Waking Up as Mrs. G.

It's lovely waking up as Mrs. G. It isn't much different as when I woke up as Miss G. I'm still getting used to seeing my last name as Garrett. Once I get all my legal documents changed, it will seem even more real.

Wednesday was a glorious morning! I woke up around 9 a.m. Cliff was already awake as is usually the case. So, I came into the living room/kitchen area and pronounced that I was going to make breakfast. I made a couple of eggs and some cheesy sausage. I wish it could have been something more unique for my new husband, but he likes overeasy eggs with toast and sausage, so I knew this simple breakfast would be fine.

After breakfast, we had to work on getting ready for our couples' massage. Liz and Jason were scheduled to get here around 11 a.m., so we had to hustle to get ready on time.

Once Liz and Jason got here and set up the massage equipment, we were ready. Cliff likes a deep tissue massage, so they suggested that Jason take care of him while Liz did my massage. I lay there on the table, enjoying the massage. I could almost will myself to relax except for the incessant ticking of a clock in the kitchen and the random, persistent barks of Tokie and Piper, who had been banished to the yard for the duration of our session. Regardless of those few little annoyances, I felt pretty good after the massage. Here's how our living room was transformed into a massage studio.

After our massage, we made an exit from the cabin to head to Asheville. We decided to spend some of the afternoon just shopping around. First, we went to Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack to get some lunch (they have the best macaroni & cheese poppers). After lunch, we made our way downtown to start our little shopping adventure. The 80 degree weather made it difficult to do all that walking around. We stuck to the shade as much as we could. We ducked into several different shops. Here are some pictures of the various stores we patroned.

This store sells some of my favorite soap, Pre de Provence, so I had to buy a bar.

Cliff bought a couple of cool t-shirts here.

I couldn't resist going into this candy store.

And I couldn't resist eating my Airheads on the way home.

We visited a few other shops on our trip, but these are the ones where we actually made a couple of purchases. After our shopping journey, we were ready to go back to the cabin to be with the pups. The rest of our Wednesday was really relaxing. We just spent the afternoon napping and watching television. We finally went to grab some dinner as a nearby restaurant called Avery Creek Pizza & Ribs. We both got hamburgers with mac & cheese. I guess the pizza and ribs were wasted on us.

After dinner, it was about time to call it a wrap on our Wednesday...so, what did Thursday bring?

Well, Thursday started a little early. We originally had scheduled a hot air balloon ride for today, but the weather had been predicting scattered thunderstorms, so we cancelled our ride last night. Today, we decided we would go to one of our favorite restaurants for breakfast.

Cliff posing next to the Corner Kitchen sign

The Corner Kitchen offers such terrific food. We shared a couple of dishes: biscuits and sausage gravy and chorizo with eggs. The food was quite amazing...it's no wonder we always visit this place when we come to Asheville.

After breakfast, we decided that we would continue our shopping trip in downtown Asheville. We got there a little early, so we had to wait for a few shops to open (the average opening time for most shops seems to be 11 a.m.). Here are a few of the shops we patroned today.

I got a cute dress from this store.

Cliff got a cool shirt and skull cap from this store called Indo.

I love the soaps I got at this store last year, and I had to stop and get more today. 

And I couldn't forget to get my pups a little something...

Here is a picture of Pack Square...we sat on a bench drinking coffee and watching a tour.

We stopped by Green Sage for a juice/smoothie...look at Cliff's cool new cap.

After a few hours of shopping, we were ready to get back to the cabin for puppy play time. The weather actually seemed fine; no storms as of noon. So, once we returned home, we let the pups out to play by the pond for a while. Piper had a great time with his ball. He even went for a tiny swim, which was big progress for him. And Tokie just loves running with reckless abandon.

A beautiful day with a few pretty, puffy clouds

This little dock in the middle of the pond reminds me of something from Creepshow.

Tokie, running full steam ahead.

Piper, carrying his ball as usual.

Daddy Cliff leading Tokie back to the cabin.

Unfortunately for me, I spent too much time outside this afternoon. I managed to get a bit of a sunburn. Luckily, it's not too bad. But after the shopping, puppy play and just being outside, I was rather tired. So, it was relaxation time yet again.

The evening passed, and around 8 p.m. (amidst the pouring rain that finally happened), we decided it was time to think about dinner. We had talked about going to the Red Stag for dinner, but we ended up going to Frankie Bones. The food was delicious. I got spaghetti and meatballs while Cliff opted for a steak. We shared delicious baked potato spring rolls (strange, right?) as an appetizer. The food was all really, really good. I'll definitely go back there again. And I got a nice compliment on the new dress I bought today. I really like it.

So, there's my Wednesday and Thursday. We only have one full day left, then we leave on Saturday. I've really enjoyed my week here, and I love that the pups are having such a great time. They are some spoiled dogs, but I love them.