Southern Sunday

The South, although covered in poison ivy, is so beautiful.
I can sit here with border line elephantiasis legs and still say that.

Last weekend I was browsing a local pro photographer's Pinterest board trying to find picturesque places in the area to take some photos.

BOOM.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.
A beautiful 20 minute drive from our apartment to Belmont, NC.

When we approached this place we heard faint, African style drums playing over loudspeakers.
Jumanji style.
Heart = won.


Lucky us, they had a 'ZimSculpt' event taking place with local artists from Zimbabwe showcasing their Shona sculptures. We chatted with the artists for a little while, they were so kind. Always willing to answer every question I threw at them - which was everything from:
'Is it difficult to create a feathered texture into the stone?'
to, most importantly,
'Do you like cats?'

The rest of the garden was nothing short of a scene from Alice in Wonderland.
Peaceful, natural beauty every where we turned...

This place is awesome. They have acres of land covered in professionally designed gardens, trails along the lake, an orchid greenhouse...it's truly the perfect place to spend a Sunday.

They decorate the gardens for the holidays in December - I've already wrote down in my agenda for my birthday:
1. BUY PEPPERMINT HOT CHOCOLATE @ STARBUCKS.
2. GO TO DANIEL STOWE GARDENS
3. NEVER LEAVE.

I hope you all had a great week. Mine was full of itching & scratching, duck feeding, and of course, nightly walks to catch a beautiful sunset and count my lucky stars for another day of life.

Cheers <3