It’s gonna be really hard for me to nail down my favorite events of the past month, but I’ll give it my best shot in 5,000 photos or less. We have been celebrating our tenth anniversary pretty much all month long, beginning with a trip up to Chicago in early October and ending with a trip up to Franklin, Tennessee this past weekend where we had views like this…
… and this…
But let me start at the beginning, since I’m a chronological kind of person. It all began when I was invited to attend a blogger event at the Rustoleum headquarters at the end of September. I spent a couple of days looking totally sexy in a white lab coat with some amazing bloggers, huffing paint fumes and learning all about the history of Rustoleum.
Dusty and I sporting our white lab coats.
I may have lost a few brain cells on that factory tour, but it sure was awesome. They wined us and dined us and proved exactly why Rustoleum is about 10,000 times better than any other spraypaint company out there. It was pretty awesome!
My husband decided to join me in Chicago and piggyback an anniversary trip off of that one since the Rustoleum peeps had so kindly given me a free plane ticket up there. We didn’t stay in Chicago, however, since we are way more rural back roads kinda folks instead of city slickers. We did spend a day in Chicago, me taking the architectural boat tour while my husband was stuck in traffic waiting on President Obama’s helicopter to land on Lakeshore Drive, and then eating lunch on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building and watching President Obama’s helicopters fly over Lake Michigan. AKA Things you’d never see in Alabama.
One day in the big city was plenty enough for this redneck, so we headed north to the woods of Wisconsin where my husband found a cabin on Lake Tichigan for rent. And this was our view for the rest of the trip… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Serenity now.
The inside looked like this, which was even better.
It was perfection.
We wanted a relaxing vacation away from everything, and we got it. We did a whole lot of nothing on this trip except eat about twelve thousand calorie meals at The Cruise restaurant, which had THE best food I may have ever eaten in my life. Oh and one night we joined the locals at the Lions Club for a few rounds of Bingo. Luck was not with us, though, so we came home with nothing in our empty pockets except those psychedelic dot-dot bingo dobbers.
We drove around to several apple orchards, which is a rare sight for these Southerner’s eyes. We have peach orchards in Alabama, not apples.
Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, and Wisconsin knows how to do fall right, y’all. It was picture perfect.
We spent a day shopping and sightseeing our way around the tiny downtown district of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We saw some fall color and enjoyed the crisp air.
I pretended to take a walk down this long hiking trail, but really I just asked my husband to drive me to the head of the trail, hopped out of the car, snapped the shot and hopped right back inside because I am actually that lazy. #honestoctober
But mainly we just enjoyed the fall foliage since the leaves were just beginning to change up in the midwest.
It always amazes me how ONE tree can be golden yellow or flaming orange right smack dab in the middle of all the other trees that are still holding onto their summer greenery. What makes that one tree special? How does it get chosen to be the first to go out in a blaze of glory?
These are the things keeping me up at night…. along with about a million other thoughts swirling through my head these days.
To be continued…
Bingo!!!!!!!!! …and #honestoctber hee hee… And those trees that keep their leaves around the one flaming orange one…makes me wonder too…
Keep celebrating your anniversary. We celebrated our 50th this year from January thru August. Every time we did something special or bought something a little special we said it was for our anniversary. We had to stop before we cleaned out the bank account. LOL. Living in Florida we miss fall. We go to North Carolina but it’s still nothing like the north. Glad you had a nice trip.
It’s very effortless to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this paragraph at this web site.
Looks like a fun trip. Can’t wait for the “to be continued” . . .
So awesome. What a beautiful part of the country. We celebrated our tenth anniversary this year as well. At a restaurant near home. LOL
REDNECK? Why would you call yourself a redneck? That’s disturbing. Why would you admit to being an uneducated close-minded back-woods racist? Here’s a dictionary definition: a working-class white person from the southern U.S., especially one who is not educated and does not like people who are not white. From what I have seen, this is not you. Perhaps you should have stuck with the a term you used previously (“rural back roads kinda folks”). And, whose house is that? Your little back woods shack? If you really want to identify as a redneck, I have no further need for reading your blog.
Well, let’s see here. Let’s start with Exhibit A: https://bethbryan.com/2013/08/the-houses-that-built-me-west-blocton/
Exhibit B: https://bethbryan.com/2008/07/most-fun-chapter-of-my-life-so-far-just/
or perhaps most shocking… Exhibit C: https://bethbryan.com/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-that-stinky-dog-smell/
I could keep going, but those three should sufficiently answer your question of whether I identify myself as a redneck. Like George Jones says, I’m more of a high-tech redneck.
I’m not sure where you are from, Fonda, but here in the South the word “redneck” is generally a term of endearment. I can think of a lot more terms of endearment used by large groups of people that are offensive coming from any other different group of people, but I won’t list them here for fear of the NSA slapping my blog on the hate crime watch list. Jeff Foxworthy calls himself a redneck. Do you think he lives in a little back woods shack? Doubt it, but I’d be willing to bet he owns one just to get away from the rest of the high-strung politically correct world and get back to his laid-back redneck roots.
If you have a passion for dissecting the semantics of vernacular inside personal blog posts, you should really go check out my archives sometimes. You’d have a field day! Maybe this is the blog for you after all. Have fun!
High tech Red neck– haha! I’m pretty sure 90% of my state (I’m from Texas) considers themselves at least part red-neck… we’re country folk with farms and cows and other fun stuff! I definitely don’t think it is disturbing! High five to being rednecks together!
Bahahaha! Beth you are truly an educated and talented writer/entertainer! I don’t believe Fonda is from the south. Being from the north myself ( Yo PHilly) the term redneck certainly has a different connotation for northerners. I definitely believe the “dictionary” term is the northern interpretation. But, having living in the glorious South for 12 years now, the southern version has another very endearing connotation. Your response was typically and effectively “Classic Beth”! Congrats on that…many of us would have had a difficult time responding with humor. As usual, you nailed it! Note to Fonda: read more of Beth’s older posts…you will learn the difference in “dictionary” redneck and southern redneck. And you will still be following her blog – cause girlfriend ROCKS IT!
Wow, Looks like you and hubby had a wonderful anniversary. Love the photos of you at Rustoleum too. You are soooo correct. They have the best paint! Sending love from “Redneck” Kathy….. I’m rockin’ the “Redneck” just like you Beth!
I’m from Georgia. We have lots of rednecks…typically folks who like being outdoors doing “country stuff.” The people who don’t like non-white folks we call “racists.” Luckily Beth seems to have a pretty open mind housed in the head on top of her red neck. Although Beth has never struck me a prejudiced or judge mental, the above comment sure did.
Well said, Colleen!
Beth – It was so wonderful getting to spend time with you at the Rustoleum event, and I’m SO THRILLED that you and Jeremy enjoyed my beautiful home state of Wisconsin on your honeymoon. I hope to have you back up here again soon!!
Everyone has their own spin off of what it means to be a redneck. I guess I would have considered myself a redneck from WI back in the day. In high school we hung out in open fields, had campfires, drank beer, and had monster truck races. We enjoyed nature and had some great muddin’ parties. Today, I still love the simple countryside and having moments on a farm to enjoy watching my kids play. Life is way too short to worry about someones spin of redneck classification and definition.
I’m far more in favor of the definitions contained in the “Urban Dictionary”…there are a host of them and, by that definition even I am probably a redneck…even though I live just outside of Chicago in a red brick ranch. If you ever make it back to the area, come visit me in the ‘burbs. They’re lovely this time of year! xo
Girl you were so close to my house.Lake Geneva Wisconsin is just a hop skip and a holler away from me!Glad you had a great time! The colors are amazing this time of the year!
Ah, I wish I could have met up with all you Chicagoland bloggers! My husband was reigning me in to keep it an anniversary trip for us, but I did sneak in some time with Jen Rizzo at Kane Co Flea! 🙂 Next time I will see you all for sure!
Where oh where did you find that house to rent?? I would love to have the link if you don’t mind. I’m in the Chicago suburbs and am always looking for somewhere to stay that is close to home! Looks like you guys had a great time!
Here you go! Please let them know I sent you! 🙂 http://www.vrbo.com/622454
Thanks so much!!! 🙂
The cabin you stayed in does look like perfection! I bet it was absolutely lovely! Thanks for the all of the great pictures you’ve shared here – you really have captured the essence of Fall! (And I’m totally with you on driving to a hiking trail to photograph it!)
[…] though we had celebrated our anniversary in the woods of Wisconsin earlier in October, that didn’t stop us from planning another getaway to Franklin,Tennessee for anniversary getaway […]
testing a link http://prettydarncute.com
Looks like you had a fabulous time!
Here in Maryland the term redneck is used both ways. The derogatory use and the “country boy” use. If you are calling yourself a redneck it probably means you are from the country (or relate to that lifestyle) and equate the term redneck with farms, boots, pickups, country music, and sweet tea!
Well, Bless. Your. Heart. No wonder you have a huge house now. I’m glad you got through your childhood relatively unscathed as most of us do. As far as the dog-stink entry goes, I couldn’t read it. The smell of dog nauseates me, as does someone talking about it. Language is how we communicate, and when there is a discrepancy about the definition of a word, there is confusion. I hold the idea that one can call themselves by a derogatory term, like black people could use the “N” word and lesbians can call themselves “dykes”, but if someone outside their circles uses those words with disdain, it is called a slur. As you will continue to call yourself a redneck, I won’t, because I feel it is a derogatory term and for me to use, it wouldn’t be in the spirit you exude. I have used it recently when referring to the ignorant folks of Duck Dynasty. They are the epitome of the word. And, you do not appear to be like them. As far as I know, you do not think like they do. If and when you do show that type of disdain for people who are different from you, then I will call you a redneck, according to the dictionary definition I have found. Until then, you are the sweet woman behind the blog called Unskinny Boppy who shares parts of her life with us. I don’t, as a rule, hone in on words to dissect. This one felt so out of character that I questioned why you would use it. I have my explanation. In my blog travels, I gloss over so many words and ideas that aren’t worthy of a discussion. Apparently, the word “redneck” was important to me at this time.
[…] just LOVE these dainty little stars-on-a-string? I saw this wooden star garland on a string in Jen Rizzo’s booth at the Cane County Flea Market last month, and I knew that I had to have it. They are […]
[…] Two years ago I was sitting in the middle of an apple orchard in Wisconsin, u-picking apples straight off the trees and reveling in the cool, crisp air. I LOVED our Wisconsin vacation so much, and now every time I think of apple recipes, I’m reminded of that fun 10th anniversary vacation. […]