On this wonderfully grey, cold morning (I know, I’m odd, but fall/winter days like this thrill me!) my mind keeps drifting back to my brief trip to Virginia with Mr. M this past Friday.  The drive up in the rented Tahoe was comfortable and free of whining and temper tantrums, and we had 5 1/2 hours of uninterrupted time to chat about absolutely nothing.  It was wonderrrfullll!

As we neared Norfolk and Virginia Beach, we took some country roads where we saw some gorgeous and lively small towns, where the main streets were home to some beautiful old homes like this one:

The thing that struck me about these towns was how active they were.  Maybe it’s a South Carolina thing, but here if you drive through a town that has no stop light, you hardly see anyone walking around.  I know, I used to live in one of those non-stoplight towns, and I loved it, but we drove everywhere, and there were rarely events going on in the center of it all.  These towns were full of people walking, chatting, and having picnics and block parties.  They seem to have held on to the value of a community that you can literally reach out and touch.  This seems less and less prevalent around the country these days.

The new Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

We arrived in Virginia Beach with some anticipation. I had not been there since visiting my brothers at Hampton University when I was still in elementary school, and had little memory of the city.  We knew that we would be visiting the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, which just opened in 2007.  We had also learned that the area of town we were visiting (we stayed at the Westin Town Center, directly across the street from Sandler) was also brand new.  We had hoped to set out to explore a bit, but as we were checking in, we both received business calls, after which we both agreed we could use a good cocktail at the bar!  By the time we did that, it was time to get dressed for Natalie Cole’s gala performance.

Sporting my earrings from Denyse Cohen

See those earrings? They are from the multi-talented Denyse Cohen, whose mother designs jewelry in her native Brazil.  I couldn’t wait to wear them to this event… they felt very Natalie!

So, about the concert… I’ve always been a fan of Natalie Cole, since I was a little girl.  My parents had her albums from the 1980s.  My best friend’s father had a vintage pink Cadillac convertible called “The Pink Pig”, and I remember sitting in the back of that beautiful car, belting out “Pink Cadillac” like a crazy child.  When I was older and had moved down to South Carolina, my best friend from middle school and I would steal our parents’ copies of Unforgettable and serenade each other with “Route 66″ and “L-O-V-E.” We would have never admitted it to anyone else at the time… it was our secret.

Needless to say, I was excited to see her.  But when she sang… oh. my . gosh.  Recordings do her absolutely no justice at all.  Everyone in the audience had goosebumps.  And she had just had a kidney transplant months before!   This gala performance was particularly special to Natalie because the proceeds were going to The LifeNet Foundation, which supports LifeNet Health, the nation’s largest non-profit, full service Organ Procurement Organization and tissue banking system.  So yes, she sang her heart out and we were all in absolute awe!

Natalie Cole will be continuing with some tour dates through next year. Click here to view them and if you are near one of these cites, I highly, HIGHLY suggest you purchase tickets.  It will blow you away!

We had to head home the following day, but not before taking some time to explore beautiful Norfolk and to eat at the famous D’Egg Diner, where you can get some of the best breakfast sandwiches around. YUM. YUM!  It was the perfect end to our little getaway.

NOTE: Sorry for all the pics of just me… we tend to be bad abut getting pictures of the two of us together, and Mr. M hoarded the camera all weekend!