Speaking of Claire

Madison, Georgia

Today I took a quick road trip to Madison, GA to do a bit of antiquing.  Madison is a quaint little town filled with antebellum homes and antique shops and bills itself as "The #1 Small Town in America."  I don't know about that but it was a cute little town.  This was the town that Sherman refused to burn.

I definitely picked the wrong weekend to go, since they have a big Sunflower Festival in 2 weeks that would be a blast to photograph.  It was also much to hot to walk around much and this is "walk around" kind of town if you really want to enjoy the sites and shops.

One really cute shop I went in was a toy store with a bubble machine outside.  Super cute and definitely small town.

Loved the Coca-Cola sign outside of this pub.

And finally, this little shop only sold items with chickens and roosters!

Thinking of Paris...

So today I was reviewing old photos from vacations and weekends away to pull together a coffee table book and ran across photos from almost 2 years ago in Paris.

Paris is one of my most favorite cities in the world and last year was the first year I didn't visit in almost 10 years.  I miss this city so much!

A big part of not traveling abroad last year was the weak dollar as well as concern for the economy but I think I'll have to find a way to go this year.  I typically like a posh hotel with all of the amentities but could definitely enjoy 'The  City of Lights' on a budget if I went with more economical accommodation.  Food and transportation are always a small fraction of my expenses so I will just have to find a way to reduce the shopping budget!