If ever a woman deserves a little love on her birthday, it’s my mom! How she’s walked through some of the hardest things life has to throw and still manages to emerge with a loving, generous, optimistic heart and a smile on her face is amazing. Amazing, but not surprising, as this is genuinely just who she is at her core. I am grateful to be able to call her mom and have the opportunity to celebrate, which is just what we did this past weekend as she turned 70 years young!

Nana’s 70th Birthday

Saturday morning we headed south to meet mom at my Nannie’s house. There was a file cabinet and a chair my mom needed David’s truck’s help with to get to her house. We spent some time walking around the beautiful country land it sits on, then dug up some of her daffodils and blueberry bush offshoots to replant at my house. It was a labor of love, as in Nana versus the blueberry bush, I think the blueberry bush won. I’m hoping the transplants survive the because how special to have a little bit of Nannie’s home at mine.

From there we met my bro and his crew at mom’s house to kick off the evening celebration. We usually prefer a grilling at home dinner kind of celebration, but opted to go out for the evening’s meal to let us all focus more on conversation and just being together. The girls all loved the opportunity to dress up and go to a “fancy” meal. However, you can dress us up but not take us out because if there is an opportunity for a picture in a tree, mom will take it!

We ate dinner at Amore Del Lago, where the service was impeccable and the food was very good as well. The bourbon cocktail left a lot to be desired, so stick to wine. May I recommend the malbec? We all enjoyed it!

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70 Things We love About You

The next day we celebrated with grilling burgers and hot dogs and singing to mom before devouring the lemon bundt cake. She opened her present, which I really should have gotten a picture of. All our family members submitted things they loved about her or a special memory they shared and we put it together into a framed design of “70 Things We love About You” with each person’s initials by their contribution. Spoiler alert- we actually had way over 70 submissions, but still labeled it as so to fit the theme. She’s one loved woman!

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Girls’ Day!

That day we headed back home and mom met us there. I showed her my garden progress and made steak and scallops as a celebratory dinner. We all slept well that night and on Monday morning, mom and I took off for the experience I had so been looking forward to treating her to- a girls’ day at The Omni Grove Park Inn!

Our new house is just an hour from Asheville, so we took off early to get breakfast in town before continuing on. We thoroughly enjoyed our cappuccinos and breakfast selections at Sunny Point Cafe! With full bellies we headed to check in, drop our luggage, and head right to the spa. While I have been inside the spa before I’d never had a treatment and neither had mom; both of us were giddy with anticipation!

We arrived in time to savor it all. We did the hot tub and the adjacent cold plunge (3 times each!), the mineral pool, the lap pool, the outdoor hot tub, the steam room, the sauna, and the straight up just sit here and relax room. When we felt like wet noodles, we both had our massages and we agreed that we both had one of the best massages ever, complete with essential oils incorporated into the experience. It was exquisite! There are no electronics or photography allowed inside the spa, but I can promise you this- it’s dreamy.

We finally dragged our contented selves out of there in the later afternoon in time to check into our room and head to the sunset terrace for a drink and a snack. We wandered the hotel, reading the history, then settled into our dinner spot, The Edison. Mom had the trout and I went with a garlic black rice and quinoa bowl. We never stopped gawking at the view; trust me when I say it’s impossible to capture on camera. And we just chatted about all the life things. It was so, very nice to have uninterrupted time just with mom.

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True to form, we were tucked happily into our beds by 9:15, just the way we like it. The next morning we got cappuccinos and sat by the massive fireplace in the lobby. We indulged in the Blue Ridge Room breakfast buffet and took in the view one final time before departing.

It was such a special thing to be able to share this experience with my mom and celebrate her. She’s a special lady, beautiful inside and out, and I’m lucky to have her as my mom. Happy birthday, mama!