Mondays are Awesome! When You're On Vacation, Anyway . . .

Mondays take on a whole different complexion when you don't have to wake up to the alarm clock going off and then rush around getting ready for work. I seriously could adapt to this lifestyle. I'm most definitely NOT a person who would get bored if I didn't have a job to go to five days a week! And yes, I know there's a difference between "vacations" and "unemployment," but I stayed home with my kids for three years when they were growing up and I can honestly say that I never got bored. Broke, yes. Bored, no. And I wasn't even a quilter then!

Today, Hubby and I headed up to the foothills--gold country. There's an area just east of Placerville called Apple Hill, and in the Autumn, many of the farms open up to sell their produce. On weekends, craft booths spring up all over the place, but because crowds drive me nuts, for the last several years, we've gone up there on weekdays. And, after all these years of making our annual trek, I've whittled it down to two places we absolutely must stop: Boa Vista Orchards and Grandpa's Cellar.

Our first stop was Boa Vista. No, now that I think about it, I'm lying: Our first stop was Starbucks. Our SECOND stop was Boa Vista. Here's my cart loaded up with TWO huge boxes of apples and a third huge box of peaches.

Yep, I'm sure I'll be spending part of my vacation baking and canning! We also bought two small ready-made pies for friends. Five smallish pumpkins also made it onto my cart. To tell you the truth, I really don't stop shopping until the cart's pretty well full, and I found several more things to help fill it!

Well, who can resist when they have such a great selection. I took a photo of one small area just to give you an idea. Preserves, dry soup mixes, olives, nuts, wines . . . plenty of stuff to fill a cart.

Next we went to Grandpa's Cellar. Their little gift shop is jam packed with all kinds of stuff! This is just a tiny area.

We stopped for lunch on the way back down the hill at a little cafe called The Nook--great sandwiches and excellent onion rings! There's a quilt shop in the same shopping center, and of course I needed to stop in, but shockingly--at least to the Hubby--I didn't buy anything. The shop is a little more contemporary than what I'm usually drawn to, but since we were there, I didn't want to pass it by without checking.

Back home again, we unloaded everything and I baked those two small apple pies I bought. Then we headed out to meet our friends--the recipients of the pies--Terry and Lisa, and Hubby's sister Kathy--for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Afterward, the "boys" went over to Starbucks while the "girls" headed for Home Goods. Have you ever been to Home Goods? I hadn't until tonight, but what a fun place! Again, I didn't buy a thing, but not for lack of trying. I found a set of pumpkin napkin holders I thought would be fun for our Thanksgiving table, but I'd need two sets and I didn't find a second. I found a few other things that I waivered on for awhile, but in the end, I kept hearing Hubby's voice whispering in my head, "We don't need any more plates!" And "Where are we going to put that?" And "I'm not storing that in the garage!" So, even though he was over at Starbucks, Hubby managed to dampen my retail enthusiasm, darn him! He's like Jiminy Cricket sitting on my shoulder, acting as my conscience sometimes!

Now it's time to think about heading to bed soon. We have a 10 a.m. appointment tomorrow for full body massages. The Wild Child gave us gift certificates for Mother's Day and Father's Day, and we thought we'd use them. Yes, I really DO think I could get used to not having to go to work every morning!