My Secret Santa

Larry went out to get the mail today and there were two boxes on the porch, one from our dear friends, Mike and Brandy (thank y'all so much!!) and one with a Phoenix, Arizona return address.  We don't know anyone in Phoenix.  I opened the box and inside was a carefully wrapped Pyrex Cherry bowl with its happy gingham and bright red cherries.  I absolutely love it but have no idea who sent it to me!  I posted this picture on Facebook and nobody's claimed it so I'll mention it here, too.  If you sent it and you're reading this, thank you.  I am proud to add it to my collection!

Willow made us this beautiful Christmas card, a sunny day for me, Larry, Tabbie Hoffman and Banjo, complete with happy snakes coming out of the tree.  It made me smile and I hung it front and center in our doorway.

We're saving the presents for Christmas!

And yes, Silly Goose Larry is exactly right.  :)

Memorial Day Weekend!

We have had such a wonderful weekend!  Saturday, we met our friends, Mike and Brandy Nichols, up in Lilburn at Mike's parents' home and then we all jumped in our cars and went over to Lilburn City Park and had some nature and play time with the kids.  Mike and Brandy have three beautiful children and we so enjoyed our time spent with them.  Willow saw right through Larry's teasing and called him out on things when she knew he was not exactly telling the truth.  That was just so funny to me!
 
When we were all swinged and slided out at the playground, we walked across the street to Main Street Market for some popsicles.  King of Pops popsicles, actually, and I got a key lime pie one.  It was so delicious and cold and yummy and I told Larry when we got home that we're just gonna have to order a box this summer!  We also picked up some tomatoes, fresh zipper peas, some Fuji apples, a grapefruit and a block of Amish Vidalia onion cheese.

We left and drove over to the Little Five Points area for some Fox Bros barbecue and on the way, the March Against Monsanto protest was going on and that was pretty awesome to behold!  You'd never see anything like that here in Warner Robins.  We need to spend a little more time up at Little Five Points.  :)  I found out later that Saturday was actually a worldwide protest to try to raise public awareness of the absolute disaster that is Monsanto.  It's no accident that our babies are born with more birth defects now and we're getting more and more cancers.  It's the food we're eating and the styrofoam we're putting it in.  Monsanto has been at this for over 100 years.  Remember Saccarin?  Remember how nasty it tasted?  Like poison, right?  Right.  It was.  I'm glad we got to be a small part of that protest Saturday.  As a woman about to embark on a journey in fertility, I want to fight.  I want to stand up for my health and the health of my baby and not sit idly by, waiting for somebody else to speak for us.  

Okay, stepping down from that soapbox now.

Fox Bros was amazing!  The best pulled pork sandwich I've ever had and they have really, really good sweet tea, too.  That's important, that sweet tea.  :)  After lunch, we said our goodbyes (sniff) and then Larry and I went to Stone Mountain.  And we went to the top.  In the skylift.  OMG.

I do not like heights.

  

At the top of the rock! 
 

 Stone Mountain feetsies!
 

We had so much fun.  I am so proud of myself for getting in that skylift and going all the way to the top!  All 825 feet!!  But I will admit going up was a lot less scary than coming down was.  I think Larry told the conductor to stomp on the gas or something.  Ha!  The view up there was spectacular.  You can see all of Atlanta and sixty miles or so surrounding as well as the Appalachian Mountains.  Yep, I'm glad I did it. 

Today, we're relaxing at home.  Grilled some steaks, shish kabobs and corn on the cob and had deviled eggs and of course, buttermilk pie for dessert.  Later, we're going to play The Walking Dead on our new PlayStation. 

Life is so good.  :)

The mushroom lamp

My friend, Brandy, who lives with her sweet little family in Virginia, bought her children a mushroom lamp some time ago and I always admired its soft whimsical glow in the pictures she posted on her blog.  Recently, she mentioned in a blog post that it was on sale and I decided to order one, too!

I got it yesterday and I love it!!  It's made out of a very lightweight fiberglass that's virtually unbreakable which is awesome because before I even got it out of the box good, I had dropped it.  Brandy did say it was good for children.  :)  In my klutzy defense, though, I was talking to my mama on the phone and trying to open the box at the same time.  I've never been able to pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.  

Anyway, here it is!

Ain't it so cute??!  I put it there with my other 'shrooms and owls.  

It comes from Magic Cabin, a company that sells natural toys, dolls and games and encourages children to use their imaginations for old-fashioned play.  You won't find any video games there!

They sent one of their catalogs along with my lamp and a tube of Tom's Silly Strawberry children's toothpaste!  Yummmm.  I love strawberries.  :)

The Nichols (and me!) take the Whistle Stop Cafe

I met Mike and Brandy at one of my very favorite places today for lunch.  The Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette.

In all the times I've been to the Whistle Stop, I have NEVER seen it as crowded as it was today.  I got there a little after 11:00 just as a bus pulled up with a bunch of little old ladies and then it just filled up from there.  

And it was hot.  And in trying to snag us a booth before there weren't any more, I picked one on the side where the ceiling fans didn't work.  Yay, me.  I understand them wanting to keep the cafe the way it was when the movie was filmed there but knowing Idgie and Ruth the way I do, I feel pretty sure they wouldn't mind a little central cooling up in there.  Just sayin'.

We had a great time anyway!!  I usually get the Bennett's barbecue sammich (secret's in the sauce!) but today, I got fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fried okra and cornbread.  Oh, and a side of fried green tomatoes, of course.  OF COURSE I DID.

 Hush yo' mouf.

Beautiful little Willow dancing on the porch of the cafe

How darling is this baby boy??  

Roan had the right idea 'cause man, it was HOT.

 

After we ate, we walked around the village and popped into several of the little antique and junk stores there.  I found this adorable sign in one of the junk stores that I HAD to have for my kitchen!! I love it!!  Our favorite store was The Honeycomb, a unique little shop filled with local honey (they're beekeepers, by the way!) and lots of little trinkets.  Oh, and COLD RC Colas!!  I got a bar of lavender, milk and honey soap that smells absolutely divine.  I don't even want to use it.  I'm just gonna let it smell up the place.  :)

Our fun day was over too soon since they had to get back to Atlanta so after we parted, I did something else that I've never done before, in all the times I've been to the Whistle Stop.  I went and explored the church grounds and cemetery of the church from the movie.  In the movie, it's a Baptist church but actually, it's a United Methodist church.  Same difference, right?  The only difference is how wet you get when you get baptized.  :) 

I paid my respects to Buddy and Ruth.  I thought it was so cool that they put the little headstones side by side.

Fried Green Tomatoes is a 21-year-old movie and this little town survives entirely from tourists and fans of that beautiful love story.  Judging by that crowd today, I'd say they're still doing just fine.

An afternoon in The Nature

I met some fabulous folks today. Folks I already loved before I even hugged them. I've been online friends with Mike and Brandy Nichols for four years now and we've been keeping up with each others' lives via our blogs and Facebook.  Finally, the stars all lined up for us and we got to physically meet and spend the afternoon together!

We agreed several weeks ago to meet today at High Falls State Park, in Jackson.  We had the best time together!  I felt like I'd been around them forever and that we were old friends getting together again after a while apart.  It was truly a wonderful afternoon.

The place was pretty much overrun with mushrooms!

They were all over the place, much to our delight.

We love us some 'shrooms.  :)

Mike spied this heron.  Can you see it?

And there were ducks!

Beautiful little Willow, telling me all about the "castle" we were in 

Precious little Roan was like this ALL afternoon!

Sweetest little thing EVAH.

Here we all are, just as happy as we looked!

The carpet of leaves was a nice backdrop, don't you think?

Looks a lot like my YARD.  Ha!

I'm so happy that we finally got to get together!

I just wish we lived closer.