Ava Elisabeth: Shop 'Til You Drop- Part 2

For those of you who do not know what the mart is, it is this massive shopping center where gift stores and boutiques of every kind come and buy their merchandise. And when I say massive, I mean massive- there are 3 buildings and the smallest building only has 15 floors, the\largest only has 23.... They have everything you can think of here- it is just finding that is the problem. You can get lost and become very overwhelmed, however, this time, during the temporaries, which is when stores come and set up just for the market dates, we stayed in building 3 (the smallest building) since they had all of the temporaries. In the pictures below you can gain some perspective, however, let me mention that these store fronts are not 1 deep, many of them are 3 and 4 stores deep. You would spend a lifetime in there if you were to look at every store.

Building 3 looking around from the 4th floor

Building 3 from the 13th floor looking down

Now, the rules at the mart state that strollers are not allowed, but we thought- surely they aren't going to expect me to carry her around the entire time. Just to play it safe, we checked in and kept the stroller out of view and then mom carried it in while I carried Ava. Once we were in and past security, we pulled it out and set her up- we were ready to spend some money!! Wouldn't you know that I didn't make it 2 isles on the first floor we stopped at and someone came up to me and said "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the floor"...I thought they were absolutely insane. So, I, being the good mart attendee, took it out to the car and got the carrier and strapped it on. Anyone who has around a 20 lb. baby can vouch for me- it is NOT comfortable and she get very heavy after a few mins. She ended up falling asleep and slept for about 2 hours (I ended up carrying her about 3 hours) then we stopped for lunch. While we were eating, my shoulders were so sore and tight from carrying her, Mom offered to carry her next. She ended up falling asleep again and mom sat outside a store while we were shopping. Aunt Robin and Mrs. Dot decided they were going to try and sneak the stroller in again. They did and we played keep away from security. I do have to add that at one point (We were still carrying her, they asked to see her badge...I almost wanted to laugh out loud, but was too frustrated from digging in the diaper bag while holding her at the same time to laugh. I'm not sure what the purpose of stopping a 10 month old baby to see if they have a badge is...maybe they think she is a secret spy in disguise?) We made it thru the rest of the day without getting caught- to which our backs and shoulders thank us.

After the mart closed we went to eat at Mary Macs Tea Room, now the name of this restaurant implies a little girlie quaint restaurant...not so...this is restaurant that is southern cooking at its best- it is just about impossible to eat healthy at this place. If you are ever in Atlanta- you must go eat at this place!