My Weekend Away

**I have been working on this post since Sunday Night. One of the goals I have for myself now is to be in bed by 10 pm, sans computer, so this cuts in to my blogging time. **

I had the best time this weekend. The homeschooling retreat was all I was expecting and more. I received so much encouragement and advice for my vocation! I took plenty of notes and plan on sharing them with you all over the next week or so.

In addition to enjoying a great conference, I enjoyed spending a bit of time by myself, a sort of mini retreat. I drove up early on Friday morning, made it through Atlanta traffic and arrived at the church in time for Mass. The first day of the conference was a temperament workshop, very very very informative. I will be doing further research in to my sanguine temperament.

After the workshop, we had a talk, then I was off to the hotel, checked in and hung out for a bit. I had a whole evening to myself, what was I going to do? Well, in planning my trip, I found an FSSP parish in Atlanta that had confession, stations and Mass, that evening. so I headed out. Twenty five miles away…one and a half hours on the road, but it was well worth it. Thankfully I left with plenty of time to get there, so I arrived with time for confession. I stayed for Stations and Mass (EF) then went back to my hotel.

Well, first I stopped to pick up a toothbrush and some toothpaste, and to pick up something to eat, as I hadn’t had anything since lunch at that point. I saw a Kroger store so I stopped, ran in and picked up what I needed. I also picked up some flour, as I knew we were out back home. (A buck fifty five. Flour here, is 2.50 and good luck finding unbleached. Heck, good luck finding anything that isn’t self rising.)

Oh and the ride back to the hotel? Twenty five minutes.

At the hotel, I ate my dinner then ordered room service for breakfast. I got ready for bed and laid there watching tv for two hours. First, did you know that there are young people on Law and Order? Did you know that guy from “Clueless”, the one who liked Cher, but Cher was clueless about it, is (was) on the show? And the guy from “Romeo Must Die”, who called Jet Li “Dim sum” is on it too?

Yes, it has been a long time since I have watched that show, a long time. The last time I watched it regularly, Lenny and Mike were the main officers. I remember watching it when I was in junior high. I cannot believe that it was still on the air up until last year!

I watched some bad (read: lame) reality tv, then went to bed. I slept across the king size bed, because I could. When my alarm went off the next morning, I could have slept for a few more hours, but knew that lovely room service was coming soon, so I got up and showered.

I headed back to the church where the conference was being held and went to Mass, then over to the conference. I promise to share with you all what I learned and tips I received, in another post or three.

After the conference was over, I headed out to Trader Joe’s to scope things out. Let me just say, TJ would be my grocery store of choice if there were one near us. I picked up Quinoa, couscous, bananas and butter. After checking out, I scooted over to Chipotle. I had planned on having it on Friday night, but I really wanted to share my Chipotle experience with Joshua, so I got two Bowls, some chips and guac and headed home. Yes, I transported butter,produce, flour and Chipotle from Atlanta to The Valley of Augustus’ City.

Joshua had bought for me, a year ago, a cd of a talk by Joseph Pearce to listen to, so I popped that in for the ride home. I learned a lot about Middle  Earth, a lot.

I left Atlanta, with a very positive image of the city. It is beautiful to drive through and the people there are so very friendly. No, really, I have never met such friendly people.

Like I said at the beginning, I plan to share lots of things from the conference, so keep your eyes out for future posts!