Trip to Carrollton GA

Today, my mom and I went to Carrollton to go to the Christian bookstore there. I went in by myself, and it was very nice. They had a good selection of books, but for a while, I didn’t see anything I wanted. I browsed the books in search of anything that I thought would catch my interest, and I ended up finding a small, Precious Moments Bible which I bought.

The main reason I got the Precious Moments Bible was because it was a hardcover copy. I had one Bible that had a beautiful blue leather cover with a red rose in the center of it, but it started to peel off. So, I wanted a hardcover to avoid that same problem, and also because it’s more durable.

I also liked the fact that the Bible was small, making it easier to carry around. The only thing I disliked about it was that the pages felt thin, like if I flipped it too hard, I’d end up ripping it. I wish the pages were a but more thick, but I don’t think I’ll end up ripping the pages. At least I hope I don’t.

After leaving the store, Mom and I went to Downtown Carrollton to walk around and to meet up with my brother, who is now in college.

We went to one restaurant called Heaven in Your Home and the employee there was very nice. Mom got some food for herself, and she said it was great. We also got banana pudding, which was very good.

We then went across the street to view some of the other shops, and Mom pointed out a bookstore.

I love going to bookstores, so when she pointed it out, I was eager to go inside. I walked into the bookstore, and wind chimes chimed. I was charmed to see two cats that were right in front of the door, one black and one ginger and white. It was like a place you’d only find in a storybook. However, that storybook charm didn’t last too long.

After being greeted by the owner, I asked her if I could take pictures.

“Of what?”

“Of the shelves,” I said. In retrospect, I thought that was a weird question for her to ask because it’s pretty obvious what I wanted to take a picture of: the store. I thought it looked pretty, and I thought it was charming.

“You can’t take pictures of the books because they’re copyrighted. But you can take pictures of the cats.”

“Oh, okay.” It was awkward, but I didn’t want the conversation to end on a bad note, so as she started to walk away, I asked “Do they have names?”

She told me the cats’ names, and that conversation came to an end. I had felt unusually bold in that small conversation, because I’m very shy and I don’t really enjoy talking to others all the time. But looking back, I was too nice. Even after the weird conversation, I still browsed the store for a while. I should’ve just taken pictures of the cats and left.

My mom eventually came in recording. She later told me that the owner was looking at her like she was crazy for recording the store. I was worried the lady would say something to her if I didn’t warn her about what she had told me, so I told her about what had happened. Mom had already gotten some video of the place, though, so that was good, and the lady didn’t say anything to her even when she did have her phone out.

I was polite the whole time I was there, but again, I was too nice. After talking to my Mom about it, I sort of wish I hadn’t ended up buying a book from there, because any sane bookseller would want customers to take pictures to get publicity.

Also, I highly doubt the authors of the books would mind anyone taking photos of them. If anything, the authors would want publicity for their books too. Just to be clear, I had no intention of taking pictures of pages in the books. I only wanted to take pictures of the inside of the store and the books on the shelves, because I liked the setup. But for some reason, the owner didn’t want me to. What she had said didn’t make any sense.

I did a little research and found that although her store did get mostly good reviews, there were a couple of customers that said she had been rude to them because they were skimming through newspapers before buying them or because they took pictures of a book so they could buy it later.

And although it was cute that there were cats, my mom couldn’t stay in the store for too long because she’s allergic to them. So even if I did want to recommend the store to others, I could never recommend the store to those who are allergic to cats.

Needless to say, I won’t be going to that store ever again, not because of the cats, but because of the rude owner.

Anyway, as I was in the bookstore, my brother had come. So after leaving the store, they went to get desert in a nearby restaurant while I later left to go to this nice art shop.

There were beautiful paintings inside, and most of my favorites were painted by an artist named Tommy Smith, who I hadn’t heard of before until then. One painting that stood out to me was one of lily pads in water. My younger sister is an artist, and I wished she could’ve been there to see it, but she was in school.

Done browsing the art shop, I went back to the restraint where Mom and my brother were, but as I was heading there, I saw a little black dog walking by. I went into the restaurant and told them about it. My brother and I had seen it walk by the door again, this time in the opposite direction, but when we went out of the restaurant, we didn’t see it anywhere.

We went in the direction it was going and saw an alleyway I hadn’t noticed before. An elderly man with a hat and a cane walked through it, heading in the opposite way we were going. We went through the alley, but we didn’t see the dog.

It had seemingly vanished.

Mom later joked that the man was probably the dog the whole time, and my siblings said he was probably a shape shifter.🤣

We walked back to our jeep, and we parted ways with my brother before heading back home.

Here are some other photos I took.

Overall, going to Carrollton was a nice experience. Downtown was more quiet compared to Downtown Newnan, and it’s restaurants and shops were cute. It’s usually refreshing going outside your hometown to explore other places for a time.