The Highlands...

This past weekend, Barrett, Charlee and I traveled up to the Highlands, North Carolina for the weekend. Barrett, who is from Coral Gables, Florida grew up going to his grandparent's home in the Highlands in the summertime. It's always funny to me because growing up, we always went to the beach for vacation but I guess if you live at the beach you have to go somewhere else!

This was my first trip to the Highlands and suffice to say it did not disapoint. The mountains were beautiful, the weather was in the 70's and the shopping was splendid!

It was a small town that definitely had that southern charm "Steel Magnolia's" feel. Loved it! 

 

  

Charlee and I at the very tip of the mountain. C was enthralled and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. He loves to hike and see anything new.

 

This was when we stopped at Tallulah Gorge which is still in Georgia on the way up. The Tallulah Gorge is a gorge that is formed by the Tallulah River cutting through the Tallulah Dome rock formation. The gorge is approximately 2 miles long and features rocky cliffs up to 1,000 feet high. C kept trying to go past the fence to see the bottom. He's my little adventurer! 

View of the Highlands from the tip...

We stopped to see Dry Falls which is a 65 foot waterfall in the Highlands on the way into the town.

 



The neat part about this waterfall was that you actually walk down under it and take pictures. C did not know what to think. I tried to capture his picture when he first saw it but I was not able to get my camera out in time. Needless to say it was like Christmas morning in his big brown eyes!

 



 

 Disregard his bad homegrown "hair cut." He has allergies and has been on steriods the past couple of weeks to fight them and the poor little guy gets hot!  

 

Saturday afternoon we were walking on Main Street and this beautiful but very sick dog came out of nowhere and begin to sniff Charlee and follow us down the street. The poor little thing looked like he had mange and was starving. He had a collar on and he kept following us and I knew we just couldn't leave him to fend for himself. I don't know why but this kind of thing seems to happen to me all.the.time. It's like stray animals know that I'm always willing to help.

 

So we stopped at the Ace Hardware store to get him food + water and the wonderful employees helped us look at the tag on his collar to call the owners. Of course the owners said they didn't own a dog and so I began calling the humane society, shelters and finally we had to call the neighboring county's animal control to pick him up. You could tell he was scared to death because he was nipping at people when they tried to pet him.  Had he not been so aggressive and us not being in a convertible car I would have just packed him up and taken him home to Atlanta. I kept praying that the good Lord would help him get a good home and second chance at life. You can't save them all but you do what you can to help.

 

I kept telling Charlee when we got home what a lucky dog he was.

 



 

Five on Friday

This morning I decided to link up with Christina whose blog I just love and is naturally one of my daily reads! Her lab, Charlie reminds me so much of my own little Charlee and she has the best DIY projects.

Here are five things that I'm loving this week.....Happy Friday friends!!

 

ONE..Charlee's Lifejacket

We are loving the water this summer and as you can see, he is just loving (I kidd) his new pink lifejacket (it was on sale and I couldn't resist a good deal) from Paws Aboard. If you're in the water as much as we are or at the ocean quite a bit, these are great.

Charlee is not thrilled and hates wearing it but in strong currents, it is a MUST.

 

 

 

TWO. Watermelon Mojitos Recipe = YUM

 

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 small seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
• 1 bunch mint, tough stems removed, 6 sprigs reserved for serving
• 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 1/4 cups white rum

 

Directions

 

Step 1: In a blender, in batches, puree watermelon. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a liquid-measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible (about 3 cups); discard solids.

 

Step 2: In a large container, combine mint, sugar, and lime. With the back of a wooden spoon, crush mint and lime until sugar is dissolved. Add watermelon juice and rum, fill container with ice, and stir to combine. Serve over more ice with mint sprigs.

 

THREE. Summer Tea Towel

 

My summer crab Swoozies tea towel is my new favorite decor in the kitchen. In Atlanta, we have this fabulous store called Swoozies. It's a party store that has all the great items you need for throwing the cutest parties and all the details that go with that! Not to mention all the cute home decor they have. I grabbed the crab tea towel for my kitchen and I'm loving it.

 

FOUR....Vacation!

We are headed to the Highlands, NC this weekend and I'm super excited to see those beautiful mountains because I've never been there before. In a couple weeks, I'll fly to Miami and head to my Dad's vacation home in the Florida Keys and I just can't wait. I love the keys. It's my happy place.

 

FIVE...Hoss
And because well I'm just the biggest animal lover out there, I had to include, Hoss, my grandparent's golden retriever. Love him!