Shopping at Ivy and Leo with Grace

My only granddaughter turns thirteen next week.  Where has the time gone?  She was over at the house giving me a hand with some things, and I suggested we go shopping for something for her upcoming birthday.  She chose Ivy and Leo at Cameron Village to look for a dress.  It's always fun shopping with her, since I had only boys and only grandsons (seven) until Grace arrived.  The ONLY girl. 

Grace checking out the rack of clothes.

I love the color of Grace's hair.

She just had her ears pierced last week.

I was intrigued as I watched her shop.  She has definite ideas about what she likes and what she doesn't like. 

I tried to get Grace to try these shoes, but she wasn't interested.

I couldn't persuade her to try these shoes for example.

She settled on this dress.  I thought it a nice choice.

She tried four different garments and settled on this little dress which I like very much too.

Her nail polish matches the trim on her dress.

 After shopping we headed over to Goodberry's for some ice cream---actually for a concrete. 

It didn't take long after we finished our ice cream until out came the cell phone.

I must admit I checked my phone too. 

It was fun shopping with my only granddaughter.

Shopping for Cotillion Dresses with Grace

The clerk shows Grace dresses of her size.

Eleven year old granddaughter, Grace, begins her Cotillion classes next week at the Carolina Country Club, and we went shopping for dresses the other afternoon.  Having never had a daughter, I'm lucky to do a lot of "girly" things with this one granddaughter of mine.  Grace had been shopping with her Mom earlier and had found a couple of dresses she liked and had bought her little white gloves.  But on Saturday she knew exactly where she wanted to go, Palm Avenue in Cameron Village where clothes for babies to women are sold.  They had a limited number of dresses in Grace's size, but they were all cute.

Palm Avenue in Cameron Village.

First she tried a black dress with white trim and matching black cropped sweater.

The first dress she tried.

I persuaded her to try a playful white dress with black cats.  A black sweater would complement this very well.  This was my favorite.

I liked this little dress with cats and a big black bow in front.

She finally tried a pink dress with a soft not shiny gold trim around the neck and sleeves with a matching cropped sweater.

Grace getting help with the dress of her choice.

She likes this one.

Her final choice.

I must admit, I've never really liked to "shop", but shopping with and for a granddaughter makes it a little more fun.  The next thing I know, she will be shopping for makeup.  Kids grow up too quickly these days.

L.L. Bean's at 6:00 AM

L.L. Bean Store in Freeport.

Whenever we are in Freeport, Maine, I like to get up early and go down to L.L. Bean's quite early in the morning where I can shop without a crowd (I leave Dan sleeping back in the motel). Bean's is open 365 days 24 hours a day.  It never closes.  The other morning I was there at dawn, and although I didn't do a lot of shopping, I took a number of photos. 

Bean celebrates its Centennial.

The big boot out front.

Cute dog toys.

Blueberry goodies from Maine.

Beautiful bed linen.

Sheets and blankets.

Nice rocker.

Bookmarks.

I had a great time just looking at all the fun things in LL Bean's, one of my favorite stores.  I got back to the motel in time to join Dan for breakfast. 

Eye Candy at IKEA

I basically dislike shopping, but I must admit I do enjoy shopping at IKEA .  Yesterday, my friend Boguska and I spent the day in Charlotte shopping there.  I went specifically to find an area rug for our study, but I certainly enjoyed ambling through the store thinking how much fun it would be to be young again setting up housekeeping with pretty and reasonably priced goods from IKEA.

IKEA Cafe.

Light fixtures.

Colorful "sculpture" of plastic waste baskets.

I'd choose this for my living room.

Pretty table setting.

Blue vases.

Soft puppies.

I almost brought this tough-looking guy home.

I did bring some of these delicious cinnamon buns home.

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day!

Actually, Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of Boxing.  I was never aware of Boxing Day as a celebratory day of the Christmas season until I met Dan.  Dan who is Canadian (actually he has dual citizenship--US/Canadian) is accustomed to celebrating this day as are most Canadians. 

If you are interested in a brief history of Boxing Day, you can check out this article:
Brief history of Boxing Day


I can tell you we don't go fox hunting nor do we go shopping on this day. ( Okay, sometimes I may go shopping on this day after Christmas). We usually just rest and recover from our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day activities or sometimes we go to a movie.  But we do wish our Canadian and British friends Happy Boxing Day whether they are enjoying shopping, fox hunting or watching a soccer match.