A month or so ago Ben marked a weekend on our gmail calendar as “Do not plan a thing”. Hhmm…my interest is peaked. We’re big on planning surprise trips or dates for each other, so I had a few ideas in my head. A few days prior to the weekend, I was having a crappy day. We found out that canceling our lease would require selling a kidney so my heart was sunken with the thought of driving the same commute to work until at least March. SB lifted my spirits by telling me that the weekend would involve a cabin in Blue Ridge, a hot tub, lots of food and beverages, and four of our close friends: Kit, Bob, Kim, and James. I was stoked! An adult weekend away was the best way to wrap up the summer before returning back to work!

So Friday is finally here and we got off to a late start. I dropped SniperHBK off with his dad, SB made last minute trips to the store, we finished packing, loaded up, stopped for a quick dinner, sat in traffic, sang some Eminem while driving in the rain, and finally made it to Wild Azalea! The others were there waiting and we had an awesome night! We filled the hot tub with beer and laughter and memories and woke up the next morning feeling a little…well…yeah, hungover. It was a lazy day filled with naps and eating and movies. At one point we all decided to go for a walk outside. Ben was very eager about our walk! We went down a trail to the water and by the time I made it back up I was done. Hot, tired, hungover, done. Ben suggested we go for a bit more of a walk (bless him…he was trying!)..but I needed air conditioning and a nap. After some much needed recovery, SB and I went out to the porch to enjoy the view. We both really love the mountains. Thin air, lots of green, lots of quiet. As we were enjoying the view Ben asked me an odd question…

SB: “Are you happy?”….

SJ: “Of course I’m happy…”

SB: “Are you like…the happiest ever?”

SJ: giggling…”I mean..yeah, I’m pretty dang happy”

At this point I start to notice a change. His heart literally felt like it was about to beat out of his chest. I looked up at him a bit confused and asked something along the lines of..”Are you ok?”

SB: “I need you to do me a favor…” reaches in pocket

SJ: Oh…my…God…are you kidding me?

Sweet words…a few tears…and a “Yes! I will!” later…and we were engaged! We announced the news to our friends (who had no idea it was going to happen) and we spent the rest of the weekend floating around in Blue Ridge.

So now the planning starts! We’re not typically traditional people..and this will be a second marriage for both of us, so we’ve thrown a lot of ideas and dates around. Nothing is definite yet…but Vegas in April is looking like a mighty fine idea!

The weekend started off on Friday night, when Jess and I headed north to my parent’s cabin. We met up with Neal, Jude, Pam, and Jason for a bite of dinner, then got on the road. Since it’s pretty much a guarantee that none of my friends can hang with me when it comes to driving, I headed on out. Chase quickly fell asleep in the back seat and Jess and I jammed to some jams. Once we got about 5 miles from the cabin things got a bit crazy.

So, I’ve been getting Jess warmed up to all things horror movies. She’s been watching the Halloween series with me, and I have to say that I am in love with the fact that she is loving the movies. They aren’t great movies by any stretch of the imagination, but they are pretty good. You really do get a good sense of who Michael Myers is… until H20 when they disregard the previous 3 movies. Where was I? Oh, so on the way up it was dark and a bit on the creepy side since it was crazy dark out and the glow of the city was long since gone. We were doing just fine, then out of nowhere we both just kind froze up and nearly shat our pants. Why you ask? Well on the right shoulder, wearing a white night gown with a blue floral print, long dark brown stringy hair, no shoes, and running for her life, was a young girl. That’s right, it was around 10 PM in the mountains, and there was a chick running about 6ft from the road. Her arms were flailing and she was just running. Had she not seen it I would’ve sworn that it wasn’t real. Trust me… it was real. So yeah, there was this chick running down the road. Kinda freaked us out for the rest of the trip (and our lives). Needless to say we (me) kept on driving and arrived at the cabin about 15 mins later.

We got there, jumped on the horn and guided every one else to the cabin and then proceeded to plow through some liquor. It was only 6 people, but damn we demolished the hell out of some Vodka and Jack Daniel’s. It was a good night and we all had a ton of fun. The next day we got up and I whipped up some eggs, bacon, grits, and toast. Everyone got up and we then headed out to Cleveland. What’s in Cleveland you ask? Well Babyland General (“general” as in “general hospital”). This was the first time I had been there in many, many, years. The building looked like it should’ve been condemned many years ago, but it’s still there rocking it’s creepiness. Inside it was pretty hard to witness. There were several “babies” waiting to be adopted for a price ($300+) and a tree that gave birth to a doll. What?! Yeah, there was a tree that gave birth to a doll. There really is no other way to describe it. Check out the pics on www.sniperbear.net. It’ll give you a good idea of what all went on there.

After the Hospital of Doom we headed back to the cabin. Well, we stopped on the way and got some fresh made beef jerky, boiled peanuts, and apple cider. Back at the cabin, everyone took a nap. Jess, Neal, and Jude were out for hours. Jess wasn’t feeling too well, so she was O.U.T. That’s ok, she’s pretty much the love of my life, so she can sleep as long as she wants. Chase and I watched the UGA game, cooked up some food and just hung out. After everyone (except for Jess) woke up, we decided we were going to head to Dahlonega and experience Oktoberfest. Jess was still not feeling well and thus, decided to stay behind. I wish she could’ve gone with us, but it would be better to rest up and be well in the future than to push through the night and end up being worse off the next day. So, we got there and farted around for a bit, and eventually decided we’d had enough and headed back home.

Back at the cabin we sat around for a bit, had some dinner, caught up on the day, and then jumped right into Dawn of the Dead (the new one…where the zombies run instead of meander about). Jess was a bit freaked out since she’s not really keen on the whole horror movie thing, but she made it. We plowed through the movie and then Jess and I headed to bed. The rest of the group stayed up and watched Blades of Glory. I say that Jess and I got the better end of the deal…

Sunday morning, it was pancakes and sausage, milling about, some fun times at my grandmother’s doll house of morbidity, then a quick drive home. The weather on Sunday could not have been any better. We stopped by Danny’s Restaurant for some soul food, then took our sweet time enjoying the mountain roads and beautiful weather. The rest of the day we spent laying around, taking naps (mostly me), watching the Falcon’s game, and generally just being together.

All-in-all, this was a fantabulous weekend. I won’t soon forget the crazy lady, taking Chase to Dahlonega, witnessing a tree give birth to a doll, or Jess schooling everyone on how to play cards. Thank you to everyone that came out and I hope we can do it again soon!