Jillian Chantal

I spent the past weekend in Tallahassee because I had to be there Friday for court events and I had to there on Monday for court again. It’s a three hour drive each way for me and it would’ve been insane for me to drive it twice in four days. So, I was dreading the boring weekend in the capital city where there’s not much going on.

Then I decided to make it a writing retreat. Planned to try to make it to 45,000 words on the WIP. Sadly, after Friday’s full day of legal junk, I was too beat to write so I didn’t. I decided on Saturday morning to take a drive up to a little town about 15 miles out of Tallahassee called Havana. Now, mind you, these people call their town hay-vana. Not at all like that place in Cuba.

It’s a cute town and has a lot of antique shops, furniture and gift stores. It also has an awesome store that reminds me of European shops in that you can buy ribbons by the inch, a vast array of buttons and one of a kind things. I scored some great items there. I got a 1940s brooch with green crystals, some gorgeous ribbons and buttons, a scarf, a hair barrette, and in another shop, I got an embroidered table scarf and a lace runner.

I also found a few great books. I got a middle grade illustrated Pride and Prejudice, and for research, an encyclopedia of Ireland, a 365 places in 365 days in England book and an encyclopedia of world proverbs. As some of you who’ve read my books know, I love to use quotes at the beginnings of chapters and this proverb encyclopedia is going to be amazing for that.

The biggest score of the day was a sink. Yep, I got a sink. Alas, I can’t say I bought everything including the kitchen sink (which would be an awesome thing to be able to say) because it’s for a bathroom. It’s one of those that sit above the counter. It’s painted and it’s all the room will need for decor because it’s quite colorful. It’s for my office bathroom which I’ve never decorated as I couldn’t find what I wanted. I’m still in Tallahassee and can’t upload a picture but I’m planning for it to be Wordless Wednesday’s picture. So, stayed tuned.

I wrote over 4,000 words on Saturday. Sunday, I had lunch with a friend and then we trolled some antique stores looking for furniture for her new house. It was fun but I didn’t write as much since I spent most of the day with her. I got over 3,000 words though. I’m pushing 48,000 now so I did meet my modest goal i had set but I really expected to do more. But all in all, a dreaded weekend turned out all right after all. Just goes to show that you should always expect the unexpected, right?