Friends – Busy Bee Suz

Fainting Goats, Flowers Galore, Sprayed Wine, Laughter Even More Galore

My amazing friend D’Anne, along with her sister Jana and I had been trying to plan a girls’ getaway trip for quite a while, but we could not come up with anything, which seems unimaginable.

Finally I said: We have dates booked for Georgia, why don’t you come spend some time with us there? It took them no time to book a flight and I felt like I had genius status for at least a minute.

The Coach and I were there for a few days before the girls arrived, but I didn’t make big plans for their visit as we tend to just roll with ‘how we feel’ and go from there.

In the four and a half days they were there, we visited Gibbs Gardens. (We have a thing for gardens, and this one is always evolving with the seasons)

*Can you believe the size of this Snowball Verbena?*

We also had a windy good time at a Winery, enjoyed an afternoon in Dahlonega, filled some garden bowls on our deck with flowers, worked on a puzzle, ate many meals, drank a bit ~~ok, a lot~~ of wine, *sampled Georgia moonshine right from our freezer, talked a LOT about everything under the sun, enjoyed the fire pit on a very dark night, ogled the starry sky, laughed more than a human probably should and had a nice long *adventurous tour of Double L Ranch on the UTV. Oh, and of course, D’anne had little gifts for me each morning, just like last time, as only a ~~lunatic~~ friend would.

My innovative way to de-callus my tootsies–FIRE

Say It Don’t Spray It.

I have to write this down, really for my own posterity. One evening we were enjoying a lovey dinner at a nearby restaurant; the weather was perfect, so we were seated on a patio. Our dinner was finished and we were just drinking wine and talking. I wanted a pic of D and Jana; they obliged with their lovely smiles, then they decided to make Fish Faces. We giggled, I showed them the result of the fish pic, right at the same time as D took a big sip of Cabernet. Well, hells bells, she laughed so hard at seeing the pic that she sprayed her wine across the table onto Coach and I. Well, mostly our finished dinner plates and some of Coach’s shirt. This of course, made us ALL laugh even more! You couldn’t have planned a spray this big!

D was beside herself, but we could not stop laughing.

Me: I’ve probably been sprayed by worse people and worse things!

All The Goats Faint

The Fainting Goat Winery is only twenty five minutes from our house and I can’t believe it took me this long to visit. The views coming from (and going to) are breathtaking. We had to pull over to take a pic.

It was crazy windy the day we visited the winery, but still, like loons we wanted to sit outside for the views. We had a little charcuterie and our small glasses of ‘tastes’ and every once in a while a gust of wind would pick up and we would all put our arms out to hold our glasses and the food/napkins/etc. It was hilarious. We thought about going back inside, but the thought of picking up all our glasses and snacks seemed like too much work.

I was so distracted by the wind, that I didn’t get to ~~ride~~ see the fainting goats up close. In hindsight, had we ordered a REGULAR sized wine portion, there wouldn’t have been a worry.

The wine, even thought it was from Georgia and not New Zealand, earned my snobby seal of approval.

*Did you even visit a winery if you don’t bring home a few bottles?*

We had such a great visit and I hope they return again; so far D has seen Fall and Spring at our place, but she’s not seen summer or winter yet!

*We had a bit of trauma/drama while visiting the Double L. I’ll share that story next time.

So, who wants to visit and join me for a tour of the winery, the gardens or just sample some local moonshine and call it a day?

(personally, I don’t do moonshine, but I don’t judge those who partake)

XOXO

Wyoming Is My Favorite Of The Why’s, What Are The Freaking Family Feasibilities? I’m A Winter Sport Survivor Who Avoided Fighting An Olympian.

A few weeks ago, the Coach and I revisited a favorite place, for the third time with new blood; Angee & Rob. The first time we visited Three Forks, was for Coach’s fiftieth birthday (2015) along with two of our faves: Don and Kelly. Then we went with whole fam-damily in 2022; which was by far one of our best family trips; who knew that vacations with your grown kids would be so fun? Ok, I actually knew it would be, because I made the best, most funnest humans.

In addition to all the outside activities and inside activities (Spa & pools!) they’ve been hosting small concerts for up to 54 people. We were able to see Rhett Akins and he did not disappoint. (If you are a country fan, he’s Thomas Rhett’s father and has written most of Tom’s hits, plus many of Blakes, Justin’s, Brooks & Dunn’s, Luke’s, & John Pardi, to name a few)

It’s A Far Out Family Reunion

Our very first evening, the four of us went to the small lounge area for happy hour prior to dinner. Wait, did I tell you that there were only TWO OTHER GUESTS for our first three days here? *We had the entire place to ourselves, aside from the concert night when they sold tickets for the show to benefit a charity.

*Oh wait, I’m a Big Fat Liar. I forgot about Lindsay Vonn! She was there with a small enterouge for the first two days; she was filming promo’s for the Lodge which meant we couldn’t go into the main lounge on our first night and the next day, we weren’t able to do something or other because of her group.

Me to my people: This olympic b*tch is encroaching on my vacation, if she wasn’t six foot, strong and young, I’d tell her so. 🤣

Back to our first evening: As we were ordering our drinks, Angee asked about a certain champagne/bubbly wine, or something like that. The sweet barmaid said: Hey, hold on, let me get our Sommelier and he’ll pick out something special for you.

A moment later this man walks out and I notice Angee’s eyes go deep looking in his direction; as he approached the table, she says and I clearly think she’s already drunk: HEY, YOU’RE MY COUSIN. JIM? JIMBO!

He stops. Looks at her and says; YES, YES I AM.

At which point, I thought I was being punked. We’re literally in the MIDDLE of nowhere!

Y’all, they are first cousins. Their Moms are sisters, but they’ve not seen each other in fifty years and Angee only recognized him because they are both on Social Media. His wife also works there and she was such a doll; we had so much fun with them!

Unlike when we visited Three Forks in warmer weather, I only planned on one outside activity: Snowmobiling. I’m sure you can only imagine how much experience I have doing this since I’ve was born and raised in Florida.

Even though I know nothing about this sport, I elected to drive my own mobile in lieu of being a passenger. Listen, I love my husband and trust him, but I’m not a huge fan of his driving in general; I opted to take my life into my own hands as we followed a trail.

The snow had turned into mostly Ice, so if you veered out of the tracks ahead of you, it was hard to get yourself back in line. Lordy, there were points where I was looking down at long drops on either side of the trail. If Lindsay could have seen me, she would have pooped her pants because one of her biggest fears is her mother dying.

I was damn proud of myself for being able to navigate, not die and for risking life and limb by peeing in the wild– I didn’t know we were going to be gone for two hours!

I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone; this was fun! The snowmobiling, not the peeing outside part.

The guys opted to go ice fishing one day and Rob went skiing one morning. Plus, we all had massages, body wraps, some did yoga, we had a *mixology class, a cooking class and we visited the salt room, hydrotherapy spa, ate gourmet meals, revisited with the amazing staff and generally enjoyed ourselves.

*During the mixology class I drank an entire Lavender Lemon Drop Martini and earned myself a nap.

You won’t be surprised to know that one of my favorite things about vacation is NOT cooking and NOT doing laundry and I’d like to vacation at least once a month. Please. Pretty please!

Can you imagine traveling across the country, staying at a not-so-well-known resort and running into your childhood friend; your cousin? I think Angee should buy lottery tickets weekly because that is crazy WILD serendipity if you ask me.

Have you run into someone randomly, so far from home by accident? Have you snowmobiled?

I’ll resist asking if you’ve relieved yourself outside, in the winter, because if you’re my friend, you probably have.

XOXO

Friendship Longevity, Wedding Disremembering, And We Put That Off Long Enough

I’ve written about my friends so much on my blog, ya’ll might be sick of it, but my people are a huge part of my life. Friends are the family you make, right? I mean, I love my family, and my friends are an extension of that love.

I met Angee in 1990. I was working as a cosmetologist at a boutique salon owned by a young woman: The Hair Magician. She was so talented and I learned so much from her! I think I found out about this job because my Dad met the Hair Magican’s sister (salon receptionist) at happy hour. I was been working at a Chop Shop, which is where a lot of ‘just out of beauty school’ people start, but like The Jeffersons, I was ready to move on up.

THE MAGICIAN DEPARTS & ANGEE TO THE RESCUE.

Call me naive, call me silly, but don’t call me late for dinner, (*Suz, slapping her own knee*) I didn’t realize that The Hair Magician had an addiction issue. I thought she had health problems as she started missing days of work. Fast forward four months or so into my position here and The Hair Magician needed to go into a Rehab Facility; she called me one morning: You’re gonna need to hire someone else to help at the salon, you won’t see me for thirty days. In 1990 fashion, an ad was placed in the paper and Angee showed up. She was newly out of school, but I loved her immediately.

Angee was getting married in February; the Coach and I would be married in May. Shortly before Angee’s wedding, one of her bridesmaids flaked out on her and she needed a replacement: Enter Suzanne, Bridesmaid extraordinaire!

I’d honestly forgotten about even being in her wedding until recently.

Angee: Hey, did I make you pay for that dress? I’ll be horrified if I did.

Me: Oh crap. I forgot I was in your wedding! What color was the dress? Black and white? I don’t think I paid for it and I’m pretty sure I gave it back to you. I hope you wear it on special occasions!

The reason for this post is that we just had an incredible vacation with Angee and Rob; I asked her: Are you sure I was in your wedding? I don’t have photo evidence.

Not black and white; black and green! Do you think Angee is getting ready to fly off and we’re holding her back with the veil?

We didn’t see each other’s faces from 1994-2010!

Coach and I moved away from Florida in 1992, so seeing Angee was limited to visits home. Eventually Angee and Rob moved away from our home town, so we didn’t see them at all; but we finally got together one evening in 2010 when Lolo was looking at colleges in their part of Florida, then we saw them again for dinner in 2013 when Linds was looking at schools in that area. If I had more kids, we would certainly have seen them more!

Angee and I would talk on the phone maybe once a year, catching up and laughing the entire time, plus exchanging Christmas cards. There was a running joke for quite a few years about how much dowry I would need to come up with to marry my girls off to her boys, but I never did come up with enough chickens, cows or goats!

For years, we’ve been saying we needed a getaway together and we finally made it happen in 2024!

Here we are: older, grayer, softer, and even more fun if that could be possible!

We spent four lovely days together, which I will share a bit with you, but Lordy, it’s like a day never passed! We had such a blast together; I’m so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Next week, I’ll share about our trip and how I witnessed the BIGGEST coincidence of life.

Anyone else have an Angee in their life, where you can pick up no matter how many years have passed?

XOXO

I’m Certain You Missed Me And WHAT? Smashing Hamsters?

The Coach and I had a little getaway this past week. (Wednesday-Sunday) Surely, you missed the heck out of me. I will share some of our adventures, but first, I must gather my thoughts. And do laundry. LORDY, the laundry!

For some reason I didn’t sleep well last night; no reason for it as I was so very tried after traveling across the ~~world~~ country, but for the life of me ma’ brain and ma’ body wouldn’t stop tossing. Probably, I was worried about getting back to all the cooking and cleaning again. Does Oprah or Kim K. worry about such things?

Anyhoo, my sweet MIL came to our home before we left, so she could stay with ~~completely spoil~~ our dogs, fend off any would-be robbers, release butterflies and of course, Manage The Monarch Hospice Situation. (One butterfly is still alive and kicking!) She even had dinner ready when we got home. Am I the luckiest girl or what? I’d bet a million dollars Kris Jenner isn’t doing any of that.

My Rock Star MIL rocking Biscuit to sleep.

The Poor Hamster!

Ok, this is probably way too much for most of you, but I am who I am.

Coach was up early this morning and before he headed to the gym, he let the Frenchies out to do their business, then they both romped onto our bed, and quickly went back to sleep. I laid there for about fifteen minutes, then decided to just get the hell up if I can’t sleep. After my cup of Joe, I started to make the bed when I saw there were spots of blood all over our white sheets and white coverlet. DAMN! For a second there, I thought I started my period, then remembered I don’t have those parts any longer.

One of the dogs must’ve cut her paw while out in the wilds of the world, so let’s add the sheets and coverlet to the piles of laundry! Hells, bells, what else do I have to do with my time?

Anyhoo, this blood in the bed sitch gave me a flashback.

Many years ago we were on the East Coast visiting our dear friends Kelly and Don over the weekend. On Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed, headed to their kitchen for coffee and Kelly was going from her bedroom to the laundry room carrying her sheets; she had a disheveled, tired look about her. Don came walking up behind her and muttered, “Suzanne, It looked like Kelly smashed and murdered a hamster in our bed last night”

I DIED! We were in hysterics over his phrase about the hamster.

I mean, if you have or had a uterus anytime in your life, you know the feeling!

Of course, I conveyed this story to my girls way back when, and it’s a phrase that we would toss around. THAT POOR HAMSTER!

I’m so happy to have that part of my life behind me! With all the hamsters that I’ve murdered, I should be in PETA Jail.

This meme resonates so much, but I hope to never forget the Hamster comment.

Who can compete with my Gem of a Mother In Law? Any takers? I’ll fight ya, I swear!

I will be making my rounds to all of you this week; please tell me nothing exciting happened while I was away.

XOXO