Buckhead Betty ... on a Budget: Channeling the Simple Life

Ahhh, the summer. Everyone is jetting off to foreign places, remote islands, and cross-country destinations to see new things. For me, I am eagerly awaiting our week-long cruise to the Eastern Caribbean at the end of September, so right now, I am not going much of anywhere. It's okay, too, since that week is going to be well worth the wait, and I want to save up to splurge out there on the high seas.

But on weekends, while everyone else is leaving town, that doesn't mean we can't do something (low-budget), too! This past weekend, we indulged ourselves with a little Staycation, heading 90-minutes north to the Blue Ridge Mountains. And let me tell you, this trip is worth a re-do, because I could not be more relaxed today!

I first heard about Blue Sky Cabins on Facebook -- Atlanta's Fan Page promotes their cabins pretty regularly, and it wasn't long before I was entering to win a free weekend here and there. While I sadly never won the big prize, Blue Sky was kind enough to distribute promotional codes to all entrants, so I was able to get a discounted rate for a weekend of our own!

So off we go. It's a really short drive from town, straight up I-75 to 575. Once you get into the town of Ellijay, Blue Sky's cabins are only about 20 minutes away, up a windy and very vertical road. Thank goodness we took the truck, because a smaller car would have been challenged on some parts of the road.

We arrived! This was our quaint little house for the weekend, The Simple Life.

What a perfect name -- The Simple Life has only one neighbor nearby, a house under construction. We were otherwise all alone in the woods!

What better way to live the Simple Life, than to sit in a hot tub on the porch. Yes, please!

And when we were finished with our hot tub dip, we relaxed in the A/C in the cozy great room.

Like any outstanding rental home, The Simple Life had everything covered for us, from a grill, to a selection of movies, and even board games! So, we unplugged from media for a few hours, and worked on this!

I had forgotten how fun it is to do puzzles. What a mental workout! Plus, a puzzle can be made even more fun when you have a cocktail or two thrown in for good measure, right? :)

The kitchen was stocked with all cooking supplies, so all we had to do was bring our own food. We, of course, took the lazy Saturday to whip up a simple breakfast, nothing too gourmet....

So if you are looking to "get away," but not throw away all your hard-earned savings, check out the cabins from Blue Sky. The Simple Life is a two-bedroom, but they also have a lot of cabins for bigger groups.

Enjoy!