SpaTini 2012

SpaTini 2012 has come and gone so quickly...

I actually love to camp for real..like in the woods...with a tent...and no showers.  But my precious mother?  She is definitely the woman in the poster above.  Girlfriend loves her hotels, coffee, and 25 minute facewash routines with WARM water.


Any time the 3 of us get together, we are always in for good food, good drinks, and good laughs (not to mention a little irresponsible debit card activity).


We always stay in Biltmore Park which is about 2 hours from Knoxville and 2 hours from Charlotte..it's the perfect halfway meeting spot for us!  The Hilton hotel is in the square and it's surrounded by places to eat and places to shop...not to mention a movie theatre for all you movie buffs!  We are way too talkative to go to the movies together.




Biltmore Park!

We started Friday with a great lunch at 131 Main and then it was off to the spa!  Sensibilities Spa is located right inside the Hilton so we don't have to drive (great thing since most of you saw my mother after her last spa treatment).  Don't think we want her on the road!

I opted for the Hot Stone Massage and a Pedicure this year.  The pedi was simply because my feet have been walking (barefoot, of course) on hot pavement all summer and needed some TLC.  I was super excited to try the hot stone massage as I had heard mixed reviews on it.  Let's just say...I AM A FAN OF THE HOT STONE MASSAGE.


Listen.  I am a terrible relaxer.  I feel silly getting massages.  I am usually freezing to death during the massage and am ALWAYS thinking of stuff when I really am supposed to be zoning out.  This time was different.  I was actually relaxed and never got cold since there were 150 degree hot stones being used to massage me.  I even had little hot stones in between each one of my toes!  HEAVEN!!!  Needless to say---momma liked and recommends. ;) (PS..I was NOT holding a flower during my massage...ha!)

Friday night we went to our favorite Italian place Travinia and had a wonderful dinner (slightly interrupted by an obnoxious, loud mouth Northerner who needed some southern women to put him in his place).  ***SIDENOTE---Men...it is extremely unattractive and RUDE to yell and snap your fingers at your female waitress.***  Just sayin'.

With our fabulous waitress at Travinia...she needed to feel some Southern love after her rude Yankee customer. :)

Saturday we headed to Biltmore Village for a little girl time including shopping and lunch.  We had a great time browsing and looking around and stopped at a yummy little place called The Corner Kitchen for lunch.

I cannot discuss what went on after lunch but I will say it involved the White House/Black Market store...several outfit changes...and some super cute red shoes.  I may have passed my Sorceress of Shopping title to someone else. ;)

That night, we went to a fabulous dinner spot called the Red Stag Grill.  It is in the bottom of the Grand Bohemian Hotel and we had a great dinner in a fabulous atmosphere.  I would highly recommend this grill if you are looking for a dinner on the "fancy-shmancy" side.  PS...I ate Elk for dinner!  Delish!

The room we ate in (with a slightly smaller table)

You can't tell...but the menus LIT UP when we opened them...ha!  We were extremely excited by this!

After dinner, my party animal mom didn't want to go to bed yet, so we sat outside on the patio at another place and had a little champagne and people watched (best sport ever).

The Temptress of Mixology strikes again!  This is her idea of fair sharing the champagne?  I think not. ;)

Sunday morning we always eat at Tupelo Honey for breakfast.  YUM!  I despise breakfast food but they make an amazing "breakfast bowl" with black beans, goat cheese grits, bacon and melted cheese.  I add a little hot sauce and BAM...my kind of breakfast.  (Some of you probably just threw up in your mouth.)  If you are ever in A-Ville, I highly recommend looking it up!

All in all, there are few things in life that I enjoy as much as a weekend with my mom and sister-in-law. 

I love to laugh..we laugh. 

I love to eat..we eat. 

I love to shop..we shop.

I love to dance at clubs...we...ok I haven't gotten them to do that quite yet.

LONG LIVE SPATINI WEEKEND!

I Can't Make This Stuff Up...

This post needs some explanation.  Actually...my whole family needs explanation. ;)

Every year, my dad, brother, and husband go on a "Father-Son Fishing Trip".  It's called the "Smackdown in Cherokee Town" and they compete for 3 days to see who can catch the most fish.  Of course, up until 2 years ago, the women were doing our womanly duty of watching the kids.  Now that the kids are older, they both go on the fishing trip with the boys and WE GET TO HAVE A LADIES ONLY SPA WEEKEND!!!  This will be our 2nd annual ladies trip while our men are out fishing for the trophy.

To go along with this annual tradition, my hysterical brother sends out an e-mail every year to "announce" the trip and get us all excited about it.  We get a guy e-mail with the fishing competitor list and a girl e-mail with the spa participator list.  I had to post this year's e-mail about our ladies trip because I literally about peed my pants and was doubled over laughing so hard that Matt thought I couldn't breathe...and I really could not.

I wanted to share this e-mail so you could laugh along with us.  If you know my family, this is no surprise.  If you do not know my family, you will probably wish you did after this. :)  The best part is dedicated to my sweet mother...who lives for massages.  Last year after her massage, my sister-in-law and I saw her wandering around the spa in a trance with hair like Michael Myers.  After we fell over laughing, we checked on her to make sure she was ok.  She looked like a mental hospital escapee...for reals.  She REALLY enjoyed her massage and evidently her hair did too. ;)

Well...enjoy this e-mail from my brother.  He truly missed his calling in life....

What happens when 3 women converge upon the quiet, sleepy town of Asheville, NC….complete and utter CHAOS!

Yes that’s right native Asheville citizens, lock up your children and your household pets because the 2^nd Annual Mother-Daughter Spatini Festival is about to hit your town in a LARGE way!

From July 27-29, these 3 women will drink, shop and massage their way through the town of Asheville in hopes of coming back to reality refreshed and energized to face the challenges ahead of them. But beware, in order to be refreshed and energized, they will tear your city apart in a matter of 48 hours!

Be on the lookout for these women as nothing but trouble will follow their winding path!

MOST WANTED SPATINI FESTIVAL MEMBERS

Name: Amanda Mallery

Nickname: Sorceress of Shopping

Crime: Her wand will mesmerize you as she snatches up everything in the store right before your very eyes!

Tip: Do not shop during the weekend of the Spatini Festival

Name: Deana Hicks

Nickname: Temptress of Mixology

Crime: Her smile is devilish, but as soon as you are hypnotized, she has ordered another drink….on your tab!

Tip: Do not visit any establishment where Adult Beverages are sold

BEFORE:                                                    AFTER:

Name: Mary Hicks – The Ringleader

Nickname: Michael Myers

Crime: Once she has been to the spa, she roams the town in a trance with crazed and unruly hair looking for her next victim!

Tip: If you hear the Theme Music to Halloween….she is nearby….run

Be wary of these members of the Spatini Festival!

If you run into any of these wanted women, do not make eye contact! You are urged to seek shelter immediately and contact your local authorities. In case of city evacuation, please follow the nearest evacuation route and leave as soon as possible!

Please tune in to the Emergency Broadcast System for further instructions!

I'm telling you...when I saw that picture of Michael Myers and the walker...I about died.  Just wanted to share!

*I will try to get a real picture of mom after the spa for this year...haha!

For the Haters ;)

Listen.  I know this only applies to about 5% of the general population, but I just had to get it out there.  I ran across some pictures today while cleaning out my camera of NY pictures (that blog will come soon) and had to share them.

I know personally that when someone asks me what I do for a living, I am busting at the seams proud to tell them I am a teacher.  I think all careers are respectable and I commend everyone for doing a job you love or simply doing a job to provide for the needs of yourself or your family.  I am fortunate to have a job I believe I was made to do.

So...when you find yourself a little bitter (ahem) about teachers having the summer off, keep in mind all the work that goes on the other 10 months (yes...summer is now down to 2 months) of the year.  I am in no way patting solely myself on the back.  Teaching is a team effort between tons of different players.  However, these pictures sum up why I do what I do.  Why I dream of classroom organization at night, why I get excited about Dr. Seuss Day and why I am already excited to meet my new kiddos.  If it's a disease...I hope I never find the cure.

This first picture is from the first day of school...it is his version of writing a "story".




And yes..what you see is random letters strung together to make a "sentence".

Now...this is his letter to a future 1st grader at the end of the school year.  Ya'll...I'm not lying one bit when I tell you that I cried when I saw this.  We worked SO HARD all school year to develop this child and to see his progress and share it with others literally made me emotional...happy emotional.



I see periods, space between his words, and several words spelled exactly right!  Are you crying tears of joy yet???  Ha!

Well, just thought I would share my happiness upon rediscovering these pictures.  I am gearing up for a new school year (I go back August 2nd...kiddos come back August 10th) and ready to work hard another 10 months.  This may just be my motivation! ;)

I am also extremely thankful for these 2 women and the impact they had on my Noah this past school year.  He came a little into the year and they welcomed him in with open arms and loved him like I do.  We love you Yancey and Marsha! :)

*Noah wanted me to make sure everyone knew it was Pajama Day that day..ha!

In Short, TEACHERS ROCK! :)

Keep Walking, Friends.....



Ka-ua-i

Well, if I'm honest...and that's what this blog is all about...I spent 10 days in Kauai and I just learned how to spell Kauai today.  K-A-U-A-I.  For some reason, despite my fantastic spelling skills, I could not remember for the life of me how to spell this island! 

Hawaii?  Easy.

Maui?  Simple.

Kauai?  I still type the word so slowly and have to sound it out in my head.  I want to spell it Kawaii..and come to think of it...that makes perfect sense!  Hawaii...Kawaii.  Why don't people think of these things?  I guess I'll have to visit again to get it in my head. ;)

We had a wonderful time in the Garden Island.  We celebrated our 10 year anniversary which is so hard for me to believe.  And yes...we got married young...because I have been married 10 years but am still SUPER YOUNG...right? ;)  I got married at 21 which is so unheard of these days!  I could do a whole blog post on marring young (the positives vs. the negatives) hmmm.....maybe one of these days.

I am not going to bombard my blog with the 1, 572 (no lie) pictures that we (my husband) took.  I will post a few albums on my facebook page for you to view the pictures, but here is a run down of our week with a few pictures included...some of MY favorites...because it's MY blog. :)  What that means is...I like pictures with people in them...husband likes scenery pictures.  My blog will have mostly people pictures but I will certainly include the beautiful scenic pictures in the facebook albums.  The scenery is definitely something to be seen and the pictures don't really even do it justice.

Ok...on to the week!  Here are some of the highlights of our trip!  I hope these pictures make you want to start saving your moo-lah and GO!  It's a must see, people!

After flying from 8:00 a.m. Knoxville time and landing at 8:00 p.m. Hawaii time (which is really 2:00 a.m. Knoxville time), we were really happy to see this sign!

And I was even more excited to know that this was where I would be spending the next 9 days!  You can see from the palm trees how breezy it was there.  The Tradewinds are present there every month except August (according to the locals) and there is never a humid moment.  We in the South appreciate that because we know what humidity does to our hair.  Right, ladies? (*Disclaimer--this in no way means my hair looks fab on this trip because, let's face it, I am not one to fix my hair and put on make up to lay out at the pool/beach.  Can I get an Amen? ;)

The first thing we loved about Kauai was that it was much smaller on a touristy scale than Maui.  Our resort in Maui was HUGE.  Probably about 3 times the size of this one.  However, we didn't see the crowds here in Kauai that we saw in Maui.  Smaller resort...less people.  Nice.

Our first night there, after lying in the sun all day and sipping pina coladas (which were insanely good and probably insanely fattening), we went to dinner at a place called "Roy's".  I didn't really expect to go to Hawaii and eat at a place called "Roy's"...that sounds more like an East Tennessee place. ;)  It was recommended by a local couple we met and it was delicious!  They even brought us out an anniversary dessert (after asking us if we were on our honeymoon) which I thought was very sweet.  I'm not sure they knew how to spell "anniversary" because the end of the word looks kind of fishy to me...like they weren't sure so they made the cursive writing all fancy in case they misspelled it.  But hey...I can't spell the name of their island so I really have no room to talk.

The next day, we hopped in our Jeep (squeal!!!) and literally drove almost the entire island coast.  It was beautiful to see the coast line and all the little beach parks along the way.  Here are some pictures from that drive.  Imagine me hanging out of the Jeep snapping shots...cause I was.  I felt like a National Geographic photographer on location.  It was awesome.

We also snorkeled on this day.  I love the beach.  I love the ocean.  It's my favorite place in the world and where I plan to retire one day.  But I am petrified of swimming in the ocean.  I don't like walking on the ocean floor where things touch my feet and since my brother's favorite movie was "Jaws" when we were young, I obviously have a large fear and respect for the creatures in the ocean.  It's their home, people!  If I invade their territory and get eaten, it's kind of my fault... which is why I usually am content to sit on the beach and watch it.  I did want to snorkel though.  We snorkeled on our honeymoon in Aruba and I didn't want to be a big chicken 10 years later.  This picture is when we were finished...thus the big smile...and horrible hair on my part.
 P.S. Snorkeling with longer hair is a nightmare...talk about knots. ;)

The next day, we drove up to the Canyons.  I'll be honest in saying that when I knew we would be gone from the beach for a day, I was not a happy camper.  However, the sights we saw from the Canyons were absolutely incredible.  I am so glad we experienced it first hand by walking it.

Then, of course, we had to walk ALL THE WAY up to the TOP.  Because these views were not enough.  I smiled and put on my hiking shoes and away we went.  I literally crawled the last few feet up to the top after all of the climbing (literal climbing).  It was brutal, but we made it!  And my gel manicure survived! :)



Pretty happy at first...even though most of the trail looked like this...straight up.



The "I want to kill you" look towards the end.



Finally at the top.  And yes...that is sweat that covered every part of us.

The next day was relax day...hallelujah!  We kind of did 2 days "on the go" and 1 day at the resort.  It helped us not get bored, but also kept us relaxed as well.  That night, we went to a fun place called Keyoki's for dinner.  I LOVE that almost every singe place we ate was outdoor dining.  It still felt like you were at a restaurant, but instead of walls it was all nature.  Guess that is the advantage of beautiful weather/temperature 365 days a year!

Matt loved the glasses they served Mai-Tai's in.  So...he brought home a few..ha!

Our entertainment for the evening.  They were in the middle of playing and I nervously walked up to take their picture.  They stopped playing, posed for me, and then continued on playing.  Everyone in the restaurant died laughing...and then I had to tip them for that!  They were awesome!

One of my favorite days was when we did the raft tour of the Napali coast.  We did a semi-private tour on a small raft.  There was only 5 of us total and our boat was small enough to go inside the caves on the coast...a dream come true for my husband.  A dream come true for me was sitting in our raft with hundreds of dolphins swimming all around us and being able to lean down and pet them in the ocean!  I was a happy girl!  We also saw sea turtles (which attract tiger sharks) and got to snorkel a little bit too...once we were far away from tiger shark area.

No zoom lens needed! :)

One of the sea caves we got to go in.  One of these caves was used in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

Not sure if the water color stands out here, but inside these caves the water was unlike any other color we have ever seen.  Gorgeous!

Beautiful scenery all the way down the coast.

 The last major thing we did outside of the resort on this trip was our all day hike.  Notice I didn't say it was my favorite thing.  It wasn't.  However, I knew my husband wanted to do this hike more than anything and after all he did to plan this trip for us, I was going to suck it up and git 'er done. 

The hike was 8 miles total.  Not alot some of you may say.  However, this was no trail hike.  I can't even classify it as a hike.  It was torture.  Climbing, scaling rocks, crossing streams on slippery, itty-bitty rocks, pulling yourself up on tree roots, and FIRE ANTS...ok...not my idea of vacation.

The result?  An over 200 foot waterfall pouring down into a big fresh water pool to swim in.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen up close.  I am so glad we did it, but boy was I hurting by the end.  We took pictures of us at every mile and when we look back at them, Matt always says.."man, we look rough"..ha!  We did because it WAS rough!



Hiking up the coast the whole time.  Beautiful views!



Mile 1...still happy hikers!



Mile 2...a beautiful beach!  This is where most of the hikers stopped.  Not us. (And yes, I realize now it looks as if I am giving the "West Side" sign...I am not)



Mile 3...hiking through bamboo forests.  Matt is still smiling.  I am getting a little leary of what's to come.  We had to wear our hats backwards most of the hike due to all the climbing!



Mile 4.  Thrilled to be at the waterfall!  Dreading the walk back.



Of course, this isn't even half the waterfall.  You can't get the whole thing in the camera when you are right up on it.



Swimming in the ICE COLD water.  I have never felt water that cold.  Your body just goes numb.



Starting the hike back.  I was freezing!



Mile 5...fake smile.



Mile 6...my legs are starting to shut down at this point.  Back at the beach with 2 miles to go.

 *Note to readers...I did not post Mile 7 picture because I may or may not have been giving Matt the bird.  I was ready to be DONE!



Mile 8..finished.  Oh GLORIOUS DAY!



Reward!



Well deserved dinner after that hike from Bubba's Burgers!



And of course...topped it off with Hawaii's amazing shaved ice!

Well...this post is much longer than I planned so I'll stop here.  I covered most of the basics and you can check facebook later for more pictures.  Much later...since this post took me about 2 hours I can only imagine how long it will take to upload hundreds of pictures on facebook!

I will leave you with a picture of my absolute favorite memory of Kauai.

For our anniversary, we went to a small outdoor Italian restaurant.  The singer there heard it was our anniversary and called us up to the front.  He sat us down in front of him and sang us a love song he had written and then gave us his CD with it on it.  It was SO SWEET and SO EMBARRASSING at the same time!  We ran into him at a lounge later and he ran over to us again asking us how our trip had been and to "say hi to Noah for me"...Bahahahaha!  He was a riot (and I think a little drunk)! :)

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our trip!  We SO enjoyed our first long trip by ourselves and have already started planning our 20th anniversary trip.  I'm kidding...but not really. ;)

Aloha!