Day 3

Day 3 of Mr. GV's Fabulous Birthday was the day we chose to spend some time exploring our natural surroundings. This is the front of the B&B where we stayed. Such a marvelous place, and I just can't recommend it enough!

Mr. GV wanted to visit some falls, so we headed out to the Helen, GA area. We stopped at the local winery, but the people at the store were unfamiliar with what was used for the clearing agents (some wines use fish bladder or egg albumin--not vegan obviously) so we went on our merry way. We checked out the antique store, which was chockablock full of goodies. Next was the mill, where we purchased a few items---corn grits and some jams with funny names to send in the nephew's care packages. Mr. GV stepped outside and took this picture behind the mill.

We then ventured on to the falls (Anna Ruby Falls) after passing through more of the town of Helen. We did not stop and look through any of the stores there, as it seemed more or less like another Gatlinburg, TN, with which we are both familiar.

I had brought along the picnic basket that used to belong to my parents, and was determined to get to use it on this trip, so even thought it was chilly and there was some rain misting, we found a pretty spot to picnic.

There's Mr. GV unpacking the picnic basket. Probably we should have had a blanket to sit on, as the stone benches were rather chilly!

We made the best of it though, and enjoyed the scenery no matter the weather. Mr. GV wore my gloves to keep his hands functioning enough to use the utensils.

And I had my scarf to keep my neck warm. Eventually we got smarter and started sitting hip to hip. Ahhh the warmth of sharing body heat with someone!

Our view from where we had our picnic lunch.

Towards the end of our lunch, it started raining much harder and we had to retreat back to the car. There we ate our dessert of cookies and decided we really didn't want to go to the falls that badly. Ha!

We went back to the room for a while and warmed up, then in the afternoon decided to venture out to explore the town square of Dahlonega. We checked out a few of the stores, including the general store where we bought fresh roasted, in-shell peanuts, and some coffee and jams for Mr. GV. The rain cleared out eventually and the sky was lovely. (I believe the gold tip is on a building of the university campus nearby.)

I love old courtsquares.

We saw this when we ducked into a little shopping alley. It gave me a chuckle.

Day 2

On the second day of our vacation, we celebrated the actual birthday of Mr. GV! We had a full day planned, and after a breakfast of greens/tofu scramble, fruit, and muffins, we were off to spend a day in Atlanta!


But first, let me sneak a couple pictures from the night before. Every night at our B&B, we had a wonderful sweet snack prepared for us. The first night was blueberry pie. I don't think I have ever eaten blueberry pie before, but I plan to have it more often! The picture was taken on my cell phone, and does not do the pie justice at all.

After we got settled in our room, we came down for that yummy blueberry pie. And that's when I noticed the picture hanging in the kitchen.

I couldn't believe it was a picture of Creede, Colorado. It turns out our hosts lived near there for a while, and knew all about the town. That is the tiny town where my dad lived for a while when he was young, and the sole purpose of taking our cross country trip with my mom and him two years ago for daddy's 60th birthday. My dad was hospitalized with a serious case of pneumonia while we were in Durango and never made it out to visit Creede. Mr. GV and I went and brought him back some souvenirs, pictures, and video, but it was still a big disappointment to all of us that he never got to visit the town we girls had heard about our entire lives.

After breakfast, we got on our way. Our first stop was Cosmo's, a lovely vegan store. I told Mr. GV to shop his heart out since it was his birthday. He looked at the shirts but decided to just buy some of his favorite food products, which you can see in the picture. Oh, and I picked up a few things too.

After Cosmo's, we decided it was time for lunch, so headed to Green Sprout. There was much perusal of the menu, because we had so many choices!

I ordered wonton soup, which was great on a very chilly day in Atlanta.

This was an order of curry springrolls, and as you can see, I didn't even get a picture before they were scarfed down.

I had sesame chicken (remember, these dishes are all vegan) that came with a ton of broccoli.

Mr. GV had empire chicken, which was spicy.

After lunch, we wanted to go to a movie, but there just wasn't one in the area that was showing at a convenient time, so instead we went to Best Buy so the birthday boy could look at desktop computers.

One funny thing that happened---we were driving around, and Mr. GV says "Don't you remember this area?" I really didn't, until we passed by this odd little intersection. I said "Oh yeah, I remember that shopping center. There was a Jenny Craig and right next door was a Krispy Kreme Donut shop." It's been 14 years since we left Atlanta, and both shops have left, but the intersection brought back that memory. lol We used to laugh at that--- the thought of a weight loss business right beside a donut shop was hilarious to us!


Eventually it was time for dinner, and I knew just the place---Cafe Sunflower. Lunch had not been that long ago, but we wanted to get back to our B&B before it got too late. Those unfamiliar mountain roads are not a lot of fun after dark! We got to Cafe Sunflower right after it opened, and we had the entire place to ourselves. That was kind of fun. We decided to share a large appetizer and then just have dessert.

This is the Sunflower Box, which has potstickers, Sandy Spring rolls, basil rolls, hummus with pita and veggies, and a spaghetti squash cake with a creamy caper tofu coulis. It was all very good, but the squash cake knocked our socks off.

I mentioned to the waiter that we were here for Mr. GV's Big Round Birthday, and we were informed that a free slice of cake was ours! We chose the chocolate mousse cake, and it was soooo good.

Soon after, we headed back to Dahlonega. When we arrived at the B&B we found a chocolate cake waiting for Mr. GV's birthday, and we brought down the bottle of wine and asked our hosts to join us. We all toasted to Mr. GV and sat around the table drinking, talking, and eating. It was a great end to a great day!

The fabulous birthday of the fabulous Mr. GV, Day 1

A couple of days into November, Mr. GV and I headed south to begin a multi-day celebration of his Very Special, Big Round Number, Birthday.

To kick start our vacation we went for our first ever lunch at Sluggo's. The menu is full-on vegan, and it is so freeing knowing you can order anything you want!

First off was an appetizer. We chose potstickers.

Three different sauces were served along with the potstickers.

And they were completely yummy!

We chose two sandwiches to share. Mr. GV had the philly seitan, along with collards and salad.

I had the Berliner (a lot like a Reuben), with salad and garlic mashed potatoes on the side.

After our great lunch we headed to our mystery (well, at least for Mr. GV) destination. I had booked 4 nights at Cedar House Inn and Yurts in Dahlonega, Georgia. We checked in and went upstairs to see our room, the Cardinal Suite. It definately did not disappoint!

It was all very cozy, with a couple of sitting areas, electric fireplace to help take the chill off in the mornings, a minifridge, and a very comfy bed.

Mr. GV couldn't wait to open his birthday presents, so he dived in that evening. My mom gave him a bottle of wine, carrying bag, and 2 wine glasses, all from our local winery.

Mr. GV wanted these strange-looking things---well, strange-looking if you are not into biking that is! They cover his shoes and keep his feet warm.

And his other gift from me, a GPS watch he can use while running or biking, and a couple of accessories to go along with it.

We were pretty tired out since it took us a full day to get to our destination, what with stopping for lunch and winding our way into the North Georgia Mountains. And I had plans for the next day!

Mr GV is having a Very Special Birthday this week, and as such, we are currently on vacation celebrating this fact. So today I'd like to offer up a few things about my wonderful husband:




He loves to ride his bike, whether by himself, with a few bike buddies, or in a large organized ride.

He's very tolerant of the cats and dogs, even when they pile up on top of us in the living room or bed.

He's a wonderful, involved uncle, and his nephew J adores him. His other 2 nephews, 1 niece, and a great-niece and great-nephew don't think he's too bad either. ;)

He doesn't mind helping out with play time, either. (After coming down a big slide at the pumpkin patch.)

He's a hard worker, and a dedicated health care professional.

And sometimes he even takes ME by surprise.

He looooooves him some Starbucks!

But he also loves greens, specifically kale.

Even when he's feeling under the weather, he doesn't mind spending some time with a lil' buddy.

He's a good son. (That's his dad in the picture with him.)

He is an electronics freak. And he loves to read. Thus the Nook, which gives him the best of both of those worlds.


And no matter what, he'll always be Superman to me!



Love you, my wonderful husband! I hope you've had a fun birthday celebration week!

Vegan Baking #2 aka Pucker Up

Mr. GV got to choose the second thing I made from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Actually, he couldn't make up his mind between five or six different recipes, so I put the page numbers on pieces of paper, and we had a kind of drawing.

And the winner was:

LEMON BARS!


First thing is to make the crust, which was delicious! I loved it, and plan to use it as a base in other recipes. Something chocolate perhaps.

A little juicing, a little zesting, and a little mixing. Then you pour it on top of the crust and pop in the oven.

Cut yourself a piece, sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top, and get ready to pucker up!