Easter weekend, Matt and I went to the mountains to mentally prepare for the "official" start to wedding season. I'll break this post up into several over the next day or so to make it easier to swallow.




Even when we're getting away, we still love to cook! Matt made strawberry crepes for us on Saturday morning.


A little outlet shopping took up part of the afternoon. This is me with my guilty pleasure purchase.


Lunch/dinner was at the Apple Barn, our favorite non-tourist-trap place in the Smokies!


Looking toward the farmhouse restaurant.


Looking back toward the barn and other shops. This was after we replenished our stock of their fabulous Apple Strawberry and Apple Blush wines!


By coincidence, we were seated at the same table we had when we first came here for a date, nearly 8 years ago. D'aww.


Wondering if calories REALLY count during a weekend away.

If you want to learn more about the Apple Barn, take a peek at their website. If you're local and have never been there, then shame on you! I demand that you make a special trip over to Sevierville this weekend. Just make sure you don't confuse the cider bar with the actual restaurant. That's a common mistake, I hear. Not that we ever did that. Nope.

Meet Max.

Max belongs to my parents. He is a Coton De Tulear (don't worry, I'd never heard of it either)


Don't let that sly grin fool you. He is a stinker!

He also has my parents wrapped around his little doggy toes.


He looks very sure of himself, doesn't he?


I told you - he is a stinker.

Just stopping by to share some pictures of a cake we made a couple of weeks ago. We definitely have little to no skill at cake decorating, but it's something fun to do every now and then. We are, however, skilled at making delicious cakes from scratch!


Leveling off each layer




Adding the fill


Adding the crumb coat


We didn't take pictures of the final layer of frosting or the piping (it was done in a hurry on a different day) But here's a look at the final result. We won't be trading in our cameras for piping bags anytime soon, that's for sure.

Matt is coming home today! I was pretty shocked by the teddy bear in the last entry, but I was even more shocked to find a riddle in my e-mail every single morning with clues pointing to yet more cards, hidden all over the house. I won't spam up this post with all of the individual shots, but here's a nifty mosaic of everything I found.