Getting out of town
There's nothing like the prospect of an adventure to get the blood going. It all started last weekend when my sister-in-law and I were contemplating which paper I was going to use to decoupage the door of an old cabinet we had found at a yard sale. I had searched all the local shops that still carried interesting paper (the pickings are slim since Pearl--my long-time, go-to craft destination--closed shop a few years back), and resorted to looking online. That's when I found some imported papers at World Market. It was hard to tell what they actually looked like from the little swatches on their website, but I ordered a few anyway.
We looked through what they sent and decided none of them really had the look I was going for, so we pulled up their website to browse the rest.
"It's hard to get a good idea of colors on the screen," I said, especially since we were browsing on my tablet.
"You know," she said, "maybe we should just go there and look at them in person."
"Yeah, but there isn't one in Hillsborough or Pinellas counties."
We glanced at each other, grinning, and decided to look up the nearest store. Road Trip!
"There's one in Winter Garden," she said.
In other words, Orlando. Now, let me just say here, I know, for people who live there, that Orlando is a nice place. And I can respect that half the world sees it as the family vacation mecca. But for this girl, I have often said, I wouldn't go to Orlando to see God. See, for me to get there, I have to take I-4, or as I like to call it, Take-Your-Life-Into-Your-Hands Hell. Much of that is due to an endless stream of freight trucks, tour busses, and theme park enthusiasts heading to Disney/Sea World/Universal, etc. Ugh. Not a fan, am I.
"What else ya got?" I said, dismissing Option #1.
"Well, there's one in Ft. Myers."
Ft. Myers. Hmm...at least a two-hour drive, depending on traffic, but unlike land-locked Orlando, it's on the coast. Nice beaches...good restaurants. Still, a long way to go just to look at paper.
"You know," I said, "we've been talking about getting out of town for a weekend. Why not go down there and spend the night? Make a mini-vacation of it."
So that's what we decided to do. We made hotel reservations next to the biggest shopping center in the area (which includes, among dozens of other interesting stores, a World Market), got the cooler ready with a few bottles of wine (for after dinner sipping by the pool), and are heading out in the morning for a weekend adventure.
Spur of the moment adventures are always the best. Plus, it makes getting up early in the morning worthwhile.
We looked through what they sent and decided none of them really had the look I was going for, so we pulled up their website to browse the rest.
"It's hard to get a good idea of colors on the screen," I said, especially since we were browsing on my tablet.
"You know," she said, "maybe we should just go there and look at them in person."
"Yeah, but there isn't one in Hillsborough or Pinellas counties."
We glanced at each other, grinning, and decided to look up the nearest store. Road Trip!
"There's one in Winter Garden," she said.
In other words, Orlando. Now, let me just say here, I know, for people who live there, that Orlando is a nice place. And I can respect that half the world sees it as the family vacation mecca. But for this girl, I have often said, I wouldn't go to Orlando to see God. See, for me to get there, I have to take I-4, or as I like to call it, Take-Your-Life-Into-Your-Hands Hell. Much of that is due to an endless stream of freight trucks, tour busses, and theme park enthusiasts heading to Disney/Sea World/Universal, etc. Ugh. Not a fan, am I.
"What else ya got?" I said, dismissing Option #1.
"Well, there's one in Ft. Myers."
Ft. Myers. Hmm...at least a two-hour drive, depending on traffic, but unlike land-locked Orlando, it's on the coast. Nice beaches...good restaurants. Still, a long way to go just to look at paper.
"You know," I said, "we've been talking about getting out of town for a weekend. Why not go down there and spend the night? Make a mini-vacation of it."
So that's what we decided to do. We made hotel reservations next to the biggest shopping center in the area (which includes, among dozens of other interesting stores, a World Market), got the cooler ready with a few bottles of wine (for after dinner sipping by the pool), and are heading out in the morning for a weekend adventure.
Spur of the moment adventures are always the best. Plus, it makes getting up early in the morning worthwhile.
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