Cindy Gets Her Shopping Fix and Performs!

   We woke up to a beautiful morning even though it rained pretty heavily during the night.  There was even a tornado that leveled a camper about 40 miles from here!  Part of that weather pattern is still hovering over us because it is still very windy!  We ate breakfast and then I got ready to meet Rhonda @11:00 outside TJ Maxx for our shopping day.  Costco was right around the corner so I returned the infamous sweatshirt that I had forgotten the receipt for a couple of days ago.  We were in TJ Maxx about 2 hrs!  John was very happy to hear that I took half of the things out of my cart just before going to the check-out!!  From there we headed to the University Grille right next to FSW (Florida South Western Univ.), but it didn't open until 4:00 on a Saturday.  So debated whether to take me to Coconut Point, which is higher end shops, or Miramar Outlets where there is a popular hamburger restaurant named, Ford's Garage.  I'm not much of a "higher end" gal, so we went to Miramar.  We had a 30 min wait to get into the restaurant, so we window shopped.  There was a candy store across from the restaurant named, Norman Love Confections.  OMG!  I've never seen anything like it!!  The picture tells the story.  All the individual flavored chocolates are poured into painted molds that remind you of the flavor.  They are beautiful and expensive...$3.00 a piece!!  But they left you taste anyone that you wanted.  So, of course, we each had an appetizer before lunch!!  We decided we would come back after lunch for dessert.

Aren't they beautiful!  Rhonda had cinnamon roll and I had dark choc mousse

  We went over to the restaurant and ate outside by a tall heater.  We were glad for that because it was a bit chilly in the shade with the wind.  The whole place had an auto garage theme.  The menus were leather like upholstery, the menu items were named after car/garage parts, and the waitresses had uniforms that resembled repairman.  We both ordered hamburgers which were delicious!  By the time we were finished it was almost 4:00!  I used the restroom before we left... check it out.

Rhonda by the car outside the restaurant

 

They heat stamp all the buns

 

This is the sink...Cool, huh?!?

  We went back over to the candy store and shared a chocolate caramel mousse tort.  I thought I died and went to heaven!  We decided that this would our very special get-together place every time I come to Florida!

Everything was edible except the bottom gold plate!

  Rhonda had to be home by 5:00 to babysit her granddaughter, so we headed home.  Can't believe we only shopped in one store!!  Oh, well, we caught up on each others lives.  It was pretty neat... felt like old times.  We're going to try to do it again before we leave.  Hopefully, we'll get more shopping done!  When I got back I had to practice my song for the talent show tonight.  John, my sweetie, had already gotten the words printed out for me down at the office.  He ate some supper(I was still too full from lunch) and then we headed down to the activity building for the show.  It was mostly musical comedy, so I decided to tell my "Jakey and Sadie" PA Dutch joke before singing Sandi Patty's "In the Name of the Lord".  I didn't win any of the prizes, but both were well received.

See, I told you, I really did it!

This is the activity director, Michelle, and a camper as Dolly Parton
and Kenny Rogers lip-syncing to "Island in the Stream"
 

  The neatest thing that came out of it was one of the campers came over to me to let me know that Sandi Patty was doing a free concert at a nearby church tomorrow night and the CG had a block of tickets for reserved seats.  They had extra if John and I wanted to go!  I certainly jumped at that (although I hesitated a bit when I remembered the Miss Universe Pageant was on that evening, too.  Those of you who know me, know how much I've loved those beauty pageants!)  I've seen Sandi Patty in concert at least 3 or 4 times but it's been a while.  Bonnie and Ken were headed this way to a new CG, so I called them to see if they wanted to go also.  They did, and I was able to get tix for them, too.  We got back to Harvey about 9:30.  My foot was killing me so I iced it a while, watched TV and then we went to bed.