Gwinnett,GA...

Have you ever been to Gwinnett, GA? Might I suggest a visit there? Maybe a drive through the scenic parking lot of a Korean Farmer's Market (twice) off Exit 103 of I85 North. Let me warn you, though. If you'd like to stop just for a few minutes to grab food and then hop back on the interstate heading north, you might choose Exit 104 instead.



On our way home from Atlanta, we were going to grab some food right off the interstate and eat in the car. We saw a sign for food that included Chick-fil-A. PERFECT! Take that exit. Once we exited, there were no more signs showing which direction the food was. We drove left...no food. We drove right...no food. We turned down a side street (twice) and turned around in a Korena Farmer's Market (twice)...no food. We turned by Khol's...surely there's food close to Khol's...no food. Finally, we decided to get back on the interstate to find food at another exit. There's the sign for South I85, but we need North I85...turn around...no North I85 entrance to be found ANYWHERE! Let's get on South I85 and then turn around at the next exit. As we FINALLY get back on I85 heading in the correct direction (North), we see the food sign we had seen an hour earlier. It was actually for Exit 104 and not 103. Next to the the Exit 103 sign read words similiar to this "No rentry to I85 North"... SOOOO, after finally getting food off Exit 104 we were back on the road after an hour and a half diversion. :-P ETA: There was a stop at a gas station in this saga that I will let Kelly tell you about...I stayed in the car to "guard" the van.

We had a GREAT time in Atlanta Friday night and Saturday. Our day Saturday began with sleeping late ;-) (5:45 am for some, 6:30 for others and 8:00 for the last of us). After some chatting and showers, we were off for breakfast. We found an IHOP...PERFECT! I LOVE Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes. Our waitress was wonderful and 2 of us were stuffed until we could eat no more. It was finally time for IKEA. We drove into the parking lot at about 10:30am and found literally the closest parking spot possible. It was right across from the entrance. We started upstairs in the showroom (which is AMAZING, if you've never been). We had finished walking through by 1:00pm or so and stopped for a quick drink and snack (no time for a real lunch...we had shopping to do). After our snack, we headed for the warehouse portion to find our treasures. We finished up ready to check out at 5:30. By 6:00 we were loading our van full (literally) of purchases up, ready to head back to Charlotte. If we ate in the car, we could be home by 9:30 or 9:45. Well...that didn't happen (see above). We pulled into Charlotte at about 11:00, were at my house by 11:15 and I think Joy finally made it home at about midnight. I don't know about the other girls, but I think it was worth it! A good time was had by all! (In case you missed it, YES we did shop in the same store for roughly 7 hours!)

My "big" purchases are below:

A pot rack to be hung over my bar....


And Roman shades for my living room window and the back door.
I can't say how much I enjoyed this trip! Thank you again to the Daddy's who stayed home with the kids! Thanks also to Nathan for sharing his Marriot points and for letting us take your only van with keys, leaving you homebound with the kids all day!!