Vacation News and Pics!

I was up before six am and ready to go by nine, but, hubby was still working, so we had a late start.

These are my hydrangeas in bloom. I love the deep purple color. :)

Whenever we travel, I'm always on the look out for trees and nature and birds.

This is a mimosa tree, I think the flowers are so cool, they remind me of Horton Hears a Who. :)

and another one!

My goal was to gain five pounds over the weekend. I got close! We were going into the land of bisquits and gravy, don't cha know. ;)

On the way down, we ate at a Cracker Barrel. My father always ate at them when he traveled around the country. I didn't get to go with him to one before he passed away, so we took this opportunity to see what it was like.

I had chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn and of course, bisquits!

I'm not sure about the dumplings. They tasted like a big wet noodle to me. I think I prefer Chinese dumplings. :)

This is a crepe myrtle. Love the tree and the name. They come in this almost lavender pinky shade, white and what my neighbor (a southern belle) called watermelon.

The watermelon is my favorite shade. The tree grows with multiple trunks so it almost forms a bouquet. Very pretty and they bloom for most of the summer.

Our first stop was to see Anita of MiniPotteryByAnita

I knew she was a chatty cathy from chatting with her over the internet and on the phone. Hubby said I kept up with her very well. She has such a girlish charm about her, her in her bare feet inside her real life pottery shop. We all went out to eat at a family restaurant and had big juicy burgers and hot fried potato chips with ranch dressing- an immediate hit with hubby and I. We're going to try to make them at home. :)

Then, hubby and I did some shopping.... more about that next time. :)

We met up with Richard of MinibyDesign and his lovely wife Gail. She graciously kept hubby in conversation while Richard and I yammered on about minis. (sheepish grin) I had no idea how the time had passed so quickly! I had hoped we could all go out to dinner, but hubby was tired, he did most of the driving during this adventure. I left Richard with my yellow house.

He's going to wire it for me. That means, I have to venture back down that way again. Hooray! :)

I'll have more about Richard and his projects in a future posting.

We were in Peach Territory!

This is a water tower, isn't it funny? :)

Next we met up with Jody of PeachBlossomHill and her lovely family. We just had the best time socializing with her and her husband and her children. The children were the best, so polite and gracious and funny! We did a lot of laughing. :)

Jody said, if we could give her an hour, she'd make us a typical Southern Dinner. I think hubby wanted to get going, but, I whined and we got to stay. ;)  It was so worth it! 

They all set to work in the kitchen working quickly and efficiently. The each seemed to have a station. Her son made the bisquits, her daughter made the country fried steak, her hubby was busy chopping onions. I don't think it took them an hour!

It was so good! I could so live in the south. We had country fried steak (a personal favorite) gravy, bisquits (I had mine with fig preserves) rice and there were onions and limas for the veggies. I skipped the veggies so I could have seconds. Hubby said they were good though. I know, I'm a little piggy! ;)

They gave us these South Carolina peaches to take with us to Georgia. I believe they are all still debating which state produces the best peach. ;)

Later, I realized we never talked minis. At all! lol But, we did have a wonderful walk about their farm and I took lots of pictures. More later. :)

Our final destination and the reason for the whole trip, my girlfriend Linda's daughter was getting married and I got to make her veil. :)

Belinda and Dan

Getting ready for the wedding, Belinda and my girlfriend Linda. :)

Too funny, purple flowered dresses were a big hit! ;)

It was all about the Harley. It set the tone for the colors of the dresses, the decor, the cakes, the flowers. Really cute. :)

Of course, I have to tell you about the food. I hope you didn't start out reading this post when you were hungry. ;)

There was fried chicken, chicken strips, pulled pork with bbq, baked beans, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad.... I know there was more! lol There was a lot of food!

It was my first Southern Wedding and the first time I was in a Primitive Baptist Church. It was just plain white in side and nothing else. But, I guess that helps you to focus on what is at hand. It was a lovely wedding ceremony. :)

Towards the end of the reception, the sky darkened to almost black. The trees began to sway all over the place. A storm was coming.... and the couple had to whisk off before they were caught in the down pour!

We had the most wonderful time visiting with Linda and her entire family. What a very special time we had. Oh, and the babies, there were lots of little babies and wee ones. :) 

Heaven! :)

and back home we came.....