Shopping in Wilmington, North Carolina

So who goes on vacation and doesn't shop?? NOT ME! ha! I found a few things that I brought
along home with me.

I LOVED the shop that was filled with pillows like the one above. I mean this lady had
hundreds of pillows with beaches, towns and coordinates. She told me that she ships them to
 Michigan, Florida etc. and had just shipped out 200! Wow! That is dedication!

I LOVE this pillow. She didn't have it in black so I ordered one and she sent it to my home.
It is made out of canvas with an envelope back so you can insert a pillow form.
She sent the form along home with me so she wouldn't have to mess with mailing that.
I am thinking of ordering another one that has Wilmington, North Carolina and the
coordinates. Isn't it so cool?? 

I fell in love with this french grain tote and did NOT purchase it when I was there. I tend to
think about things for awhile. Well, you might know as soon as I got home I decided that
I should have purchased it. So I ran down the store online {quite a feat in itself} and asked
if they would ship to me. It was my lucky day.

I purchased this lovely coastal bracelet and have worn it almost every day since being home.
I miss North Carolina. Wilmington is such a BEAUTIFUL place.
We also picked up these shells at the beach.

This is on the of the stores that I did not purchase anything in , but I took a few photos.

Taking a photo break...SMILE!

I told hubby that I want to eat here next time. Too many places to eat and shop.
Oh my, what is a girl to do?? ha~

I mean...doesn't this just draw you in? It is right along the riverfront.

Okay...this store was GORGEOUS...beyond GORGEOUS, but I forgot to take in my camera
so the only shot I got was of the outside. ugh! This is the store that I purchased the french
grain tote from.

This place is called
THE SHOP OF SEAGATE.

The next few pictures are from here.

The COASTAL VIBE store is where I purchased my bracelet and I also purchased a
beautiful white scarf. {forgot to take a photo of that to show you}

Just plain yummy-ness!! ha!

IF you click here you will find out all about THE COTTON EXCHANGE.
It still has an old wagon right inside the door that holds a huge bale of cotton.
That was neat to see and the building is beautiful! If you click the link be sure
to then click on  Cotton Exchange History.

It is filled with several shops that are fun to peruse at your leisure.

This is where I left my Canon camera!! Can you believe it? Hubby had already drowned one in the
ocean and I forgot my other $400 camera in here on a bench. ugh!! THANKFULLY a lady who owned one
 of the stores found it quickly and held it for me. I will be honest, I was in TEARS when I got back to my
son's apartment and found out I didn't have it. I thought I would never see it again.
Thank GOD for honest people!!!

Little Ms Ainsley had to have her photo taken here. She is so funny. WHO is she looking at?
haha!

I think this is the place where we booked a boat tour. Hope to share that soon also.

This shopping place was called Chandler's Wharf. I had to take some photos because my nephew's
name is Chandler. Too fun!!

We really did have a wonderful time and can't wait to go back!!
If waiting 26 years for a vacation takes me to places like this , it was well worth the wait.

Where are you going on vacation this year? I would love to hear about it!

Blessings~

North Carolina Vacation...Part 2

We continue this post with our trip to North Carolina. If you have never been to
The Arboretum of Hanover County you are missing a gem. This place is so gorgeous!

This is the Children's Garden.

I just adore this little house and fence.

This is the beautiful Rose Garden that is just loaded with different kinds of roses.

The building above houses the Gift Shop and restrooms. It was hot, hot, hot this day so we all
took advantage of the cool air inside.

Love the tables and chairs. Just perfect for a picnic.

They had bright painted objects throughout the garden. Usually I am not drawn to bright colors,
but they fit in just right here.

Entrance to the Rose Garden that our two granddaughters are walking through.

My hubby loved this dragon. I think he would have pulled it home if he could. lol
Notice the GREEN water. Seemed to be that way a lot of places. Not sure why.

Feeding the fish. These fish were HUGE and there were a lot of them!

Perfect walk for a Children's Garden.

I hope you enjoyed your tour though this amazing place. They also had a Japanese Garden, but
those photos didn't turn out too great. It was a very sunny and bright day. Just right for
wandering through unknown paths and enjoying all of God's beautiful creation!

Blessings~

The sun, the sand and the ocean!

We took a LONG awaited, MUCH anticipated vacation this past week and
 loved every minute of it!

We left on Saturday and drove straight to Wilmington,North Carolina to my son
 and his families apartment and we had a blast!  We left home about 6:30 am
and arrived about 9 pm. It was a long drive, but so worth it! We haven't taken a
 vacation in...are you ready for this? Over 26 years! Last one we took was to
Niagara Falls in 1989! How sad is that??!! 

Monday we took off for Wrightsville Beach to get in a family photo shoot.

I had looked at pictures on Pinterest to get some ideas, but I don't think I
remembered one thing once we arrived. ha!

My son Nathan, his wife Colette, Annika and Ainsley.
Oh, how we have missed them all!!

I took over 1400 photos in the week we were there. Oh my goodness!! I know you
don't want to see every photo of my family so I will try to pare them down. lol

It seems like this was my standard look in almost every photo! HAHA!
We didn't intend to get our clothes wet...just wanted some pics, but that
did NOT work. After awhile, we just didn't care anymore.

See...that stupid look again!! HA! I sure love these gals!!
This was a maxi skirt and I rolled it up several times so as not to get it too wet.
As it was , when we got back to the apartment part of my white shirt was
blue from the skirt. :)

Sisters...

Several times we wrote things in the sand, but the water washed them
away almost as soon as we finished.

Love this pic of our sweetie Annika.

...and this one. lol.

Isn't this a hoot?? Yours truly and hubby.

I think Ainsley is digging to China...wonder what she is looking for.

Grandpa wanted to take Ainsley in the ocean and hold her as the waves hit.

Now, look at this photo very carefully. See that camera case strapped to his belt
on the other side?

Do you see it now? Nope...he forgot about it and drowned my Canon SX160 in the ocean.
Totally ruined it.
By the time we got back to the apartment it was already starting to corrode the parts inside
from the salt water. Not a good thing to do. So sad...

Love this shot of my son and granddaughter.

We had such a wonderful time and this get away was just what we needed. Thankfully, I also
took my older more expensive camera along also so I could continue to take photos. I have
lots of them so stay tuned.

Blessings~