wine tour saturday

Saturday I was invited to go on a wine tour with Jess and a fabulous group of ladies. We all met at the cabin and loaded up the bus and set off! We had an absolutely amazing lunch at Early Mountain Vineyards. I had the pimento grilled cheese and it was to die for.

We tried several amazing local wines spread out over four wineries. The venues were gorgeous as well as the area. While I didn't bring home any wine, I did get a bottle of cider at Mountain Run for Kyle and I to share. We all came back to the cabin and had a fantastic potluck! I brought a greek tortellini salad that turned out quite nice.

♥

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county fair 2019

My mom and stepdad were in town one weekend and we went to the county fair in my hometown to see my brother work his antique sawmill. It was a lot of fun! It's a small little fair but I had a nice crabcake and got to see some cute animals.

I picked up a free basil plant from the 4H booth and checked out the homegoods and had an overall great day visiting with family.


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

weekend baseball & plant shopping

Friday night after work I headed down to North Caroline to watch some baseball and see Kyle. I got there in the top of the ninth, but I got there!

It was a beautiful night for baseball and they finished up with enough time for us to go out and get a late dinner. The next day's game was an evening game, so we went out exploring for a bit before. I always look up greenhouses where Kyle will be, so he appeased me and we stopped by Fairview Garden Center. I oohed and ahhed over all of the plants. Ultimately I didn't find any wishlist plants, but it was a gorgeous greenhouse. The plants looked so happy!

Kyle really liked the more colorful outdoor plants. He liked the yellow shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea) a lot and I think they'd look great along a fence line!

We had a great lunch and stopped at Lowe's since it was close to where we ate. I was wandering through the plant section and telling Kyle about all the plants (he doesn't share my love of plants so he just kind of said "okay...") and then I spotted this Cebu Blue and gasped loudly. He said the woman behind me jerked around as if I was having an aneurysm. After a little begging and stating that I HADN'T SEEN THESE ANYWHERE AT HOME, he bought it for me. ♥

We headed off to the ballpark and since I get there with him, I'm usually there an hour and a half before first pitch. My routine is to check out the concession options and find the bathroom in unfamiliar parks, then sit and do crosswords until game time.

I was able to sit with a lovely family who are also part of the baseball/umpiring world and I had a great time talking umpiring and baseball with them. Kyle did a great job working the game and the stadium there is really nice. I can't talk at length due to job constraints, but it was a great weekend! His being closer this season has helped a lot with visits and I get to see a lot more baseball, which is always a plus.

How was your weekend?


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

my little balcony garden

When we first moved in last year I'd been contemplating a garden. We have a tiny 5 x 8' balcony that I thought would work nicely for some outdoor plants. The balcony is south facing so it gets a fair amount of sun, though it was too much for my lettuce, but these guys have taken off!

My little pole beans all germinated and have taken off! I created this little bamboo trellis for them and they've started climbing! I can't wait for them to get big enough to produce beans.

My beloved tomato plants. ♥ I picked them up really cheaply at Walmart off the clearance rack and they're producing! Fresh tomatoes are my favorite.

My little purple pepper plant! So proud of this guy. I picked him up at the Lewis Ginter PlantFest and he's done well!

Hopefully I'll have some yummy vegetables here soon!


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

plant travels

I have a pretty extensive plant collection almost entirely comprised of houseplants. I'm addicted. Throughout RVA there are tons of nurserys, plant shops, and garden centers. Here are a few of the gorgeous plants I've encountered!

This one isn't actually in RVA, but I noticed this Hot Cocoa Rose bush in a nursery in Maryland and I love it. The color is amazing. If these did well in containers I'd already have one!

These pitcher plants were right here in my backyard! A local nursery had them and I was so impressed with how nice they looked. I could keep these inside but don't quite have the room for them.

 

These are all from my favorite greenhouse. They have such a massive selection and I love just wandering through staring at all of the amazing plants.

I hope to start an inventory of sorts here soon with all of the lovelies I have at home. ♥


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

baseball weekend

 

Saturday I went up to Frederick to see Kyle and watch a baseball game. It was a doubleheader since Friday was postponed, so that gave me more time to watch Kyle and to spend massive amounts of money on food and stuff my face. I ended up scoring a front row seat behind the plate! The games went well, but in the sixth inning of the second game it started pouring. Luckily I'd brought an old umbrella my boss had given me and it was big enough to keep me and one of the player's girlfriends dry. She sat behind me during the game so I invited her to share and we got to see the Keys come back and win both games that night, both wins happening in the bottom of the 7th!

I always look up the concession offerings before I visit parks and had picked out what I wanted to try. Here are my spoils. I started off with a helmet full of chili cheese fries that were really good, and I believe they make their own chili there instead of that weird canned chili. Next I tried the crab dip, which was really salty and kind of disappointing for Maryland. But the big star was the fried green beans! They were amazing!

The next park I'm visiting doesn't have any offerings that are super exciting, but I'm sure I'll find something. ♥


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

tacos & beer

Saturday Kyle and I had a fabulous day out together. We were heading down to Hardywood for a beer release, but got there a little early so we headed over to En Su Boca for tacooooooos.

I tried a few different flavors. The black bean taco was really good, along with the fried fish. I wasn't a huge fan of their soy chorizo, but it made for a great photo. And their salsa gets all the heart eyes. The mild traditional salsa and their verde were fresh and delicious. Their habanero was a little too spicy for me, but still had good flavor. I'd never been before but the place had a great atmosphere!

Our next stop was Hardywood for the limited release of Trickery. Little note: I do not like stouts and didn't like it, though Kyle thought it was great. I'm a sours gal. We picked up some for Kyle and some for his best friend, but I had a nice Farmhouse Pumpkin and a Tropication on tap. We hung out for a while and had a great time.

How was your weekend?

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pickled & fermented festival 2018 // cotu brewing co

Last weekend we finally had a baseball free Saturday together so we went on down to Center of the Universe Brewing Company for the Pickled and Fermented Festival! We go to COTU fairly frequently and I noticed the festival link on their website and bought us tickets.

It was a neat little festival! There were several vendors with loads of pickled things to sample and we tried a lovely fig kefir soda from Farmstead Ferments. Kyle picked up some bourbon bread and butter pickles and I snagged an absolutely amazing tomatillo salsa verde (gonna make verde soup with it!) and some treats for the boys. All of the vendors were local, which was even better! After walking around, we headed inside for a beer before heading out for dinner at Foo Dog.

It was an awesome day!

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baseball weekend

Back in April I went to visit Kyle for a weekend of watching him on the field. I've been watching baseball since I was a child, so of course I'm not going to pass up a weekend full of baseball and visiting my boyfriend. And the seats!! Perks of dating an umpire...♥

I was there for two games - the first was a night game and the second a day game. It was so much fun. I've watched a lot of baseball this year (my Instagram has documented each game that was college and up) and it's been the best spring ever. Not only do I get to watch the love of my life work, but I frequently learn things from watching Kyle that I can utilize in my own umpiring.

Three days I was there and I had a blast. Tomorrow I'll be leaving to go see visit him again and I can't wait! ♥

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monday vibes

The best thing about unconventional work schedules is being able to head out to a brewery at 4pm on a Monday to try a beer or two. K and I headed up to Red Dragon Brewery last week while he was home.

Now I'll tell you the part that'll make me lose cool points - I don't know a damn thing about craft beer. I couldn't tell you what those are in the photo and I drank one. I'd like to say I'm learning, but every time K turns to me at a brewery and asks what I want, I just shrug and point to anything with peach or passionfruit and he orders me something light and usually fruity and I give him my opinion on if I like it or not, and then he drinks his beer which is usually dark and gross to me and proceeds to tell me about the flavor or hops or profile or something or other and I just nod because I don't understand and I'm just happy to be there with him. *shrug* Then I check in my beer on Untappd for cool points I don't deserve.

He loves craft beer and as a result, I've been to more breweries in the last two months than I even knew existed (well not really, but for emphasis). But don't get me wrong, I like a lot of what I've tried and I really like going, I just have no clue what I'm looking at. Maybe I should buy a book on it.

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tennessee // plants & homecooked meals

This past weekend, N and I took a little trip out to Tennessee to visit my mother. We were caught up in traffic all day Wednesday and ended up on a dirt road with no cell phone service. That was...uh...fun? But we finally made it out, only about four hours after our original arrival time.

It was a really laid back girls' weekend. All of us slept in Thursday, hung around the house talking for a bit and drinking coffee (I actually ate every leftover in my mother's fridge, but that's besides the point), then we went out and picked up some plants at Lowe's. You can't beat $1 succulents! We stopped by the store for things for dinner, then headed home.

Dinner that night was great. Mumma made my favorite dish - potzuquash! A mixture of squash, zucchini, and potatoes sliced and cooked with a little oil and spices. N and I prepared a fresh salad and even had some Tofurky chick'n to top it.

We settled in to watch some tv and catch up before we headed back the next morning. Mountain views and time with your mom always make things better. ♥


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summer 2017

Summer is winding down and coming to an end, finally. I worked a lot, but did manage to get out a do some really fun stuff!

In June, I spent a week out in Tennessee and it was great. Saw some baseball, got sunburnt, laid around the house. Back home, N and I sat on a lot of patios and complained about the heat, saw some great local sights, stopped by the farmer's market and the soap box derby, and caused general mayhem. In late July, N and I took a trip out to Tennessee, Mumma made us some amazing vegan spaghetti sauce, we did a lot of outdoor sitting and talking, and I found my favorite seasonal beer, RJ Rockers' Son of a Peach, and tried Shiner's Strawberry Blonde. I'm now in love with both. Jess and I saw Jurassic Park, one of my favorites, at Byrd Theatre, which was my first time going and it was awesome. A few weeks later, N and I shot down to the beach one weekend spontaneously and that was a lot of fun, then stopped at a friend's on the way back for some night swimming, squealing over hound puppies, and hanging out.

I'm normally a homebody, especially during summer, so I'm really glad I could get out more than usual.

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vacation time

Hello from the mountains! I'm out in Tennessee happily enjoying a long vacation. My bosses were generous enough to give me a week and a half off to come out. I've been living it up - visited with my mom, sourced new inventory, bought some new books and clothing, and drank too much beer (oops). I've got a nice week coming up of nothing but baseball, relaxation, and reading.

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things that have made me happy lately

As I've mentioned before, I'm generally a pessimist. However, I've been trying to have a better outlook on life and it's been working for me! Here's a neat little list of things that have made me happy lately.

• Meeting up with friends. A little bit ago in January I met up with Jess and we did some thrifting and had an amazing dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. That's the delicious veggie spaghetti squash bolognese I had above!
• Vegan breakfast. My coworker and I stopped at Kickshaw's for breakfast a bit ago and I had potato hash, sour cream, cheddar Daiya, egg, and portobello bacon. All vegan and all delicious!
• Preparing listings for eBay. Most folks loathe the whole photo/listing process, but for some reason I find it therapeutic. Who knows why. I love laying out pieces for photos so they can find new homes!
• New beginnings. I won't go into detail, but things have really been looking up for me around here. Smitten kitten.

Hope all is well! ♥

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2017 goals

I'm not generally a New Year resolution type of gal and this post is pretty late, but Jess and I were talking and I thought I'd put together some goals for the year. It never hurts to work toward something, right?

• Try new things. I can get pretty deep into my routines, so I'm hoping to branch out and try doing things I've never done before.
• Build on my reselling business. I had a fairly successful year on eBay and Etsy as a hobby, but I hope to build on that and turn it into a full-time second income. I've started sourcing and have been pretty fruitful thus far! Cataloging and organizing inventory is next.
• Develop a yoga routine. One of the biggest things I miss doing is going to yoga. I didn't have a lot of time to go in 2016, but I definitely want to get back into the habit of going. While this may contradict my "get out of my routine" goal, I think this is a healthy thing to work toward.
• Use my planner. I finally found a weekly planner that I love and I really want to start using it on a regular basis. I need everything all in one place, and it's a pain to input everything into Google Calendar, as the only device I use is my phone, so I don't need the syncing. I'm highly visual, so hopefully keeping it all in one place will help me be more organized.
• Work on my anxiety. I've developed some pretty severe anxiety over the last few years and I've not been making the best choices that have helped me deal with it. I hope to establish some new habits and help manage my anxious thoughts.

What are you planning for the fresh year?

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the mountains called and i answered

I just got back from a fabulous weekend in Tennessee visiting my mom. We had a little pre-holiday visit and did so much Christmas shopping! It was nice to get away for a couple days and seeing your mom always helps. :)

Since she lives six hours away, it can really take it's toll on both her and I when we don't see each other often. Between work, dogs, and general responsibilities, I don't see her nearly as often as I'd like. We're really close, so this weekend was just about us hanging out and catching up.

And that's exactly what we did! We ate tons of food, did bunches of shopping, and talked about all kinds of stuff. It was so nice. I had such a great weekend that I hard took any pictures, but I did capture this Smoky Mountain sunrise once morning. ♥

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happy mail

My mom and I swap packages a couple times a year and it's always fun to get something in the mail, especially when you aren't expecting it. This is the happy mail I came home to Friday!



A few of my favorite things! Books, accessories, beauty products, and candy corn!

I haven't gotten on the Kay Scarpetta boat yet, but I've read a few excerpts and it seems pretty interesting, so I'm excited to start Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell (use my link and get 15% off!).

There's this great little boutique in Tennessee that we love visiting, and my mom picked me up an adorable knit beanie there! It'll get a lot of use this winter. How cute is the little Vols decal? I've wanted one ever since the boutique posted them on their Instagram. I'm so excited to put this baby on my car!

The candy corn? I'm a nut for those things.



Along with the hotel sticky notes (love free stationary!), my mom and stepdad just got back from a trip to Lake Tahoe, and she picked me up some beauty products! A total surprise, but boy am I looking forward to trying them! Both products are Lather & Fizz's Tahoe Blue line, after the blue of the lake.

I'll be seeing her soon, but I'm preparing my package to take to her. ♥


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life lately

Happy Election Day, America! I voted, did you?



In other news, my boss got some new geckos and they're really sweet. Look at this little guy! They're so soft. This one hung out on my shoulder for a bit while I stocked at work.



I've gotten more into baths lately, so I've been using up some bath bombs. Here's one from Ladyburg. So if you have any recs, send them my way!



I've been getting lots of wear out of my new leggings! Here's the print Royal Ruby. They just released faux fur lined and fleece lined prints, so I can't wait to get some shopping done!



The past week has been pretty weird, as I've had a bout with a nasty sinus/allergy headache, then what appeared to be a virus that kept me out of work yesterday. Sigh. I didn't even get any blogging done yesterday while I was home in bed.

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