Barnsley Gardens

Posted on December 15, 2013 by sghamer

1775-Our Cottage

Over the past six months, My Man and I have had to cancel two vacations due to f-ing cancer. One was our one week summer trip to Northern Michigan and the other was our 13 year anniversary cruise. After all the treatments and doctor appointments we were ready to get away. We wanted to take a trip that The Boy could go on and where they would have activities for him to do. We talked about going to a few places but in the end decided on Barnsley Gardens in Northern Ga. Reasons why we picked it:

1. No plane fare

2. Easy Drive

3. Things for The Boy to do

4. Good Food and Wine for me and My Man to eat/drink

5. Timber Friendly!!

PET FRIENDLY

Beyond being merely pet-friendly, our luxury Georgia resort offers guests an ideal getaway for dog lovers with more than 3,300 acres of natural beauty. Hike the historic grounds highlighted by architectural ruins and landscaped gardens, or snuggle fireside during the colder months in a cozy cottage living room. It’s enough to make pet lovers want to stay awhile.

Pampered Pooch
Bring your furry friend for a getaway on any standard two-night package in a Suite or Arbor Cottage and we’ll waive the pet fee of $75 per stay during your visit. Please mention Pampered Pooch at the time of booking.

Pet-Friendly Resort
There is no better place in Georgia to travel with furry family members. With more than 10 miles of hiking trails and beautiful gardens to explore, outdoor sitting areas with fire pits, lawn games and outdoor dining venues such as the Beer Garden and Rice House Herb Garden, your four-legged friend is certain to feel like a pampered pooch.

There are no pet weight limits at Barnsley Gardens Resort. While we do not require pets to be crated, we do require that all dogs stay on leashes while in the village. All of our public facilities are open to pets, with the exception of the spa, fitness center, pool area and indoor restaurants (due to local health codes).

Pet friendly accommodations include our Garden or Meadow Suites and Arbor Cottages. Standard amenities for pets include pet beds, bowls, bottled water and treats. Pet sitting may be arranged with advance notice.

Barnsley Gardens Resort partners with PAWS Atlanta, a non-profit, no kill shelter dedicated to finding forever homes for dogs and cats.

How COOL is that!? Super cool!

We booked our trip for December 12th thru 15th. We asked for the Arbor Cottage thinking it would be perfect for the three of us and Timber. And it was! We arrived a little after 3pm and was able to check right in. Timber was so excited to see where he would be hanging out for the next three days.

Goodies too!

A Bed For Timber

They had a cushion for him to sleep on, snacks, a food and water dish and even a cool key-chain poop bag dispenser thingy! So nice! For us the had a box of goodies and two bottles of wine! They gave us a new box of filled with the goodies and two bottles of wine each day. We ended up taking home the six bottles of wine and will save them for the Christmas when we have family in town.

Welcome Balloons!

Goody Box!

After we got settled in, we all took a walk around the property.

Main Street

My Boys!

The Boy found ice!

We had 5:30 dinner reservation at Woodlands Grill. We of course ordered way to much food and had to rolled out of there!

Dinner

We walked back to the cottage and grabbed Timber. We heard the ruins would be all lit up and wanted to check it out. It was very cold out but the ruins looked beautiful!

After our walk, we went back to the cottage and lit a fire in the fire-place. It was a wonderful night! More to come!

Posted on December 12, 2013 by sghamer

Reader’s! How has your week been? Mine has been busy! I am sorry I have not updated for a few days but the week has zoomed by me. I have been going to my daily radiation treatments (8 down and 19 more to go!) and working. It is a short week for us at The Hotel Yorba. After canceling three trips in the last six months, we have left the ATL for a short family trip. I am writing you from Barnsley Gardens Resort. After today’s treatment, we checked The Boy out of school and head to northern GA. Great thing about Barnsley Gardens is that they allow dogs! Another trip for Timber! I will be posting all about our adventures soon.

It has been raining in the ATL for the last week. The Majestic is a mess and the girls have been wet and are in the middle of molting. Poor things. Poppy looks terrible and she knows it.

Yummy worms!

Poppy molting

I said no pictures!!

Have a wonderful night!

Happy Weekend!

Posted on December 7, 2013 by sghamer

The Boy and The Man in Red

On Thursday we braved the rainy weather and went to get our Christmas Tree. We have been going to Home Depot for years to get our tree. They have a large amount to choose from and the prices are great. They were having an event when we got there. The Boy got to visit with Santa, pick a prize out, won a Home Depot football, an Atlanta Aquarium key chain, had a bag of popcorn and some hot coco. The best part was that since we bought a tree and no one was there (crappy weather), we got four free tickets to the Aquarium! That is almost a $200 value! Far more than the tree ended up costing. Sweet.

Saint Nick was here!

On Friday the machine that administrates my radiation was having issues. I ended up waiting 45 minutes before I got finally got zapped. The wait wasn’t so bad. They had a volunteer with a cart of snacks and water for us. The day before I walked in and saw two dogs in the waiting room. My first thought was “We can bring our dogs? Sweet!” Yeah, no. These we’re working dogs. I got to meet Bijou who is a Bichon Frise. He was very cute and sat next to me while I petted him. His owner said they go all over Atlanta visiting people and come to Emory once a month.

Iron Horse!

This week we have gotten lots of yummy wine! Six bottles from Big Table Farm and three from Iron Horse!

Yummy!

On Friday night, The Boy went to a Gingerbread House party. The party was at his friend’s house. His mom told me they had three grades represented: 3rd, 5th and 6th. She has 3 boys (bless her heart!) and this was the third year of having the party. When I picked him up, the boys were watching Duck Dynasty and my boy was eating a tube of icing. Nice.

Saturday

I slept in till about 8:45am on Saturday and it was wonderful. I am already feeling the effects of the radiation. I have been so tired and feeling just plain out of it. Sleeping in and having a day off from the radiation has made all the difference. I even went to workout with SK today! My left knee was killing me and I am weak on my right side but I think I did ok. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get back to where I was in June. But I am ready! I am going to head back to the gym tomorrow to do some cardio.

The Boy hard at work.

All done!

When I got home it was time to decorate the tree and watch some football. My team lost last week in an epic game against Auburn. If you saw the game you know what I mean. That being said, I really wanted Auburn to when the SEC Championship and they did. Now, my second favorite team, Michigan State, is playing and I want them to win for two reasons. I want them to beat Ohio State and if they do then Auburn goes to the BCS Championship game. I would LOVE FSU to lose cause if that happen, then Alabama would also go! But that isn’t going to happen. However Auburn must go and win the whole damn thing. See, the state of Alabama doesn’t have that much going for it. If it weren’t for Mississippi and Louisiana it would be ranked last in almost everything. But if Auburn could go and win the championship, then a team from Alabama would have won the last 5 National Championships! Auburn, Alabama, Alabama, Alabama, Auburn. Now you understand Reader’s! Cross them fingers! GO MSU!!! Sparty is the MAN!

Big Table Farm

Posted on December 5, 2013 by sghamer

Big Table Farm

My Man gave me a surprise last night. Six bottles of Big Table Farm wine. My Man and I were introduced to the wine when we went out to dinner a few weeks ago at Empire State South. Big Table Farm is run by a husband and wife team, Brian Marcy and Clare Carver, (I think they are married) and they look like such cool people. I really want to hang out with them on their farm. I love the farm, their chickens (of course), pigs, cows, etc. My Man ended up e-mailing and then talking to Tiffany and ordered one of each of their wines. In fact, one was no longer available on the website and they found one for us! Thanks Tiffany! She checked out My Hotel Yorba blog and also has a cat that squeaks like Simon!

Clare Carver draws and paints all the labels for the wine bottles. I love her paintings of her chickens! How cool would it be for her to paint portraits of The Girls?!?

Big Table Farm

Our Labels

The labels on our wines are made by hand using a letterpress and thick printmaking paper and then hand cut. You will notice the labels are much thicker and have a wonderful texture due to the printing process used. We then hand apply each lable. These Labels are also more fragile than most so each bottle is then carefully wrapped in tissue. While very labor-intensive, this makes for an elegant package that not only befits its contents but also produces less waste than traditional label printing. The art is drawn by Clare and are inspired by our life here at Big Table Farm often featuring a food product or animal from the farm. You can count on the label art being as unique as each vintage of wine.—From Big Table Farm website.

Big Table Farm

What My Man ordered:

2011 Cattrall Vineyard Pinot Noir 750ml

2011 Wirtz Vineyard Pinot Noir 750 ml

2011 Sunnyside Vineyard Pinot Noir 750ml

2011 Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir 750ml

2011 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 750ml

2010 Big Table Farm Syrah 750ml

We love our Pinot Noir! I can’t wait to open our first bottle. Check out the video that tells you all about Big Table Farm and its history. Watching it will make you want a glass of wine, some delicious food and a chicken or two!

Shout Out!!

Melissa & Eric D. & The D. Family- Thank you so much for the Love With Food subscription! That was so kind of you guys! I am so looking forward to the first shipment and will post all about it.

I survived!

Posted on December 4, 2013 by sghamer

I survived Reader’s!

Yesterday was my first radiation treatment and I am happy to say all went well. Well, for me that is. Turns out I had company with me yesterday. I got a call from the school around 8:30am from the school nurse saying The Boy had a headache. As many of you are aware, the school nurse can’t give a child any kind of medication. So I threw some clothes on, put on a hat, grabbed some Tylenol and Timber and headed to the school. By the time I got there, he was already back in his classroom. The nurse called him down and I gave him the medication. He said his head hurt really bad and that he wanted to come home. I told him I had to go the hospital and that he would have to come and that there would be no TV or iTouch. He said he didn’t care. I wasn’t in the mood to argue and to be honest he did look pitiful.

Doc Chey’s!

To make a long story short, after a couple of hours of sleep, The Boy seemed fine. We went and grabbed lunch at Doc. Chey’s which is by the hospital. He was perfect in the waiting room asking me all kinds of questions about the treatments. All the RN’s fell in love with him and he read his book without being told too. He wasn’t allowed in the room during the actual treatment but sat right out side of the room.

I was felt up by 3 women! Woot! One thing you will have to get use to while going under treatment for cancer, is that strangers are going to see most of if not all of you, butt ass naked. Yep. Naked. Wonderful. Just when you feel at your best! NOT. Anyway, my ladies were really cool and even asked me what kind of music I wanted to listen to while they zapped me. The Black Keys were Tuesdays featured artist. The whole thing took about 20min. I think today’s will only take about 10min and I am going to ask for The Avett Brothers.

After we left and got home, the boy did his homework and went to play on his iTouch (I caved). We were planning on meeting his dad at Home Depot to get our Christmas Tree but when I went up to get him, I found him passed out. I took his temp and it was 101! What? What? The Boy was sick! He had a temp all night and complained about his head and tummy. When I took his temp this morning it was 99.5. I told him to go back to sleep. My Man will be staying home with him today while I head to treatment.

I am told it will take a week or two to notice some of the side effects of the radiation. The two I have been told about is fatigue and burning of the skin where they zap me. The burn should fade a few weeks after treatment is over.

It has been rainy here in the ATL for the past few days. The Girls are not liking it at all. I hope that the sun comes out soon! How about where you are? Sun? Snow? Rain?

Pictures and Update

Posted on December 3, 2013 by sghamer

I am BACK Reader’s! How are you? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat too much? Did you drink too much? I did! There was so much food and yummy wine around all week it was hard to say no. The golf cart was a blast to drive and Timber loved to ride in it with us.

Here are a few updates that have happen while I was on vacay.

I am able to wear my bra for more than an hour before the pain kicks in! Woot!
Yesterday I SHAVED my legs. It took me awhile to find my razor and I had no shaving cream but I that didn’t stop me. Needless to say, I picked some up at Target.
My left eyebrow has fully grown back. My right one is close but is growing in a crazy way. It is going to feel strange but I am going to have to go get them waxed soon.
There is some serious fuzz growing on my head. It is very soft and I like to rub my hand across it every so often. So does The Boy.
It was COLD at the beach last week. What’s up with that?

Timber is a wonderful traveler. He did great in the car and loved being at the beach with the family.

The plan was that my niece, Hailiegh, and I were going to go see new Hunger Games movie while I was down there. Turns out my dad and mom wanted to see it too. And not to be left out, so did My Man. So on Tuesday we all headed out in the pouring down rain to the movie theater and saw the movie. I loved it! My niece loved it! My dad loved it! My Mom liked it. My Man thought it was ok. We have plans to see the next one next Thanksgiving. Can’t wait!