Saturday Shenanigans

Well I simply could not sleep a wink last night, so I kept waking the Bunny 

up asking if we could go to the beach to see the sun rise over the ocean.

So this is a picture of my Grumpy Butt Bunny cause I poked him awake

to drive me to the beach.

Grumpy Bunny

We drove down to Huntington Beach State Park because it is 

simply one of my favorite places to go.

One that I've never shared with anyone else, FYI, my very own special

beach place. I've gone camping down here several times,

but always alone.

Funky Tree

Found an alligator!

And a heron!

The colors are simply amazing over the marshland.

I would make this my home if I could, sun allergy be damned!

Well after a long walk on the beach and around the campground,

I got very sleepy, so the Bunny took me back to the condo

and headed out for some shelling.

When he got back from the beach, he napped while I

watched Disney shows.

Then after his nap, we went out to

SOHO

for dinner!

Now I love me some sushi, but the Bunny doesn't eat it.

After driving back to the condo, we chilled for awhile,

then decided to do a full moon walk on the beach!

For about an hour, Bunny let me just sit and soak up the energy of the

Full Moon and the waves crashing on the beach. 

Then he decided it was best if we go back to the condo and get some sleep.

View of the skywheel from where we were.

Festive Friday

Okay, so for those of you in the know skip this intro:

Yes I love coming to the beach, but the reason you don't see many

WitchBaby on the beach pics is that I have a SEVERE sun allergy.

Simply walking outdoors for any length of time causes severe burns,

some of that is due to my body not processing Vitamin D correctly and the rest

is because of meds that I'm taking specifically for the deficiency.

So while we go to the beach ALOT,

and you hear about Bunny's beach ventures ALOT,

I'm not really able to do those types of trips

especially in the summer because hello it's fucking hot out there.

In the winter it's better, because I can wear long sleeves and long pants.

So while Bunny took off to the beach for some therapy of his own,

I pulled out the art supplies I brought and proceeded to have

12 thousand kinds of fun in my art journals.

Yes plural - I painted in my Woman's Retreat journal,

and my every day journal,

and a new dylusion journal,

and 2 other journals.

 (mostly backgrounds for next year cause I don't wanna buy a planner - I'm making my own)

More on that later!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after a very most perfectly pleasant day of getting painty!

I stopped for awhile and got

all dolled up for dinner out!

Birthday DINNER at RIOZ!

If you haven't been to Rioz what the hell are you waiting for!

This place is abso AMAZING!

It's been one of my top 5 restaurants since we "discovered" it

several years ago, it's just too far to drive for a normal date night!

Surprise Birthday Trip!!!

Well I took the week of my birthday off work because well to be honest I don't wanna EVEN think work on my birthday. I had totally planned to stay home and just piddle around, maybe do some art, maybe bug my mom into shopping. 

Then out of no where a trip to the beach became possible. Well since the beach is Bunny's happy place we didn't take long to say HELL YEAH!

So Thursday morning we loaded up the car and headed to the beach for a long weekend. 

NightShade controlling the tunes!

I napped most of the way down to the beach because riding makes me 

sleepy - it has ever since I was a little baby. 

(if I'm driving no big deal, but in the passenger seat FORGET IT)

So the drive down was very uneventful - Bunny doing what Bunny does best.

So we get to the Condo and were blown away!

It's like we hit GOLD in them there beaches!

I can't believe we get to stay in this lovely little apartment for the weekend!

So the next stop on my list of things to do today, was drive to 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

If you have not tried their candies yet - you simply have to give them a try. 

They are amazing!!!!

Next up on our list of places to visit:

Scrapbooks by the Sea

If you are in the area and an papercraft fan of any type, you really really really 

should check this store out.

Sorry no pictures from here - I was a little overwhelmed by the selection

this wonderful little shop has.

And was extremely busy picking up bits and pieces of art supplies to bring home.

Hopefully I'll get a haul pic up soon, but if not oops. 

Thursday Night Dinner was a Bunny Pick:

Bumstead's Pub

See back in June (when Bunny's birthday is) we went to Washington DC with the fam

and then had a hot dog dinner on his Birthday, but WE never

celebrated it, cause he is a meanie head and won't let me pay for DINNER eber!

Well tonight I turned the tables on him - 

forced him to pick a place and then fought him for the check

cause even though this is my birthday trip, he is wif me and I lurves him so.

Bumstead's has some wonderful food and truly epic staff

just don't been thrown by SMOKING in the building

(evidently it's not illegal in South Carolina)

This sign cause much giggles.

Very yummy drink!

Sycamore Lodge

So this is the official blurb about this campground.

Sycamore Lodge Resort is a luxury RV resort and private North Carolina RV campground located 70 miles south of Raleigh and 90 miles east of Charlotte close to many area attractions. Close to one of the nation's legendary and historic golf communities, this NC campground is just minutes from the famed Pinehurst Golf Courses that hosted the 2007 US Women's Open and the 1999 US Open at some of its most beautiful courses.

My parents have been since 1986 and we practically grew up camping here. I can honestly say that some of my very favorite memories came from times spent roaming the "streets" of this quiet little get away. But oh how times change, it is now a busy busy place with almost 10 times more spaces.

Here's a cute little map of the area

My only major complaint about the campground in general is that even though the campground is like completely spread out, there is only one actual bathhouse. There are some portapotties set up in other areas (but really who wants to use one of those things right). Its like they expect everyone to be in a rig and/or only need to have 1 person use the restroom at a time. However, the bathrooms are simply amazing (for campground bathrooms). Instead of a female/male split, these are arranged as individual bathrooms with toilet, sink & shower, roomy enough to actually spread out a little bit & be able to enjoy your shower without feeling like the walls are gonna cave in on you. And they are cleaned CONSTANTLY. Granted this was a busy weekend, but I know for a fact that on Saturday, they were cleaned at least 4 times, because they were cleaning other bathrooms, while we were there. 

• When we used the bathroom to get ready for the day (around 8:30am)
• When BF & went to change to go swimming they were cleaning the bathroom (around 2:30pm)
• After swimming when we went back to change into regular clothes (4:30pm)
• And again around 11:30pm when we got ready for bed.

And because of the set up, there is never a bathroom shortage for the males or the females, they can clean up individual bathrooms & leave the others available to use. IMO, this is amazing, because I can't tell you the number of times that my body has decided it must go literally 5 minutes after the bathroom as been closed for an hour while they are cleaned :)

The swimming pool was REALLY busy all weekend, but BF don't care.

Playing a quick game of cornhole before dinner

The Swashtones played on Saturday Night - I enjoyed sitting up there listening to the music, but the best

was when little man got out on the dance floor to show off his moves.

He don't care what no one says, just doing his own thing.

All in all, we had a magnificent weekend: full of family, fun & of course good food.

WNC Farmers Market

So on the way home, I was extremely excited to

stop at the farmers market & see

what type of yummies we could get for dinner this week.

All in all BF & I had a most amazing time walking the booths & seeing the sights

and we even took home some Amish Butter & Bacon, some fresh tomatoes & peaches,

and some dip mixes to try!

Dollywood

SMrs Lillian Getting Ready To Read Us Llama Llama Red Pajamas

ollywood has this plan in effect that if you go in on a single day

ticket after 3pm, you can return the next day on

the same ticket. So that is what we did!!

The reason we wanted to split the "day" up was because everyone really

wanted to see the fireworks, but we had reservations for

Dixie Stampede for Saturday night.

This is all of our family ready to see the sights and enjoy the afternoon!

I ended up riding the Tennessee Tornado with the riding group

(aka Theresa, Lucas, Emily, Sarah & Dad)

The Fireworks were amazing and I loved the musical component.

Day 2 - And it turned out to be a day for Bunny & Me!

Everyone else went out for breakfast, but we had a relaxing meal at the cabin

and then headed to the park early.

(I do so LOVE LOVE LOVE my one cup Bella coffee maker when we have electricity)

This is one of the signs at the entrance to the park.

I love Dolly's use of butterflies. (art journal inspiration)

Mrs Lillian getting ready to ready us Llama Llama Red Pajama

I must say Bunny looked totally appalled when I suggested we go listen

to Mrs Lillian & Cluckie tell a story,

but he ended up loving it

(even if Mrs Lillian did pick on him)

We spent an enjoyable morning combing through

the shops & demos of Craftsman Valley as

roller coasters & thrill rides just aren't Bunny's thing.

Just me and the Bunny goofing off with the selfie cam as we make our way

around the park. 

Hollywood Wax Museum

This is my take on the Hollywood Wax Museum in Pigeon Forge TN

So I had to yell at the BF, he was trying to take a snarly picture with Marilyn Monroe - say what?

BF with James Dean

Okay, so we had an abso blast here, but if you are looking for

realistic looking wax figures, you may want to go some where else :)

Evidently SEVERAL of my Facebook friends just can't get over the

"bad" wax to get the amazing time we had.

Now that being said, we had the most AHMAZING time!

My only complaint, they set it up so you can take pictures with all the wax figures

but most of our pictures didn't turn out well because the lights

on the figures are just so freaking bright that it is impossible to take

good pictures!