Well, hello!

Hey, I know you! (Maybe I don't....)

I just know it's taking me forever to start this blog and to make simple decisions...the colors just don't seem to please me...what can I say? So, bear with me as I continue to get it all together...I have basically been regrouping and revamping everything...revising price lists, redoing cards and logo...just making a fresh start since I have been more or less dormant for three years since becoming a "professional coffee barista"/shift supervisor at Starbucks...(the job is also called "family insurance for 20 hours a week...). I still have to finish up the website too...oh bother!!!
Right now I am on my sister Amy's computer in Atlanta with some free time with no housework


to do waiting for her to get ready and, hence - the start of the blog! Carissa (my youngest) & I are attending a Foursquare Women's Conference and it is good to see both my sisters and their families who I have never personally been able to visit cuz of the all the l'il "chillins" I have (four, count them, four!) Well, Amy's ready...got to go now.........Atlanta calls!


Here, for instance, is the CNN building where most of the events we attended is located...note the stair handrails to give you an idea of how massive this thing is! Inside there are shops and a food court on the ground level and the entrance to the huge Omni International Hotel where the conference took place. It goes up fifteen floors (our church group had the bird's eye view from
the fourteenth floor).

Inside there is a lobby where there is a food court & various shops & the entrance to the huge international Omni Hotel. The escalator goes up to CNN & the canopied verticals are decks to hotel rooms. Elevators run outside straight up the side outside the hotel. Kinda scary if you don't like riding in elevators...



Oops! Look what I found! (As if we don't know that THEY are EVERYWHERE!!! I immediately got my iced venti four pump melon passion tea lemonade (and yes! they STILL had melon syrup unlike all us poor deprived Connecticut Starbuckians!) Although here I think I'm holding a tall caramel macchiato...(you didn't really think I only got ONE drink while I was around here?!?)



Olympic Park is there where they held the summer? olympics a few years back...the five rings were on the ground with hidden spigots which would jet stream water out in intervals...or perhaps..all at once!!!...it was fun trying to dodge them - as unpredictable as they were....

...or get caught in the middle!!!! I didn't get wet...others weren't so lucky!!!

We visited the Coca Cola bottling plant and saw how it is done...received one freshly bottled coke, enjoyed a 3D virtual movie, got to see many bigger than life decorated coke bottles and had fun in the tasting room (as seen above) where we got to sample hundreds of coke products from over seventy different countries around the world...talk about gastric burn!


On Friday of the conference, Carissa & I signed up to help our with a home makeover outside of Atlanta. Our chariot (?) was driven by a church volunteer . We were in a group with a mother & daughter from Ohio and a mother & daughter from Tennessee.


We got to help a disabled woman with yard work and some spring flower planting. She is wheel-chair bound with slight muscular dystrophy and fibromyalgia among other ailments and still caring for her three grandchildren as her daughter has problems of various natures. We weeded, raked, planted and listened to her story and prayed over her and her grandchildren. She blessed us greatly with her story of endurance, faith and appreciation. It was beyond a doubt a memorable experience...


Friday afternoon we went to a couple of lectures. We chose to go to Kim Coleman's who spoke on witnessing through humor...right up my alley! (We all know how HILARIOUS I can be...)
And then I had to go to Lisa Whelchel's...does anyone out there remember the Facts of Life???
www.sitcomsonline.com/thefactsoflife She played snobby Blair...she looks pretty much the same. She's been married to a Foursquare pastor for twenty years and has three kids.She was gracious enough to pose with us.

(DUDE! Can anyone tell me where my hair is at? Ugh!)

There were many great speakers and singers at the conference and a lot of personal stories that affected us all deeply. The theme was about how everyone has a story to tell...including ourselves and we need to share it!


Later that night we all got together to celebrate Meghan's birthday at a Mexican restaurant in the CNN lobby...we froze next to all those windows! (The weather alternated between warm in the high 50's to in the 40's with lots of wind!)

Then we were able to spend some time with family. I have two sisters who have lived in Atlanta for over twenty years and I've never been to visit....(all those kids I had to tend to and all...) so it was good to get together with them and their families for a couple of days. (We stayed at my sister Amy's house.) We went to an international farmers' market where they have all sorts of exotic foods in huge quantities for " not so much money"...it was great! Very colorful and active...and by the way - it was indoors.

We also went to visit Stone Mountain. It's a huge mountain made out of granite just sitting there...where a sculptor (same one that did Mt. Rushmore...forgot his name...) started a carving. The entire bas-relief runs the length of a football field to give you an idea of how immense it is....

They also had a lot of old-fashioned shops there, like the Old West. In one we watched a glass blowing demonstration And in a city where they hardly have snow, they had a section that had snow and a huge multi-sectional slide to sled down. It was nice to "stroll" through, picturesque.

We got together with both my sisters and their families for dinner and it was good to see everyone. It had been three years since Elena & Cristi's weddings since we had seen some of them.

Me and my sister Lynn in front and Amy in back.

Carissa, me, Amy & her husband Steve

Lynn, Zak, Max, me, Carissa and Lynn's husband Jim

Me & the nephews, Max and Zak

We had a great time, a wonderful break, time with family, spiritual encouragement and inspiration and a visit in an area new to us. A time to remember with fondness in all areas...

So, that is Atlanta in a nutshell...the start of my blog (why didn't I start simple...? At least I finally decided on the colors...) And now it is the beginning of May (started in February) and I'm just finishing it up (shame!)...and MY photos are still in the camera, not even downloaded due to dead batteries...so we have Carissa to thank for all the photos! One thing started... now on to the etsy web store...I'll let you know when THAT'S ready...ha!

Toodles! Keep the faith...God loves YOU!