Farewell summer, Hello Autumn

We decided to take a jaunt to Chattanooga, Tn. for our last summer hurrah!! It was awesome!!!! We stayed at The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

in our very own Victorian train car!!!

After settling into this cozy abode we ventured about on the extensive property

After lunching in a vintage dining car, perusing all of the shops (what unique treasures we all came home with!) exploring the museums and dining at one of our fav steakhouses ( yes Nana got the chicken LOL!!!) We decided what better way to cap off an evening than by going on a Ghost adventure!!! 

After touring a very old & historic cemetery we were sufficiently exhausted (spooked!!! LOL!!) & decided it was indeed time to retire to our awaiting train car for the evening. Our next adventure began with a hearty Cracker Barrel breakfast ( yep, more shopping!! Lol ) before heading to the Raccoon Mountain Limestone Caverns for spelunking!! 

As you can see these caverns were truly AMAZING!! They definitely did not disappoint!!! 

The happy spelunkers!!! :0)

Next on our whirlwind agenda was a quick stop to a dragon museum!! You just never know what your going to stumble upon while visiting other places!! Connor LOVES (obsessed) dragons so this was really a no-brainier.

Why yes folks even a dragon Christmas tree!!

It was great fun!! We made friends with the proprietors & promised to send them a "Duke" dragon from Dutch Wonderland to add to their collection!

Our next destination was Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park in Georgia.

This park is hailed as " the South's favorite amusement park & in my humble opinion is indeed the quintessential vintage summer time park on the lake!!  

After riding all of the amazing vintage rides (some from 1925!!) we opted for our end of summer final Labor Day meal of a seafood boil!!!

Yes, it has been a fabulous summer & now all eyes are on fall!! Hope your summer was fab too!!! TTYL ❤

Birthday Season... That's a Wrap!!!

When we last left off I was excusing myself in preparation of our daughter Brittany's birthday!!!Well let me commiserate with you a moment, I must confess that 19 is indeed a difficult year to plan a birthday party for. Brittany had decided that she did not want a large elaborate friend bash but rather a lovely quaint family party. Sounds easy enough, right?... Well now about a theme and decorations? After many days, weeks, etc. LOL!! of discussing several options Miss Brittany deemed appropriate. Our lovey settled on ... Alice in Wonderland MadHatter Tea Party!!! But no run of the mill mass produced paper party supplies would suffice for our princess ;-) soooo... with that we set about locating vintage china, linens, tea services, even a vintage Disney cookbook was used as decoration!

Hand made banners and special dining requests per the birthday girl came together with all of her fav people to complete a truly magical birthday party fit for Wonderland!!!!

 

After making all of her wishes, blowing out the candles on her coconut birthday cake (specially decorated by Aunt Kristy, Connor, & Nana), & opening all of her beautiful gifts, it was time for a fireworks extravaganza!!! Which was followed by a helicopter flyover!! After celebrating for hours with all of her favorite people including her "Bestie" Diamond Lewis ( the only friend who made the invite list!lol!!)  It was indeed time to retire.... Birthday complete?!?? Not yet, we were then off to a lovely weekend to Universal Studios!! We stayed at Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel ( magnifico!!)

 

lunched at Moe's in the new Simpsons Area, dined at Bubba Gump's (think Forrest Gump), then caught a late night showing of the Conjuring!!! (Very scary!!!!)

after a Moscato nightcap and a rickshaw ride back to our Villa we were indeed off to (a much needed) dreamland!! TTYL ❤

Lovely Weekend in Savannah

It all started with a bid on Ebay!! While perusing ebay Brit and I found an incredible lot of vintage clothing that we just had to have. We bid, crossed our fingers, hoped for the best, and in all honesty kind of dismissed the thought of really winning.....well... WE WON!! What a great feeling when you win on ebay (its all about lifes little victories!!LOL!!) now to pay and arrange shipping, here comes the glitch. NO SHIPPING! Only pick up soooo... we looked to see where our treasure was located and thankfully it was not so very far from us in Savannah! Needless to say our weekend trip to Savannah was born. When Diamond, Brit's "Bestie" learned of our planned sojourn she was quick to jump right on our band wagon and declare that she was also joining our brigade!! The girls immediately got out the old home videos of our Girl Scout trip to G.S. founder Juliette Gordon Lowe's Birthplace none other than .... you guessed it... Savannah!! We had such fun watching the video and laughing at our adventurous train ride, round trip between Palm Beach & Savannah, and how much all the girls have grown since that summer trip. They are all in college now!! Where does the time go?!? I must confess one of my fav parts was seeing Connor as a baby <3 it really puts into perspective how fast they grow. We quickly arranged a hotel and started to plan our weekend,we soon surmised that our furry family would also love to join the caravan so with that 5 humans, 4 dogs (our 3 and Diamond's pup also), and 1 rented (don't ask... air conditioning issues with my car and Chris's car wouldn't hold everyone) minivan departed ... Savannah or Bust!! We love a good road trip and this destination is one of our favs!! What is not to love about history, architecture, ghost stories, dining, shopping and all the southern splendor! Whenever I'm in Savannah I am in a Gone with the Wind state of mind!! I am Scarlett O'Hara even if only in my mind LOL!! We met up with the lovely lady selling our vintage goodies and had the transaction completed by 10:30 a.m. on Sat.!! We made a score to end all scores!! Two HUGE boxes of vintage clothing!! We love every single piece (how often does that happen?) with the rest of the day waiting for us to explore we headed straight to River Street! We lunched on the water, stopped at Savannah Candy Kitchen of course!! and shopped till we dropped literally!!! No trip to Savannah is complete without a tour of the historical landmarks, we hit what felt like all of them and in reality only touched the surface! My fav stop was the Cemetary, soaking up all the history and the beautiful flora and fauna surrounding this beautiful place, it's simply intoxicating. After heading back to the hotel to rest up, play with our puppies and all of our new found treasures!! We headed to Dinner and a late night Ghost Tour at the Sorrell Weed House- The most haunted structure in Savannah!! Arriving back to the hotel in the a.m. hours we were happy to hop in cozy beds and nod off to dream land (safe from the ghosts!!LOL!!) We awoke had a lovely breakfast stopped one more time at River Street {reads more shopping!!}then homeward bound!! I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did ours!! TTYL <3

Just a peek at all the vintage goodies we scored!!

 

Starbucks in hand, pearls on, sweater wrapped ready to ghost hunt!!

Jacks on Cobblestones not the best match but Lilly and Savannah a match made in Heaven!

Some retail therapy!!

Pralines, taffy, and peanut brittle natch'

Beautiful

Chris could not help but to break into JFK's "Ask not what your country etc."speech. Love my Hubs!

Found my family tomb "Hulse"

Stumbled upon a wedding in the square how romantic!!!

 

Sailboats passing by on River Street

Time for a coke and fresh taffy at Savannah Candy Kitchen.

Tugboats!!! My fav!!

These stairs are wicked!! But the shops located at the top are soooo worth it!!

Brittany, Connor, and Diamond making their way down to River St.

Horse and carriage rides around lovely Savannah.

Brittany and Connor getting their grits on!

 

Busy,busy,busy

Hi all!!! I'm so glad to get back to the blog. All of the people affected by both the Boston and Texas tragedies will remain in our thoughts, hearts, and prayers but life has a way of marching on.

My nephews have both celebrated birthdays as of late. Noah has turned three, he is my brother Dan & sister in law Amy's precious boy. And, Leonard has turned six he is my sister Kim & brother in law Lenny's adorable son, he also has a beautiful sister Tiffany who is both our niece & lovely Goddaughter.  We celebrated Noah's3rd. birthday with an adorable Fireman theme soirée in beautiful Port St. Lucie, Fl.at my brother's home and my sister and her family celebrated Leonard's 6th. birthday party in beautiful Northeast PA at my sister's home.
  
The following weekend was all girls!! While the boys were off golfing in Boca Raton and shooting at the practice range we girls were happily distracted lunching at a true Palm Beach gem..Greens Pharmacy!! Yep, you read that correctly inside of the pharmacy is a throwback luncheonette and I promise you will not be disappointed!! After all even J.F.K. loved the food! Following our delish lunch we "disco'd" over to Groovy Palm Beach Vintage the hippest, coolest,grooviest spot this side of the 70's!! This boutique is so fab that you never want to leave! The ambiance, the attitude of the groovy proprietor the one, the only, E.J., and of course the CLOTHES!!! If you are craving a one of a kind shopping experience look no further! From vintage Lilly Pulitzer to Vintage Pucci and EVERYTHING in between!!! We scored vintage mod "duds" that we love and can't wait for our next visit (I spotted Lilly's I've got to have for my collection!!) It's no "Jive" when I say run don't walk to Groovy Palm Beach Vintage!! Next we stopped at Palm Beach Bookstore and I grabbed "Empress of Fashion" Diana Vreeland. So with Sprinkles being right there, needless to say it was ice cream time!( I recommend the Polo Ball!!) If you haven't been to Sprinkles Ice Cream Parlor trust me its a fav of EVERYONE like John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Oprah, Hoda, etc. After that we hopped over to the Norton Museum to peruse the likes of Monet, Pollock, and Picasso. We ended our day with an awesome Cafe con Leche at Havanas which if you're in the mood for authentic Cuban food or coffee you def need to check out Havanas!! Hope you all are enjoying whatever life has to offer! TTYL <3

Connor and Noah

Presents!!!

Oh Daddy let me loose!! LOL!! (my bro Dan)

Heart belongs to Mommy <3 (my sis-in-law Amy)

Cheese!!! (my Mom, Nana as all the children call her)

Nana and Brittany at Green's

Lilly Pulitzer to die for!

Brittany modeling a "Twiggy" era never worn leather ensemble swoon!!

another Lilly!!

Yes Brittany went home with this groovy get up!!

My sister Kristy purchased this vintage dress to be worn at a party at "Off the Hookah"

Ice cream sculpture made from golf clubs!! What could be more perfect?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Sprinkles Ice Cream!!(I had to wear my new Lilly in the IceCream Social print "natch)

Kristy on a sugar rush!!

In the Norton viewing the amazing Chihully Ceiling.