SoInspired

You have to go - if you have never been. It is such a treat to visit Nell Hill's in the charming town of Atchison, Kansas. I think I've only known about Mary Carol Garrity for about a year now and I all ready own 3 of her 5 books. My children and I took a trip to the midwest to visit my sister in Iowa over fall break. Most of our trips back home were bittersweet. So happy to see my family and spend time with them, but so very sad because both of my parents were ill with long-term illnesses. Needless to say, when we were home, we didn't see much of the midwest. We are on a quest to see all 50 states. I decided to rent a car and take the kids to Missouri and Kansas. Just a short 2-hour drive. We studied the map and decided to drive to St. Joseph, Missouri. I then looked over into Kansas to see what the closest city was and my heart started racing. Could it be that Atchison was the location of Nell Hills? I raced for one of her books and found that it was. How lucky for me. I purchased her "Feather Your Nest"

book at Nell Hill's and she signed it for me. I do enjoy my nest Mary Carol!

I love that she dedicated this book to her girlfriends. Where would we be without each other? After reading her books, I really wanted my front entrance spruced up but had some challenges. I took several photos of the front of our home and met with one of their wonderful designers. She gave me some great suggestions. We started working on them the day after we returned home. (I've only been back for two days). I regret that I couldn't take more photos. The store is very crowded with excited shoppers leaving very little room to take photographs but I did manage to take a few. I purchased this whitebark cone. I need to go shopping to find some greenery to fill it with. I bought this silver, tinsel oblisk. They were also displaying them in the bark cones. I also bought 8 square, bird embossed ivory plates to coordinate with our black and ivory harlequin dinner plates. Now I have a little story to tell you about how wonderful people are in the midwest. We had to pass through St. Joseph, MO to exit on Highway 59. When we arrived, that section of the freeway was closed. We stopped at a Hardees to ask for directions. Three people overheard, came up to the counter and gave us three different sets of directions. We walked out to our car and a lady tapped on my window and said "My sister said to follow us. She'll lead you to the highway." We followed her for about 10 minutes, they pulled off to the side of the road, the sister got out of the car and said "Now honey, you just follow this road for 15 minutes and you will be in Atchison, KS." How sweet was that?