Flower Show Weekend

This weekend I went to Philly with Nora for a girl bonding weekend. I was so excited, especially since Lloyd is still gone on externship and I was going to be home alone this weekend. We drove down on Friday night and met our good friend Bethanne from college. I also got to meet her twin girls, Hannah and Angela, for the first time, since I was already in Miss. when she got pregnant. The girls are 2 and a half now and are so grown up! Here is a picture of Angela playing her little violin (just like mommy and daddy do) and Hannah showing off her letter "H" that she drew on the chalk board:



On Saturday Nora and I got together with her cousin Kelly. We went to the Quakertown Farmer's Market, affectionately known as the "Q-mart" by the locals. It is very PA Dutch. Kelly got some Lebanon Bologna (a PA Dutch staple), and I decided I would photograph the evidence for all of you not familiar with this central PA delicacy. :o)


After going to the Q-mart, we did something very very exciting....OPENING DAY OF RITAS ITALIAN ICE!!!!!!!!! I missed it so much in MS and was never able to figure out why Ritas hasn't started up there, since it is hot all the time and there is no Italian Ice anywhere. Anyway, I was very excited for my first gelati of the season (I am going to have to slow down on my Rita's consumption this year; don't want to go overboard because I live so close now).


The girls and I also did some shopping, including at Target, another store I am very excited to be living closer to now.

Sunday was the Philadelphia Flower Show, the whole reason for the weekend. It is listed in a favorite book of mine, "1,000 Places to Visit Before You Die," which Lloyd and I are trying to work through. Nora and her mom go every year, and every year I look at her pictures and see how awesome they are, and want to go. This year I made it! I literally took over 200 pictures this weekend, so I will spare you all of them, but I do have to show some of the very best. It was amazing. The theme this year was "Bella Italia" and everything had Italian inspiration. I am going to post some pics today, and more tomorrow, and maybe even some the next day. Tomorrow I will post all of the shoes made with flowers--amazing!

Before we even got in the flower show, a Vespa dealer was set up outside. Nora's dad loves Vespas and used to own a bunch of them, so we took this picture for him:


Then it was on to the flower show! Seriously, the pictures don't even do it justice, but here is just a small sample for you:
















I will post more fun Flower Show pictures soon!