Since my 3 year project at work ended last Friday, hubby and I decided to take a long vacation. Since I get a good number of vacation days, but not an enormous one, a one week vacay is pretty long for us.
But first…in very exciting news, I FINALLY upgraded my camera!! I am now the proud owner of a gorgeous Nikon D7000. If anyone’s interested, I can do a post about my research process and why I chose the camera I did. I’ve wanted to get this camera since about December 2010, but I’ve just wanted to wait till I was sure in my decision and had the money saved up.
I decided my very first photo with the camera should be of (you probably guessed it) Bailey!
Anywho, hubby and I took off Sunday Asheville-bound with visions of relaxation and other mountain-vacation visions in our head. The drive was pretty short, and I decided to make the trip productive by reading through the D7000 guide. The book is pretty large, but I tried to focus on the sections on where all the buttons were since they’re very similar to my Canon. It’s more a matter of figuring out where everything is! I’m not looking forward to the learning curve, but I am looking forward to enjoying my new camera.
Once we got to the bed and breakfast, we were greeted by the assistant manager…and cake…and wine.
We decided to enjoy a quick snack on the porch and then take Bailey on a walk through the gardens.
I researched the restaurants of Asheville in the last couple weeks using yelp.com and your recommendations on my blog’s Facebook wall. I made a list of the places I really wanted to visit, but I also like local expertise. So, I asked the assistant manager for recommendations, and we decided to visit one of this.
We hit up Vicenzo’s – a Northern Italian restaurant. They had an upstairs and downstairs and let us choose. We wanted a place that was casual and relaxed, so the downstairs fit the bill.
I shot all the photos on this post with my new camera. Taking photos during the day was pretty straightforward, but working the new camera in extremely low lighting was a bit more of a challenge. I couldn’t quite get it to focus the way I wanted.
Anywho, we were greeted with fresh-baked bread, and olive oil with parmesan.
I once saw Giada make a delicious looking dish on Food TV – arancini. Balls of risotto stuffed with cheese. Yum. I knew we had to order them when I saw them on the menu. They had sundried tomatoes and provolone – tasty!
For the main event – Chicken Marsala, which was great…and I even ate the mushrooms!
And for dessert – tiramisu – made on site. It was fantastic!
But one of the best parts of the dinner – enjoying the music of the piano man – Steve Whiddon.
Steve, without my even requesting it, played several of my favorite songs:
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Let It Be
- Music of the Night
And Steve even gave me a CD of his original songs! I can’t wait to listen to them.
After dinner, we headed back to the bed and breakfast to relax. Ahhhh….
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like a fantastic vacation! So glad you finally get to take some time off. I would like to know about your research with the camera.not sure if I’ll be upgrading anytime soon, but would like to in the future. Enjoy your relaxing getaway!
Thanks! Alrighty, either I’ll do a post, or maybe I’ll just email you some of my research?
glad you got to take a vacation! sounds like it was great
Thanks, Sarah!
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Just found your comment in my spam folder! Sorry for the delayed response. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Ah, Greg and I have been to Vincenzo’s! A guy at our Asheville office recommended it to me and it did not disappoint! Great Italian food. I remember the immediate smell of garlic upon walking in. We did sit upstairs when we went!
Neat! The upstairs room was really nice, too. I think we’d pick between the up and down sections based on our mood. lol.