In The Woods With The Woods :-)

Patrick and I recently celebrated the Titans BYE week with a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One of his coaches told him about the neat little town in East Tennessee. With Fall in full swing, we got to enjoy the sights of some beautiful country!! Literally, we saw the leaves change color over the weekend - which is one of my favorite parts of the Fall season :-)

Patrick had a specific idea of what he wanted the place we stayed at to look like - that mainly being he wanted a cabin feel. Normally I would think small and musty with a cabin, but not that case with this place!

Try large and luxurious! This place boasted three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and whirlpool tub in the room...

An indoor pool...

A hot rub room...

An arcade area...

And quite possibly the coolest part, a home cinema room!

Talk about beautiful!

Our friends, Ryan and Erin (The Woods) joined us for the weekend getaway. They live in Atlanta and were able to drive up, which was so nice, because we threw the entire trip together so last minute. It was SO good seeing them! Patrick and Ryan played football together at Duke, and they lived together their Junior and Senior years. I have always enjoyed Erin, she is such a sweetheart, not to mention we have a ton in common! We both scrapbook, she was my inspiration in starting up blogging, andddd she now has me addicted to the site "Pinterest" - much to our husbands dismay lol! (If you haven't yet, check it out...Pinterest.com...it's an online bulletin board, so any time you like something anywhere on the web you "Pin It" to your personal board! Best part, you get to see what your friends are "Pinning" - it's an ongoing circle of creativeness! Love it!) Needless to say, we loved seeing the Woods and had a great time with them!

Friday night we headed into the downtown area of Gatlinburg for the evening. What a cool spot! These aren't my pictures, but here are some views of the town.

The town is lined with places to shop, eat, and things to see and do. Our first stop was Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine Distillery...fun! We got to see all the moonshine being made AND we got to sample each flavor. They give you a tiny shot, and I'm not going to lie, I was feeling a little buzzed just from trying the little bit of each of them. Patrick and I recently made our own apple moonshine, so we decided to buy the peach moonshine...good stuff!

Another cool spot was the lift up the mountain. I wanted to do this, but lost to goofy golf, which was also a good time!

We got beat on by the Woods, who thankfully didn't keep us to the bet of "losers run around the outside of the cabin soaking wet in their bathing suits" - I was sweating it!

After, we got some ice cream and fudge at Kilwins...YUM! Pumpkin Fudge - Love! We then wanted to take advantage of some of the amenities in our cabin, so headed back for some fun and games in the arcade room.

Saturday we went for a 4 mile hike in the woods to a waterfall...which wasn't quite the waterfall any of us had expected - lol - but beautiful none the less! We were a bit scared when we saw a sign saying "Stay at least 50 feet away from bears"...comforting! And we could control that how?! Fortunately, we had no run-ins with bears! Or any animal for that matter. Just us and the beautiful views of Mother Nature...

The other highlight of the day was going boot shopping! Erin told us about The Boot Factory Outlet - which has an all day, every day special of "Buy One Get TWO Free!" Patrick was upset that one of my findings was a pair of Harley Davidson stiletto boots (Don't judge! They don't look like biker boots!) - he wanted to put his foot down (pun intended!) - but I talked him into them :-) I think both Ryan and Patrick regretted stopping at The Boot Factory Outlet, but I say a happy wife makes for a happy life!

Our last night in the cabin we grilled some burgers and spent some time in the pool and hot tub before catching "Dukes Of Hazard" in the cinema room. What a fun night!

Our time in Gatlinburg was wonderful! My only complaint was that we didn't have enough time there! I'll wrap with some pictures we took before heading out of town :-)

My First Visit *Home*

Ahh, my first visit home has come and gone. I had an enjoyable week back in the Burgh. I got to spend time with my family, see some of my dearest friends, and of course attend the Steelers/Titans game at Heinz Field.

It was a beautiful week! I like to say I brought the Tennessee sunshine back to Pittsburgh with me :-) I was told the week prior to my trip it was cold and rainy - it even rained the morning I arrived. But when my flight touched down, I was greeted with nothing but warmth and sunshine the entire trip! LOVE IT! The leaves were starting to change color - it was gorgeous! 

My first stop was dinner at Primanti's...I had missed that place! I also got to get my hair done by my favorite stylist, Val, anddd I got to get a mani/pedi at Salon Chic! Those are three things that can't be duplicated in Tennessee!

I had planned a little girls night prior to my trip...a BIG thank you to all my girlfriends who stopped by! It was so good to see all of you! :-) 

The timing of the game and my trip were perfect! I got to go to my niece, Adelaide's, 3rd Birthday party! I know with the move I will eventually have to miss family functions like holidays and birthdays, and when that time comes I know I will be so sad. Fortunately, I haven't had to miss anything yet. Happy 3rd Birthday Adelaide! Aunt Maggie loves you SO much!!! 

 

 

My trip wasn't all fun and games. I had a little bit of business to take care of. Our house in Pittsburgh is going to be under some major construction changes while we are away, so I had to meet with contractors concerning that matter. Starting next month, two of our bathrooms are being gutted, a new kitchen floor is being put down, and the entire downstairs is undergoing a paint job. The house needs these changes and we figured it would be best to get it all completed while nobody is living there. I'll keep you posted on the changes! 

My final full day in Pittsburgh was the game day. Ughh...I dreaded it, but also looked forward to it...it was a weird mix of emotions. Like Patrick, I hadn't been back in Heinz Field since the last preseason game he played there in the 2010 season. I knew it would be weird wearing the Titans blues in the land of black and gold - and I expected to be heckled by some fans for doing so. I didn't expect it to be quite as hurtful as it was though. Some of the comments were comical..."What stinks" as I walked by, or "Are you lost?". Even the occasional "BOO" or a "Here We Go, Steelers" chant was fine. I lost my cool after halftime though. I was walking back to my seat from meeting up with some of the Steeler wives when a male fan ran after me and hit me with his terrible towel. I turned around to see who just hit me and he screamed at me "Get out of here" - it doesn't sound like much, but he had such angst in his face. It really rubbed me the wrong way. Back at my seat I started to notice people turning around to cheer at us any time the Steelers made a big play against the Titans. This one lady kept saying "Aww, so sad Titans fans, so sad" - at which I wish I would have responded "You're so sad!" I mean c'mon, we all payed good money for our tickets. I have just as much right to be there representing my team as you do! Furthermore, how is it my fault if someone on the field makes a mistake???!!! I still shake my head thinking about it. 

I guess it upset me so much because I have never reacted that way to opposing teams fans when supporting the Steelers or the Titans. I've always had the "to each their own" mind frame. Furthermore, any time I've gone to away games, I've never been disrespected because of the jersey I had on...and that includes the Steeler game I went to in Cincinnati. Actually, I should add the Cincinnati fans were actually really nice to me, I had several come up to me and tell me they liked my "Little Earth" Steeler purse!

Our walk to the car was kinda rough. We got called profanities that I'd rather not have associated with my blog. When we got to the car, some tailgaters started to circle us and get on us about the loss. Clearly, they were heavily under the influence. A guy stumbled behind me and said "Bailey, who the hell is Bailey?" I responded, "Bailey is my husband!" He wasn't expecting that one and it was quite comical to see him try to fumble through his words after that. 

 

 

Other than the fans at the game, my trip home was amazing. I'll be back in the Burgh for my friend Kristina's wedding in November, and I'm so looking forward to it!

XOXO

Maggie