Life's Sweet Journey

Friday, January 8, 2016

5 Adventure Time Happies!

I am itching to share our Georgia adventure with you all!! I am still working on getting all our pictures uploaded and hope to have the first part of the trip up by Tuesday! #TravelTuesday is my favorite!! I figured I would share some of the little spoiler moments that happened along our trip and wrap it all up with our favorite little winery find! Grab a cup of something warm and adventure with me?!

1.) Adventure Fires!
I must admit I love fire! I have always been somewhat of a little pyromaniac. As a kid, I burned a hole through the carpet after I flung a flaming marshmallow from the fireplace in our childhood home. So when Elise and Scott, from Hey Sweet Pea, shared their ritual of burning things that they want to let go of, as a way to close out the year before, I jumped at the idea of making the ritual one of our own! What a neat experience!!

Babe was such the guy and rolled his eyes at me at first, but he wrote a few down and then summed it up with a final, "anything God wants me to let go of!" Me? I used an entire sheet of paper, writing fear after worry after doubt! My soul felt lighter with each passing note that found its way into the flames! It seemed funny to me, the way some would take longer to burn than others, as if they knew they were the things that were harder for me to let go of. It was so freeing and euphoric! It was also a great bonding experience; hearing the things each one felt the need to let go of and sharing our hearts. Between that, the burgers cooked right over the campfire flames, and then continuing the evening by asking each other the questions from this study, it was the perfect way to spend our last night of the trip together and really welcome in 2016! 

2.) Adventure Cooking!
Santa My parents got Babe a new Coleman travel grill for Christmas! We love, LOVE it!! It fold up so nicely and fits inside the front storage compartments underneath Flo. It sits so cozy right along side our 5 camping chairs (you know in case we ever have camper company). We were really excited for to try it out for the first time! It was perfect because, even though we did have a fire pit grill at our site that we could have used, it was drizzling on New Year's Eve. So we put out the awning and he got to grilling! We figured we would go big for our first travel grill adventure and so Babe grilled us up some yummy lobsters! We just got two little baby lobsters for right around $7 a piece and then I cut them and prepped them while he set up the grill. 

For the lobster: We just cut them open, down the belly. I then pack in butter and a bunch of garlic salt and then he grills them for about 10 minutes. Rotating them back and forth, from belly to back, every so often. So simple and sooooo delicious!! 

We are so excited to have the grill now, so that we can go boon-docking more easily and for when we go to a campground without a grill. We really love cooking outside as much as possible!! Especially since, when I try to cook inside bad stuff tends to happen...

3.) Adventure Blunders! 
Soooo... I may have almost blown us up!! Like I said, I have a flare for the pyrotechnics. Well, I was trying to make rice to go along with our New Year's Eve lobster. Like I normally would at home, I put the water in the pot, put the pot on the stove and turned on the stove. I do know that, unlike at home, I am supposed to see some blue flamey thing that will tell me that the burner is on and getting hot. I see no blue flamey thing. So I turn the burner off and try again. Still no blue flame! Turn it off and try again!! This time I turn the burner on high, but yet again no blue flame. So I holler for Babe, who is right outside the door. "Babe, this blue flamey thing is not working! I can't get the stove to turn on!" He asks, "did you light it? Grab the lighter?" Oh yeah!! Big duh moment! Ok, really though, be kind. I had never lit a propane stove before! So I grab the lighter out of the drawer and get ready to light it, but he has since poked his head in and immediately yell, "wait!!" So apparently you are not supposed to have had the propane running on high before you light the burner. Yikes! Thankfully he caught me before I burnt Flo and myself crispy nuggets. So he had me turn it off, wait a minute, then turn it back on low before I lit it. By this point I was scared of the whole dang-flangled thing! So I had to have another RV lesson a la Babe. Enjoy! 

And last, but not least, our lovely and unexpected vineyard find!! It gets to take up two happy spots; it was just THAT good! 

4.) Adventure Wine!! 
On Saturday (the last day of our trip) we headed over to Glennville, Georgia to visit my brother and his wife on our way back to Orlando. My brother is stationed in Georgia with the army and they had just bought their first home, so we were going to see their property. While we were there they took us to the cutest little vineyard! 
Watermelon Creek Vineyard is a definite must if you ever find yourself in or even remotely near Glennville! We started the afternoon off with a wine tasting. The owners, Charles and Deborah, are a sweet husband and wife team! They run the vineyard and live right there on the property. Charles gave us the tasting and managed the shop and Deborah was busy preparing meals. Charles' wine tasting was quite the treat, besides the fact that we were getting to enjoy the wines they offer for sale, he told a wonderful story all about the grape and the wine process. He made the story come to life, as he told a story by intertwining elements of wine making with elements from the book of Genesis and the story of Noah. It was really neat! Apparently he has 3 other story versions that he tells using different books of the bible. I hope to get to go visit again soon so that I can hear another!! 

The wine was delicious! Most of it being a little on the sweeter side, it was right up my alley! We settled on a bottle of sweet red to share at the table and moved on upstairs to enjoy lunch...

5.) Adventure Food!!
Oh. My. Goodness!! The wine was all kinds of wonderful... and then came the food, oh the food!! 
Let me just say that we did quite a lot of eating during our week in Georgia. This place, by far, takes the cake for the best food we had the whole trip!! There were only 4 items on the menu. So I was a little skeptical at first, but what they do have, they fill with every bit of love! That food was on point!! We ordered one of everything except for the salad, but even the little side salad that came with my meal was delicious, so I can only imagine that it tasted like little drops of amazingness! Katie and I got the chicken and dumplings, Babe got a pimento grilled cheese with pasta salad and Patrick got the Coney dog and we each shared a bit of everything! Your meal also comes with a delicious pumpkin muffin and your choice of either a wine slushie (yes, please!) or tea (fresh made and also so yummy!) I was in food heaven! 

I am telling you! This place could not have been better! You eat upstairs on the patio (there is inside seating too) overlooking the beauty of the vines down below. There is also an old barn and other old buildings on property that just add so much charm. There is a horse and some chickens! Following our meal we explored around the property a bit.

There is a nice loop-the-lake trail that you can take to walk off the food and it leads you right by their bee hives!! Oh, my honey loving heart was so happy!! We went back through the shop and left with some quite a bit of Watermelon Creek goodness! I also love how reasonably priced everything was! We paid $108, but our bill included both of our meals, two wine tastings, two bottles of wine, a bottle of grape juice, a corkscrew (because Flo needed something that wasn't going to keep breaking corks), a big thing of honey, BBQ sauce, an extra wine slushie, and a jar of jam!! Seriously, I can't think of anywhere else where we would have gotten all that for just over $100! 

I hope you find yourself near Glennville, GA sometime so you can go enjoy an afternoon at Watermelon Creek!! 


Happy Friday friends!! 
Hope you find yourself adventuring soon!! 
Any places you just love and would recommend we try?! 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

January Currently

Hello 2016!! Hello January!! Hello to another year to make mistakes, get things right a time or two and just soak in everything that this year has to offer! 

I'm linking up with Jenna and Anne for the first Currently Link-up of the year. Here is what my year is currently looking like... 

~Loving~ Our most recent Flo adventure!! It was Flo's first big, out-of-Florida trip and she loved every minute! We traveled to Savannah, Georgia and I can't wait to share our adventure with you all. 

~Organizing~ All the pictures and videos from our trip, so that I can get them ready to share next week in a post (or two) about our big adventure! 

~Craving~ Oysters! Just thinking about our trip has me remembering all the yumminess that we enjoyed and the oysters were ah-mazing!! Can we go back now?! 

~Resolving~ My resolution for the year is actually not to have one. I am letting go of all the musts, the need-to-dos, the weight of worrying and trying to control things. I guess in some ways it is a resolution, but it's not. I have nothing to live up to, no goal I HAVE TO meet; instead I just want to live in each moment. I want to soak in this year and look for ways to find happiness in even the smallest of details. Maybe that is a resolution after all? Find happiness... 

~Reading~ Back in November I wrote a review on the Instant Happy Journal. It is a great little journal for thinking on happy things all year (or letting go of the bad ones)! I have skimmed it. I have answered a few of the prompts in my head or with friends as we scroll through the book when we are watching TV (it currently sits on my coffee table). I am excited to really start writing down my thoughts each day (or maybe every third, because who am I kidding, it will probably be an as I remember thing). I really want to start being more conscious of the happy moments. Happiness isn't a destination, it's a journey and a way of viewing our circumstances. 

In 2015 I challenged myself to posting one Instagram picture each day of something I was thankful for; some little moment in the day that made my heart happy. It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. Some days there were so many moments that I could have posted, other days I would get home at night and realize that I hadn't taken a single picture. I would think back on the day and realize the moments that I had failed to appreciate for what they were. Other days were hard days; days that made it harder to find joy. But I finished out the year! I looked for ways to find light in even the cloudiest of days and it is really nice to have that to look back on. I am not attempting that again this year. At least, not on Instagram. Daily was a lot and I really just want to enjoy the moments and live in them without feeling like I have to grab my phone (it will make Babe a lot happier too; he and my phone have a pretty strong disliking of one another). Instead I am going to blog once a month about just 5 things that have made me happy that month! Want to join me?! I figure the best way to find happiness and spread joy is to share those things with one another. So on the last Monday of each month (because Monday is a great day for some happiness boosting inspiration) I will be posting my 5 happy things and would love for you to share some happiness too (it can be 5 things, it can be one thing, really just any post that shares something happy)! More details to come on the 25th!



To kick-start the year of #happythings2016 I am giving away a copy of the Instant Happy Journal to one happy reader! Maybe you can share one of your responses to the prompts for your happy post! Happy entering friends!! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hoping your year is off to a great start! 
What is your January looking like currently? 

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Words for Wednesday: Savannah Wisdom

We have been in Savannah since Monday and while I wasn't planning to post during the trip, I had to get on the computer to sign in to work for a few minutes, so I sent Babe off to explore the train museum (his history loving heart has been very happy in Savannah) while I worked. I finished up quicker than I thought I would and he is still out exploring, so I thought I would share this little wisdom find with you all before we leave Savannah and head to Fort McAllister State Park for the rest of the week! 

We have been loving Savannah, there is so much to see and do and EAT (oh, the food)!! We have done and good bit to walk it off though and, while we were doing just that, I stumbled upon this little token of a sign and had to snap a picture!

____________________________________________________
"To be able to fly, 
learn to let go of what holds you down."
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So very, very true! There is so much that we hold on to that keeps up from truly being able to soar to our fullest! My word for 2015 was 'surrender' and so I had been trying to do just that this year; just let go, let it be and realize that there is not much I have to, or even need to, control. And so for 2016 I don't think I am going to really pick anything up! No huge New Year's resolution to feel the weight of sticking to. Instead I am going to continue to work on letting go of the things that hold me down {worry, doubts, fear...} and really just live. Live in the moment, cherish the day, breath it all in and repeat it again the next day if God grants me the chance to.

What about you? 
Anything you could do with putting down?