Road Tripping From Michigan to Georgia

Wow,
We had a wonderful trip! I think road tripping is sooo underrated. A cooler full of sandwiches and a case of water, what else do you need besides a camera and a full tank of gas? Ok, a map can be useful as well I admit. But after Michigan, we just followed I-75 and did just fine. I already posted my brother's home, where we were camped out for our trip, it is a beauty, thanks again to my brother Liano, you were a wonderful host!
When we first arrived in Milton, Georgia, we stopped at a darling little shop called The Paisley Farmhouse. It was full of adorable and charming gifts and home decor, lots of Easter treasures too. Dianne Harvey is th e owner, she is the one in this first photo of the shop. I highly recommend stopping by if you are in the neighborhood, my girls and I were just delighted with her shop.
We also stopped by My Sister's Gifts, another wonderful Milton, Georgia, shop. They were so friendly and had lots of samples of local foods, we loved the raspberry chocolate bark and locally made miniature cookies. Bought some peach preserves, lavender tea and a southern praline. They are located right next door to The Paisley Farmhouse. In the same little shopping district, was a wonderful pizza place called "I  NY Pizza," where we had some of the best Pizza and the Garlic Knots were out of this world, definitely stop by and try this place, even my pickiest kid loved it! They don't have a website I could find, so here is the address and phone number, you can Google it! 980 Birmingham Rd, Milton, GA 30004 (770) 442-9699. Cupcakes!We also stopped by the local
Whole Foods Market and there was a
showcase of cupcakes that I had to photograph,
either that or buy them all and eat 'em!

And then we hit the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world! It was amazing, we were in awe
of all the wonderful animals, exhibits and information. I think we spend five hours there, at least. I have a lot of Aquarium photos, so I'll just post one today and a slide show tomorrow. The trip was very inspiring, so much to see and do and learn in just a few days. The family time was priceless, they really do grow so fast. The oldest is already out of the house, he was missed, but he was visiting his grandparents in Texas, so I know he had a great time for spring break too. I think it is time to revisit my jellyfish pendants...Sea Horse at Atlanta Aquarium

Al's Gotta Go!

You have to check out my brother's new blog, Al's Gotta Go, my DH and I helped him set it up tonight. He is looking to sell his gorgeous house in Milton, just outside of Alpharetta, Georgia. And...he is offering a $5,000 finder's fee to whoever finds him a buyer! Even if it is a realtor...but it would be nice if it was someone who heard about it from someone who stumbled on his blog...you know what I mean, that's the kind of stuff Oprah would even embrace! Anyway, if you know anyone looking to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia, forward his blog to them, you never know, it could be YOU who gets the $5,000!!! What does this have to do with art? The art of selling of course...what a fine art that is.

Atlanta Georgia

On a whim almost, we decided to take a road trip to see my brother, Al, who lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, just outside Marietta, which is just outside Atlanta. The drive was simply spectacular, blue skies and sunshine all the way down. We saw beautiful landscapes, starting with an incredilbe brilliant fuschia and orange sunrise over Cadillac, Michigan, then lush, newly green sprounting fields in Ohio, lovely, hilly horse farms throughout Kentucky and then those cool rocky carved walls along the Tennessee highway, which you can see with your headlights, since it was dark by then. In Ohio we drove by Traders World, a ginormous flea market kind of complex, and all over the roof were giraffes and other strange things you just don't seen on roofs. In Cincinnati, Ohio, we saw The Ascent, an unbelievable piece of architecture, just stunning. We got in around 2 a.m., exhausted but feeling great. Today we plan on exploring some of downtown Atlanta and reatively. enjoying the warm weather, who cares if it is raining, everything is GREEN! I'll have to post photos after we get back home...

Traveling always makes me feel like creating something new. There is always something that I haven't seen, smelled or heard before. All my senses get a new perspective on possibilities and seem to trip over themselves in my head. A million new ideas start leap frogging over each other, trying to get my full attention and intention...beads, jewelry, seweing, mosaic, garden, cooking, decorating...just not enough space to catagorize it and save for later. So I end up scribbling ideas onto receipts, napkins and empty wrappers, lol, just getting them out seems to help. If I'm lucky, I have one of my idea journals on hand, but alas, not yesterday. I do love to road trip, the adventure as I live it in the moment, and then all the creative adventures that come after!