My Beautiful Kitchenette (plus bonus outfits)

 Good morning!

While I was taking photos Sunday of the Annie Hall wall for inclusion in yesterday's post, I thought I would also take a few snaps around the kicthen while I had the forethought to photograph my natural habitat in natural lighting (novelty!). I recently swapped kitchen tables (not for the last time I'm sure), and ended up with this wrought iron, rococo early 70's number. Check it out!

My last kitchen table, the yellow Formica one, was bought in a fit of passion for Don Draper style home furnishings about five years ago. While it served well at parties as a buffet station, it hadn't occurred to me when I bought it (at an estate sale in a Tudor house in the Sylvan Park area of town) how LARGE the table itself was. "What, it's a fifties' table and I have a fifties' house! Sure it'll fit!" I reassured myself as my dad and I wrestled it's delicate, prone-to-losing pins chrome legs into the pickup truck. The kitchen of the aforementioned Tudor was an eight-foot ceilinged, long rectangle of a room, with one wall fitted with tall, creaky white cabinets and sink. The rest of the room was practically ballroom sized in  comparison with my diminuitive dining nook. It was a lot like the lamps I got at a Bordeaux sale a dog's age ago-- I took them out of the car and went, "DID THEY GET BIGGER ON THE DRIVE OVER HERE?"

This table was bought by my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Doris in the early seventies'. The set sat in the same household, circa 1972, as those insane Graceland gold velvet and brocade sofas that used to be in my living room, which is more than I can wrap my head around. In the early eighties', when my parents bought this house, Johnny and Doris sold them the set as they upgraded to something a little more Reagan-era, and my dad, son of antique dealers, has said on more than four occasions, "When I grew up, it was always 'Don't sit in that chair! What are you trying to do, sitting in that 200 year old chair?!' So I always liked these. This chair! You couldn't do anything to this chair if you WANTED to! [knocking appreciatively on the tabletop] SOLID." It sat just where it's sitting now for the whole of my childhood, and as in all the heirloom items I've received down the family tree, I can specifically remember Sus and I, as young babs, trying to wrest the weird shaped finials off the tops of the chairs (why did I shoot myself in the foot this way! I was always trying to destroy things I would one day own!).

It was in storage for awhile after my parents got a new dining room table at (you guessed it) an estate sale, and when I called my mom asking after the table, she was almost too eager to have it back in its old position at her old house! "Oh, it's perfect for that space. You're really going to like it there." (I read too many old horror comic books where a remark like this prefaces a chain of events in which a haunted piece of furniture or a cursed piece of furniture or a generally evil piece of furniture spells doom for the protagonist, in this case, me).

Note the missing finial on the chair under the window. GOLDURNIT, where was my childhood foresight?!

As well as the Formica served me, I am over the moon about this new set. Matthew and I can ACTUALLY SIT ACROSS FROM ONE ANOTHER AND HAVE DINNER. We used to have to sit side by side, diner style, owing to the fact that the behemoth old table took up almost the entire space between wall and cabinet. You could scoot the table out from the wall and angle it for when people came over to dinner, but if somebody needed a fork, whoever was on the end that wasn't blocked in would have to reach it to them (which, I'm sorry, always made me feel more Dogpatch than domestic goddess, no matter how pretty my table setting was and how elegant the food was). No more! Now, we can add a leaf and two more chairs if we need to, and there's STILL room for people to get up and perambulate around the room (should the mood strike them). Success!

Here's the light fixture that hangs o'erhead:

At first, I thought you were too Laura Ashley to fit the decor....now, I love you.

The only other thing in this part of the kitchen is my Martha Stewart (I don't know why that impresses me, it does) baker's rack, which my mom bought for my birthday one year. Furniture is a tricky thing to get someone for a gifting occasion, but I really needed somewhere to put my microwave (and excess pitchers, and Ben Siebel servingware, etc, etc).

How many kitsch things can you spot in this one photo?

The little face-mug is from the Texas Centennial in 1936! I realize I was just talking about that last week with my Texas posts, and had this all along. #Ineedtomovethere The chihuahua portrait is labelled "Lucy", btw.

Last but not least, here's two bonus outfits from this weekend:

I love the classiness of the backyard trashcan being included in the composition of this shot. Take that, Cartier-Bresson!

I got this dress at the Murfreesboro Goodwill and LOOOOOVE it. The material is heavy enough to make drapes out of, but I'm glad whoever made it decided to make a dress instead. The pattern is wild! I wore this to the mall on Sunday and got more than three compliments on it. My head swells to the size of Rushmore.

Kelsey and I were talking online the other day about what I should wear for my wedding reception (the dress is 80% in the bag, I think-- I have a vintage one that makes me look like Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight, but we're also going gown shopping sometime next week, just to see what we can see) and both got REALLY excited about gold, and sequins, and drama. I was searching ebay for suitable formal duds to fit the bill and thought--wait, I have the MOTHER of all dresses to meet the criterion of "gold, sequins, and drama". Remember this from the one-two-dress punch of that estate sale I went to with Eartha and Rae? I think it might be too chi-chi to wear at a reception, but I now know that I want to wear it out on the town (or heck, just around the house like this, with a stole carelessly wrapped around my shoulders) ASAP.

So! How do you like the kitchen? Have any design hints or tricks? I'm still trying to decide what to do about the curtains and the valance in this room, as the primary red doesn't fit the color scheme as well as it once did, yet what goes with the acid-ish goldenrod and black of the chairs in that room? Also, if you're in Nashville, and looking for an oversized yellow Formica vintage table at very reasonable rates, let me know!

That's all for today, see you kids back here tomorrow. Til then!

DIY Annie Hall Wall

Good morning!

Just a quick post on this gorgeous Monday morn about the newest developments in my kitchen. I spent all weekend watching The Rachel Zoe Project (don't judge), trying to catch up on almost-due library items (we watched The Imposter, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, and The Queen of Versailles all in one weekend. And I finished Wendy Lawless's memoir Chanel Bonfire. Record breaking. Bring on the new holds!), walking the mall with Matthew (we got our pictures took! oh my God, they took a video of it, and I didn't even know!), and cooking out at my folks' house. Not bad, not bad!I even managed to get a bag of stuff off to Goodwill so I can kind of sort of see everyday clothes behind the sequin gowns that dominate my wardrobe (it's a good problem to have, but still a problem....maybe I should make the sequin clothes everyday wardrobe? I don't know). And somewhere in between, I managed to put this homage to one of my favorite movies of all time ever up in the kitchen. Let's take a look!

The other day, I decided that as much as I loved the Pam Grier posters you've seen time and time again against the far wall in my kitchen, it was time for a change. I still love posters, but I wanted to have less of them cluttering up the free wall space, and since the 3 Women and Scenes from a Marriage are non-negotiably staying, poor Pam didn't make the cut. I'm thinking about reassigning her to my office space, but I can't decide. In the meantime, I thought lobby cards might be a neat way to break up the space but still use movie-related items.

Seeing this split screen clip from the movie on someone's tumblr made me think of Annie Hall specifically to do. I kind of sort of hate the actual theatrical poster because it doesn't much capture the spirit of the movie to me. Since both the poster and the set of lobby cards were prohibitively expensive int he originals, I took alternative action.

The simplest DIY you are every going to find on the internet:

1) Search "Annie Hall Lobby Cards" on Google image.
2) Limit search results under search tools to "Large".
3) Ruthlessly click and save the results to your computer.
4) Print out said results in color.
5) Run by the Dollar Tree and grab 9 of their 8.5'' x 11'' document frames.
6) Hang with nail (in my case, use masking tape to ensure perfect grid).

The one I used was from this auction site... and I've seen past auctions go for about $100 for the set. In this case, not counting the cost of printing the things (negligible), the whole project cost about $9. There are only 8 cards in the original set, but since I wanted 9, I grudgingly used the all-white international lobby card in the center, which I think makes for a neat "offset" to the other cards being primarily black and in color.

 I'm thinking about using this as a rotating space to do different lobby card sets-- the internet has a bajillion to choose from! Some of the ones that appeal most to me:

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Speaking of, here are not one but TWO other posters in the kitchen, both of which Matthew got for me. He's a good egg!

How I love to cook stir fry and stare deeply into Lindsey Buckingham's eyes.

Anyway, I'm off to finish some schoolwork (only three more class meetings left til I'm a master!) and work-work. How was your weekend? Do you have any framed movie memorabilia around the house? What movie lobby cards would you have in YOUR kitchen when given the chance?

See you tomorrow! Til then.

Photo Friday: C-O-L-O-R Makes the Difference Edition

Good morning!

Well, it's Friday, and by now I'm certain that you're so tired of hearing about Texas that you'd rather I go there for good than keep telling about how I was there last week! I thought we would have a traditional return to form in the shape of Photo Friday. And people! This woman is so gorgeous-- how gorgeous is she? SHE'S SO ELEGANT-- how elegant is she? She's so well dressed...how-- well, you get the idea. Take a look at my Kodachrome-tastic flickr find of the week!

This set has SO many beautiful photos of a mother and her children that I just couldn't stop looking at them. This one is my favorite, but they're all beautiful. Do you see what a difference seeing things in color back then makes on viewing historic photos? It makes me sick to death that there are another dozen photos of the mom is similarly stylish outfits, but sadly in black and white! Take a look at this mustard suit:

You could wear that TO-MORROW and still look like a million dollars. Items:  the similarly colored hat, the black shoes, purse, and gloves...the pearls and brooch. Oh, and those triple layers of pocket flaps! I can't get over how much I love this. And the little girl's no slouch either in the dress department (as I'm sure Most Stylish Mom 1952 has dressed her), in a fizzy beret and pink sundress. I wonder what much loved plush toy she's clutch? Can't quite make it out.

This family actually has an added layer of international intrigue, as most of these photos list Germany and France as their locations. To be so slim and so well dressed and ABROAD. Well, that is just the living end to me. Here's another dandy of an outfit:

Vintage fashion mavens, take note:  navy blue, perfectly draped dress, spectator peep toe pumps, white gloves, white hand bag, white earrings, white hat with AWESOME FASCINATOR like detail, brooch clip at the bosom. And just the right sway of a breeze in front of a tank of a vintage car. I cry salt tears of envy.

Remember a few posts ago how we were talking about casual wear and how to pair together casual pieces for a sporting vintage look? THIS. HITS. THE NAIL. ON THE HEAD:

The neckerchief, the earrings, the gold bracelet and watch, the matched blue socks (!!) to her blue sweater, the black skirt, and that lovely hotel? Cafe? in the background are all killing me. Do you ever notice how in vintage photographs, sometimes a particularly put-together photographer will take the time and effort to include interesting items in the composition of their photograph? I was thinking about how a Kodak manual I posted  a dog's age ago on movie making discussed the importance of framing and composing shots. Do you see how there's a definite thought put into composition in this one? I love the red in the flower box matching the red in her neckerchief, and how perfectly lined up the foreground is with the background. VERY DIFFERENT than the predominantly "selfie" based Facebook photography of our day...this one is suitable for framing!

This one reminds me of Lauren Bacall. And the mother has 100% convinced me to go our and buy black suede pumps. Aren't they cool looking? I also love how they're in some Bavarian town square. How pretty does the little girl look in her red-belted pinafore?

Two words: THOSE. PANTS. If she can make this work (and I think she does), she can do anything! An advanced fashion lesson on how to make truly "loud" articles of clothing look eye-catching rather than eye-bruising. Also, the French market stall selling flowers! Truly picturesque.

I know this last one isn't in color, but it's got to be one of the coolest photos I've seen while going through other-people's-family-photos:

This could be on a calendar, right?! The lady look so freakin' cool in trousers and a striped knit top and that perfect hair! Atop a motorcycle, no less! I'm want to channel some of this swagger into future photos taken of me, it's just the living end.

So! You can see a lot more old photos from this set here, and they're all REALLY neat, so why wouldn't you go check it out? The user also has her own photography site, which you can see here. While her work is obviously more modern, she's inherited (her father's? whoever was taking the picture's) the eye for framing up really beautiful shots.

So! Which photo or ensemble do you like best? Have you run across any amazing photo finds in your antique store/ estate sale/ thrift store runs lately? Do tell, do tell!

That's all for this week, folks! I'll see you back here next week for more vintage goodies. Til then!

GONE TO TEXAS: (Part Four: the CLOTHES)

Good morning!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to sing the praises of Buffalo Exchange Austin. Oh my goodness...oh my damn...what a store it IS!

During the day on Saturday, Matthew and I ran around to all these stores we'd heard about in Austin. With the historic site visiting out of the way with our trip to the Alamo, we stopped at a couple Goodwills on the way back from San Antonio, but I didn't find anything I could live without. Most of all, i was disappointed with how little pre-1990's clothing there was at any of the retail locations. In Nashville, if you look at more than one Goodwill, you are almost guaranteed to find at least a maxi-dress or two, but I was coming up empty! With heavy heart, I remembered that Caroline had mentioned, long before the wedding, how much I would love Buffalo Exchange if I ever made in into Austin. So I let Matthew drop me off on the way to a cute little independent toy store, and walked in with low expectations. Vintage stores are expensive, I thought to myself. And the staff is mean. And the selection is low. What business do I have here?

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MUCH BUSINESS, IT TURNS OUT. The staff was incredibly nice. The selection was freakin' INSANE. The first thing I noticed on getting inside the door was the constant sound of hangers being moved around on racks, the swish sound of metal contacting with metal under the hands of dozens of shoppers.  There were a to-o-o-on of people there of a Saturday, and it was more than a little overwhelming to see rack after rack after rack of circular garment rack hung with blouses and skirts and dresses and pants and jackets. SO MUCH! I kind of wandered around in a daze for a minute, idly looking at this and that, before it occurred to me-- I'd been in the store for almost fifteen minutes and hadn't seen a single thing I wouldn't personally wear. How is that even possible?! I have never been in so kind-to-the-truly-clothes-enamored a retail setting  in my life. After getting over the initial shock, I started to make a pile of things I wanted to try on. Forever 21 style print dresses were rack-to-rack with full length, chiffon formals from the seventies'. Nineties' bedazzled black denim jackets were shoulder to shoulder with Target-from-last-season cardigans. I was dying. I was actually so happy I thought I might die.

The interior may LOOK like Planet Xchange or Plato's Closet, but I'm telling you, it's like 1,000,000 times better in actual inventory:

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My usual cameraman is out sick (get better, Bab!), so this morning, after putting on my makeup and getting into black tights and securing a crocodile shaped brooch to my dress for the day, I hung the dresses on the bathroom door and precariously stood on top of the edge of the bathtub and tried to take pictures in the no-lighting conditions of a gloomy Nashville day. I was not super successful, but we're going to use our imagination to fill in the blanks where the iPhone and low light failed to do these glorious dresses justice:

1) The Joan dress:

I have been looking for a dress with a collar that ties like this forever.  While this powder blue, winterweight dress may look a little sack-dress-y on the hanger, don't be fooled! It's actually really slim-cut and princessy when actually placed on human form. While I can't fill it out like Christina Hendricks does to the right, I'm telling you, I am serving Mad Men sixties' office realness when in the dress itself. I so can't wait to wear this to work, maybe with a big gold pin fastened where the collar knots. There's also a matching dress belt, which I'm telling you, is never a bad thing in my book-- even if it ends up looking too matchy matchy with the dress it was made for, you can always use it in an all black or contrasting color outfit to punch up an otherwise blah outfit.

2) The African sensation:

I saw this and I was like, seriously. Seriously, if this does not fit me, I'm buying it anyway. I have always loved African fabrics, and was lucky enough a few years ago to find two complete, head-to-toe, headwrap to shawl ensembles at the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scotsboro, AL. Some jet set, gorgeous African woman is missing two very special skirt-and-blouse combinations, and while I feel bad for her, oh my god how much do I love wearing the insanely beautiful patterned blouse with a black skirt, or the skirt with a black top. It really looks, as Wallace Stevens put it, "like nothing else in Tennessee". This is a dress made in fabric from the Côte d'Ivoire by an American dressmaker (I forgot the name), but my favorite part is how the  maker's marks on the bolt of fabric is incorporated into the dress design as piping on the pockets (DRESS POCKETS!) and along the top of the strapless bodice. YAHOO! WE LOVE IT!

3) The One that Got Away (Once!)

This jacket was part of the Luella for Target collection that was out a couple years ago. I have a great black dress with a big bow in the front from this same line, which I bought at Goodwill the year after when it was way too small for me JUST IN CASE I never saw it again (at $7.99, I couldn't pass it up, and it fits now, yay!). This jacket was one of the other items that "got away" because I was an XL sized gal at the time and damn their eyes, Target just loves to make an XL more like an L, an L more like a M, etc, etc (have any of you girls out there noticed this with their sizing? Sometimes it's dead on, and sometimes I'm squeezing into a pair of pants that should be two sizes too big at the Gap or any other retailer), and I couldn't get into the ones they had at the time. Luck brought this red blazer and me back together, however; in a size medium, and a perfect fit. HURRAY!

4) THE BETSEY JOHNSON DRESS I'VE BEEN DREAMING OF:

Confession: I have been wanting a for-real Betsey Johnson dress for about eleven years. Teenage me would go to the Green Hills mall sometimes with friends from the west side of town and just gawk, gape, go green with envy over the items in the tiny boutique with the pink neon sign proclaiming it to be representative of the punk innovator and designer's retail line. Oh, I wanted e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in that store. But dresses, even on sale, seemed to start in the three digit price range, and I never had more than $20 on me at any time, ever during high school. Le sigh. Flash forward to me flipping through the racks at Buffalo Exchange and finding this blue plaid and black lace dress. It looks saggy on the hanger, but believe me, it is PERFECT on. The dressing room attendant and I had this conversation:

Attendant: I'm sorry to bother you, but you should get that dress. That just looks gorgeous on you.

Lisa: You think so? I'm really kind of in love with it.

Attendant: Is it Betsey?

Lisa: ((nods ecstatically))

Attendant: No, you should get that. It's really flattering.

The top has tiny spaghetti straps and a big, built-in lace bow that covers the front bodice piece, and underneath, there's crinoline, AND lining, AND an extra layered skirt of black lace that peeks from the hem. DOES HECK GO WITH YES, I bought this dress and fretted over having to pack it the whole time. Luckily, it was no worse for wear when I unpacked my suitcase in Tennessee. Speaking of, you should have seen the packing job I did on these dresses, along with the clothes I brought. Each was tightly rolled into a hotel-towel type cylinder and locked in place with the other dresses in a sardine formation. I can't believe I got, really, TWO SUITCASES worth of things into one carry on suitcase. Hidden depths!

Best part about all of this? OH MY GOD, THE PRICES ARE ONLY MARGINALLY MORE EXPENSIVE THAN GOODWILLS BACK HOME:

Yes, the Joan dress was twice as much as a $7.99 dress at home, but I have no problem paying double a price that is still, when doubled, COMPLETELY inexpensive, for not having to look through 80's pantsuits and horrible 90's evening wear to get to it! They could have charged me admission to the store and I STILL would have been over the moon. Not to mention, the same thing in a vintage setting in Nashville (which is why I never go to vintage stores), would have been $35, minimum. And the Betsey dress, at $40, was still about $110 under on-sale retail from when it was in the store, and about $60 less than I'd seen similar dresses for in consignment stores in Nashville. CRAZY. THAT PLACE IS CRAZY AND I LOVE IT.

I almost forgot! Look at these shoes Caroline bought for me a couple weeks before we got to town. Size 11, baybeeeeee.....!

From Caroline's Facebook caption to this photo:

"Cashier: "will you be buying those today? If so, I will need to ring them up too."
Me: "No. I'm just carrying them around. They are too big, sadly. Can you just put them back for me. I can't bear it"
Cashier: "oh I get it. You have to take advantage of what little time you have with them."
Me: *omg.he.gets.me*"

And that truly explains how cool the staff was at that store. I'm not usually into zombies, but shoes with teeth? And in my size? SIGN ME UP.

Well, that's all for this overly long last post about Texas. In summation, I am so disappointed Tennessee doesn't have a Buffalo Exchange I could actually cry. Have you been to any crazy amazing stores lately that have surpassed your expectations by a country mile? Had any neat shopping binges that made your heart happy? Which of these dresses do you think I got the best deal on? Let a girl know!

Have a good Thursday, and I'll see you back here tomorrow for Photo Friday! Til then.

GONE TO TEXAS: (Part Three: The Food)

Good morning!

I hope you're not bored to death with the great state of Texas yet-- I've realized that in doing this third post, I've actually spent more days on my blog in Texas than I was physically there! No matter.

Today's topic? FOOD. Now, I've mentioned before that Matthew and I have been following a vegan diet since November, and the biggest hardships have not been not-being-able-to-eat-cheese (which, hand to God, more than five people have told me would be the biggest obstacle towards following a similar diet path, and I understand!) or missing patty melts. Nay! Mainly, I've noticed that where we run into trouble are situations where we don't have options to eat at home or to go to a specific, known restaurant that has vegan (or at least vegan-ish...I don't mind picking something out of a salad if I have to) options. OH MY FREAKIN' GOD, THE VEGAN OPTIONS AUSTIN AND SAN ANTONIO HAVE.

This was part of a $12 brunch we went to on Saturday, and we ate enough for at least four people. Here's the menu for that day swiped from their Facebook page:

Spinach Tofu Scramble 

Chocolate Chip, Flax and Chia Muffins

Strawberry Banana Grits 

Sweet Potato Chipotle Grits 

Mushroom and Swiss chard Pasta 

Potato salad 

Corn and Black Bean Salad Salad

Chips and queso 

Charro Lentils 

Salad

IT WAS SO GOOD. The potato salad almost had Matthew in tears. On Friday, we googled "Vegan restaurants San Antonio" after our debacle with the rental car-- at that point, the oatmeal we'd had at Deb's house around 4:45 that morning was wearing thin, and we needed nourishment! The first thing that came up was Vegeria Cafe. It took us three pass-bys to realize it was located inside the Viva complex, which also houses a bookstore and a gallery, but we finally made it to a small, house-like structure attached by a large wooden deck to the other parts of the building. Inside, there's a long wooden counter terminating in an old-time glass refrigerator case to display desserts (I wish I hadn't eaten so much each time, I could have had a 100% vegan, 100% gluten-free dessert!), and wooden tables with mismatched vintage and antique chairs in varying states of ornateness. The place was full, but we got a seat pretty quickly and ordered the Rosalie Special (a plate of enchiladas, refried black beans, salad and cilantro coconut rice) and the Buffalo Grits tamales. It took a long time to get the food to the table, but the waitresses were very solicitious and we sipped our waters, hoping beyond hope that the food wasn't a disappointment after everything else we'd been through that morning.

NEWSFLASH: It was hands down the best vegan food I've ever had, and possibly the best Tex-Mex food I've ever had. We were so impressed that when we came back to the Alamo on Saturday, we dropped in again for the aforementioned brunch, and it was JUST AS GOOD. Also, the combined price of the two plates of food was something like $12. Why, why, WHY don't we have for-real-real places like this in Nashville? I could bring all my friends and relatives in and in one fell swoop, convert them all to a grains-based diet lifestyle. Hélas. You can see more about what an awesome place Vegeria is here on their website. And if you're in Texas, go! Go, go, go!

Saturday evening, we were back in Austin and once again relied on Google to point our compasses in the right direction. The Vegan Yacht is a food truck surrounded by a few outdoor tables made from reclaimed wood and painted in the same adorable minty turquoise of the truck. Do you see the octopus riding the bicycle? I was like...all right, let's do this. 

We were once again starving to death, in spite of our indulgent (though early) brunch at Vegeria, so we dropped by and had the leftovers sammie on olive ciabatta slamwich on olive ciabatta. We gobbled them up too fast and too happily to take pictures, but enjoy instead this photo of me standing next to the octopus:

And Matthew getting paparazzi'd from the passenger seat as he finished his slamwich. What was cool? There was a garden directly to the side and out back of the truck, and owner/operator Mike had a tiny, happy little baby in a baby carrier rocking in the background of the sandwiching making. After looking at the Facebook page for the Vegan Yacht, I know now this little guy's name is Otis. WELL PLAYED, YACHT OWNERS AND PARENTS. Well played.

Have you been to any blow-your-mind-case-open restaurants either here or abroad lately? What kinds of on-the-go food appeal to you? Have you ever tried a vegan or similarly life-altering diet? Let's talk, friends!

And in case you missed it, all the reasons you would need to at least give vegan cuisine a shot, as presented by Justin Timberlake. He knows what's up:

That's all for today! One more post from the 28th state tomorrow, then Photo Friday. Where is this week going? I'll see you tomorrow!

GONE TO TEXAS: (Part Two: the Wedding)

Good morning!

So yesterday, we told you about the Alamo-- and today, the wedding event itself! We drove back to Austin and a little past to Vintage Villas, a hotel and events space high on a hill overlooking Lake Travis.

Side note: While we'd originally chosen a Fiat 500 for our rental car (zippy, right?!), its low-to-the-ground undercarriage had been horribly abused by whoever rented the car last, and began flapping loudly against the guts of the car as we sped down the interstate, owing to three of the four screws that held the plastic piece in place being missing. COME. ON. We traded out for a Hyundai (I don't even care, it was reliable!), and as I stalked angrily across the car rental lot, the sales representative called behind me, "This one has XM radio! You folks will really enjoy the XM radio!". Surprisingly, after the dust settled, we did! Elvis Radio....24 hours of Elvis, 365 days a week? Sign me UP. We barrelled through Texas to a lot of the King's music, and it was downright pleasant!

Here's a few of the 1,000,000 photos of us taken in the hotel after we'd gotten ready, but before we actually left for the ceremony. Isn't it funny how you rush to get ready for an event, and then you're all the way ready already sitting in the hotel room? That was where we were. But I still thing they turned out well!

Oh my God, natural lighting? DAYTIME NATURAL LIGHTING? I know you've never seen so well lit a photo of me on this blog, and you might not again, so enjoy! Do you know I felt exactly like Wallis Simpson in my little rhinestone clip ons, necklace, and braided coronet? You should have seen how that skirt swirled on the dance floor!

The funniest part about this photo was that I was afraid Matthew's vintage navy-issue formal coat and ruffled Danny Zuko shirt would get too wrinkled in his carry on luggage, so he wore this throughout our trials and trails with flying and the rental car, my cute was dressed like the handsomest little Mariachi man east of the Pecos!

I lurve him. See me trying to keep his porcupine hair out of my eye? It does what it's doing in the first  photo with absolutely no product or styling. Does that even make sense to you?

I was too busy enjoying myself to take a lot of photos of the venue, but if you're local to Austin and planning a wedding, I would say this place was top notch! Here are some photos I swiped from the Google + page (is that even a thing anymore? Why does it persist?) :

This is where we we for the wedding. We were seated on the aisle, so I bet there are a bunch of photos of me trying not to cry in the background of the wedding party principals coming down the aisle! Such is life. I'll let you know when Caroline gets her pictures back how bad of a bomb I was! The girl of the hour was elegant in this goddess-y, full length gown with a pretty lace detail in the back, and looked like a million dollars cash. Oh! What an entrance!

The circle to the left is where the buffet line was...even vegan-eating was easy because there was a FABULOUS salad and really good vegetables along with beef medallions and some kind of fish. I ate as much as I could on the greenery, seeing as the second circle, to the right, is where the open bar was. Oh, you open bar, you. Just beyond, where the doors are on the right, was the reception area where the dancing got under way. I actually did cry when the couple's first dance was "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, and even worse when the father daughter dance was "Nothing Can Change This Love" by Sam Cooke. I'm actually starting to tear up now thinking about the latter. Ugh! SUCH A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING.

This is a recreation of where I sat at the wedding, next to Caroline's angelic niece, Eden, who was collecting spoons, blocks of cheese, and hearts as she plopped herself down at our table and carried forth, teaching a master's class in cuteness.

Here's a photo that Kelsey took of my gorgeous friend Caroline getting hitched; her dapper-as-I've-ever-seen-him newly minted husband, Eric, is doin' the draggin'. I'm slightly to the left of this frame, just beaming with pride for my friend on her big day. I am so happy for the new Mrs. Bowers!

That's day two-- we still have a) the dresses I bought and b) the food I ate! Have you been to any beautiful weddings lately? Had any particularly mind-blowing venues chosen by the couple-to-be? Danced all night on the reception dance floor? Let's talk!

That's all for today, see you kids tomorrow! Til then.

GONE TO TEXAS (Part One, the Alamo)

 Good morning!

Oh, and what a morning it is to be back in sunny Tennessee. Easter Sunday, grace à an itinerary designed by M.C. Escher, Matthew and I left our hotel at 4:30 AM, drove to the airport, dropped off the rental car,  flew from Austin to Memphis, deplaned at 7:30 AM, drank some coffee, got on another plane at 8:15 AM, flew to Cincinnati (?!), drank more coffee, got on another plane around 9:30 AM, and finally arrived back home in Nashville at 11:15 AM. WE PUT IN AN EIGHT HOUR DAY, JUST GETTING OFF OF PLANES. But! What a good time was had! I'm going to try and fill you in on all the dirt, but we're going to have to go one major event at a time. I'm gonna start with the Alamo:

Now, much like the other wedding guests as we regaled them with stories of our travels in the state, you're probably thinking, "But Lisa, the Alamo is in San Antonio, and you flew into Austin." Correct! The Alamo IS in San Antonio, but Austin is a lot closer to San Antonio than Nashville, and by Godfrey, I wanted to go. BAD. When we got our rental car and called to see when check-in was, we actually had a few hours to kill before we could unpack our suitcases and put on our finery for the big to-do at 7 that night. So we drove up an hour and a half to San Antonio and looked around a bit. The staggering thing, if you really want to know, was we actually stood in line for a few minutes, realized we wouldn't be able to get in and still drive back to Austin in time for the wedding, and left; only to RETURN the next day and actually get to see the historic site from the inside. Yes, we drove the hour and a half TWICE in order to actually properly visit the site of famous Tennessean (and beloved childhood icon of mine) Davy Crockett's last stand. Speaking of:

Here I am in front of the monument in front of the Alamo, with the man himself! Or at least a statue of him. The Alamo is kind of strange to visit because if you're familiar with the movies (John Wayne has a version, Dennis Quaid has a version... a gripping moment in US history, and not bad movie fodder!), it's always depicted as waaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere, which is what makes the scene where General Santa Ana's ma-zillion armed troops versus the brave few left at the garrison set up at the Alamo Mission so impressive a crescendo the beginning of the battle. Well, nowadays, the city has crept up all around the historic site, so that there's a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum across the street, and all manner of downtown, tourist-attraction kind of doohickey places. I kind of loved the old timey sign and building for the Crockett Hotel, which was down the street just a tiny bit. It looks just like a souvenir postcard, but in real life! I am squinting in all these pictures because a) it was sunny and b) I was wearing my glasses to save my precious contact time for the ceremony.

Here's a beautiful photo of Matthew, carrying my purse, the umbrella we bought at Walgreen's that morning (it didn't rain, probably as a result of my buying this umbrella, until we got home), not one but two audio headphone tour contraptions, and the multiple pamphlets I picked up during the course of our visit. How about that vintage photography thumb-over-the-lense action going on here? I told you I couldn't see! :)

What was so surprising at first was the LINE running AROUND THE BUILDING to get into the Alamo. Once we got to the kiosk that had the audio tour headphones, though, we found out that if you bought the headphone tour, you got to skip line directly into the Alamo. No joke! The guy who set us up with the headphones went and let us in the front door! I feel like a veep. Here's how it feels to be a veep in front of a cannon. I took a picture sitting on it, but something about it looks totally vulgar, so here's a more lady like pose riding the thing sidesaddle:

Here's the doctors' quarters at the Alamo. I wish there had been more "like it was then" dioramas, they're one of my favorite parts about visiting historical sites. I remember as a kid they had a woman at Fort Nashboro who sat in one of the rooms, carding wool. Used to scare me to DEATH as my dad could not convince me that she was a volunteer and didn't actually live in that spooky, run down cabin recreation on the banks of the Cumberland, rocking and carding wool through my nightmares. Things more historic sites need: 1) recreations of period decor, 2) spooky, spooky volunteer re-enactors. I decree it!

This was a poem etched in stone and presented in 1914 by a Japanese scholar who noted the similarities between a famous feudal battle in his own country and the Battle of the Alamo. The marred spots in the middle are from people shooting at this monument (!!) after news of Pearl Harbor in 1941, which sparked controversy as to whether or not Texas should keep the monument in the (American) historical site, but eventually, it was decided that since it was a gift during peacetime, it would remain. Isn't that crazy! Can you imagine shooting at this old stone tablet out of red blooded patriotism? An interesting footnote.

The gift shop was housed in a building made up especially for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, and ain't she a beaut? I love the relief of the cowboy reaching the Alamo, and the bell in the alcove above the arch.

 Best part of the Alamo, no seriously, the best part of the Alamo? (Other than being in this almost 400 year old historic site, obviously)

DAVY CROCKETT'S ROCK AND ROLL 1835 vest. Seriously, this vest belonged to Davy Crockett. I don't know if I was supposed to take a picture of it, but I did. HOW COOL IS THIS VEST?!

Here are two last photos of us in front of the monument. I love Matthew's standard, epic pose.

 And of course, you have to get a souvenir! What did we get?

A sized (SIZED! Thank you, Alamo Costume Co., for making hats in more than one size) coonskin cap! I'm going to figure out a way to work this into a weekend outfit if it kills me. I wore this for most of the ride back to Austin. YOU KNOW I DID.

Have you ever been to the Alamo? What impressed you the most about it? Do you have any memories of the old movies where Davy was saving the day (kind of, except up until the end)? Let's talk!

There's more Texas info this week, so if you're planning a trip or just want to visit vicariously, here's your chance! I'll see you tomorrow with more from the big state. Til then!