In mid-February Kyle and I escaped the daily grind for a long weekend getaway to Deep Creek, Maryland. We called it our "snowacay" since it was a snowy vacay! (guess we'll do the beach getaway some other time) Above is the picturesque B&B that we stayed at the Carmel Cove Inn. It was an amazing weekend away and definitely helped recharge the batteries, plus the snow in this setting was beautiful. The Inn had great hosts with gourmet home cooked breakfasts, all you can drink beverages including wine, and fancy snacks. I would recommend this place to anyone and I would love to return, especially in the sumer with the lake right there. We took advantage of the location by partaking in a lot of fun winter activities. We went on a snowshoeing tour, tried out snow tubing at Wisp Resort, and we visited Swallow Falls. The falls were nearly completely frozen and beautiful. On Saturday afternoon, a blizzard dropped a bunch more snow so we stuck around the Inn and celebrated Valentine's Day watching movies and relaxing. The next morning brought super low temps for our tubing adventure, it was still fun but I think I need better winter clothing and little higher temps the next time I do outdoor winter activities. Hopefully now that it's finally spring the snow will be in the past and just good memories!
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In January and February Kyle and I checked out a few new places in Pittsburgh in our quest to keep our dates exciting and different while creating memories at the same time. We tested out Maggie's Farm Rum, Phipps Conservatory, and a Mezcal tasting class at Verde. I have to say these 3 seperate dates were all winners and I definitely want to go back and check them out some more. 1. Maggie's cocktails are super fun and I love supporting local businesses including distilleries! The bartender was great and walked us through all their liquors and let us taste them before deciding on a few cocktails. I really liked the farm fizz with white rum, lemon juice, sugar, cream soda, and egg white! 2. The botanical gardens at Phipps were beautiful and a great escape from the snowy winter, well for at least a few hours. I can't wait to go back in the summer and spend more time at the surrounding park and maybe have a picnic! 3. At Verde we learned all about Mezcal and how it's different from Tequila, we sampled a lot of them, and then even learned how to make our own cocktails. Even with all the taste testing I still learned a lot and realized how yummy Mezcal is to just sip on, I think it might edge out Tequila as my Mexican food partner. Also the chips and black bean dip were superb! I can't vouch for the rest of the food quite yet since we ended the evening with burgers and a shake at BRGR!
So I realized I never actually published this post, but since there is still a little snow left outside I guess I will publish it now. Here is a recap of the holidays in photos. I had a great time with my family and friends, but it always goes by way to fast! However I am definitely ready for the winter to be over and spring to arrive. With the sun out and shining today and temps finally above freezing I feel like we might be out of the woods soon! In December I finally got to check out the cool city of Savannah for about 48 hours! It was a quick trip there (me and Kyle were actually down south for a wedding in Jacksonville, more about that in another post) but was a lot of fun and we packed a lot in but still managed to be relaxed. We explored the city, checked out the riverfront, ran the bridge race, ate good southern food, and of course found the best ice cream! This trip is best explained through photos, so enjoy! I hope to go back to explore more and maybe squeeze in a few other southern cities too. I completed two races in the fall/winter of 2015 with Kyle, one was in Savannah which helped Kyle check off another state in his quest to hit all 50 and the other was a 5 mile turkey trot! I was a little nervous about both since one was 5 miles and I had not run much lately and running in the cold is never fun and then the Savannah race was their bridge run with a 5.5% grade hill. Both ended up being pretty good races and I was glad to be active the morning of Thanksgiving before indulging in a yummy meal. The Savannah race was fun and also part of a fun getaway weekend to explore the city and see one of my best friends get married (more of that in another post!) I'm still not into a lot of running currently with the cold weather and all, but who knows maybe come spring I'll be wanting to get my running shoes back out, but one thing is certain I will be cheering on Kyle as he hits more states this year!
Summer has flown by like normal, can't believe it's already labor day, so here's a few snapshots of my summer! Currently... wishing I was at the beach but I guess pools will have to do for now Currently... enjoying wineries and tacos and this guy, have already been to the Winery at Bull Run a few times this year Currently... taking advantage of the fresh produce at all the farmers markets around here (those cherries and cherry tomatoes were amazing!) Currently... finished my personal logo/mark and implemented it on my blog and website Currently... still obsessed with jeni's and love when there are new flavors, this one is one of my faves now (maybe jeni's will be a permanent part of my currently posts based on how much I love it) Currently... working in dc for a few weeks and really enjoying using public transportation and getting to see all the monuments daily After looking through my vacation photos I decided to split them into 3 categories for this post. Kyle and I crammed a lot of good food, drinks, and sightseeing into our vacation but we were also able to relax and not rush through anything so it was a perfect combo of planned stuff and just going with the flow. Asheville was a neat town and pretty small. We were able to see most of the city in 2 days and then spent the rest of the time checking out the other sights outside of the downtown area. I doubt we'd vacation there again to see the city but I wouldn't mind stopping back to stay in a cabin in the mountains and grab a meal or two in town since the food was amazing. FOOD! DRINK! EXPLORATION! I took a quick hiatus since the end of March and went a on a fun vacation in North Carolina. Needed some fresh air and a spring reboot! I will have some more posts coming soon, I am switching up things with my hours so will be adjusting to new routines and all but hopefully that means consistent posts. Including some from my vacation, but here's a quick bit on it. The vacation actually ended by doing a 3.6 mile race which included running up a hill. (Actually felt/looked more like a mountain and increased 1,000 feet in elevation!) It was super tough and I definitely had to run/walk parts since it was steep and I didn't prepare much, but it was beautiful and fun to do, good end to a trip that included a lot a lot of food. My time was around 43 minutes, so not super fast but the inclines were killer so I'm happy. And Kyle finished at around 32 minutes so he kicked my butt! Here's just a few pics from the race but more to come from Asheville, NC. |
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