HOMEGOODS ANONYMOUS !

Hi everyone,

I was away the last few days.  My husband swept me away for a few days for my birthday!  We went South to Burlington, Vermont.  Its always nice to see what our neighbors to the South are up to.  Its just an hour and half drive and part of the trip included a ferry boat ride on beautiful Lake Champlain.

We stayed at the Willard Inn.  Its a beautiful Victorian Mansion built in 1881.  It was built by Mr. C. Woodhouse and appropriately enough there is extensive wood used in many architectural details.  These are not my pictures  (my camera is on the fritz again) but they will give you an idea of how picturesque the hotel and surroundings are:

 

Each suite has its own name, this is the Flower suite.

This is the Champlain Suite with a view of the lake.

This is part of the lobby!  Mr. Woodhouse sure loved wood!

This is Lake Champlain.   Its thawing slowly but there are still people ice fishing.  To our amazement, we saw someone pull out a big fish.  I always thought that fishing in the winter yielded fish the size of sardines but I was wrong!

A typical snow day!.  They have beautiful big trees in Burlington and the city is filled with historical mansions.  Many have been transformed in lodges or houses for students.

This is Church Street at night.  Its filled with fun shops and restaurants.

This is Leunig's Bistrot.  We love this restaurant.  Its small but full of character.  It offers French cuisine.  I had a really good French Onion soup and Mr. Husband had a beef bourguignon.  At the end of the meal, they offered us 6 die that we had to drop on the table.  They added the total and the amount was subtracted from our bill.  Ours added up to 17 so they took 17% off our bill.  Not bad!

Of course no trip is complete without shopping.  Right ladies?  There is a store called HomeGoods.  I'm really addicted to this place.  Before I go in, I have a serious talk with my dysfunctional brain.  I remind myself how I have just cleaned out part of the house and of how many things I had to give or store away because there is just no room to display them all.  But as soon as I  enter the store and my eyes scan the floor, my mind takes a leave of absence and something happens:  I go into a coma and then I find myself at the cash with a cart full of treasures.  I'm warning you, stay away from this place:

Its a huge discount store and offers discontinued items.  Everything and anything you need for your home is here.  Its just gorgeous! My husband did not raise an eyebrow when he saw the total, I suppose its part of my birthday gift(I hope).  I also went to Macey's and a whole bunch of other stores.  I cant say that this is a typical trip a man would enjoy but I suppose someone was trying real hard to please me on my birthday!