Monday, December 5, 2011

The Mansion, lovely Saturday and Advent

 - My sister and I had the honor of attending a party at the antebellum Governor's Mansion in Milledgeville, Georgia on Friday night.  Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia when the Civil War began, but was moved to Atlanta shortly after.  All the government buildings remain, including this one.  It looks a bit gloomy at night, but there were "ambassadors" to greet us and escort us up those steep steps and carolers on the lawn.   It was lovely to see all the beautiful holiday decorations inside; there was even a gingerbread house replica of "The Mansion."

- Since the first photo is so gloomy, I stopped by on sunny Saturday morning to get this brighter picture.  It really is a treasure - pink stucco on the outside and a beautiful rotunda on the inside with a glass ceiling.  But my favorite part of the weekend was seeing friend Susan at her antique shop on Saturday morning and visiting with other friends who dropped in while I was there.

- This was the second Sunday of Advent and four generations of women lit the candle on Sunday morning.  Mackie (great name!) is a member of our church and she had her daughter, granddaughter and two great granddaughters with her.  The baby smiled at the congregation on cue.  A peaceful moment in an otherwise hectic weekend.

29 comments:

Granny Annie said...

Whew, what does it cost to rent the mansion for a wedding?

My parents, my two children and I were the first "non-traditional" family in our church to be invited to light an Advent candle. One of our associate pastor heard my daughter (then four) say that we could never be the Advent Family because we didn't have a daddy and the next week we received the invitation to participate. It has now become a normal occurrence to have all sorts of non-traditional families included in the ceremony.

Lynn said...

The Mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 so it's not rented out for events. It is owned by Georgia College and State University and they just this one event every year to preview the Christmas decorations. The ticket sales for this event benefit the university foundation. (But we got complimentary tickets since the organizer is our real estate broker. Lucky us.) :) But they do give tours all year around and candlelight tours during Christmas.

That's lovely that you got to do that - no one should ever be made to feel that way. I'm glad your associate pastor heard your daughter say that.

Louvregirl said...

Lynn~ Could you share what you (and maybe others) wore to such an event? The night sounded wonderful! Thank you for sharing about the antebellum Governor's Mansion and for the photo in the early morning light. I am a huge fan of antebellum architecture! Oh~ wish that you could have photographed the holiday decorations inside that building, too!
lg

Lance said...

Love the advent moment you experienced.

And - the photos of the old capitol building look so nice..and then, topped with a party - how awesome!!

Lynn said...

lg -

My sister photographed the enormous Christmas tree in the rotunda, but we got a look so she put her camera away. I will post it later - she didn't get it to me this a.m.

It was elegant holiday cocktail party attire. The invitation was very elegant so Jo and I discerned the dress from that. :) There were some long skirts and a few tuxedos, but the men mostly dressed in dark suits. The women were done up in sparkly attire. My sister wore a black velvet jacket and the emerald and diamond necklace her husband had made for her for their 25th wedding anniversary. She had never worn it before (saying that when you live on a farm in the country, there just aren't that many opportunities.) I wore a silky black pantsuit with a shiny gold top underneath and a necklace and matching earrings I got from Chico's that had a festively elegant look. And some metallic gold flats from Target. :)

Lynn said...

Lance -

It WAS awesome. But the Advent moment was my favorite of the weekend.

sage said...

sounds like you had a wonderful weekend! Despite the hectic pace, Advent is a favorite time of the year.

Jannie Funster said...

Oh pretty! I love the night AND day pic.

Glad sis got a pic of the tree!! :)

That advent moment would be my favorite moment too, 4 generations, how beautiful. Brings a sweet tear to the eye.

have a lovely day, dear special friend, one as lovely as you. Tho... you're pretty hard to top in the loveliness, inside and out, categories.

xoxoo

Shionge said...

Thanks for posting night and day view...what a big contrast and I love it...very mysterious at night......:D

TALON said...

What a gorgeous building. It must have been truly spectacular inside, all dressed up for the holidays.

Sounds like you had a beautiful weekend, Lynn! :)

Maude Lynn said...

What a lovely place!

Lynn said...

Sage -

This is a busy time for you at work, I imagine.

Jannie -

Thank you and you are lovely, too, my friend. xo

Shionge -

It did look mysterious at night. An odd coincidence happened, as I was snapping that evening photo, our young cousin who attends the college on the next block walked by. He had been studying at the library. We rarely see him - usually just at Thanksgiving.

Talon -

I had a wonderful weekend!

Mama Zen -

I think so, too.

LL Cool Joe said...

Hectic weekends are the best kind! What a beautiful looking building!

Your outfit for the party sounds perfect too! So no heels?

kenju said...

A beautiful mansion!! I'd love to see the inside of it.

Riot Kitty said...

I would love to see the gingerbread version!

Fireblossom said...

A gingerbread replica! How cool is that?

Lynn said...

Joe -

Thanks - it turned out to be just right. I liked the metallic flats with the outfit, but the real reason for not wearing heels is that I have a bunion that needs operating on, but I don't have time! :)

Judy -

I think the link I gave has pictures of the rooms. I don't think we were supposed to be snapping pictures, otherwise I would have. The flowers were gorgeous.

Riot Kitty -

I know - probably should have surreptiously used my iPhone camera. :)

FB -

It WAS cool.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Seems like a whole different mansion in the light, sounds like a great party. Does Susan still have her friendly dog? I love the synchronicity of folks magically going somewhere unplanned at the same time! The supermarket is where it happens to me-
I havent seen a huge Advent candle since I was in Parochial school. Sounds like a too cute moment for your congregation.

kenju said...

Lynn, I pulled a fast one...lol The tree pictured in my post is an artificial one that I decorated for a city club here. I haven't done a fresh tree yet this year; most of the places we decorate require fake trees due to fire laws.

Louvregirl said...

Lynn~ Thank you for that 'fashion forward' rundown!
:-)

Louvregirl said...

Love the 'metallic gold flats;' quite groovy!!!
:-)

Lynn said...

Snaggle -

I am pleased that you remember Susan's dog Raisin! Susan has adopted a cat now and the cat and Raisin hit it off so well, she leaves her at home with the cat now. I sure miss her.

Kenju -

No worries - still a gorgeous tree! :)

lg -

I was proud of my $9 flats from Target. They only had one pair and they were perfectly my size. :)

There was one woman running around wearing a mink stole, so the dress kind of ran the gamut.

Sparkling Red said...

I bet the gingerbread house mansion was cute!
A man that I work with makes gingerbread houses with his wife, including things like a town hall with a working clock in the clock-tower. My favourite is his design: a two-storey outhouse. The top door says "CEO" and the bottom door says "employees".

Full-On-Forward said...

Beautiful Place--glad you got to experience that!

Happy Holidays!

John

Full-On-Forward said...

Sorry--also meant to say what an awesome Advent that was to witness--it had to be special for all involved!

John

Betty Manousos said...

hi lynn,

what a lovely advent moment you experienced!

i love the photos...sounds like you had a great weekend!

have a happy/blessed advent!

betty

happygirl said...

I think the pink stucco is beautiful. Thanks so much for the sunny day pic. I'm so enjoying advent this year. I think the 4 generations of women is a lovely tribute to advent season.

Lynn said...

Sparkling Red -

Would your coworker let you photograph one and post it? I'd love to see it.

John -

Thank you - Advent is a special time.

Betty -

I hope you have a blessed Advent, too, my friend.

happygirl -

It sure looks different at night, huh? They did a multimillion dollar restoration of The Mansion several years ago. I was so glad I got to tour it again - this time with my mom and dad. They had never been inside.

Sparkling Red said...

He has photos of his gingerbread creations up on his Facebook page, but I'd have to "friend" him to see them, and it's my policy not to "friend" anyone I work with.