Trip to Auburn and Deja

 The last week of April, I squeaked out the time and funds to go visit my lovely sister and her family in Auburn, Alabama. It was so worth it! I got to stay in their cute house and play with their cute little little, and when it was time to put her to bed, I just put in my earplugs and let them go to it! My mom says I was in Grandma mode --all the fun and none of the work. Seriously though, they dote on that girl. She's very lucky. 

I went for a run every day that I wasn't flying in or out, and the runs were wonderful. Wild honeysuckle and deep, tall trees lined every road. I had a nice light easy listening book on my mp3 player, and I had nothing to hurry for. Wonderful. 

 We did something fun every day. We went for lunch one day (and popsicles another day) at Overall Co.  We got a sandwich and a salad (I tried pimento cheese for the first time -- I think I liked it) and split them to get some of each. When we picked up our food, it was hard not to stare at the lady who checked us out --her accent was so cute, it was hard not to think it was put on!

The interior had all of this steampunk/rustic decor.

 In the side of the shop is the popsicle store. They have a dozen or so flavors (lemonade basil anyone?), and the guy will dip them in chocolate for you or a bunch of other toppings once summer hits. 

 Also really cute in there thanks to some cute decor --- we brought our own. 

Like I said, we had an outing every day, but I still had plenty of time to play with little tiny. Side note --I was awful at playing with my own kids. I don't know if it was just the stress free atmosphere here or what, but I loved playing with this little miss.

 She was always moving --always creating a little scenario with toys or baskets or dish towels!

One morning we had completely to ourselves, and after watching Nemo all the way through while playing "cupcakes" with all of her balloons , we took the car to downtown Auburn and walked up and down the streets of little boutiques and shops. There are some fancy shmancy shops, but all of them had an orange and blue section of  school spirit stuff. Football is huge here.

One of the shops we found was a cupcake shop. Enough said.

 The university buildings were beautiful. Lots of red sandstone, which reminds me of St. George. I guess that's why they call the St. George area Dixie --the red rock is the same!

  We spent one morning in this huge antique mall, where I found the mother lode of blue willow stuff for a great price. 

  Some of it was a different blue and white pattern that for 2.50-3.00 each I couldn't resist!

 The last day we drove up to Atlanta. That's where I was flying out of, and Deja thought I'd like to explore it. They have a wonderful aquarium that we went through, but the only pictures I took were of Deja and Sam. I've taken a lot of aquarium pictures in my time! 

 Cutest things there. 

The morning I was to fly out, I got a notice that my flight was delayed....for ten hours! So we went to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The renaissance/pre-renaissance art was on the first floor, and as you went up the floors, it got more and more modern. This was on the top floor.

 So was this -- it reminded me of the "Queen of the Sea" icons I'd see in Uruguay. Modern interpretation. 

 This one was a tiny print done on copper. It was so rich and jewel-like in person. Overall I enjoyed the lower floors the most. 

We also had a gardening day I didn't get a picture of, and lots of great meals out. I tried not only pimento cheese for the first time, but foie gras, and excargot, and fried oysters. The best meal was a crab cakes benedict in a little bakery in Atlanta. Just fabulous. The only problem I had with where Deja lives is that it's much too far away!

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