Love and Fun in North Carolina

I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting Boone, North Carolina for the first time this past weekend. My boyfriend's best friend since childhood decided to get married in the mountains to his girlfriend of 7 years. My boyfriend was one of the groomsmen. I had never been to North Carolina before, and eagerly awaited for this trip for the last year and a half. To all my readers who call NC their home, I am green with jealousy. The natural beauty all around is just breathtaking. Miami is pretty with all of its beaches, but to me NC tops Miami. I tried to soak in my surroundings as much as I could between our busy schedule. I was trying to envision what this all must look like in the winter covered in white. 

I could sit outside and listen to the streams all day. We loved seeing the natural streams just rolling down the rocks as we drove through the mountains. The weather was chilly but lovely. It got into the 30's at night.

We found some time to visit Grandfather Mountain and the famous Swinging Mile High Bridge. It was windy and cold, but the views were amazing. 

My son had a blast and was the most adventurous of our group. He wanted to climb everything and see as much as possible. 

A view of the wedding area all setup and ready to go. They found a gorgeous country club in Linville for the cermony and reception. You would not believe how perfectly the sun decided to shine right when the bride and groom said their vows. It was so magical and something out of a fairy tale story. I cried at this ceremony.

Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't give them a wedding card handmade by me. The card turned out lovely and was really quick to make. I covered the card with embossed scrapbooking paper and decorated it with 3-D wedding stickers, and rhinestones. 

It was so hard to say goodbye when Sunday came around. This was a trip we truly will not forget. It was full of new experiences including driving up and down steep roads, driving 20 miles in pitch blackness at night, watching out for deer that just decide to jump out into the road. Yea...we don't worry about such things in Miami. We just worry about snakes and alligators! 

I will say that one of the nice positives of the trip was interacting with very friendly locals. Everyone we encountered would greet us with a Hello and just make polite conversation about nothing. In fact, we stopped at a gas station for coffee one morning. I got distracted getting into the car and left my cup on the top of the car. A nice gentlemen knocked on my window with a smile and had my cup in his hand. These are little acts of kindness that you are not accustomed to seeing in South Florida. People for the most part of very self-absorbed down here and can be just down right hostile over petty things. You are lucky to hear a thank you from most for just holding the door open.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures. It was tough going back to work today, cause my mind is still in NC. I can't wait to visit again.

Enjoy your week. We are one day closer to the weekend.

**Hugs from Sunny Miami**

Jen

First Finish of 2014

Only 12 days into the New Year and I have a stitching finish! A great start to my 2014 stitching resolutions.

January Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks:

Stitched on 28ct Lambswool Linen

Colors used as charted

Black Beads used for Snowman Eyes and Buttons (instead of French Knots)

Finish: A Flat Ornament.

I finished this as a flat ornament using the fabulous finishing instructions by Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher.

I tried something different for finishing the edges of the ornament.

I didn't have any cording in my stash that matched so I glued ribbon around the edge instead. Truth be told, I was given a few boxes of beaded trim and ribbons from my stepmom's friend. I thought it was silly to go buy more cording when I have so much ribbon and trim to use now. I used some of the beaded trim for the hanger as you can see. I added the pins to give it that extra finish. I love how it turned out. The other 11 months will be finished the same I think.

I'm sure many of you are tired of seeing snowflakes right now. Its been a warm January in Miami and I wish I could send you northerners some heat. We had one cold day. Then the following day it jumped back to 80 degrees. We are looking forward to a few more cool days of 40 and 50 degree weather next week.

I'm still sticking with my stitching plans although January is a busy work month for us accountants. Sunday is my only day in the week to truly relax since we have to work Saturdays this month. Today, dear boyfriend and I will be enjoying a nice afternoon lunch date. 

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.  

**Hugs from Sunny Miami**

Jen