Shopping in Wilmington, North Carolina

So who goes on vacation and doesn't shop?? NOT ME! ha! I found a few things that I brought
along home with me.

I LOVED the shop that was filled with pillows like the one above. I mean this lady had
hundreds of pillows with beaches, towns and coordinates. She told me that she ships them to
 Michigan, Florida etc. and had just shipped out 200! Wow! That is dedication!

I LOVE this pillow. She didn't have it in black so I ordered one and she sent it to my home.
It is made out of canvas with an envelope back so you can insert a pillow form.
She sent the form along home with me so she wouldn't have to mess with mailing that.
I am thinking of ordering another one that has Wilmington, North Carolina and the
coordinates. Isn't it so cool?? 

I fell in love with this french grain tote and did NOT purchase it when I was there. I tend to
think about things for awhile. Well, you might know as soon as I got home I decided that
I should have purchased it. So I ran down the store online {quite a feat in itself} and asked
if they would ship to me. It was my lucky day.

I purchased this lovely coastal bracelet and have worn it almost every day since being home.
I miss North Carolina. Wilmington is such a BEAUTIFUL place.
We also picked up these shells at the beach.

This is on the of the stores that I did not purchase anything in , but I took a few photos.

Taking a photo break...SMILE!

I told hubby that I want to eat here next time. Too many places to eat and shop.
Oh my, what is a girl to do?? ha~

I mean...doesn't this just draw you in? It is right along the riverfront.

Okay...this store was GORGEOUS...beyond GORGEOUS, but I forgot to take in my camera
so the only shot I got was of the outside. ugh! This is the store that I purchased the french
grain tote from.

This place is called
THE SHOP OF SEAGATE.

The next few pictures are from here.

The COASTAL VIBE store is where I purchased my bracelet and I also purchased a
beautiful white scarf. {forgot to take a photo of that to show you}

Just plain yummy-ness!! ha!

IF you click here you will find out all about THE COTTON EXCHANGE.
It still has an old wagon right inside the door that holds a huge bale of cotton.
That was neat to see and the building is beautiful! If you click the link be sure
to then click on  Cotton Exchange History.

It is filled with several shops that are fun to peruse at your leisure.

This is where I left my Canon camera!! Can you believe it? Hubby had already drowned one in the
ocean and I forgot my other $400 camera in here on a bench. ugh!! THANKFULLY a lady who owned one
 of the stores found it quickly and held it for me. I will be honest, I was in TEARS when I got back to my
son's apartment and found out I didn't have it. I thought I would never see it again.
Thank GOD for honest people!!!

Little Ms Ainsley had to have her photo taken here. She is so funny. WHO is she looking at?
haha!

I think this is the place where we booked a boat tour. Hope to share that soon also.

This shopping place was called Chandler's Wharf. I had to take some photos because my nephew's
name is Chandler. Too fun!!

We really did have a wonderful time and can't wait to go back!!
If waiting 26 years for a vacation takes me to places like this , it was well worth the wait.

Where are you going on vacation this year? I would love to hear about it!

Blessings~

A Marshall's Gift Card

What is a girl to do when her hubby gives her a gift card to Marshall's for Christmas??

{She found out right quick!}

She heads for the nearest store and spends it! lol

I had seen these spools of ribbon and trim in TJ Maxx and Home Goods before Christmas
and loved them, but did not purchase any.

I was trying to be good and I am downright proud of myself :)

I also picked up this gray throw.

With everything half off you can get twice as much..

WIN, WIN!!

Blessings~

A little {Pottery Barn} retail therapy

I can now say that I have been to a Pottery Barn store

twice in my lifetime, but I didn't have to think twice about

picking up these napkins when I was there several days ago.

Do you remember my post last weekend? We had some very stressful days {and still are}

so we went for a day out to *the city* and ate at

Olive Garden and then visited the local mall.

I had seen these beautiful script napkins the last time

I was there , but didn't want to pay the price.

I looked and looked this time and did not see any.

I was about ready to leave and spotted one more

sale area and there they were! I puchased the last

two sets they had and left a very happy camper.

Olive Garden and Pottery Barn in one day...

now that is living! lol

The lavender is from my garden. I planted it this year

and these are the first blooms I have had

...just when it is time for fall. Crazy!

I do love my lavender...

Happy weekend to each and every one of you and

thank you so much for your prayers! I had hubby read

my post and all your comments and he was very moved.

It is still a very volatile situation so continued prayers

would be appreciated.

Blessings~

Ever had One of those Days....

Ever had one of those days when you felt like you were running every which way? Yesterday I decided to go shopping in Defiance (approx. 40 miles away ) so I headed out and my cell rang. It was my youngest son "mom...what you doin"...I told him my plans and I said "why"......to which he told me that he was now sick with the stomach flu which his wife was down with as well and his little girl had also been sick. ( They have had this bug at least TWICE now in the past few weeks and it is not a kind bug. I won’t get into the details, but lets just say it was not pleasant). So I stopped at the store and purchased some meds he wanted and dropped them off at his house which is probably 10 miles or so away but could be considered "on my way" to Defiance. Then it was on to shopping.

I had a good day shopping and I wanted to get home by the time hubby got home from work because we had to drop off our truck at the shop to be worked on . I got home and was puttering around and thankfully happened to check my email and found one asking me to pick up hubby at five pm as he was working overtime. Which...by the way, his place of work was right on my way home from Defiance.......okay....I can do that, but had I known that I would have stayed in town longer and picked him up on the way home....LOL...oh well anyway...

Just as I am getting around the phone rings again......."Mom this is Nate....what are you doing tonight"...why Nathan what’s up...(my son that I dropped of meds to earlier in the day) Well, mother-in-law is now very sick and she can’t watch Annika.......can you watch her?.....all the time I am thinking Oh dear Lord pleaseeeee help me not to get this bug because I have company coming in next week......"Sure I can watch her"...."okay can you pick her up at mother in law’s place" So I made a bigggggg sweeping circle to pick up adorable granddaughter and then on to pick up "paw paw" at work. I will say I was soooo tired of driving at that point. Hubby got in the car VERY hungry so we stopped at McDonalds and got him a bite and listened to our sweet granddaughter say , "Fry....fry....fry"...she was liking his fries! So I drive back home yet again and paw paw gets out of the car and into his truck and we take both vehicles to drop off the truck at the shop which was the same direction we just came from! It seems like all I did all day was run around the county over and over. But when we finally got home to stay for the evening we had a very delightful time with our precious granddaugher. She is just a joy and is a very happy little girl.....she made our day!

Wishing you a delightful day filled with unexpected blessings!