Exploring the simple pleasures in life.
After many years of effort, I have found that the key to true happiness comes with learning to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. It’s in the awesome feeling that you have when the garden is full of beautiful banana peppers. It comes from spending time with the people you love and sharing fantastic adventures with them. This Uncomplicated Life is my way of sharing my journey into finding and enjoying the simple pleasures.
Ozark Trail Instant Double Villa Cabin Tent Review
We purchased the Ozark Trail Instant Double Villa Cabin Tent because we thought it would be a nice addition to our festival set-up. It was a great buy. We set it up as one corner of our festival compound. We used one room as a changing room and the other as a chill room with an inflatable sectional sofa. We even took a nap on the sofa when it was too hot to sleep in our regular tent. The tent is a total of 23 feet long and 11 1/2 feet wide. The ceiling is 76 inches high so the tent has plenty of room. There are two separate rooms each with two doors and windows all around. The tent has mesh panel ceilings so there is plenty of ventilation. Other great features are the pocket organizers and electrical access ports in each room. The front porch has an extended awning for shade and the back porch has an overhang offering shade there as well. The best part of this massive tent is it is a popup. It takes only a few minutes to put it up. While it might be possible for one person to do it, I would say that working [...]
Budget is Not a Dirty Word
Budget...the word connotes something negative, restrictive, designed to ruin our fun. I have found, though, that living with a budget is freeing. Once we established a budget and started living within that budget, we were able to waste less and do more. It doesn't really matter how much money you make. Provided you have enough for the essentials in life, food, clothing and shelter, the rest is just a matter of living within your means. Someone who makes $100,000 a year, but spends $100,100 will have a much more stressful life financially than someone who makes $50,000, but only spends $49,900. I have our budget set up on a spreadsheet (yes I am that girl). I have a line in the budget for everything that we spend money on. Obviously, we include rent, groceries and all the bills in our budget. I also include a line for beer, eating out, getting my hair done, our monthly adventures, Christmas and of course savings. Savings is at the top of our budget, just under the rent. We make savings a priority and money designated for savings is never considered when we make decisions about new expenses. We also have a number of methods that we [...]
A Waterfall, a Bear and Lots of Rocks
Our latest adventure started while talking to a co-worker. During a conversation about some of the cool trips we have taken, he asked if we had ever been to the Devil's Marbleyard. I told him we would check it out. After looking it up, we put it on the "places we definitely want to explore" list. The night before our trip ended up being a very late night at work, so we opted to sleep a little longer and not stop for breakfast (we did hit the Mickey D's drive-thru on our way out of town). Having grown up in the Virginia mountains, I absolutely love them. I don't think I will ever not feel that moment of sheer delight when I catch my first glimpse of them. With a smile on my face, we continued our trek into the mountains really enjoying the scenery. Our first stop was a lackluster lunch at Penny's Diner just off the interstate. After lunch, we meandered down the back roads to Roaring Run Falls. There is a nice sized parking lot and rustic bathroom facilities. The hike to the falls is just over 1/2 mile and follows a stream. There are nice bridges to use [...]
Foothill Momma’s BBQ Juke Joint Review
As we headed home from our latest adventure we picked Foothill Momma's BBQ Juke Joint in Lexington, VA for dinner. As we approached the restaurant we saw an old truck turned smoker with a sign on it that said "Smoke Meat, Not Meth!" and were immediately happy with our choice, if for nothing else but the entertainment factor. As we entered the restaurant we were cheerfully greeted. I liked the vibrant red and blue walls with white trim. There were beautiful somewhat abstract paintings of various blues artists throughout. Our server, Jo, was a delight; friendly, helpful and attentive. We started with Catfish Strips. The wild-caught Virginia blue catfish was nicely battered, perfectly cooked and served with a creole rémoulade. They were tasty and a great way to start the meal. As we wanted to taste everything we shared the Juke Joint Sampler Platter. The platter included charbroiled chicken, freshly smoked local sausage, smoked pork BBQ and beef brisket. We chose macaroni and cheese, slaw and collard greens as our sides. The dish also included cornbread with honey butter. There was enough food for us to fill up and take some home with us. On the table there were three [...]
Penny’s Diner Review
On our latest adventure, we stopped at Penny's Diner in Low Moor, Virginia. It had great ratings and we were looking forward to lunch there. Our experience, however, was less than stellar. Our visit started off well enough. The diner was an old school silver diner building. When we walked in an employee greeted us and told us to sit anywhere. We picked a booth and our server approached us in a reasonable time. After reviewing the menu we were ready to order. Chris ordered the Frisco burger. Our server informed us that they were out of sourdough but they could make the sandwich with Texas Toast. We were fine with that. He added chili and cheese to his fries as well. I ordered the Mushroom Swiss Burger with fried apples. After a few minutes, our server let us know that they were out of mushrooms so I opted for the Cowboy Chili Cheeseburger instead. When our food arrived I received a burger that looked like a combination of two burgers, the one I had ordered and the Western Burger. There was no chili, but instead, it had bacon. I considered letting our server know that I had the wrong burger but [...]
Kevin’s Atlantic City Adventure
When our oldest son, Joe, was about 16 years old we decided that it would be a cool idea to take him to Las Vegas for his 21st birthday. Excited by the idea, he looked forward to the trip for years. Unfortunately when his big birthday was quickly approaching a trip to Vegas was not at all in the budget. I found a Groupon for Atlantic City and we decided it would be the next best thing. We made the trip and he had a blast. We decided to make it our tradition to take our boys on the trip when they each turned 21. This year our youngest, Kevin, reached his 21st birthday, so now it was his turn. We made plans to go to Bally's once again. We really enjoy Bally's. Without leaving the building you have access to three casinos and many places to eat. We found a great deal on the room that came with a $20 food credit as well. Kevin had snagged free tickets to a concert at Penn State the night before we planned to leave so we met him in Richmond and then went to lunch at Riverbound Cafe. After lunch, we were on [...]
Cafe Roma Review
For our last morning in Atlantic City, we headed to Caesars to go to Cafe Roma for breakfast. They also offer a breakfast buffet, but again we opted to order from the menu. It excited me to see that Cafe Roma offers four types of eggs benedict. I went with the Italian Crostini Benedict with arugula, prosciutto and herb hollandaise over a parmesan toasted crostini. When I broke into the egg, the silky yolk spread over the enticing dish, which delighted me. The creamy, savory dish was delicious. The crispy crostini added a perfect texture contrast to the dish. Chris ordered the Steak and Eggs Benedict with grilled sirloin, roasted mushrooms, Bernaise sauce and crispy leeks over hash browns. The steak was a wonderful medium rare but unfortunately, the overcooked eggs did not yield the creamy, rich sauce that I had. Kevin ordered the Blueberry Streusel Pancakes and was happy with the giant stack. The pancakes come with creamy vanilla syrup, topped with blueberries and streusel. The downside to the meal was the service. Our server had a very pronounced accent, which would have been fine except he spoke so fast that we could not understand most of what he [...]
Buca di Beppo Review
On our first morning in Atlantic City we headed to Buca di Beppo for the breakfast buffet. After looking at the buffet we opted to order from the menu instead. We started off with mimosas. Our server, Jason, was friendly, personable and very helpful. I was able to order the Uncle Jerry without green peppers. The Uncle Jerry is Italian porchetta, basil, provolone, sun-dried tomato pesto and parmesan over home fries. The porchetta was dry for my taste, but the flavor combination was good. Chris ordered the Affumicato "Saltimbocca", omelette-style eggs with smoked salmon and dill mascarpone with tomato-caper lemon butter. The dish was absolutely wonderful and more than enough food. Kevin enjoyed the Waffles Milanese. The waffles, topped with chicken, poached eggs and Italian sausage gravy and served over home fries, are a beautiful combination of sweet and savory. Cost for three mimosas, three entrees and a cup of coffee $68.69.
Guy Fieri’s Chophouse Review
When we arrived at Bally's in Atlantic City we were hungry. Guy Fieri's Chophouse offered a three-course menu for $39, which seemed like a great deal, so we headed to the 6th floor for dinner. We chose a high-top table in the bar area and Skywalker quickly greeted us. Apparently, Guy Fieri is really into nicknames so the employees may use one on their name tag. Our server was helpful with suggestions about the menu. I ordered the Cadillac Margarita which was potent and very tasty. A boxed liquor bottle in the center of the bar intrigued us. After asking about it, we found out that it was a tequila by Guillermo del Toro. At $35 a shot, we decided that we would just enjoy looking at the beautiful bottle. As good as the special menu looked, we opted for burgers. We started with Triple T Fries. The wide, flat cut of the fries was unique as if done with a spiralizer. The fries, tossed in black truffle and truffled cheese and served with a white truffle aioli were simply amazing and enough for the three of us to share. Kevin and I each had the Bacon Mac 'N Cheese [...]
Imagine Festival Adventure
Our camping adventures started with a trip to Imagine Festival last year. It was an opportunity to see music that I love, the big draw being Tiesto and Deadmau5. Who knew that the trip would launch an entirely new lifestyle for us? And what a wonderful life change it has been. We enjoyed the festival so much that we purchased our tickets for this year very quickly after our return home. We have been getting ready for this year's trip for most of the year. We acquired a large two-room tent, an inflatable sectional sofa, an inflatable lounge chair and other small things to enhance our festival experience. We started prepping meals about a week before the trip. Last year it was the two of us, our son Joe and his girlfriend Bridget. This year we had a group of ten, which made the trip that much more fun. We all purchased the early day ticket which allowed us to start camping on Thursday, a wonderful choice. Most of the group went down on Wednesday and spent the night in Atlanta. Chris and I worked Wednesday night. After work, we finalized the last of our food preparations and headed out at [...]
Riverbound Cafe Review
On our way to Atlantic City, we had to stop in Mechanicsville to meet Kevin as he was returning from a concert at Penn State so we decided to stop by Riverbound Cafe for lunch. They were busy so we opted to sit at the bar. Rhonda, our bartender, was friendly, but not overly conversational and the mimosas were refreshing. Riverbound Cafe has brunch on Sunday until 2:00. They offer several types of eggs Benedict, traditional, with crab cakes and vegetarian. I went with the traditional and to my delight, the eggs were perfectly poached. There is just something about that beautiful, silky yolk flowing out of the egg as you cut into it that is simply amazing. Chris started with fried oysters which were nicely breaded and tasty. He also ordered the Sailor with a fried egg. The sandwich served on rye has pastrami and knockwurst with Swiss cheese. Chris found the meat to bread ratio disappointing and had difficulty eating the sandwich without it falling apart. Kevin enjoyed his Pittsburgh Wrap, grilled chicken with lettuce, tomato, boardwalk fries, cheese, and ranch. Kevin is a Patriots fan and I love the Dolphins, so we were happy that we were able [...]
Kephi Greek Kitchen Review
We went to Kephi Greek Kitchen in Williamsburg. I loved how beautiful the decor in the restaurant was. By the front door is a display of infused oils and two pastry cases. The music makes you feel as if you have stepped into Greece. Daniel seated us immediately. He was friendly and helpful with navigating the menu. Chris enjoyed Greek beer while I opted for a Santorini Sunrise cocktail. We started with the Grilled Octopus, served over a bed of arugula. It was the best octopus I have eaten. It had a delicate flavor with no rubbery feel at all. We also ordered the Kephi Cold Pikilia with caviar dip, grilled eggplant dip, tzatziki, stuffed grape leaves, kalamata olives, and grilled pita. The dish was very good, especially the incredible tzatziki. I ordered the Pasta Kotopoulo, a marinated chicken breast over pasta with garlic, basil, and Roma tomatoes. Chris opted for the house specialty, Kotsi Arniso, braised lamb shank over pasta. You could taste that the lamb shank had been slowly braised. Both dishes were bright and very flavorful, although I preferred the lamb. We ended up taking home enough food for another meal and of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity for [...]