Good morning! After five days away from work, my body is struggling to wake up this morning. God bless the caffeine that keeps me moving when I just don’t wanna. My extra-long, Labor Day weekend was filled with lots of exploration – with both family and friends. Who knew there was more exploring to do in this little ol’ town?

Friday:

Before my parents left, we drove out toward Morristown and stopped at the scenic overlook on the side of the road. My dad was thrilled to see so much green among the bodies of water.

On our way back, we stopped to pee check out the views and buy some pumpkin bread from a cute restaurant on the side of the road.

I was sad to see them go but I loved having them visit! Next month, Ankur’s mama and papa are coming in to town and we’ll get another opportunity to show off this area!

Saturday:

On Saturday, Kasey, Nicole, and I checked out the flea market and a few thrift shops in the surrounding area. We weren’t entirely impressed with the selection of things, but Kasey walked away with a dresser that she’s already refurbished! I wish I could be creative enough to do that. IKEA furniture is even hard for me to handle.

We also checked out a few antique stores – including the two shops in Cumberland Gap. We were all low-energy by the late afternoon so we popped into the Pineapple Tea Room to grab a coffee. But the S’mores ice cream won me over instead.

After our long day of thrift-shop-exploration, I got home and hung out on the couch for a couple hours. Eventually, I got up to put our new pizza tools to use!

This roller made our pizza so much BIGGER and ROUNDER. Ankur and I were both so excited. Thank you again, BethyV and JimmyJam for all our new pizza gadgets!

Sunday:

Ankur and I both woke up around 6AM and decided to go for a short hike. We drove to Pineville, KY – which is about 20 minutes away – and chose a hike in the Pineville State Resort Park. 

We chose to do the Honeymoon Falls Trail because both of us wanted to hike near a stream.

The interesting thing about hiking here versus in California is that you can go on a fairly lengthy hike on a Sunday morning and see absolutely nobody on the trails. I’m pretty sure we were the first ones on the Honeymoon Trail that morning. Which is why I had Ankur walk in front of me. (Spiders make their webs at night. Right?)

The waterfall was a little smaller than expected – but still cool, nonetheless!

On the way back, I didn’t mind taking the lead. Because Ankur had already cleared away all the webs on our way in.

When we got back, we made breakfast and then Ankur went back to studying and I went on a small afternoon hike with Katy. We decided to do the Fitness Trail that I had done with my dad on Thursday.

Sunday Evening:

After the second hike of the day, I needed to re-hydrate. So, I called on some friends to help me decide what to hydrate with.

The votes were close but there was, obviously, a clear preference for margaritas. (Or, in Greg’s words, “Have a margarita with no mix. AKA tequila.)

After a half hour of voting, I closed the polls and margaritas were the clear winner.

But then, tragedy struck when I went into my freezer to grab the Triple Sec and it wasn’t there. Oops. We must have finished it during our Girls Night a few weeks ago.

That was probably the universe telling me that I didn’t need to re-hydrate. Or, I should rehydrate properly with WATER. But, I chose to be a rebel and went with the runner up – red wine. You can never go wrong with red wine.

Monday:

Yesterday morning, we all took Brenda’s step class at 10AM. As a Labor Day special, her class was only $1! Best dollar I’ve ever spent. Though the scale is moving slowly, I can feel myself getting stronger and I love feeling parts of my body hurt that I didn’t even know existed!

After our class, Nicole and I drove to Knoxville to do a quick TJ run and get our eyebrows done. We got slightly distracted by a 50% off sale at Old Navy and I got four dresses for $60. What a steal.

Once we were home, I got to work in the kitchen. We had plans to meet up at 6:30 at the Harrogate City Park for fireworks and picnicking! I made enchiladas and Pink Drink for dinner. Good combination.

We ate dinner at the park and did some solid people watching, but decided to watch the fireworks from Kasey’s front yard. It was honestly the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen.

With the mountains off in the distance and absolutely nothing obstructing our view, we had pretty great seats to enjoy the show. I did, however, feel terrible for all the dogs and cows (yes, cows) that appeared distressed after the finale. Poor animals. You could hear the panic in their barks/moos.

And now, here we are. Tuesday morning.

One cup of coffee deep.

A little more awake after writing up this post. And ready to tackle my 4-day workweek!

Hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend!

Questions of the Day:

• What was the best fireworks show you’ve seen?
  
• What did you do for Labor Day weekend?