Chihuly at Cheekwood

A few weeks ago we went to see the installment of glass artisan Dale Chihuly at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. We went to the "Chihuly Nights" to take advantage of seeing the artwork with special lighting. Glass loves light, and the exhibits were amazing. I managed to snag a few nice pics despite the difficult lighting conditions, and I think they speak for themselves:




(My personal favorite)









Did you see the little frog on that last one? He's ready for his close up! Love it!

In a word, awesome. Highly recommend you check it out if you are in Nashville or the exhibit comes to your town.

A sinking feeling

My poor city is under water.

After over 13 inches of rain in 2 days, there is wide spread flooding in Nashville. Many have lost their homes and businesses, and downtown is under water. The pictures are staggering--just Google Nashville flood (or check out twitter tags #NashvilleFlood and #OtherSituation2010)

On Sunday, I had no idea that the day was going to turn out like it did. Seemed just like a little rain, and my biggest worry was that the rain would make it hard for me to get to my class with Natalie Chanin at Textile Fabrics. Mr. McAwesome started making pancakes; by the time he was done we were bailing water out of our basement.

We bailed about 4-5 gallons per minute by shopvac and bucket for over an hour before we realized this would be an all day project. To save our backs, and our basement, we had to get creative. Thankfully we are DIY packrats--we cobbled together a system using 2 decorative fountain pumps, some tubing, a very large pot, and Mr. McAwesome's beer brewing pump to get the water out of the low lying area and into the laundry sink.




About 4 hours later we were dry. The same can't be said for our local park. The golf course and greenway were completely swallowed by Richland Creek (river?). When we walked by, the water had already subsided from its highest and the damage was heartbreaking.


A heck of a water hazard...

the cart path is gone.

The 6th tee.

where the water was earlier in the day

I feel lucky that we escaped the "storm of the century" relatively unscathed. Please keep Nashville and all its flood victims in your thoughts.

Southern Food and Wine Festival - Part 2

The exhibit hall was full of all sorts of yummy, and dangerous, goodies. We pickup up some sauces and dip mixes, tried all sorts of goodies, and chatted up fellow foodies.

The best booth would probably have to be Wonderffuls - a yummy truffle/cake concoction with super cute presentation:



Top cocktail awards goes to St Germain elderflower liquor.


2 parts Champagne/sparkling dry white wine, 1.5 parts St Germain, 2 parts club soda = delish

And then we picked out our fav winery and brewery of the evening. Everything we tried from both places was awesome.





All in all, not a bad way to spend the day!

Southern Food and Wine Festival - Part 1

My lovely Auntie got me tickets to the Southern Food & Wine festival as a "congrats on defending" gift. A day of yummy food samples, wine tasting, and watching Alton Brown & the Neelys cook - not too shabby!


I'd like a corner piece, please.


(two days before my hair appointment - darn!)






The man lost 45 pounds since March. Um, yeah. And on top of that, he managed to convince me to try eating some trout and other fish besides sushi. But then...


...the Neelys made BBQ ribs and it smelled sooooo good it made me forget all about fish!

Flea love

Last weekend was the Nashville flea market and I trucked over there determined to find some treasures. Waste not, want not, right?

The day started out threatening to rain, and I was hoping that it might be somewhat non-crowded. What a pie in the sky dream! I ducked into the first building, which turned out to be "new" items like designer knockoff perfumes, cheap jewelry, beef jerky, and made in china tote bags/doggie purses... I fought my way through baby strollers, rolling carts, and clueless shoppers to get to the GOOD stuff!

And did I find good stuff. Lots of eye candy with antique furniture, and beautiful dishes I don't need. I kept myself in check but did manage to score bunches of lovely trims from various sellers:

If I ever get back into my sewing studio you'll see those making an appearance on some bags!

But the pièce de résistance was this gorgeous cathedral window table runner:

Hand quilted. Beautifully done. Lots of lovely patches. A labor of love by someone that was sold to me for $25. Fortunately I know the value of this hard work and wouldn't DREAM of doing something irrational like cut it up into pillows or dolls. (shudder)

The runner is HUGE--100 inches long, and wayyyy to big for my table. I'm thinking of giving it the glory it deserves as a wall hanging. Wouldn't look fab hanging on a blue wall--the one that will soon be in my dining room?

Of course, AFTER my excursion I come across this useful post of the top 5 flea market tips. Cash? Check. Tote? Check. Tape measure? Check. Hmm, I think I'm only lacking a hard core flea market buddy. The boy gets bored just about the time we get to the good stuff (thus turning into my shadow) and mom only comes up a few times a year. I usually shop alone because of the whole "too much talking, not enough shopping" issue but an extra set of eyes would be helpful.... Any takers? :)

Thank you, Design Star

I admit it. I'm hooked on this season of HGTV's Design Star.

Yes, this is in spite of the fact that the contestants are (for the most part) annoying and the designs somewhat uninspiring. So why do I watch? Because this season was taped in NASHVILLE!

Finally, I'm getting a clue into where to shop in the city. It's definitely hilarious to see the posh NYC/LA designers struggle with what the rest of us have to choose from, but the good news is that I've discovered a new place that may be a great resource!

In Episode 2, Stephanie and Jennifer used their "assets" to score this amazingly gorgeous wood slab table for $500! Really. They subsequently ruined it by painting it gloss white, which caused a brief drop in the Earth's oxygen levels as everyone watching collectively gasped:


Oooh, pretty....


What? Wait! NO!!!!

Sigh.

After recovering from that trauma I became obsessed with discovering where they had found a table like that in Nashville. I searched blogs and message boards with little success then realized that, duh, the sources for all the products were listed on the HGTV Marketplace.

And that is how I discovered Southeastern Salvage.


I popped over there this weekend and was intrigued. This was obviously one of those stores that you have to stop by often, somewhat like an overstock place for furnishings and larger household objects.

They had plenty of wood tree root tables, but none as gorgeous at the one on Design Star.


Some nifty benches, if you're into that kind of design.


I fell in love with this rustic looking table (I was on a dining room table hunt that day), but it was wobbly and the store was too busy to try to track down a manager for a discount.


This pendant lamp for $70 caught my eye as well--too bad I don't have anywhere to put it!


So thanks, Design Star, for introducing me to another cool place in my own backyard!

Nashville Tours

This weekend, my baby brother (21 years old! yikes!) came to visit me from the frigid north. He definitely enjoyed the weather, and I took advantage of his visit to take two days off from my real work and play hookey with him. We had a great time being pseudo-tourists, and I even managed to get in a little work on my latest creation. More on that soon (I promise!)... :)