Well last weekend was absolutely amazing. I hit the road Friday around 6:00 PM towards Lake Lure, NC. After making it to Asheville, I figured 74-Alt would be just another highway. Boy was I wrong! It was the windiest, curviest road I've ever been on. And it went that way for many many miles! All of the roads around Lake Lure and surrounding towns are like that and I was pretty dizzy after finally arriving to the resort. We stayed in a little condo which was tucked way back off the main road and was very cute. Saturday morning we had to go on an adventure to find breakfast as this resort had no restaurants and certainly no continental breakfast (oh, not to mention the office is closed on Saturdays). We found a little coffee shop down the street and split a blueberry muffin and an apple crunch muffin. The lady who runs the coffee shop held us captive for over an hour just chatting away. She and her husband were very sweet people and Justin gave them lots of advice on their dogs. Gotta love having a vet student around :)
After breakfast we went down to the Lake Lure Inn & Spa (where Mary's wedding would take place) to walk around a bit. There was a pretty bridge that ran along the edge of the lake where I took lots of pictures. We were scoping out where we thought the wedding would take place and found a gorgeous gazebo on the other side of the lake. We were pretty sure that would be the spot. I was able to use my new macro lens to take some cool flower pictures and took some fun ones of the docks using the aperture setting (my favorite). Justin always laughs at me for my unusual body positions when I'm trying to get "the perfect angle". Here are some pictures from the trip. After strolling, we went about 3 minutes down the road to the big town of Chimney Rock. The 1/2-mile-long town consisted of one road lined with souvenir shops and cafes. Justin and I browsed the shops for a little while and then found a place to eat lunch. Laura's House was wall-to-wall windows on the front which gave an incredible view of the lookout at Chimney Rock and the waterfall. We had a really delicious lunch (chicken salad melt) and headed back to the resort for some studying and homework.
The wedding was at 4:30 that afternoon and we arrived in plenty of time. Right as we were pulling up, Justin asked me if I remembered to get their present from my car. Of course not. We decided to run quick back to the resort right after the ceremony to grab it. As we walked up to the inn, I saw two people I knew very well. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols are the parents of a friend of mine from high school. We chatted a bit and stuck with them most of the evening. The ceremony did indeed take place at the gazebo and I was shocked to find out that only about 50 people were attending. This made me feel very blessed an honored to have been invited to such a special day for Mary! Despite serious wind, the weather was lovely as was the ceremony. They had an incredibly cute "can't decide which way to kiss you" moment which made everyone chuckle.
Right after the ceremony, Justin and I jetted back to grab the present. This was probably a really good thing in the end because when we returned, the hors d'oeuvres "hour" was actually more like 2 hours. You know how it is with wedding photography after the ceremony...takes FOREVER! (I promise ours will not take very long. We're going to do all of the pictures before that don't involve Justin and me together). We enjoyed a very nice plated dinner (ceasar salad, steak, chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli, rolls) and sat with Michelle, her parents, Erika, and her parents. (Michelle and Erika went to high school with me) It was fun to see them again and catch up! The photographer also went to high school with us so it was almost a mini-reunion.
It was really fun to be at a wedding with Justin. He was able to see things he did and didn't like and it was almost a foreshadowing of our wedding. It was really fun for me to hear him commenting on the cake, food, seating arrangements, and other details. I guess just being in the atmosphere gave us both a glimpse of what it will be like for us. We are both really, really ready for our turn!
Sunday we went on another adventure to find breakfast, this time towards Rutherfordton for a late breakfast/brunch. We missed the little country kitchen we were trying to find and ended up eating at Denny's. Since we both had quite a bit of work to do for the upcoming week, we decided to head our separate ways after eating. It was tough watching him go after such a short weekend, but that was one of the best short weekends I've had with him. I don't know if it was the love in the air from the wedding or what but I just enjoyed every single second I was with him. We both were experiencing a case of "twitterpated" and much to our surprise, our love continues to skyrocket. I don't know how to explain it unless you have experienced it before. You think there's no way you can love this person any more than you do right now, but you prove yourself wrong every day. Perhaps it is the distance. Perhaps it is just divinely planned. Maybe some of both. All I know is that I love him more every day and am ready more than ever to get married!
On that note, my wedding dress came in as well as my garters. David's Bridal said 6-10 weeks for the dress, but it came in 2!!! I am certainly not complaining and am very excited to have it hanging in my closet! Things are starting to come together and as the time ticks down (a little less than 14 months now), we both get more and more excited! We'll be taking our engagement pictures over Easter weekend and then Justin is going to spend a week with me in Knoxville!!!
As far as UT goes...I am working extremely hard this week on my seminar that I will be presenting on Monday. This is a required class that you must take twice. All of the Animal Science graduate students give a seminar (40 minutes for PhD student and 20 minutes for MS student) in front of the other graduate students and any/all Animal Science faculty and staff that wish to attend. I will be presenting the research I have done so far as well as what I plan to do for my project. I am currently feeling really good about it and will be practicing the oral part of it soon and all weekend. After that is over, I'll be able to get going on my research as we wind down the last 3 weeks of the semester.
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