Mom and I headed to Atlanta, GA, for our 3rd Southern Lady Celebration, hosted by Hoffman Media who produces some of my favorite magazines. We flew out of Midland on Thursday to Birmingham, AL. We rented a fun little red SUV. I think it was a Grand Jeep Cherokee or something like that. The two hour drive into Atlanta was beautiful. The trees along the highway were full of gorgeous trees with the fall colors exploding everywhere. We drove through some type of National Forest. I can’t remember the name. Mom slept through that part; she missed out. She did wake up in time for some serious traffic. There are some wild drivers out there and it seemed bumper to bumper for at least an hour before we got to Atlanta.
Our hotel was beautiful. It was the Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. We checked in and then went exploring the hotel. We ate in their restaurant and headed to our rooms. We each had a doorbell to our rooms. I was so impressed. I tried to beat my mom in getting ready so I could go ring her doorbell. I’ve never seen a doorbell on a hotel room door before. Our rooms were on the 23rd floor. I prayed there wouldn’t be a fire or an earthquake. 🙂
Friday morning, we slept in and had lunch in the hotel, then registered for the Celebration. The shopping boutique was open so we browsed around. A hat designer was there and I had fun trying on his hats. A booth with beautiful pearls was one of my favorites.
The evening began at 6 p.m. with a delicious dinner and our speaker was a lady who had just retired from the White House of 35 years of designing the floral arrangements and decorating the various dinner parties at the White House. She was very interesting.
Saturday morning began with some workshops on cooking, decorating and a lesson on napkin folding. By the way, each time we went to our table for a meal, we had a gift plus the latest magazine editions of Southern Lady, Tea Time, Celebrate, Semi-Homade and Victoria!
Free time was after the morning session. Mom and I headed to a mall down the road called Phipps Mall. Very nice. Nordstroms was my favorite store in that mall.
Saturday night began with another delicious meal and our speaker was Pat Kerr. She is a fashion designer and was also given the Southern Lady of the Year Award.
Sunday morning we had a morning devotional by a lady who spent time in Africa as a missionary. She was very inspiring. After our brunch, Jeannie Robertson, who is a comedian, spoke and had us laughing and crying at the same time. She tells stories of her life and they are hilarious!
Mom and I then went out for some shopping and stopped at a quaint Italian restaurant first. We went back to Phipps Mall and then to a Target to buy a suitcase for our extra things we were heading home with. This Target had a parking garage and was also 2 stories with an escalator. Then we headed over to The Lenox Mall. By the way, valet parking is everywhere, even the mall. We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then went to see Secretariat. Love that movie!
Monday morning we got up early an headed back to Birmingham to catch our flight home. These two country bumpkins needed to get back to reality. By the way, I was also chosen to be patted down leaving Midland and leaving Birmingham. Not a good thing! Pretty humiliating! Why me? I guess I looked suspicious or something. I even left most of my jewelry in my suitcase so I wouldn’t cause the beeper to go off. I really don’t enjoy flying anymore, such a hassle. I guess it beats a 17 hour drive though.
Know you had a super fun time! Thank you for update! Live you.0
Looks really fun!
Jeannie Swanner Robertson grew up in our neighborhood and I graduated from high school with her sister. It is amazing how people change after they leave Graham. Who would have ever believed what would have become of Jeannie!