Business trips are such a downer.

In most cases I would definitely agree with this statement. However, our latest trip to the NC mountains would not fit into this category at all.
Adam and I accompanied Mike and Emilee this year on their annual Christmas trip to Asheville. We went up for 3 specific reasons.

1.) To get a Christmas tree from a "cut your own" tree farm.

2.) To visit with an old friend from high school.

3.) And most importantly, to find some furniture. Asheville being the hub of the antique furniture market.

We, very happily, accomplished all 3!! We spent plenty of time shopping around for goodies to add to the enormous "need to paint" pile in my garage. Plus, Emilee found a few additions for her photography prop collection. The next day we went to brunch at a cute little restaurant right in the middle of downtown and met up with our friends Lynell and Don and her 2 girls. We had a fabulous time catching up and everyone meeting one another. Her girls were so sweet and incredibly well behaved. It made me a little regretful we didn't bring Harper. However, the night before when we were bar hoping and that morning when we slept until 10 completely justified our decision.
From brunch we headed off to find our perfect tree. We followed Em and Mike since they had been there before and wanted to revisit the same farm. As we got further and further up the mountain we began to see more and more snow. The irony of the situation is that Adam and Kenny had switched trucks the night before we drove up because Adam has been having some issues with his engine and we didn't want to get stuck in Asheville or have to have it towed back to Raleigh...$$$. Kenny's truck is much newer and more reliable so it seemed like a no brainer to make the switch. Ha Ha. We in fact traded a possible breakdown with 4 wheel drive and good tires, for a great running truck with 2 wheel drive and bad tires. We got about 20 feet down the road to the tree farm when we decided it wasn't such a good idea. Too late! It took us 15 mins and several attempts to get back to solid ground. We then got in the truck with Em and Mike (I, on Emilee's lap, and Adam in the bed of the truck) and proceeded down a very steep, very windy ice covered road. This was definitely one of those dilemmas you pray your kids are smart enough never to get into. Any way, we made it safely to the house only to find...THEY WERE CLOSED DO TO THE ROADS!! Then we got stuck in their driveway.
Blah, blah, blah, we eventually got out with the help of a random guy and found our way to another tree farm that was open and ready for business. Keep in mind it was 19 degrees and snowing during all of this so it made for a beautiful but FREEZING cold experience.

We had a fabulous time and can't wait to make it back next year.