Shanghai Weekend {Friends & Pearl Market}

Shanghai, here we come!

305 Km/h = 190 Miles/Hour from Nanjing to Shanghai.

(It goes much faster...but I forgot to take a picture)

With Carter, we now have this easy trip down to a science.

-Pack light has a whole new level of lightness now.

-20 minutes in the car to the train station...pre-arranged.

-1.25 hours on the train:

Breakfast, then a walk up and down the aisles waving in every aisle person's face with an "eye!!"

-30 minutes from cab to the hotel room with Pack-n-Play set up for nap #1.

-While he sleeps, we confirm meet-up times by text with friends, fill the hotel room with balloons for some Carter fun and unpack/set-up!

Once awake and refreshed, we met up with some of our favorite people for some "Texas" BBQ, our tradition with these people! This was a special visit, because our good friends Kellee and Francious just had their precious baby, Violette, and we finally got to meet her! Of course, too much fun so I didn't get any pictures!? Grr.

2nd Nap Time (for Daddy and Carter) I snuck off to the Pearl Market. With out knowing where and when we will be moving, this COULD possibly be my last visit to this place. :(

Many friends have asked about this place. I have never taken too many pictures because it isn't something you think about in your everyday life, but since we MAY never be back...I did!!

This is where the creativity begins!

Stones of every color! Just imagine all of the jewelry designing you can do!

Here are my two favorite people at the pearl market. I LOVE them!

I buy all of my jewelry from them. If you've ever bought jewelry from me...it is from these two! Sweetest people ever.

This is their big store they moved into (thanks to all you girls who bought jewelry). They used to have a booth like the ones pictured above!

These are all pearls! Again, imagine all you can do! Do you see why I love this place?

Me and Jennifer, that is her English name. My Chinese name is Sha La.

(Named by my Chinese teacher...she said after "Sha La" Jessica Parker.)

Okay, so Jennifer and I had a big cry. You know, you can only really cry with your real friends. I cried because I'm sad to be leaving this life. She cried because their business is not doing so well this year. This breaks my heart. She told me that her daughter said "we must be poor because all day long you've played with me and no customers have come in here."

So....I think I'm going to be doing another shipment. (Let me know if you would be interested.)

and..

I found these little pretties for myself!