Zaylei adores Denise and Cleaning

Zaylei loves Denise and lives to clean with her. She follows her around at Mom's and "helps" her and imitates her at home. Sometimes I even have to call her Denise. Can't complain...she is a good cleaner and helper!!

Thanksgiving in West Virginia 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 we went to visit Matt's in West Virginia. We stayed with Mamoo (Sandy, Matt's Mom) and had quite a relaxing week. Matt spent much of the week hanging out with his brother,Scott. We also hung out at Brigette's house for some Internet access for Black Friday shopping and Tacos!!! YUMMY!!!

On the way home on Saturday we hit a deer. Thank goodness we were only 80 miles down the road. We turned around and went back and were there until Tuesday. Matt actually stayed until Friday to deal with the car. I drove the very fun Red Dodge Charger home. Zaylei called it the hot rod. While it was very frustrating to be delayed we got some much needed relaxation and rest.

Zaylei played with Maddie all week and even got to go with Brigette to pick her up from the bus Monday. It was exciting for both of them.

This is Zaylei riding in the car on her way to WV wearing her house shoes because her feet were cold

I came outside after a potty break and look who was driving. I was so tired I wish she really could have finished the trip in the drivers seat

Crazy girl!!! Look at those sunglasses on her shirt. She wore them like that for 2 weeks

Thanksgiving Day!!!

Zaylei and Maddie in one of their many dress up outfits

Maddie reading a book to Zaylei

Zaylei wanted some pictures of Mamoo's house so she could remember it

Zaylei in Pop 's chair

Yep that is Zaylei on the front porch

The van after the deer tried to leap through the back window

Brigette took Zaylei and Maddie to the park. I was at Brigette's using the Internet. Zaylei had Brigette take pictures and send them to me so I could see her playing. Hilarious.

And finally Zaylei and Mommy drive home in the Red Dodge Charger

Watching a movie on the iPad. She was so good!!!

The Atlanta Adventure

January 10-15 Stef and Mom went to Atlanta for the America's Mart Merchandise Show. Lots of furniture for design and accessories and other goodies. We took advantage of the time and went to the GONE WITH THE WIND museum. If you know anything about Stef, you know her live of Gone with the Wind. Below are some photos in the museum

Bonnie Blue's Riding Dress

A cool model of Tara

One of Scarlet's many hats

The only dress the have of Scarlet's. Made of Chinese Silk. Breathtaking.

Mellie's mourning hat

This is just some random book they had there on display. But I do love me some CLARK GABLE!!

While in Marietta we had lunch at this little restaurant. They had beautiful desserts. I sorta went off my diet today and had some. Ooops!!!!

After the museum and lunch we did some shopping. We love shoes and ended up at DSW. We had the best time looking at the designer heels we will never wear although I tried several on. I love the expensive shoes!!!!

Oh those Gray shoes were so pretty. Look at the heel. I think I would have gotten them if my toes weren't completely cramped.

Look at these crazy Jessica Simpson shoes. They have Two layers under the ball of your foot. Not comfortable by any means but fun

Oh I was in love with these too!! The sale price was $100. I took two more photos of them below. There were dome others I tried on that I couldn't keep on long enough to get a pic. They had wood heels and weighed about 5-7 pounds. Umm crazy!!

I love when they make the sole pretty

Today the destination was the AmericasMart of Atlanta. We were there allllll day!!! It's a lot of walking and exhausting. I just wish I had brought a pedometer to track my walking. We went to a couple of little presentations

The first was Stylin with Erica Henderson. I enjoyed it and picked up a few tips for photographing my work.

The second presentation we went to was Lulu Powers, a party planner. It was not quite as informative and I'm pretty sure she was "having a sneaker" during the show. That's what she called a drink.

I did see some great furniture pieces. Below are a few.

Above: that was called the LOLA

I was in love with that table

Baby goat hair chair. Pretty sure Zaylei would love it until I mentioned the word "goat"

Loved this acrylic chair which happened to be comfortable.

I love this swing bed!!!

I think this cart would be awesome in the dining room

And the above was not at the show but rather our hotel corridor carpet. I think it may be one of my top 2 favorite hotel carpets ever. I love it.

Well we are ready for more MART tomorrow. Better rest up!!!!!

Our first activity of the day, after the lady on the bus gave us the disapproving look like we were holding her up, was a seminar on Trends of the Season.

Themes of the season are relaxed, natural, and bling it out. Textiles with some bling. Bunches of stems in a vase as an arrangement.

Next we went to some sample sales. My favorite part. I love Children's World!!! Below is what we found for Zaylei and Lola

Lola's stash.

Zaylei's stash

We ate dinner at TRUFFLE GRILL. It was pretty good. I had the most amazing mango lemonade. My dinner below. Crab cake, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.

We bought 2 prints for the blue room at Mom's. Gorgeous Italian line drawings with color. Butterflies which we both love

Just FYI. You should do the mart for 2 days. Take a rest. Go back for a day or 2. Day 3 is exhausting!!!

Saturday was High Design and The Deen Brothers We went to the food demonstration kitchen to see them. They talked for 25 minutes before cooking anything. Jamie the older brother told stories and they were both very funny and likable. It was worth ALL the time we stood on our feet waiting to see them. And then stood during the show. Here are a few pictures.

They decided they didn't want to be behind the counter so came to the front to tell us stories.

Today we looked for art and accessories and I was very disappointed in the selection of accessories. The art just seems all the same except the original pieces we saw. Very nice.

We did find a rug. I thought the task was going to be so daunting but it was painless.
Glad mom found something she really likes.

We were exhausted at the end of the day. Practically fell into the bus to get back to hotel.

We tried to go to Houston's for dinner but the wait was 1hour 15 mins. We were just too exhausted for that. We tried another restaurant and the wait was an hour so we ended up at California Pizza Kitchen again. It was Yummy!

On the way to dinner we were stopped at a store and shown a new product called Premier. It is an exfoliating product from the Dead Sea. I'm so excited.

On Sunday we headed to Ikea for Tiffany. Below is the light she wanted for Lola's new room.

After Ikea we headed home!!!!

Once home Zaylei and Matt were at the door waiting for me. Awww!!

As soon as I got in the door Zaylei had to doctor me

We had a great trip and i thoroughly enjoyed my time with mom. I'm Very glad to be home. The getaway time was good but so is home.