Bama Recap

I will be home this afternoon. Yay! I had a great time in Birmingham, Alabama. I didn't think much about how Birmingham was going to look. It was gorgeous--lots of trees and hills. There were two other people from my office with me. We drove through so many great neighborhoods. Every house was so nice. All of the houses were unique and old. There were some huge houses along with cute little cottages and they all had perfectly landscaped yards. It was like being in a Southern Living magazine. Bama Belle in the Big City e-mailed me a great list of things to do and see in Birmingham. A lot of things that we did were at her suggestion, so some of these things that I am mentioning will probably only mean something to her. We ate at Savages Bakery, Zoe's Kitchen, the Tavern at the top of the Summit, and we tried to go to the Bottega Cafe but it is closed on Sunday's.

We went to two great little areas of town: Homewood and Mountain Brook. We discovered this great, little, french bakery called Chez LuLu. It was so good we ate there twice once for lunch and once for brunch. There was a Whole Foods close to our hotel that we visited almost everyday. I know what you all are thinking--big deal there is a Whole Foods in my town. There is one where I live too, but it is small. This is the biggest Whole Foods I have ever been too. It was fantastic! Anytime I go to a grocery store in another state I am always amazed by the wine. (Wine is only sold in liquor stores in my state.) I don't even really like wine. I'm just really fascinated when I see it sold in grocery stores.

We went to Vulcan Park, the Civil Rights Institute and to the Botanical Gardens.

The gardens were gorgeous and so peaceful. I can only imagine what they will look like in a month.

This was in the Southern Living Garden.

It snowed in my city while I was gone, so I'm sure my pretty tulips will be ruined when I get home. These purple tulips were gorgeous!

This conference was pretty spread out as far as what we were here for, so we did have some free time to do all of these things. But I did work! (We weren't attending the conference just exhibiting, presenting, sponsoring a dinner, etc.) Since I travel so much I have a work computer with access to all of our databases and a wireless aircard that allows me to get on the internet anywhere which means staying on top of my e-mails. This was a great trip! I fell in love with Birmingham. But it is time to go home! home sweet home.