A Day at Biltmore

The day after Thanksgiving, Jason and I had the privilege of going to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore house. It was exciting and beautiful, to say the least. We had a really good time walking around, touring the house, visiting the gardens, playing with our new camera, and spending time together ;)

Here's a glimpse at our trip. First stop, the tour of the house (can't take pictures inside..but I sure wish you could have!)

Second stop, LUNCH! Take a look at that amazing pretzel. And that huge hot dog.



Then a hike up a hill to take a look at the views of the house/estate...



After the wowing views from the hilltop, we headed down to the gardens. This was probably my favorite part. I got into taking pictures of the flowers, and Jas tried his hand too...



When we finished our garden tour, we made a final stop at some shops on the estate.

All in all, it was a great trip. Thanks mom/pop for the trip for our birthdays! Maybe one day we'll be able to go back as this sweet couple...

And the winner is...

After a week of posting (2 for Jas and 2 for me) the tally is in and the WINNER is about to be declared.

Here is the final collection of comments added up:
Jason--7 total comments
Charity--9 total comments

So who's the winner?
CHARITY E. PALMER..that's right! Guess who gets to choose her favorite restaurant? And guess who gets to post a picture of her husband in one of her dresses? ME!!!

Without further adieu...here's Jason beginning to decorate our Christmas tree in a dress. But don't worry, we decked him out with a little Christmas cheer (aka hat):

Here I would like to quote Jason: "never again..." But I do want to remind him that HE chose the consequences and that's what he gets for thinking he was going to win ;)

So thanks to those of you who helped me win! I have chosen to go to OLIVE GARDEN for dinner..and I am very much looking forward to the salad and breadsticks. Thanks again, friends!

Giving you the Deep Fried Bird for Thanksgiving

Every year I have an insatiable craving for deep fried turkey and no better day to satisfy this unquenchable desire than Thanksgiving day! So with my beautiful bride and a homemade offering of baked brie we set off on the journey of finding this long, elusive deep fried bird. After traveling 5 minutes down the road we came to a house with 5 others in search of the same thing. Here we found the deep fried turkey savior- My dad! Thanks dad, for risking your life to place this rather large bird into the hot cauldron of boiling peanut oil. Thanks mom for purchasing the bird that would be the Thanksgiving sacrifice. Thanks grandma for eating the gizzards, liver, and neck and letting no part of the bird go unscathed. Thanks Marianne and Nathan for the homemade apple pie. And thanks Charity for marrying me so we could spend our first Thanksgiving together today. I love you Sweetie!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! Comment for me so can I win this competition too!

Which fixin' for you?

The competition is tied! And with Thanksgiving right around the corner (literally, tomorrow it's here!) I've got Thanksgiving foods on the brain.

Apparently my students had Thanksgiving foods on the brain also. After their tests yesterday I told them they could draw, read, or work on homework quietly while others finished up. Well, when class was over I received three Thanksgiving cards.

This one made me laugh:


That's a turkey BEFORE and AFTER--ready to eat :)

Adorable! As you can see, he's ready for turkey. Just like me! This year we are having deep fried turkey--I've never had it, so I'm stoked to try it tomorrow.

What are YOU excited about eating tomorrow? What fixin' will fix your hunger? Let's talk FOOD! :)

Signing out,
Mrs. Palmer

Who Do You Love?

The things that I love about Charity:

I love your laughter, I love your smile, I love your eyes, I love your heart for God, I love your tears, I love your touches, I love your hugs, I love your kisses, I love your faith, I love your heart for others, I love your compassion, I love your sincerity, I love your creativity, I love your art, I love your cooking, I love your words, I love your snuggles, I love all of your body, I love your family, I love your charm, I love your input, I love your fears, I love your worries, I love your comfort, I love your glasses, I love your style, I love your nose, I love your freckles, I love your listening ear, I love your encouragement, I love your prayers, I love your jokes, I love all of you!

I figure that I would write down just a few of the things that I love about Charity, so how about you give a shout-out to someone that you love on here too (spouse, family, friends, etc...)

One Happy Husband,

Jason

You and Me

It's time. Blog post #1 for Charity--let the fun begin!

So I know you are out there pondering, thinking, "what in the world is Charity going to blog on today, to make ME comment for HER so that I can see JASON in a dress!" Yes, I know you're thinking that...

This, then, is what I want to tell you. While Jason is quite a creative guy (so much so, he impresses me a lot..he did, after all, create this competition), I also would like to claim some creativity. So what I want to blog about is you. This is a blog on how you would feel if you commented for me TODAY.

Since I am not a particular fan of blogging without a picture, I've come up with a picture to illustrate how you would feel if you commented for me.

Take a look:

That's right! We would be jolly best friends! You would feel content and happy and pleased with yourself for helping me win this competition :) And me, I would be all smiles because you helped me out! So what other option is there!?

Here's what you can do: Leave me a comment suggesting where I should choose to go to dinner when I win this competition ;) Thank you MUCH!

And remember, since you'll be my best friend for commenting, I can make you a finger puppet that's personalized! Come on, go ahead, suggest a restaurant...

Comment for Me!

Last night Charity and I got into a discussion about blogging. During the talk, a small competition ensued. I told her that I could write a post that could get more comments than her and she responded back with an emphatic, "WHATEVER!" So this is where this post comes into play. We came up with a challenge for the upcoming week starting on Monday, November 23 and finishing on Thursday the 26th. That is Thanksgiving Day!! The challenge goes like this: On Monday and Wednesday Charity will blog about whatever she wants and on Tuesday and Thursday I will blog about whatever I want. On Friday we will tally up who has the most comments on their posts for the week. If I, Jason, lose I will have to put on one of Charity's dresses, do a girlie pose in it, take a picture of it, and then have it posted on the blog for the whole world to see!! If Charity loses then she has to post a picture of herself kissing my feet while I am eating grapes like a caesar in his palace!! On top of that the winner gets to choose the restaurant of their liking for date night next week!

In order for this competition to work we have set-up some special guidelines.

1) Jason cannot and will not blog about anything inappropriate

2) We can only count one person's comment per day. For instance if Charity's mom comments on Charity's blog on Monday 3 times we can only count one of her comments for that day's total.

3) In case of a tie, which there should not be because I hope to win, we both will take our punishment and post both pictures on the blog and go to a restaurant that someone can suggest for us on the blog.

Well I hope you all enjoy this game as much as we hope to! Spread the word and start leaving Jason comments :)

Friday "Foto" Funny

One of my favorite blogs, girltalk (C.J. Mahaney's wife and daughters' blog), does something every Friday called "Friday Funnies." They include jokes, pictures, etc. So I am not being incredibly original in this post as I am stealing their idea and tweaking it a bit.

I couldn't help but laugh when I looked over and saw this last night:

That's right, my husband had on grandpa socks! To his credit (and so he doesn't lose cool points..he normally wears short, athletic socks). So this might not make anyone laugh but me, but here it is..your Friday "Foto" Funny!

And the verdict is...

For a while now I have been trying to decide which season is my favorite. I find that all four of the seasons have things I am a fan of, however, I recently decided in the last month or so that FALL officially is my favorite season. Why, you ask? For the following reasons:
1) NO ALLERGIES (for me in the fall, in the spring..yes..ughh...)
2) All the lovely smells of fall (leaves, cinnamon, Thanksgiving foods, etc..)
3) Carving pumpkins! That's just fun...
4) Thanksgiving foods--all of them! From the turkey to the pie..love it all.
5) It's just the right weather..not too hot, or too cold.
6) And finally, nothing trumps the gorgeous colors of fall. The leaves are amazing, the sunsets are beautiful..it's just perfect.

So when I drove in the driveway after work today, I noticed the leaves seemed particularly colorful and bright. It seems to me they have turned colors a little later than normal this year. I couldn't help but take out the camera:



Is God not big and glorious,or what?

Bella or baby?

It's no secret that many people treat their dogs (pets) as children. It's also no secret that we fall into that category. Bella is an amazing dog and very smart. However, she is famous for being a bit (understatement) hyper and overexcited when guests come over. The dog whisperer would have a field day training her in the calming down category. But other than that, and the massive amounts of dog hair I vacuum up daily, Bella is a super duper "child."

We occasionally (I know, I know, and I was complaining about pet hair...) let her on the couch but ONLY when her special blue blanket is there to shield the couch of hair. So last night I let her up on the couch with me while I was relaxing and we snuggled. I then got up to do something else and she didn't budge! I caught her relaxin' in action:


Yeah, she's spoiled.

Motivation Monday

A lot of our motivation for purchasing our new camera came from our desire to travel and do missions. Both Jason and I have been to many different countries and have experienced different cultures. We hope to get better at capturing these different locations and cultures on our future trips. I often spend time looking for photo motivation (as well as inspiration and education in photography) on photo blogs/websites.

Thus was born "Motivation Monday." On this Monday I am going to highlight (or spotlight) one photographer who motivates me to be a photographer (even a non-professional, hobby photographer!). These photos by Pete Carr are stunning and truly capture the essence of the location. Here's a sampling.

I am sure you can see why these photos inspire me so! Thanks, Pete Carr for being a great photographer and inspiring super amateur, beginner photographers like my husband and I.

Go now and check out his other incredible photos.

Photographic Beginnings..

I have always wanted to be a professional photographer. Creativity is something I aspire for daily and along with that comes my secret desires of being a photographer, chef, ballerina..you name it! (I guess they're not so secret now!) No thank you, math and science, right side of the brain I am!

So with that said, Jason and I purchased a digital camera. This is not just any digital camera, this is a sweet digital camera. So sweet that I (or, we, Jason likes trying his hand at it almost as much as I do!) have yet to figure out all its idiosyncrasies. So with out further ado here are our initial attempts at experimenting with our camera. Hopefully, as we develop our photography skills the pictures will improve and delight your eyes :)

Oh, and our camera is a Nikon D3000.




And, our dog is Chinese :)

Ponderings of the Palmer kind...

So it has begun..the start of something new. A blog. Better yet, Palmer Ponderings. The musings of two Palmers (make that three, Bella, our lab, is a member of the family too).

This is just the beginning. There's more to come!