November 22 - December 22

This has been a busy busy month as you can imagine. We've had lots of Christmas parties and events to attend. We also spent a weekend in Gatlinburg and went to Dollywood for a day.

On the Nov 22nd we attended the annual Festival of Trees with our friends Joy and Wayne. We had a great time rubbing elbows with the Whose Who of Spartanburg. They had lots of nice items up for bid as this is one of the Hospital Foundation's main fund raisers. Every bid rose higher than my budget so we just watched the rich and famous bid higher and higher and pay way more than anything was worth. It is fun to watch rich people spend money.

Anyway this was for a good cause and we had a great time. The band was very good. A fellow member of our neighborhood homeowners association was the drummer. They played mostly oldies from the 60's and 70's so we really enjoyed the music.

We left on the 4th for Gatlinburg. We had a great cabin with a great view and all the comforts of a luxury home. We had a hot tub outside on the deck but it was so cold we didn't make it out there. We played pool and Foosball in the basement and enjoyed cuddling by the fire in the living room and watching movies. It was a great weekend and gave Susan and me a chance to unwind, relax, and get ready for the craziness of the coming Christmas season.

Here we are about to enjoy dinner at a restaurant in downtown Gatlinburg after shopping.

Here we are on the deck of our cabin. The view was spectacular.

Dollywood was great. We spent the entire day running from show to show. We especially enjoyed all the Christmas lights. The place is beautiful at Christmas and I highly recommend going if you haven't. We are not mountain people. We prefer the beach. However, if I go to the mountains, and especially Gatlinburg, I only want to go at Christmas. The town is beautiful with all the Christmas lights they put up. We watched the parade and had a great time. We also did some Christmas shopping.

A small sample of the lights at Dollywood.

On the 9th we attended the Spartanburg Christmas Parade downtown. We hooked up with some of Susan co-workers and enjoyed watching the lighted floats and listening to the local high school bands. The parade is allot better than it use to be. It's at night and they have more bands.

On the 12th we went to a pajama party (yes, I said pajama party) but not like what you are thinking. It was just a party at Susan's co-worker's house where we all wore our pajamas. There were 6 couples there and we played games, exchanged gag gifts, and had appetizers and drinks. It was allot of fun.

On the 15th, Susan went to a jewelry making class and I attended a Lutheran Men's Christmas party stag. It wasn't too bad since I did get to eat and I got Susan a nice snowman canister in our Dirty Santa game. She was very pleased even though I sacrificed a bottle of wine for it.

That's about it for now. Christmas is coming Thursday and we are pretty much ready except for the last minute food shopping we have to get done. We'll have Susan's sister and brother-in-law for Christmas dinner along with my Mom, the kids and their husbands. The house will be full and we will exchange gifts and eat like there is no tomorrow.

Church and choir has kept us busy but my Dave Ramsey class finished up Sunday and we also had our Christmas Music program.

We are planning to go out for dinner Tuesday with the kids so I'm looking forward to that.

I'll update the blog after Christmas and post some more photos then.

October 1 - November 8, 2008

Sorry but I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to update the Heatherly blog in a while. Here is the scoop for the past few weeks.

October was super busy. We had something going on every weekend.

October 2nd:

The annual Hanger B Ball, a charity event for Spartanburg Regional Hospital. Our dear friends Joy and Wayne graciously get us tickets every year. This year was the best ever. One of my favorite bands, The Little River Band, performed and we had a ball they are one of those bands from the 70's that had hit after hit and you can still sing along because you heard them so often you still have the lyrics in your mind. The food was great as usual. Some of our other friends from Church were there so we really enjoyed it.

October 3rd:

Alan Jackson Concert at the BiLo Center in Greenville. Alan put on a terrific concert as usual. He tries to sing as many of his hits as he can but there is no way in a two hour concert. Trace Atkins was there also. We're not fans of his. All in all, it was a great show and we had a great time.

October 4th:

Greer SC Oktoberfest: We had fun listening to Oomph music, drinking German beer and eating brats. It was all great. The funniest thing was a duo (two ladies) who sang and played the keyboard and accordion. It was like watching the Saturday Night Live skit Will Ferrel use to do. But they were serious. What a hoot.

October 6th:

This was our daughter Kristen's birthday. We did the traditional phone calls and send gift cards but since it was a work day, that's about all we could do. She is 29, the age we all want to be and remain at. Sorry daughter, you want be there but a year so hang on to it and enjoy it as much as you can while you're there.

October 11th:

Our Empty Nester Group at Church had their annual Oktoberfest at the home of Donnie and Ed Barnes. We had around 30 there and boy did we chow down on some great German food. This was a fun evening socializing with our Church buds. Never a dull moment with this crowd. Pictured above are friends MaryAnn and Fred in their German attire.

October 13th:

I was summoned for jury duty this week and the next. Luckily I wasn't chosen but it really messed up my week. It was a capital murder trial and I really struggled with the thought of having decide if someone would live or be put to death. Turns out the jury that was chosen did find him guilty and gave him the death penalty.

October 18th:

We had a party at our friends Jim and Mary. We played board games, ate lots of good food, and just laughed and talked while I stepped out every few minute to catch up on the USC (That's the University of South Caroline of course, not Southern Cal) and LSU game. We lost but it was a great game and we played well. Go Gamecocks now 7 and 3.

October 25th:

We attended a party at our friends Danny and MaryAnn. They had a great Halloween party. Susan and I went as a Monk and Nun. I won best male costume. Susan got beat out by a "Death by Chocolate" costume. It was a woman dressed as a Grim Reaper with chocolate bars attached to her. Very original I guess but Susan looked like a real nun. She wore it to work on Halloween day and she had several students and even a staff member asked her to bless them. Too funny.

October 27th:

We, once again, took the Main Street Trolley Ghost tour of Spartanburg. This was a great tour last year and we really enjoyed it so we had to do it again. Well, this year's tour was very different. I enjoyed last year's more but this year was interesting. They had members of the "Upstate Paranormal Society" leading the tour and they were more into bragging about all of there ghost hunting adventures than trying to make the tour exciting. We drove through the old Oakwood Cemetery and turned off all the lights. The guide gets out of the trolley and walks around in the grave yard with a wireless mic. It get very creepy during that part.

October 31st:

We ended October with Halloween of course. Susan stayed home and gave out treats to the neighborhood while I helped with the Trunks of Treats event at Church. The event was well attended. We had about 350 there and everyone had a great time. This is JOY's premier community outreach event each year. Susan said we had lots of cute kids come by and she and Zoey, in her bumble bee costume enjoyed the evening at home. Susan's friend Denise brought by her son Spenser (pictured above). Also, the little girls we babysit for sometimes came by.

November 1st:

We went to a barbecue and concert at the Carolina Country club with our oldest and dearest friends JOY and Wayne and Joy's sister Ann. This was a charity event for the daughter of an employee at the hospital where Wayne works. They had an auction and one of Spartanburg's local bands from the 60's and 70's Rob and the Mob. We had a great night and ate some good food. Thanks, Joy and Wayne, for a fun evening and for our tickets. Can't wait 'til the Gatlinburg weekend coming soon.

November 8th:

Our Empty Nester group from Church had our second annual wine tasting event. This was lots of fun and we got to try some really unusual wines. One of the members of our group is a real wine expert and he does a great job of setting up the event and leading us through the tasting.

Awesome Performance of the National Anthem

A very old and good friend of mine and Susan's is in the entertainment business and is a naturally gifted musician. He produces CDs and web content for non-profit organizations to use as fund raisers. He also produced a huge selling CD to commemorate 9-11 and the bravery of the fire fighters and rescuers. It raised thousands for the victims of 9-11. His business website is http://www.anythingmultimedia.com/ .

Anyway, the point of this blog post is to point you toward a video performance of an arrangement of the National Anthem which was written by my friend above. This arrangement is brilliant and the performance is spectacular. Here is the link to that video. You'll get cold chills and you might even get tear in your eye listening to this.

Enjoy: http://www.usaforpalin.com/

Homecoming

Kelly and Travis have moved back home after living in Charleston for three years. While Charleston is a great place to visit and to vacation, its not as much fun when you live there. Many reasons brought them to this decision. Susan and I are just happy to have them closer to home once again. However, we'll need to come up with another excuse to visit Charleston now.

Welcome home Kelly, Travis, the dogs Casey and Griffin, the cats Belle and Alley, and bird.

Summer Fun for Everyone

Sorry, I'm a little behind on maintaining the blog. We've been so busy this summer so let me get you caught up on what all we've been up to.

Visit with Daughter and Son-in-law in Atlanta: We had a great weekend visit in Atlanta with Kristen and Ben. As usual Kristen had a great weekend of activities planned. First we had dinner at The Vortex, an Atlanta legend, hamburger dive that looks like a biker hangout. Most everyone there had tattoos but us. The burgers were great and the atmosphere was strange but fun. It definitely one of the those "must do" things in Atlanta.

Next we were off the Georgia Aquarium for some jazz, wine, and fish. But the fish were not on our plate. They were all around us, even swimming over our heads. This is an amazing place and going at night when most of the kids are gone and its just adults listening to great music makes it even better.

The next day we went to a great place for lunch called the Marietta Diner. You've never seen such a menu. And the food is plentiful and delicious. You eat enough in one meal to do you the entire day. In fact, that's what we did. After that meal, we didn't want much else. So, we decided to go work off a little of this feast at Dave and Busters. That was fun, especially for Susan. This is her kind of fun. I enjoyed it but I'm not a gambler even if it is for stuffed animals and carnival prizes.

We had one more stop to make before heading out to Stone Mountain for the famous laser light show. We had to go back to the Marietta Diner for some of their wonderful desserts. Their cakes are gigantic and they looked so good we just had to have some to take with us on our picnic at the park.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. We had everything we need to enjoy at great summer evening laser show until, and uninvited guest appeared, the rain. And boy did it pour down.

We tried not to let this dampen our spirits and it did stop before the show started. However the fog and ground clouds made the show not so spectacular. Oh well, we have to try this again some other time.

Our next summer adventure was a visit with our other daughter and son-in-law in Charleston. This was tied to a weekend retreat with our Church friends at the SC Lutheran Retreat Center on the Isles of Palms.

We arrived a day before the others so we could spend some time with Kelly and Travis. We took off, after we arrived, to the beach. We walked on the pier, shopped in the beach shops, and had dinner at a new place in Folly Beach. It was great to have few hours visiting with the kids before they had to leave.

The rest of the weekend was spent in fellowship with our Church friends. As activity directors, Susan and I were busy planning games, movies, and fun things for everyone to do.

The best thing to do, however, on the Isle of Palms is vegging out on the beach. This is the best beach in SC and maybe even the US, as far as I'm concerned.

Our Church, JOY Lutheran, plans retreats at our retreat center every year. It is a great time to get to know those people you see every Sunday in Church but don't know much about. You find yourself in long conversations with casual friends and before you know it, you have made a close friend for life. We do this every year and wouldn't miss it.

Don's Mom's 75th Birthday Party

July 4th has always been celebrated, at the Heatherly household, in two ways. It's, of course the celebration of the birth of our nation. But the Heatherly's have their very own Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the 4th of July; Don's Mom.


This year was a very special birthday as we celebrate her 75th. Don and Susan invited the closest of our relatives which included our daughters and son-in-laws of course, Don's aunt Mattie, Margaret, and Betty. It also included Don's closest cousins Charlene, Sharon, Jimmy, and Steve with their family and kids.


We had a great time eating Bubba's BBQ, beans, slaw, appetizers, and Bruster Ice Cream Birthday cake. We ending the evening looking at some very old home videos and sitting outside on the patio laughing and remembering old times. It's great to get together with family so you don't forget who you are, where you came from, and the people that will always love you no matter what happens to you in life.


Happy Birthday Momma. I hope you have many many more.

Heatherly's Make Annual Disney Trek

Yes, we are terminal Disney freaks. At least Susan is. Don goes along for the ride and is a good sport. Although he enjoys Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

We've been going to Disney annually for the last three years. It appears this will become a Heatherly tradition.

Mickey says Hi to everyone back home.

Hurray for Hollywood - Theme of 2008 Special Ed Prom

Susan's annual prom for the Special Ed kids in her class, and all the other Special Ed classes in the county high schools, was held Friday night. Susan goes all out trying to make this event, for these kids, as exciting and special as the regular high school prom. This is their prom and they look forward to it all year long. This year was no different. The stars were out and the kids danced the night away from the red carpet to the big screen movie being projected. They will all have a wonderful memory just like all students have this time of year.

Don Graduates from Dave Ramsey - Financial Peace University

I finished my 13 week Financial Peace class last Sunday. It was a great experience and I highly recommend this class to everyone. Before you take the class, read "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. His method of becoming totally debt free and building wealth in order to be able to give more is solid and proven. I'm a big fan.

Happy Mothers Day to our Mom's

Don With Mom

Susan's Mom
(Deceased - We Love and Miss You!)
with
Daughters: Susan (Far Right), Flicka (Far Left)
Grandaughters: Kelly (right) and Kristen (left)

Our first and only Blog - The Heatherly's Dive Into Cyberspace

Well, this is something I never thought I'd be doing at age 54. Susan and I love to use the Internet and our daughter is an expert user of the Internet. After she started her blog, I thought, why not.

So, her we go. We are Don and Susan Heathery, married 34 years as of August 17, 2008. What journey we've had. Although we've never left our home town area in Spartanburg SC, we've managed to raise, educate, and marry off two beautiful daughters.

A little bit about us: I'm a Manager in a Manufacturing Operation and Susan is a Special Education Teacher. We plan to retire soon so we can enjoy life a little before we get too old to do so. We love to travel and have fun. We are very active in our Church and we love to socialize with all our church friends.

Our most recent travel adventure was a cruise to the Virgin Islands with a group of church folks.

The Cruisers having our first formal dinner on board. That's us on the left.

Moving along, our most recent family affair was the social event of the year as we married off our youngest daughter Kristen. The wedding was held at our church and was beautiful. We all had a wonderful weekend of parties and celebration. It was bitter sweet for Susan and I as pushed our youngest out of the nest officially.

Although she's been out on her own since age 17 when she first left home for college and hasn't been back since. After college she moved far away to Washington D.C. to live and work with a very close group of college friends who've stayed very close every since.

She now lives in Atlanta with new husband Ben. He's a banker and she is a recruiter for a Bio Tech firm. They are very happy and love to socialize and travel just like their old Mom and Dad. A chip off the old block. Ben and Kristen's Blog.

Our oldest daughter, Kelly, lives in beautiful Charleston SC with her husband Travis. She's a social worker for domestic abuse victims and he is a fire fighter. They are dedicated to their work and service to the community. We admire them allot for their service.

We also envy them for where they live. If you've never visited Charleston, you've missed out on one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The old south charm and sophistication of Charleston will lure you back again and again. We love it down there and would love to retire there.