Heading out to Raleigh for the bridal party meeting with my girlfriend. My plan is to get to Winston Salem or Greensboro and find an inexpensive motel to spend the night, then get an early start and make it to Raleigh before noon.
Looking forward to a wonderful weekend with old friends and then a couple of days with my mother and sister in law at the Biltmore in Asheville. It is so nice to be on the road again!
Stopped by Publix at lunch today to pick up a few things to keep in the lunchroom refrigerator and a couple of things to take home. The Publix near our office is huge, with an excellent deli and bakery and their produce area is the best in all of Nashville.
They are featuring Starbucks coffees on sale this week, so I thought I’d pick up a bag of Columbian, my favorite, and save $2, but that flavor was not on the shelves - sold out, I guess. So then I thought I’d try a slightly different flavor - you know, I love to keep an open mind and try new things. So I bought a bag of the Costa Rica Tarrazu coffee to try at home. It says it is a “bright” coffee, and I like something with a little kick in the mornings.
When I got back to the office, I found an interesting website link for Starbucks from the New York Times daily email. They have a cool site to explore their 14 different flavors and find your “perfect coffee” by clicking through some really cute graphics. Best part, on some of the new flavors they are promoting, you can sign up right there for a free sample. choose between their House Blend, Breakfast Blend, Cafe Verona and Sumatra flavors and they will mail a 2.5 oz sample to your home. Way cool!
Lisa wanted to have dinner together after work yesterday so we headed out to the Cheesecake Factory - one of my all time favorite places to eat lunch or dinner. We had to make a quick stop on the way at a Bed & Breakfast downtown. I never knew it was there, but it is a darling home with beautiful gardens. Lisa had to drop off a package of some free lance work she’s been doing for the owners.
We got there just before six o’clock and as we waited on the doorsteps I could hear the chimes of a grandfather clock. Once you’ve heard the chimes, you never forget them. Sure enough, as we were let in by the innkeeper, I spotted a gorgeous grandfather clock in the foyer.
The chimes brought back memories of visiting my grandparents, as they have a grandfather clock in their foyer, too. Their clock was a very traditional Howard Miller, with a carved wood cabinet and an elaborate face with special chimes. Most people think of the Westminster chimes, which is very common in grandfather clocks, but my grandmother had the Ave Maria chimes, which are uplifting and beautiful to hear - you never forget that melody.
With all the furniture I’ve been buying and work I’ve done fixing up my house, it hadn’t occurred to me to get a grandfather clock, but now I would love to have one. My home is decorated in a very contemporary style, and I hadn’t considered that the new grandfather clocks have some fantastic contemporary designs. I would love to buy the Kieninger Cabriolet Grandfather Clock that I found online last night. I had searched for websites about grandfather clocks and came across www.1-800-4clocks.com, then I spent many wonderful minutes clicking through the different clock styles and sections of their site.
This site has a huge selection of clocks - even a blog. I love sites with blogs - I always take a few minutes to read a couple of the posts and feel like they give me a more personal look at the subject and the owners. What really grabbed my heart was the post, “Grandfather Clocks Make a House a Home.” That’s exactly what I needed to read and to think about, because they are right.
Most people start their day with a bowl of cold cereal. And then there’s the lucky ones who have someone cook a hot breakfast, with bacon or sausage, eggs scrambled or fried, maybe a side of hash browns or fried potatoes, and a breakfast bread like toast or waffles.
I had two pieces of leftover cheese pizza from Papa John’s that I nuked in the microwave for a minute and a half. The only problem with this is the garlic that stayed on my breath, but I’m a good girl who brushes and flosses every morning, and I zapped the garlic with a good dose of mint flavored Scope.
The fun part about being a grown up is that you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want it. But to be honest, for lunch I’ll have an apple and small side salad of spinach and mandarin orange slices to keep down my carb count for the rest of the day.
Since I’m getting together with my mom next week I thought I might get her Mother’s Day gift ahead of time and bring it with me to give her in person instead of mailing it to her. Not sure that will work out, Mother’s Day is not until May 11. Next week might be too early and she’s such a stickler about holidays and birthdays being right on time. God forbid you are ever late for a birthday!
I want to get her something from Tiffany’s. Being from New York, Tiffany’s has always been a big part of our lives. We actually have a Tiffany’s store here in Nashville now - this little Music City is heading for the big time with all these designer stores opening in the Suburb with Too Much Money. So maybe I’ll window shop here and then order her gift from the New York store.
I have some great Tiffany pieces, but to be honest, I don’t wear them for casual wear. If I want to wear something pretty for at the beach or going sailing, I usually wear a replica of the piece I own. That way if it drops off, gets lost or stolen it is not such a great loss.
If wearing a replica is something you’d like to do, I have a good source for wholesale replica Tiffany & Co. jewelry on the web. Replicas are much cheaper than insurance for the good pieces and you can save the real jewelry for those special occasions.