Well, vacation is officially over.  We had such a great time.  Our time in Savannah was spent with a lot of golf cart rides to the pool.

When you ask the girls about their favorite part of our trip, it was hands down, the golf cart.  They would take morning rides with Pop-Pop to go see the dolphins.. what a great memory that they will carry with them forever.

 We spent time by the water…..

Although on this particular evening a storm was brewing, and by the time we left it was getting a little bit windy.

It was HOT, but we stayed cool with water balloon fights

and lots of Italian Ice at the pool (I think the girls had blue mouths the entire vacation.)

We spent an afternoon downtown and visited the Manolo Blahnik exhibit by SCAD.  (Savannah College of Art and Design) has brought so much culture and life to downtown Savannah.   The girls really enjoyed this exhibit (and why wouldn’t they— it’s SHOES!)

As we all know, Sex and the City put Manolos on the map- so it’s only natural to have a Sex and the City gallery of shoes.

We visited some of my favorite stores in Savannah

like the Paris Market.

These butterflies caught my eye.

Next was DC2 Design.

and finally Shop SCAD.

I loved spending time in this store.  So many interesting pieces, all created by SCAD students.

I bought some items to hang on the girls’ walls in their rooms… more on that later.

After the weekend, we were off to Charleston!  Just two Salmons, our Crown Victoria, and the open road.  Everyone on the highway thought we were a cop in our Crown Vic, so they moved on out of our way.  We made record time.

We stayed at the Market Pavillion Hotel, and could not have been happier.  The service was amazing!

Chillaxed at the rooftop pool.

and had a few frosted beverages.

Spent some time shopping on King Street.  One of my favorite stores was South of Market.

They fit so many amazing pieces in this tiny little space!

I bought one of these beautiful turquoise wool throws.

 Next, I stopped in a boutique called Worthwhile.  I fell in love with these Kcymaerxthaere folklore panels.  A little background:  Artist Eames Demetrios first shared his stories with the people of Penduka, a women’s group in Windhoek, Nambia.  The skilled embroiders began to render fragments of the three different stories told by Demetrios.  Only 151 of each story will be available as a limited edition.  Each story panel is embroidered by a member of the Penduka collective.  Proceeds of each sale go back to the women of Penduka.  I loved the one in the frame, but it was glued into the frame, and I didn’t want to pay $75 for a frame that I was going to trash.

So the lovely folks at Worthwhile put me in touch with Rebecca at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, who, might I add, opened the doors for me after closing time.  What an amazing exhibit!

I picked the story of Ellala Mei-Ning: the woman whose voice was too beautiful to be concealed.   I thought it was appropriate, given that I have a talker on my hands.

By far, my favorite find in Charleston was free… and came out of a dumpster.  That’s right!  Yours truly went dumpster diving on King Street.  It all happened when I was in Louis Vuitton, and I saw them putting THIS in the dumpster:

It was too beautiful to go to the dump and the trash guy told me I could take it, so.. I did.  The problem was, there was a heat index of 114 degrees and I had to haul it back to the hotel.  Now, she’s a lot heavier than she looks, I’d say about 60 lbs. heavy.  Part of me was wishing I had Mike with me, the other part of me knew that he would kill me, so I hauled it all the way back to the hotel… on my own.

Strangers were taking my picture, stopping to stare- it was a topic of conversation.  But it was just too good to pass up!  Of course, when I got back to the hotel, Mike said “Ummm, how do you plan on getting that home?”  I answered, “I always find a way!”  At one time, in her prime, she looked like this:

If she makes it home safely, I am thinking she would look delicious in my dining room over the green console.

Ahem, back to Charleston… Now for the food scene- Husk was probably the biggest disappointment.  (Wanh, Wanh!)  The atmosphere, the food, the cocktails… everything was just “OK.”

My two favorites were S.N.O.B.  (Conveniently located right across the street from our hotel.)

(Amazing drinks!)

 and Taco Boy.

After devouring some tacos, we (me, Mike and my new friend) hopped in the Crown Vic and headed back to Savannah.

We got back to Savannah just in time to celebrate Grammy’s birthday

and figure out how to ship my friend home.  After Lou and I spent an hour in the UPS Store she went from this:

to this:

I painstakingly had to bend each individual wire backwards and tie it up. Lord knows, I’m not a quitter!  Of course I have about 20 fallen soldiers in a bag.    I am not sure in what shape she will arrive, but I sure had to give it the old college try!

Now, before I wrap this extremely long-winded recap, I wanted to get an opinion on something that Mike and I debate over with each trip to Savannah.  On Grammy’s family picture wall is a picture of Mike’s paternal grandfather.  Tell me that he is not a dead ringer for Brad Pitt?

That is all.  Talk amongst yourselves.