Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Girlfriend Day Away

(Thank you for all the kind comments and emails about my friends and me and our wedding hats.  My hat was WAY too casual for my shiny mother-of-the-bride dress, so I ditched it right after the photos.)

Yesterday's girlfriend afternoon with Kat was exactly what the Dr. would have ordered ... if I had asked his opinion, you understand.  We had a long, chatty lunch at Panera, then we hit the road to see what things La Plata, Maryland, had to offer us.

Kat's post today is all about our first stop, Waldorf Pottery.  I find it fascinating to see the different types of things she and I photograph while we are together.  We compliment each other pretty well ... she takes artsy photos of stuff, and hones in on the decorative side of things, while I tend to take photos as notes for inspiration for future projects.

Hosta 'Sagae' is one that I MUST add to my collection.


The flowers on 'Endless Summer' hydrangea were beautiful.  I probably need one of these, too.


The day was hot and steamy, and I took every opportunity I could to stay in the shade.  This shade structure was wonderful!  I can see something like this back by my barn .... can you hear the wheels turning?

Detail photo to show the framing of the 'roof'.


Kat, dear, you could build a simple lattice grid like this to attach to your house to hold your New Dawn rose.


Hostas!!  Have I told you how much I LOVE hostas?


Notice the little green table in the photo above?  Something like this would be absolutely perfect to hold flats of roses ... must take a photo so I can remember how it's built ...



As we headed inside, I spotted this fantastic little pot of succulents. 



Inside was a wonderland of gift and garden items (and air conditioning!).  I was particularly attracted to this table ... another inspiration photo, coming up.

Look at all the fabulous container arrangements!


Kat told everyone that I would show you what I bought, so here goes.

I love pigs, and years ago I had a collection of pig items.  The collection got completely out of hand.  Years ago I stopped buying pigs, or accepting them as gifts, and most of my pigs are now stored or given away.  This little piggy, with his beady little eyes and huge personality, spoke me and I had to have him.



My other buy was a set of greyhound bookends.  I have a HUGE collection of greyhound items (including Emma and Daniel, my two REAL greyhounds ... ha ha), and I am always on the look out for interesting greyhound things to add to my collection.  These will be perfect in our library!

I totally forgot to take a photo of these styled in the store, so I have to make do with a photo taken on my kitchen counter.


We stopped at a few other stores (I can't remember the names of any of them).  One was a decor and jewelry store with a wonderfully chatty, friendly owner.  There was an arrangement of subway-style signs on one wall, and one of them in particular was hillarious.  It said,

MONEY CAN'T BUY
HAPPINESS, BUT IT CAN
BUY MARSHMALLOWS,
WHICH ARE KINDA
THE SAME THING.

Knowing what a history freak I am, our last stop was Port Tobacco, a historic formerly-bustling commercial town, which contains the reconstructed Charles County courthouse,



some beautifully maintained 18th Century houses,

Stagg Hall, built ca. 1740 for merchant John Parnham.


and this outbuilding and pile of bricks that had my imagination whirling.



I will finish with this random photo I took at a traffic light.  If anyone wants a really cool old Volkswagon, it's for sale.



Many of you have said here, or in comments at Kat's blog, that you would love to spend a day with a fellow blogger or two ... what's stopping you?  Pretty much the only thing that gets in my way if I want to contact someone is no-comment@blogger.com.  Whenever I see that, I know I probably can't get to know that person better, no matter how nice they seem. 

If you haven't enabled email responses on your profile, will you please consider doing it? 

Pretty please.

15 comments:

  1. What a fun day! I am lucky to have made some wonderful friends through blogging and meet several for face to face fun also. Love the ideas you photographed. Those bookends are really beautiful. I'm still trying to catch up on blog posts but at last I am home again.
    hugs, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  2. $100,000 dollars after the the civil war? I can't even manage to wrap my head around $100,000 today. So pleased that you've gotten to do some catching up and enjoying!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hah, you see things I totally miss, and I was standing right there with you! I completely missed that beautiful bowl of succulents and the subway sign about the marshmallows. Then again it was probably because I was running my mouth, surprise, surprise! ;-)

    I had a wonderful day my friend, and I love that you took a picture of the "smokehouse" so that I can get busy on building a shed to look just like it!

    Kat :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fun fun. Wish I was there with y'all. I have been with other bloggers and it is fun for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a lovely day! Love the book ends. I've got kinda an addiction to them. I think I have half a dozen different types.

    Having a g/f day occasionally is so much fun! I did that yesterday afternoon. Makes for a nice break.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have met some fellow bloggers in the past. Unfortunately there are many others that just live too far away for me to do a day drive. Kind of sucks.

    My husband built two lattices like that when we lived in Arizona. They were heavy duty and not like the cheaply made ones you buy that are already assembled at Lowes or Home Depot. Highly recommend the do it yourself ones.

    Di

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like it was a wonderful day, full of ideas to keep the wheels of progress turning! Love the photos, as always and I used to have a Volkswagen wagon! Loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, I see your GF day was a huge success! Still enjoy mine... many more posts to go. I love those succulents and how they will put together. Looked almost cartoon-y with all the cool shapes, WHICH IS AWESOME!

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG< I want that little car!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. It sounds like you had a wonderful, wonderful day. It is funny...some of my friends and I go for the SAME thing at the same moment and others -well, we are polar opposites. I love that you photograph ideas...I do that too. And...your greyhounds are lovely..I don't think I have ever known anyone that collects greyhounds. And $100,000? The rewardee would have been a millionaire in that era! xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the building with the lattice sides - inspiration indeed! And your bookends are fabulous! I think I used to own that Volkswagen! It was a blast for a college student!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love that this is the second time in a month someone has come across the Marsh-mellow quote and felt the need to share. I love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh, my that looks like a fun time~ and filled full of beauty!!
    thanks for sharing the wonderful photos!!
    smiles
    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  14. The grayhound bookends are fabulous, and should go very well in your beautiful house.

    Those hydrangeas are beautiful. Unless your soil is very limey, those pink highlights will become pale blue, which are pretty too.

    If you are interested in hydrangeas for the shady side, hydrangea preziosa is totally amazing. It starts out cream colored, then goes from lilac and lavender to dark red, with flowers in all different stages showing at the same time.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and reading what I share. Comments are welcome and very much appreciated. Spam and trolls are not!

Related Posts with Thumbnails