5 Things I Learned In Raleigh

A girls weekend away is always a good escape from reality. My partner in crime on this trip was RachaeI. She recently became a flight attendant and moved to New Jersey. The perk for me with her new career is meeting up in new places to catch up. Raleigh was our choice for a quick weekend “therapy” session.

Here are the 5 things I learned in Raleigh {Insert lots of laughter at each stop}:

Korean skincare in known for its innovation and use of advanced technology

Korean companies are often early adopters of new ingredients and formulations. In aging lady terms this means they have really good stuff like this color corrector for redness. So basically I should look flawless with this magic CC cream.

AND did you know that snail poop is good for dull skin and fine lines??? What? 66,000 people on Amazon attest to the benefits of snail poop. Well technically it's “Snail Secretion” and you can bet I have some in transit. By the end of the week I will be lathered in Snail Mucin!

The Raleigh Flea Market is a great place to explore

After maneuvering the hunting expo, the dog show and the Pokemon exhibit the flea market was worth finding.

The $5 leopard print sunglasses alone were worth it {I haven’t met a leopard print I don’t like yet}!

We saw someone selling CBD products from a van which seemed fitting but the chiropractor in a van was interesting. Props to clever marketing.

There was a vendor with amazing upholstery fabric for $10 a yard...a bargain. I found the perfect fabrics to give Dolly {my thrift store settee} a nice facelift.

I’m chubby and menopausal

Technically I didn’t learn this in Raleigh but I did have a moment after we walked 9.75 miles uphill to a coffee shop. It was really about half a mile on fairly level ground but humor me.

We walked into the cutest coffee shop - Little Native Coffee Co. and I felt like I had walked into an oven. A sweet smelling quant oven but an oven nonetheless. I excused my hot flash, menopausal self, and walked outside. Raleigh is very pet friendly and there was a nice Golden Retriever outside and I was eyeing his water bowl really hard {I did not drink his water}!

Rachael lives in Newark and walks everywhere and asked how far the flea market was. I told her is was 4 miles away and not to even think about walking! The Lyft arrived 4 minutes later.

Sidenote: Opposites attract in friendship. She likes to snack on spinach. I like to snack on Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. This may say alot about why I was sweating and contemplated drinking out of the dog’s water bowl and she wanted to walk to the flea market.

Vintage tablecloths aren’t just for tables

At the Raleigh Flea Market we found Snazzies by Artwear. Debbie Davis has the most amazing clothing that she has repurposed from vintage linens and bedding. And she was a hoot to talk to.

Of course I had to try on a few things {I might have had a hot flash in the makeshift dressing room}!

I left the flea market with 85 pounds of upholstery fabric for Dolly and 3 vintage tablecloth pieces of clothing for me and my mama.

There are alot of references to acorns in Raleigh, NC

We noticed on the uphill 9.75 mile walk to the coffee shop that there were a number of references to acorns around the city - in murals, in art, etc. So our trusty friend Google told us that it’s a play on Raleigh’s nickname “City of Oaks.”

To celebrate the city’s bicentennial celebration in 1992 a 250 pound copper and steel sculpture was commissioned and located at Raleigh City Plaza. For First Night Raleigh, it is dropped to welcome the New Year in the style of New York City’s Times Square ball drop. I love this!

It was a great weekend spend in a beautiful city. We laughed a lot, enjoyed some great shopping and most of all enjoyed the deTales true friendship brings.

Gotta go check the mailbox for my snail poop!

Enjoy the DeTales,

Janet