I am the Stair Master!!

Well, I'm back from my working trip to Atlanta, and exhausted!!!

I crawled out of bed at 4am Saturday, unwillingly I might add.... my flight left at 6am.... arrived at the Atlanta airport at 8:50am. I navigated my way to my first trip on the MARTA train.

Here is the amazing part, of course the escalators were not working so I decided to take the stairs, they really didn't look too bad standing at the bottom, really!! I had my tote bag with my knitting, book, magazines & purse stuffed inside & my carry on bag which was crammed to the max, had to be 40 to 50 pounds of stuff I was carrying.... so maybe the stairs wasn't a bright idea, but the line to the elevator was sooooo long & my boss was waiting on me, I had to make some tracks. Up I went, & up, & up, & up, my legs felt like jello, I was huffing & puffing, couldn't catch my breath, I did finally make it to the top after one short stop about 3/4 of the way up to try to re-group. (I wasn't the only one who had to do that!! Thank goodness!) I looked back at those stairs & swore I'd never attempt something so stupid again!! ha ha!!!

I got on the MARTA train with a little help from a very friendly man who worked there & showed me how to get my ticket, put it on the automated gate opener, & commented sweetly on my NC accent.... all of us Southerners don't have the same "Southern Accent". :) Took my short trip across town on a loaded with people train, luckily I got a seat!! Finally met up with my boss & took my coat & luggage to the baggage check..... off we went shopping!!

Now, to those of you who love to shop this would have been heaven!! Me? I'm more of an on-line shopper who likes to shop in the comfort of my home, in my jammies, on the computer, & it all gets shipped right to my door!!

Here is a photo of one of the 3 buildings. If I get my phone working right I'll post the photos I took from inside. This was shopping mania! Each building had from 14 to 22 floors, & each floor was stuffed with stores & vendors. So, from about 9:15 am to 6pm we walked, & walked, & walked, shopped & shopped & shopped.... walked some more, shopped some more. Found lots of good stuff to sell in the store, lots of kids toys & trinkets, jewelry, vases, fish dishes, paintings, the cutest goofy bird wind chimes & yard art, wall sculptures, etc... I couldn't begin to recount everything we bought, it was amazing!! So was the amount of money we spent!! :O Good thing it was the company's money!! We only took a short break for a sandwich for lunch, then on the move again.

We finally retrieved my luggage & caught the MARTA train back across town to where the car was parked. Headed to where we were staying, I was with the Boss Wife & we stayed at the MIL's home. She is a great & funny lady. We then cleaned up, went to dinner & actually went SHOPPING at Steinmart!!!! I did pick up a new purse just to try to get into the spirit of things..... Went back to MIL's, watched a movie, and in bed about 11:45pm! I couldn't poop out on them, I had to show them that I could hang, right?!!

We were off & running Sunday morning, arrived at the MARTA train, still no working escalator! Believe it or not, we took those damned stairs again! I was still huffing when I got to the top, but it wasn't nearly as bad without luggage!! I didn't feel so bad when the boss was huffing & puffing with me when we got to the top! :P I still would not choose to go up those things willingly again!! That's just insane!!!! I'm all for a little exercise, but not giving myself a heart attack!! ha ha!

We shopped till about 5:00pm, just had to stop by the GAP on the way home, that is one shopping woman!!! Then headed off to dinner with the FAL, & step-mom.... finally in bed about 10pm.....

Got up & headed out about 6am this morning & arrived home about 12 noon today! I proceeded to curl up on the sofa and take a long nap!! he he! The hubby woke me when he got home from work this evening. I'm still tired! I'll probably be in bed by 10 tonight, that's early for me.

Whew! What a weekend!! Something to look forward to next year!! NOT! And all that great stuff we bought.... it will start coming in to the store in about a month.... tons of boxes that will need to be unpacked, priced, put in the store, put in storage, etc..... Well, at least it will be job security, something to do.