Inspiration: I found it in the mountains. [Photo Diary]

A couple of weekends ago, my fiance and I met my parents at our annual getaway retreat – a small, elegant cottage just outside of Asheville, NC.

The cottage is built like it was constructed a hundred years ago,with finishes and decor from the English countryside. The way the morning light pours into the kitchen makes you feel like you’re living in a poem.

The grounds are 200 acres of undeveloped woods, mountain, stream, river, and pond. There’s a small civil war cemetery at the summit of a lookout hill. I spent a few precious minutes up here with my guitar, playing for them, singing.

We fished, we hiked, we slept in, woke up with the sun, built fires, roasted marshmallows. For the entire weekend, it felt like one collective exhale. We let it all go into the woods.