Birthday Cake (Chocolate Chip Gooey Butter Cake)

Since I cannot put all of my "gift pictures" on here, I picked out a couple of my favorites to share with you. Beth got me some Ultra Fine tip sharpie markers (because I love making little cards --even though they are definitely not as creative as hers) and she decorated my desk!! My boss got me one of those Rocket blenders, and my sweet friend Laura made me an apron and chip clips and gave me a box of soup mix - yum! How awesome is that!?? :) Take a look:

Me sporting my homemade apron (check out the detail)!!

Homemade chip clips (how cute!) and soup mix

I could not have asked for anything more. However, on top of all of that, I received an awesome recipe book (that matched a recipe box I received for my wedding...6 years ago!) from my friends Chris & Ellen, some beautiful sconces and awesome-smelling candles from my friends Zach & Missy, and 2 cartons of Ale-8 from my friends Ryan & Melanie. My little sis also gave me a carton of Ale-8, vintage candies, and balloons. And.....my husband got me a ..... Nintendo DS!!! With two COOKING games!!! :) Yes, cooking games: Cooking Mama and Cake Mania 2. They are so much fun!! Again...blessed.

Anyway, that was the story of "birthday week". I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I apologize if I left someone out! I am very grateful for all of the gifts, lunches, cakes, and everything else that made my birthday so wonderful. Thank you!! :)