Whatever We Want.....Part IV

First, here's some pictures from Friday night...

BEFORE COFFEE....

















AFTER COFFEE:

















Kelly's mother provided the white fuzzy robes. One more touch that made our 5-star stay so fabulous!

















O.K., there have been several days and a whole lot of brain cells zapped in the process, so the "Whatever We Want" narrative may be a little sketchy because, quite honestly..... I am starting to forget what we wanted. Right now all the "wanters" who live with me are taking priority and their "wants" are totally sucking the life right out of my "whatever we want" attitude.

Let's start back with Saturday morning. Although 5-6 hours of sleep may seep inadequate to some, if you take into account the pitch black room and the absence of 4-year old eyeballs peering at me; it was one of the best 40-winks I've had in a while...minus the part where I kept dreaming someone was putting Tabasco on my lips and sticking mini-pads to my pajamas. Sleepover meanness is wrong and I never ever did things like that to anyone. Ever.

It took us a spell to get ready, but that was part of "whatever we wanted". No rush. NO schedule. We ate Panera bagels, drank coffee, and sat out in the sunroom and soaked up the morning while contemplating serious life questions with Kelly's father. Like, "how many people can fit on that John Deere Gator and how fast does it go?"

My mind was racing with thoughts of strapping Kelly to that Gator and giving her leopard flats a little "breakin' in" in if you know what I mean. I am sure she has driven this Gator plenty of times, but I am talking about taking her for a RIDE....Texas style-4-wheel drivin!

Well, that didn't happen. Charlottesville shopping was beckoning us, and we got ready and headed that direction. Charlottesville is a historic and beautiful place to visit. It is a great city, but quite liberal and at times a bit pretentious. One description I've read is that the atmosphere is "intelligent". Funny enough, after a walk through the quaint downtown area you might come away thinking....hmmm....does intelligent = grunge? I saw more grunginess than I expected, but it was an eclectic mix and we loved the unexpected surprises. Like this surprise for instance....

This guy with a mohawk playing the cello. Now that was something we don't see at our weekly trip to Target. Notice his friend with the ball cap, playing the violin. Interesting...




















Here's a more broad shot of the ensemble...

















Capturing this guy on film, who is innocently tending an itch....now that's a surprise! I wonder if he reads blogs....


















We ate lunch at Salad Creations, where they make your custom salad and mix it in a giant metal mixing bowl and then you eat it.....all of it....and it is a lot of salad. Very yummy and a great choice for eating healthy, which is good when you plan on consuming 4,000+ calories in the course of one day. Unless you are Jenn, who is pregnant. Then you say phooey on a bunch of lettuce. I need beef. With cheese. So she headed down to Five Guys Burgers & Fries and kindly brought her burger back to eat with us. Then we all "enjoyed" our salad even more. And I never once looked at Jenn and wished I had gotten a burger. Not even when I ate 7 bites of hers. I was very content.























So after we ate a really large and healthy lunch we headed straight for dessert. After a little bit of pleading from Kelly followed by a whole lot of sampling, we all indulged ourselves at Splendora's-Italian Gelato Ice Cream. If you have had it, then you probably shouldn't read anymore because it will consume your thoughts for the remainder of the day. If you haven't had it....go.....today. Scrumptious! Kelly had to sell us on it because we are mostly country gals who like our ice cream very rich, very creamy and in several scoops. The bowls here in Splendora's were a bit teeny weeny but HAVE MERCY that ice cream is so good, I can't wait to take my family. We sampled nearly every single flavor and nearly drove one woman to the brink of insanity, who was not behind us in line nor did she work there, but she huffed and rolled her eyes in disgust over our overindulgence. She was just jealous. (that's what my mom always said when people were mean to me)





















We ended up with an assortment, but I can vouch for the coconut & the coffee because I had a double scoop and isn't that the weirdest combination you have ever heard of??? Almost as weird as this...












O.K. and while I am at it, one of the many jillion nuggets that I gleaned from this weekend is this: Women (girls) never grow out of giggle spurts and when they come there is no grace or cooth involved, whatsoever. When Lea Ann laid eyes on one of the many street performers, he obviously struck a nerve in my well-reserved friend. I am not sure if it was the dread-locks or the fact that not one...single...audible...word came out of his mouth. Yep, it was the latter. It was the droning coupled with the fact that you couldn't tell if he appeared to be looking at the lyrics to his ballad or simply falling asleep. She started heaving with laughter right about the time that I inhaled a large bite of coffee ice-cream heaven.....then like a rocket fired from the bottom of my gut, I shot a big clump of brown dessert out of my mouth and it landed directly on her semi-white shirt. Fortunately her clever ability to accessorize paid off because her big & funky necklace hid the regurgitated yuckiness. Sorry bout that Lurker.

We walked the downtown mall area and visited a sweet little paper store who just happened to have their planners on sale for 1/2 off! I became hooked on the MomAgenda planners when I was given one as a gift for Christmas-2005. My sweet future sister-in-law (isn't that fun to say!) purchased one for me and I think they are awesome. They are even more impressive and necessary when they are being sold at bargain prices!

















It got late rather quickly, so after we drooled over some Vera Bradley luggage, we bolted for another shopping area nearby where my sweet soon-to-be sister-in-law was working (again, saying that is filling me with glee!). When we left the parking garage we encountered a colorful woman at the pay booth. There I had another realization. When I embark in the world apart from my little peoples, I don't hear a great deal of profanity. I am sure my husband hears it on a daily basis at his job and my poor daughter probably hears it at school far more than I would like, but honestly I am able to choose my environment and my friends are not known for dropping the cuss-bomb. Words like shut-up and stupid warrant some serious consequences around here. A curse word would probably result in heart failure. So. When we got to the pay booth and the worldly woman who worked there first asked us, "Have ya'll been drinking?" we knew right away that we must appear to be drunk in the spirit and really oozing love & sisterly joy.....or we are acting like liquored-up wild women who have been tossin' back the hard stuff. Judging from the picture, I am sure she assumed the latter...


















After the question regarding our sobriety, she followed up with a loud and boisterous, "oh s*&^!" and it shocked me so badly that I nearly wet my pants. Now she could have thrown up or had an accident in her pants or even stuck an index finger into each of her nostrils and that would not have phased me, but one 4-letter word and I simply beyond shocked and horrified.

I guess it's all about being desensitized. I am sensitive to cursing and not sensitive to bodily functions. That makes you think deep thoughts, doesn't it?

After arriving at the store where my soon-to-be-sister-in-law works, we scooted in for a quick hello and scooted out. We had shopping left in our bones, but this store didn't exactly fit our booger-proof dress code or our $7.99 budget. Oh well, let's take a picture....






















Man, these are endless posts, aren't they? I thought for sure I could finish but I must wrap up the insanity for today. I hope the five-lovely ladies who are starring in this saga are enjoying the recap as much as I have enjoyed reminiscing.

Blessings!