Well for starters, Saturday night was quite possibly (actually no, it WAS) the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining night of work that i've EVER had. ever. I won't even get into it. Let's just say that if that ever happens again, I may have to walk out. I simply cannot handle it. I got home around 3:45am (yes, an hour later than usual) and went to sleep. We woke up at 7:45am so we could leave by 8. That never happens. We did, however, manage to be on the interstate by 8:45 or so. It took us a bit longer because we decided to swap VDay gifts before leaving (keep reading...). I took a big ol' blanket and 2 pillows so I could sleep on the way there but I couldnt manage to sleep. I didnt even read any magazines. We had an intense game of fadiddle instead.
We exchanged gifts before heading out and he had me a basket of goodies! Included was: the Hello Kitty clutch wallet I was dying for! (eeeeep! i LOVE it!), an Owl Watch/Clock necklace, the sweet Shark foam visor (see photo in previous post!), and a peachy pink ribbon bow headband, etc. My bag o' goodies to him included: a 6 pack of Yuengling Black & Tan beer, Lotttsss of gummy candies and by lots I mean like 5 bags (his favorite!), valentines day cookies, a cute red teddy bear that says I Love You, an I Love You balloon and other fun stuff!
Anyway... We pulled into Gatlinburg around 2pm and decided we were famished so we ate at a little Mexican place next to the Aquarium called No Way Jose's.
Mike had some yummy Caribbean Veggie Fajitas!
It snowed the ENTIRE time we were there! Lovely!
Quick Photo-op before going into the Aquarium!
Valentine's Day Outfit Details:
Dress: Forever 21 ($30)
Cardigan: Charlotte Russe ($25)
Jacket: Forever 21 ($40)
Tights: Walmart ($10)
Flats: Ross ($12)
Headband: Charlotte Russe ($7)
Necklace: Part of VDay gifts from Mike! (It's an Owl Clock necklace!)
Finally! This is what we planned our ENTIRE trip on/around! SO EXCITED!
Quick photo outside in the snow. I love this picture of us :D
I tried only picking *a few* photos from the weekend.. but you can see the rest on my Flickr by CLICKING HERE!
Shark Lagoon!
Lion Fish
Jellyfish
Cuddlefish
Next up was the Guinness World Records Museum. (Don't waste your money.. it was a TOTAL flop!)
Then we headed down the strip to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. It was actually really interesting. I just wouldn't go again, know what I mean?After that we headed down the strip some more and happened upon the Ripley's Moving Theater (Simulation theater where all the seats move like you're on a rollercoaster.) We decided that was a good idea so we did that, too. It was alright. Turns out Mike lost his phone there but luckily the attendants found it! Phew! We woulda been SOO upset!
We decided to head to dinner. We went to this really nice Italian Restaurant on the main road and had a fireside dinner. We drew on the tables, ate yummy Pasta Primavera with lots of veggies, and eavesdropped on the MOST ridiculous conversation EVER!
My Pasta Primavera. I hate creamy sauce. Red is the way to go!
Mike's Pasta Primavera.
I doodled Mike's name...
and then my own.
He looks thrilled, yes?
We were so beat by then so we headed to our "lodge"... The Sidney James Mountain Lodge. We got a big room with a jacuzzi and everything. Much to our dismay, our "hot tub" in the room was smaller than we one we have in our room at home! But the hot water was lovely so it turned out just fine. The fireplace was nice, too. We had wonderful conversation all night. We lounged in the jacuzzi, ate junk food and drank cokes haha. We were awful eaters this weekend, thats for sure!
We woke up slightly early (by slightly I mean 9am) and got all of our things together. We were going to go eat breakfast and shop a bit, then head to Pigeon Forge & Sevierville on teh way home. We had this really beautiful brook behind our balcony so we decided to go down there and take photos.
My favorite photo of Mike. Isn't he dreamy?
The face I ALWAYS make...
and some together.
We headed down to Pancake Pantry and was greeted with a line out the door. We got in fairly quickly though, only to have an awfully rude waitress. She was SO unpleasant! She almost slung coffee on Mike and you'd swear she was trying to skip our plates from across the restaurant. Either way, the food was yummy and we tried to disregard it.
After all of that, we got in the car and headed north. We found out there was an Exotic Petting Zoo on the way home and i LOVE LOVE LOVE animals so we HAD to go! It was a bit out in BFE but we managed to get there without incident. They had kangaroos, peacocks, CAMELS!, zebras, etc! The kangaroo was a new guy and he loved to have his neck rubbed. So cute! I hand-fed a peacock (after he stole some feed from our cup!) Fed some reindeer an apple, made new goat and donkey friends... then came the camels... Well, I'll get there in a second.
Okay.. so the camels. Well, if you've read my prior post you'll notice that I was indeed bitten by a camel.... this resulted in a very very quick drive to the nearest emergency room. Man oh man! What a story! We came upon the camels and there were two of them. One was significantly larger than the other. Well, the large one (Bully is what we'll call him.. for the sake of this post), was very very forward, loved to stick his big ol' face in yours, and he wanted ALL of your food. seriously. The other one was much more reserved, kept to herself, and would rarely come to you first. We fed Bully for a bit but I noticed that he would NOT let her eat anything from us! He'd knock her out of the way or nuzzle his way to my hands first. If you know anything about me, you'll know I ALLLWAYYYSSS root for the underdog. I always buy the ugliest fish from the pet store, I always adopt the ugliest animal from the shelter.. whatever. I guess my instinct is that they need love, too, and if I don't give it to them then no one will. I'm weird. Whatever. Anyway, I was not okay with Bully being a jerk. So I devised a plan to feed BOTH of them at the same time... One per hand. Makes sense right? Well Bully still kept eating everything so he was a bit distracted at one point and I was only feeding the sweet Small one... Well he saw this and got jealous/angry.. He stampeded over to the little one, kicked her, and pushed her out of the way. My hand just so happened to be in her mouth at the same time. She panicked, chomped down, and drug her teeth all down my hands/fingers as I was trying to pull away.
At first I thought I was fine. I was just in a bit of shock. The adrenaline had caused the pain to feel non-existant... that was until I turned around, ran to Mike with my arms pulled close and just started BAWLING in the middle of the zoo (luckily we were the ONLY people there). I thought I was going to be okay... I thought I could dust my hand off and it would only be sore... Then I looked down and saw my middle finger bending up, and my ring finger bending down. It had teeth scrape marks and it was turning colors. The freezing cold air didn't help either. We ran back inside and by this time I was hysterical. I was in SO MUCH PAIN. The owner lady ran my hand under cold water and I was doubled over in agony. She sat me down and wrote down directions to the nearest hospital and Mike rushed me there. By the time we got there I had calmed down a lot. It was still hurting like the dickens but we walked in and he signed me into the ER. The page definitely said "Reason for visit:" and he wrote "Camel Bite"... we both burst out laughing like crazy. Here I am holding my hand like a disabled person and we're hysterically laughing in the ER... They must have thought us crazy!
We sat and waited for them to call me back. Finally they did. EVERY SINGLE NURSE/DR LAUGHED AT ME! Yes, I realize its a hilarious story.. Why the crap gets bit by a camel in the snowy Smoky Mountains?! They put me in the psychiatric ward room due to lack of rooms (or maybe because they legit thought me crazy for claiming a camel bite? idk.. ha!) and they took 3 xrays. They tried prescribing me pain medication (like Lortab) but I refused. They gave me 800mg Ibuprofen and luckily nothing was broken. Merely sprained and insanely bruised. Praise! They sent me on my way and luckily the zoo will be paying all of the medical bills.
It wasn't the camels fault by any means.. so I'm not bitter. My hand still hurts tremendously, and my knuckles are turning very interesting colors. I couldn't bend my fingers at all Monday. I got more use out of them as the day progressed yesterday, and finally today I can make a fist. I'll be fine but at least I have a ridiculous story about our first Vday together haha!
The Hospital
We stopped on the way home to eat at Panera and then a massive snow storm hit. (Apparently it hit back home overnight so school was canceled). It didnt get bad until we were about 130 miles from home. It got awful... FAST! Luckily we made it back without too many problems though. Mike wanted to make me feel better so he took me to Opry Mills Mall! Eep! The boy knows the way to my heart, okay! I only bought some hair accessories and tank tops, but we did get him a few cute shirts! :D
Yesterday I spent all day working on a project I presented today. I have photos from Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'll post them soon. This is getting long as it is!
Today Mike was going to surprise me with carnations on my car at school but I foiled his plan by beating him back home. Oops! But they're still beautiful! White and pink and sitting in a small vase in our room! We went and ate lunch at Garcia's and headed to Hobby Lobby. We decided to make candles tonight! They turned out awesome (not perfect, but it is just our first try!). We're going to do more tomorrow! We came home for a bit and then headed out to get groceries. We made dinner (teriyaki noodles and roasted red potatoes & green beans!) and nowwwww we're going to catch up on some Hulu and go to bed! Phew!
I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful weekend and to be able to spend it with someone so fantastic! He was so great, even when I was bawling hysterically at the zoo and he had to abandon the sweet camels to take me to the ER! (We got our money back though! Huzzah!)
This was by far the best Valentine's ever!
Also, I got sweet sweet cards from Ashley, Emily, Keesh, and Emma! Thank you girls so much! As promised, I'll have something back in the mail for you shortly!
xo
PS; if you want to see all 180 pictures from the trip, just CLICK HERE to visit my Flickr!
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