Living on Cloud Nine: Life by Nadine Lynn

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GATLINBURG GETAWAY

What a fun time in Gatlinburg Tennessee over the holidays! This is the first time we’ve gone on an away vacation with Mr. Nine’s sister and family and we had a ball! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with them and for the cousins to enjoy each other’s company!

Bro snd Sis look so much alike

We did want crisp air and snow but it was a balmy 65-70, so while nice, a big nada on the white stuff.

We have been to Gatlinburg before and some of you know it’s where we eloped to, but we had not been back in years, so this was a treat! Except for one thing! The switchbacks were the death of me and I thought for sure we would go over the mountain on several occasions! Here are some of my favorite things we did in order of their occurrence.

Hiking

Luckily, both of our families love to hike, and we have an obsession with finding water on our hikes so the trails to waterfalls were inevitable. One of them, Mr. Nine and I had done before but the other one was new to us and they were both beautiful. Funny thing was the one called Abrams Falls noted on the sign that it took 3 to 4 hours, but it was getting close to dark and we were able to do it in just two, we are speedy like that! I don’t know if the kids loved as many miles as we put in but we sure were proud of ourselves!

The "Girl's" before the hikes..we're outnumbered.

Lil Fun around town before our hikes

SkyBridge

OK, this is where I was scared blank less! The longest suspension bridge in the country opened in May 2019 in Gatlinburg. It is basically a swinging bridge with the glass bottom middle and metal across the mountain. Not only was I scared to death to go up the ski lift type thingy straight up but this bridge had me frightful. However, I was able to conquer my fear and it was actually so so cool. Talk about being proud of myself!

The other side! We DID IT!!

The glass portion..eek. it looks like the dirt is right under you in this pic but it's hundreds of feet down.

Beautiful pic my niece took

Ole Red

After our SkyBridge trek, we were starving, and we were excited to try Ole Red for lunch as it had been a two hour wait the night before. If you’re not familiar, Ole Red is an older song by Blake Shelton and he opened this restaurant in Gatlinburg along with one just like it in Nashville. It features scrumptious home cooking and awesome live entertainment. We just loved the band as they played all new and old-school country.
The homemade tater tots were to die for!

They were fantastic!

Playing Games & Being with family

Both of our families also love to play games. We played everything from Yahtzee to Quiplash which is a fun interactive phone game with the TV screen, to heads up to rummy and of course some trivia.

Yahtzee was a fav

And Mini Golf was a blast even though we lost. 2 of our team got a hole in one and Mr. Nine got 2!

Meeting Nadine

Talk about a bonus! You know I love to meet my favorite bloggers in real life when I can. When Nadine from Life By Nadine Lynn and I found out we were both going to be in Gatlinburg at the same time, we knew we had to make a meet up happen. This girl is just as genuine and sweet in person as she is on her blog. And bonus, I got to meet her beautiful daughter Zoe, who is born on one of our sons’ birthdays and her cool husband Chris who I’m sure you all know from some of her blog posts. Nadine found the perfect area to meet called the Village and the best hot chocolate and donuts from the Donut Friar. Such a blessing to meet my wonderful blog friends like Nadine, who I have known since the beginning of my blog journey. I just love this girl!

The Island

After I left Nadine, it was time for lunch with my crew. Mr. Nine's sister and family were attending mass and doing lunch on their own. Ironically, Nadine mentioned a great place to go in Pigeon Forge called the Island where there were all kinds of shops, water displays rides and games. How funny is it that out of all those places, our family ended up seated by us at the same restaurant! We had a ball at the Island. After doing the skybridge, I was actually excited yet still a little fearful to do the big Ferris wheel. We also went to Ole Smoky and did the moonshine tasting with the boys that are over 21 and it was a blast!

Found some big balls, lol!

The cornbread and sweet butter and my salad was so good!

View from the Ferris Wheel

JT...our moonshine taste master

Cheers with our mini moonshines

Just a pickin' and a grinin'!

Log Chapel

We knew long before we planned this trip that we wanted to show our boys where we eloped to. Luckily, our Log chapel was not destroyed by the Gatlinburg fires. It looked a little worn, but it had some new decking added on and we were able to get some pictures and walk around the property. So fun to reminisce on the lovely little chapel where we got married. We knew we wanted to spend some more time with family playing games, so it was another quiet night at home and wanting to get back to the cabin before dark because the switchbacks are even worse to drive on in the dark!

Another bonus, the road intersecting ours was called Daisy Lane with an additional homemade sign with daisies on it. It felt so comforting to think that Daisy was watching over us on the mountain.

Here is a picture of our cabin which was perfect for our families and a link if you’re interested in renting it. RENT CABIN HERE

One last morning view..

HAPPY WEEK FORWARD. MAY YOUR VIEW OF THE WEEK BE PEACEFUL!!

LINKING-UP with Creative Muster Party // Metamorphosis Monday// Tuesday Talk with Erika and Ashley // Love your Creativity // Hello Monday // Inspire Me Tuesday // Encouraging Hearts and Home

FRIDAY FAVORITES...VACATION EDITION

Happy Friday my sweet friends! Wow, this week has gone fast and has been packed full! Why is it that the week back from vacation is just a little bit crazier? So anyway, the plan is to maybe get a little rest in this weekend but there are still all those pots to be planted! And I spoke too soon about Spring being here to stay in Indiana, within 48 hours, Mother Nature has decided to forecast SNOW for tomorrow! What the???? Let’s just get to the favorites, lots of good ones.

1. Airport/Plane Craziness / IGUANA Story

You guys, we were blessed to of made it to the Cayman Islands, but we sure did have crazy airport shenanigans to and from. First of all, I got pat down because of the underwear I was wearing had a spanks like lining. And I was wearing a dress! Then, when we boarded our connecting flight, they had boarded the entire plane which half of them, mind you, had tried to get out on Saturday and couldn’t because of weather. After sitting on the tarmac for an hour, they announced that there was no Captain to fly the plane and were going to deplane us. American Airlines was even replying to my frustrated tweets. Luckily within about 15 or 20 minutes it was Captain Larry to the rescue who was on his way to save the day! And they gave me extra Bailey’s!

Flying out, I got pat down for the same issue. Thank you Chantelle underwear! But I was also chosen for the random security check, which meant they took everything out of my two carry-ons, did the wand search for bomb residue and I was the one who had to put everything back in. Then, they called my name and had to do a search of the checked bag. Must’ve been my high bun, it scared them! We almost missed our connecting flight but thank goodness made it home.

IGUANA

Another favorite story was the Iguana story. The iguanas aren’t like the little gecko lizards, they are big. Mind you, we only saw two and they were kind of cool but this one scared a guy I have to death and I would have died!

See this bag right here in the photo below? Well, about five minutes after I took this picture a young guy laid down on his stomach and went to sleep not knowing the iguana was close by. The iguana climbed up on the bag and onto the guy scaring the absolute crap out of him. I wish I would’ve got the whole thing on video as his mom did and should’ve asked her for a copy of it. Priceless!

2. Pretty You London Slippers

I know many of you fell in love with my Pretty You London slippers A few weeks ago, so how excited was I to get a pair of their sandals to take on our trip. They have some of the cutest sandals I have ever seen, and these black tassel slides were the ultimate! The base is an espadrille and the tassels are so cute and full and I got so many compliments on these sandals! Hop over there and check out their adorable collection!

BUY Sandals HERE

3. Greenhouses with Mom

So, as I’ve told you often before, my mom and I have a tradition of going to several greenhouses every spring and picking out all our flowers. You may have seen my Instagram story about how she is a master gardener with some of the most beautiful flowers in the county. I always love her advice and we pretty much have the same taste in flowers. Yes, it means lots of watering but it’s so worth it for all the beauty that the posies bring every year! And I always get super happy to drive Mr. Nine‘s Ford Raptor truck!

4. Paper Bag Shorts
I was not sure I would love the paper bag shorts and pants trend, but this outfit changed all that! It is so comfortable and so flattering. Both these pieces came from JCPenney and I absolutely love them. My mom loved the top so much, she got it in pink. What about you, do you like the paper bag trend?

BUY Top HERE // Shorts HERE // Sandals HERE // Earrings HERE

More Inspo

And Just this week, My dear friend Amy Ann from Straight A Style modeled her paper bag shorts too.

5. Causebox from Chrissy &
Pineapple Love from Nadine
My Awesome and dear friend Chrissy from Granola and Grace gifted me with the most amazing gift this week! It was my first causebox and boy is it a good one! Not sure if you’re familiar with CauseBox but all the products inside are so well-made, developed and created by women! They are environmentally friendly, often with proceeds towards a cause and many made with women’s bare hands. I’m all about women’s empowerment and I was tickled pink to get this box for my precious precious friend! If you have not checked out her blog, it is a must! Chrissy and I share a passion for our environment and lifting up other women!

Make sure to follow her Instagram too!!

I have been so blessed to know Nadine of Life By Nadine Lynn for about the entire time I’ve been blogging. She is funny, she is sassy, she is smart and such a great writer! She has the most darling little girl who was born on our oldest son’s birthday and I just love all the Zoe shenanigans! Make sure you check her out. Nadine decided we are just going to go ahead and celebrate my birthday all month and sent me all this goodness that I received in the mail yesterday! Talk about a sweetheart!