Fun weekend with the girls!

I went to Charlottesville this weekend to hang out with Linnea, who lives there, and Claudia, who does not.  We'd had the weekend planned for a while and I was especially looking forward to a traditional wreath building workshop we had tickets for on Saturday afternoon.  Linnea works at Monticello and got us tickets to this annual event.  It was pretty cool.  All of the wreath materials were from the Monticello grounds, so we decorated with boxwood branches, apples, pine cones, berries, seed pods, and fluffy stuff (you'll see).

We started the weekend with several bottles of wine.  That was Friday evening, btw, not Saturday morning.  Just to clarify... I needed a drink (or six) not an alcohol problem :)  Anyway.  We started the weekend with several bottles of wine and some good old-fashioned girl talk.  Then on Saturday we went to the workshop, to a South African restaurant for dinner (I was a little disappointed... my mom's bobotie is better), and a holiday performance by the Virginia Glee Club.  Linnea's husband, Eli, was horrified when he heard about our weekend plans.  What can I say?  Wreaths and a glee club?  Sounds like fun to me! :)  An absolute highlight of the weekend for me was wandering through a store called Cha-Cha's in downtown C'ville.  The store is filled with the wackiest stuff and I laughed until I almost cried at some of the unique items we found.  My favorite item?  Vinnie's Tampon Case!  

I seriously regret not buying it when I had the chance.  It cracked me up!!  I have left some money with Linnea, imploring her to pick one up for me the next time she's near the store.  I don't know why it's so funny, it just is!  Every girl should have one...

So here are some pictures of our wreathiness!  We had a lot of fun and I think our finished products are absolutely beautiful!

From top: My wreath, Linnea's wreath, Claudia's wreath.

Claudia couldn't decide if she'd made a wreath to hang or wear.

See how my blue berries match my blue door?  I'm so clever! j/k

I used apples, fluffy stuff, long, skinny seed pods, and hairy little balls.  They're Sycamore seed pods, btw, but "hairy little balls" just sounds better.

Ta da!  Now the birds can enjoy the berries, etc. and we'll enjoy the wreath (until it starts to look shabby and gets thrown away, that is). 

One more week of school before a two week break for Christmas and LONDON, BABY!!!  Is it Friday yet?