i had bought a gogo necklace at fernandina but would not even open it up and take it out of the box until the big event. i woke up early, dressed up a little in my new jcrew finds and an old pair of skinny jeans and a pink silk frilly tank i actually bought at banana republic for a 20-something birthday way back when. (that party with jerkface at two uban licks, remember?) anyway, i took out my little gogo necklace and slipped it around my neck. new, tiny, simple, coastal inspired jewelry feels good. it is a shark vertebrae.
i grabbed two hardbacks (recent library finds) and my empty bag of starbucks french roast and rushed out the door. i pulled into starbucks just before the mad rush of churchgoers. i spied a french press on sale for $14.99. i have my individual press, but am finding that the automatic drip is pure rubbish and i can no longer tolerate it. i will put my kettle to work. i hand over my empty bag and get my free cup of coffee, pay for the press and find four lovely large leather chairs awaiting me. i pick one in the corner, plop down, take out a Ziplock of blueberries and my hardback covered in thin plastic and begin to read. i keep eyeing the guy next to me with his big fat, scattered Sunday paper, coupons discarded on the floor. eventually he gets up and walks away. i lean over and grab the coupons and go through them like a scavenger, not even looking around to see if anyone is watching me, i finally just dump the whole stack in my bag. i figure if i am going to pillage, i may as well just take it all and not leave any evidence.
i escaped into my book for 30 minutes or more. then large groups kept coming to my quartet of chairs and since i was taking up one and there were always perfect pairings of 4 of them, they just looked at me annoyed and walked away. a crowded starbucks. 4 comfy chairs. me in one. stolen coupons concealed. blueberries from home. nobody sat with me. after a while i felt sorry for the groups of 4 in all their codependency and i got up. i gathered my snacks and my loot and left. i met my sister in the nordstrom rack parking lot.
even though it was just 10:30 it was hot as blue blazes already. i decided to skip nordstrom and head straight to the good stuff. the goodwill stuff that is. i LOVE the book section at the goodwill store. there are two goodwills that i frequent and head straight to the book section. there, you can ALWAYS find 1) the world is flat by that Jewish guy 2) any or all emily giffin books, except for the latest one- i give it another two weeks 3) southern living cookbooks 4) children's classics 5) "beach reads" from the previous year 6) eudora welty, clyde edgerton, flannery o'conner, pat conroy and whatever else junior leaguer's have in their collection 7) a sprinkling of current NYT bestsellers. these are the jackpot finds and you score extra points when you fnd one. hardbacks are $2.00. we hit up the one on roswell and carla went nuts, bending over with her purses hanging down to the floor, lookin' and grabbin' like it was the wedding gown sale at filene's basement. i sat back and watched and smiled. i had told her it was good. we found this fun Fairie Fashion book for Catherine.
i got a Southern Living Cookbook. carla recommended it as one of her favorites and says it is full of cooking techniques and ways to prepare various foods. i thought it would be educational and i have a lot to learn in that area and it will make the kitchen look like somebody knows what they are doing in there, if anyone ever comes over the evaluate.
by the time we finally got out of there, i was famished. i love brunch and that was what i wanted. eggs with spinach and avocado, english muffins toasted. we went over to the highlands to american roadhouse. the ambiance is no good. their vegetables are not very good. but their breakfasts are huge and free on your birthday. they are also free on your anniversary. mine is coming up soon. i don't think i should be penalized for being single. i think i will take betty to lunch on my anniversary (printable coupons are sent to your email address). we then waddled around the highlands full and hot as blue blazes still!! it seemed like every store we went in had no air-conditioning. i walked around these little boutiques constantly wiping my top lip with the back of my hand and really couldn't concentrate on shopping for my fear of buckling my knees and passing out. after our feeble attempt at shopping, we went to Alon's for bread. we bought 3 loaves of fresh from the oven heaven. i wanted a jar of quince paste, but am on this kick of only buying stuff i need, not want. the gogo necklace was kind of an exception to the rule, but lovely jewelry is sort of a necessity.
then we went here! dr. bombay's underwater tea party. we had Tea for Two. 
they didn't have their air conditioning on either and it was hot hot and there was no way i could drink hot tea, so we asked for iced tea instead. she gave us a whole huge china pitcher full of cold iced green tea. it was incredibly good. carla and i both took a sip at the same time, both then looked at each other wide-eyed and said, "yummmm". the two tiered platter of cupcakes, brownies and scones was way more than enough for two. i found a coupon at "the green half" that made a $20 gift certificate, $10. dr. bombays is located on mcclendon near the flying biscuit. it is a fun place. the service was so-so and the desserts are not to die for, but the tea was delish and the atmosphere is fun and inviting. it would be a fun place to go and journal and sit and sip. they have ice cream too. i will have to go back and sample it for reviewing purposes only.
after our sugar overdoses at dr. bombays, we hit up the Nearly New. all books were 75% off. i got an award winning paperback that from perusing the front and back covers, simply looked good. i look forward to finding out. we were so close to all that fun howell mill design district stuff that we had to at least hit up Ballard Designs. so we did. they had a huge vintage map of africa. it is probably 3 ft x 4 ft. pale colors. lovely. the continent speaks to me. i love it. i stood and stared. it kind of took my breath away a little. i found it funny that a mass produced $300 piece of art could make me feel a certain way. it moved me. and i found myself standing in ballard's, relishing the air-conditioning, staring at a map, asking her why she moves me so. africa beckons me. even from ballard's. bizarre.
carla had never been to IKEA and everyone has to go at least once. christine met us there. we walked through the maze of cheap imported goods and all left with one of these:
i have a whole bag of loose tea that Aunt Phylis sent a few years ago. wonder if that stuff goes bad? Probably not. so now I have an infuser and Carla does too and so does Christine. we can have our own proper tea party now. we said goodbye to Christine in the IKEA parking lot and as i drove Carla back up to Buckhead, i didn't want the day of shopping and laughing and simply being together to end. for the first time in ages i began to feel a little homesick. even though i was at home. i began to miss my sister a whole lot, even though she was sitting there right beside me. i made her go to Jason's Deli and eat a salad with me. she told me about the day i was born. i have heard the story 32 times now. how it was hot. how it rained. how i was jaundice. how i cried. how elvis died 15 days later. she drove away. and then just like on august 1st, 1977, i cried, and then it rained.
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