Chicago, IL - Part One

Where did I leave off....

After our lovely stay in Charleston, SC we drove off to Richmond, VA to visit with Mike's buddy Matt. He runs a pasta cart in downtown Richmond and is a keen specialty vodka collector, so we were obviously well cared for!
The next morning we did a little (highly successful) vintage shopping in Richmond, where I found two of my favourite dresses I've found yet! Baltimore was great, meeting Quincy was a pleasure and I managed to find one or two wonderful skirts! After a visit with a couple of friends of ours, Chad and Ally (who are getting married in 5 weeks!!) who took wonderful care of us and made us a delicious breakfast, we were back on the road for a long drive to Chicago! Eight hours later, after some silly van fever non sense and a depressing drive through Gary, Indiana we arrived at the Windy City, thoroughly exhausted but determined to get a feel for the place!
We ended up sharing delicious dirty martinis at a bar called The Blue Line that felt straight out of an episode of Mad Men and treated us really well! We looked around the Wicker Park area a little but everything was closed, so we finally retreated to our airport side motel and passed out!

Today we did all things toursity; the John Hancock Observatory, a walk down the Magnificent Mile, a visit to the Navy Pier and some less than satisfying H&M shopping as well as a visit to Millenium Park and the Lego Store (for Mike). We meandered over to Kuma's Corner over in Roscoe Village for dinner. They have a pretty exciting Metal Music theme going on and their burgers are all named for bands like Mastodon, Metallica and Iron Maiden. I had a Kaijo burger and Mike loved his Neurosis burger and the people who work there are awesome! Just make sure to go early because lineups go up to about an hour around supper time. After supper, we walked around the Wicker Park neighborhood and browsed through some pretty exciting used record and book shops, where Mike found a book he had been looking for on Russian History!

We had no idea what to expect driving into the city, and both of us are so thoroughly impressed I wanted to share my excitement with you right away! You can count on a Part Two to this city though, because it really is the greatest. I think, other than Nashville this is one American city I would move to in a heartbeat!

The Man who Fell to Earth!

Mike and I are currently in Pittsburgh, PA staying with his friend Tommy who lives here with his girlfriend. We all just came home from a bar that has Bacon Tuesdays (bacon in a basket served at every table!) and are about to watch The Man who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie in his prime weird "i-do-mass-amounts-of-cocaine-eat-nothing-but-red-peppers-and-drink-only-milk" phase! I'm so excited to see an emaciated and bleach blonde Bowie on screen, and also so excited that by tomorrow evening we'll be exploring Chicago together in some fantastic new outfits I purchased along the way!

Q's Daydream - Blogger Meetup!

Today was my third and final blogger meet-up of this road trip. I was supposed to meet up with Brianne in Boston, but Mike's sweet new drum kit has us travelling to Chicago instead, so unless some fantastic ladies from the Illinois area contact me for a meeting, this is the last of the fabulous blogger ladies I know along my path!

We spent such a fantastic day with Quincy from Q's Daydream, and her husband, Jonny! They are just a barrel of laughs, and we couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Baltimore! The whole meetup started at Edgar Allen Poe's grave site (or many grave sites?) and continued along the water and into a sweet vintage shop called Killer Trash where we both found fabulous items!
Jonny and Mike played paparazzi all day long and we had the most delicious dinner in a boat-shaped restaurant on Fleet Street! Even getting lost in Baltimore, trying to find our parking spot was a fun adventure!

Quincy and Jonny are one of the funnest couples we've ever met, which is pretty much what we expected them to be! We were thoroughly entertained all day, and drove away saying things like "weren't they just great?" and "what a wonderful day!"...

Thanks Quincy and Jonny for showing us such a good time! All of these meet ups have just made me so sad that I don't live closer to all of my online friends! It's so weird to spend such a lovely afternoon together, cementing the fact that you have so much in common with other vintage bloggers and then going back to being just blog friends! I hope we can all keep in touch outside of the "blogosphere" and become wonderful pen pals! :D

Pittsburgh and Chicago are next on the itinerary! And I have some pretty grandiose ideas of what Chicago has to offer! :D Feel free to offer up any suggestions from your own visits to the Windy City!!!

South Carolina

1. Charleston

This is such a historic town, and so worth visiting if you have a nerdy side like Mike and me! It's a little bit more geared towards retired folk than Savannah is, but just as pretty in a different sort of way. It's a shame my stupid northern roots spent most of the two days we had there complaining about how sticky and humid it was, because honestly it was lovely! Must sees include the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. A half slab of ribs at Sticky Fingers (endorsed by Colbert himself, what a little bebe he is!) and the general downtown area of the city!
I would definitely choose to retire here over Florida any day!

2. The Jasmine Inn

Go to the Indigo Inn on Pinckney street and ask if they have any free rooms in the Jasmine House! If they do, and you get a walk-in discount, you'll feel like a Queen! We stayed in Carriage House 3 and our room faced directly on the perfect cobble stone courtyard lit up entirely with white Christmas lights at night! The big Southern balcony has rocking chairs that you can enjoy during the Inn's afternoon wine and cheese, and Fitzgerald really is the perfect thing to be reading while rocking yourself on a balcony on a midsummer's night in the deep South, sipping wine and fanning myself with an authentic old wooden fan!

3. Cypress Gardens

About 20 minutes outside of Charleston itself is Cypress Gardens. We were torn between that and a plantation called Magnolia (which boasted a petting zoo and the prettiest gardens in North America)! In the end we chose Cypress Gardens for the cheesy fact that you can rent a row boat and paddle through a bunch of cypress trees in a swamp like in The Little Mermaid and The Notebook! Lucky for us, the boats are free and at the Charleston visitor's center we got a coupon so that one of us was admitted to the Park for hald price!
I don't know if anyone else is quite as cheezy as Mike and I manage to be sometimes, but if you enjoy romantic cliches and feeling as though you're in a movie, then definitely check this place out! A gator spotting while you row through the swamp might be a bonus!

4. South of the Border

If you havn't been here, you aren't missing much! It's just about the tackiest place in the world and I had already expected it to be pretty junky (in a bad way!)
When you're taking the I-95 from North Carolina to South Carolina, or vice versa, you're bound to pass it and it's just about impossible to miss! Each Mile offers a new billboard with Pedro and his crazy sombrero offering up some new reason to stop in, well do it, if for no other reason to say you've been and to take some really cheesy touristy photos...but don't expect much. Pedro's antique mall and flea market have got two tables of DVD's from the 1990's onwards....and one table of old Tommy Hilfiger knock off clothing....but there are definitely some giant chickens you can take pictures with! So that's a bonus right?

I have to admit, I'm relieved to be heading North again. I was starting to think the heat might kill me. A whole bunch of bloggers have already started talking about Fall fashion, and I have to admit I'm right up there on that same page! I'm so giddy to be able to drink hot coffee again, and walk Lola down the street without sweating! I love apple picking and raking and all things that have to do with Fall, and I especially love dark browns and plaids which are all so geared towards the back to school period. I'm lucky that I found the greatest old leather back pack for my back to school this year! Photos will be posted I'm sure!

Next stop Maryland for a third mystery blogger meetup! I have a feeling a lot of you might know just who it will be!! :D

Savannah, GA (pt 2)

Mike and I totally caved today and took a guided trolley tour of Savannah. There is just too much history to take in and I wanted to know more about some of the buildings and sqaures. It was definitely worth while, although it made me realize how touristy the city is in certain areas...
I won't bore you all with the details, I'll let the pictures do the talking...here is my version of Savannah. The highlights that I thought were worth documenting! I hope you enjoy it, and that at least some of the pretty-ness comes through in the pictures!

(Flannery O'Connor's childhood home!)

(A live oak tree older than Savannah itself!)

My heart is staying in Savannah

After all the exciting big cities we've been visiting, Mike and I decided it was high time for some Southern small town charm. We were told by a highly reliable source that Athens and Madison were well worth the detour and are we ever glad we stopped! Our visits were brief - and incredibly efficient - we both scored a crazy jackpot at a 50% off sale at Minx Vintage in Athens and ate a really delicious lunch at The Grit!
Madison was ridiculously pretty! We spent about two hours just walking around sipping extra large iced coffees from Perk Avenue and imagining which house we would buy to raise our millions of babies in if we had the option! The streets are all lined with mansions bigger than the last and the whole town is teeming with Southern hospitality!

A less than satisfying van sleepover in a Walmart parking lot left me tired and mildly cranky this morning, but that was almost immediately remedied when we drove into Savannah and I realized my heart belongs to this city. From the pretty beaches of Tybee Island (where I lost my 25 cent Loretta Lynn flea market sunglasses to a nasty wave) to the perfectly preserved historic district and all the delicious seafood restaurants in between, this place is the greatest place I've ever been to, and I'm including Paris in that list!

If you ever make it down here, definitely visit the Colonial Park Cemetary, sit on the bench Forrest Gump narrates his story from in Chippewa square (I'm totally guilty of loving that movie, I don't care how bad anyone thinks it is), eat at any of the seafood places along River Street, spend some time in City Market no matter how touristy it is, walk down Congress St and end your night with a Whisky Sour at the Bayou Cafe or a Martini in the basement piano bar of The Olde Pink House. Have an Ice Cream Soday at Leopold's and stay at any of the wonderful old Victorian homes turned B&B no matter how much more they cost than a motel! We're staying another day and night here because we love it so much, and I'm sure I'll have even more wonderful places to report about tomorrow! I think I want to go back to that cemetary again though, it nearly broke my heart seeing all the cracking, faded 300 year old tombstones (that General Sherman's men allegedly moved around for fun during their crazy Southern rampage), and the whole city is dripping with Spanish Moss and pretty pink blossoms!

I've rambled on enough for one post...excuse my cheesy ravings, but when you see this place for yourself, you will know just what I mean!

Blogger Meetup - Rhiannon!

Photos and collage by Drew....and stolen from Rhiannon!


We've just spent the most wonderful afternoon in Atlanta with Rhiannon of Liebe Marlene, and her boyfriend Drew (and their little dog Rufus too)!! Once the awkward nervousness subsided, we got a personalized guided tour of the city which ended with an eerie moonlit walk through a creepy confederate cemetery! There was a lot of giggling involved as we hopped the gates and crawled around thinking we might get caught, but unfortunately no ghost sightings...just a bunch of bats that scared the boys more than us!

As is to be expected, Rhiannon looked absolutely lovely in a perfect pink skirt from Anthropologie and vintage blouse with the most wonderful detailing around the neck!! I had no doubt we would get along, but I'm so happy at how much more I like her now that I've met her and seen all her goofy charm (in the best way possible) in person!

All these blogger meetups are just making me realize all the more how much I adore this community and how much fun a bunch of girls with so much in common can have together!

On Rhiannon:
Bag: Vintage Sale
Shoes: Rachel Comey for U.O.
Sunglasses: U.O.
Skirt: Anthropologie
Blouse: Kudzu

On Me:
Dress: Antique mall in Pigeon forge
Sunglasses: H&M
Shoes: Value Village
Bag: Ruffled Feathers

Oxford, MS

We bid adieu to Memphis around midday after a very early morning visit to Graceland upon the advice of the lovely Quincy over at Q's Daydream! We didn't go inside (we never do) but the grounds were lovely and we got our Elvis fill over at some tacky souvenir shops on Beale street before heading out to Oxford, where we are now.

I'm sitting in the High Point Cafe in the town square with Mike - we're reworking the end of our trip to include Chicago because Mike just found the drum set of his dreams there for a ridiculous price! I'm so, so excited that I'm going to get to see Chicago finally because I've been dreaming about visiting the city for years now!
On our way to Oxford we stopped in at the cutest little antique shop along the interstate called Ruffled Feathers (photo above)! The old lady who runs the place is a full blown chatterbox (in a good way) and will tell you a story about each and every item you pick up! I found a really great hand bag and Mike finally got his hands on a King Crimson record, which he'd been on the lookout for ever since reading that Bowie biography my Mom bought him for Christmas.

We headed over to Faulkner's house today ready to pay whatever the price was for the tour since we've both been so excited to see the room where he wrote half of The Fable on the walls! Luckily for us it's only 5$ to get in and see the house....unfortunately it is closed to visitors on Mondays...which happens to be today! The good thing about it being closed is that it was deserted and we spent the whole afternoon reading in the grass in his beautiful back yard.... (I was reading Absalom! Absalom! - I felt pretty good about myself reading Faulkner at his own house!) and pretending it was just another Monday at our beautiful Oxford home!

Tomorrow morning we'll be the first in line to visit the house and then we're off to Atlanta for another exciting meet up!!

(MOM THIS IS WHERE I WAS TALKING TO YOU FROM!!! ISN'T IT PERFECT?)

Thank you all for leaving me such wonderful comments!!! I'm still reading all of your blogs even if I haven't had much time to comment!!!

**I don't know if the rest of you are as gullible and superstitious as I am, but I'm pretty sure William Faulkner is haunting that last picture! Check out the freaky orb in the top right! **

Memphis, TN

I'm so sorry about bombarding you with new posts! I don't always have internet access and I am so bent on documenting this trip, both for you guys and for myself!!

Today we're in Memphis and it's awesome!!! We got here on a Sunday and didn't expect everything to be closed, but it was! The Downtown area was just like a ghost town, and everything but the Peabody hotel was closed! We had plans to have some drinks at Ernestine and Hazels, wander through some super Kitschy junk shops and end up at Graceland, but in the end we just wandered around, walked across the pedestrian bridge to Mud Island and ended up at our "Elvis Themed Motel" across the street from Graceland! By Elvis Themed what they really mean is a few framed pictures of the King above our bed, and a pretty great guitar shaped pool! Tomorrow we're gonna do all the things we weren't able to do today and then head over to Oxford Mississippi to catch a glimpse of William Faulkner's old house!

We did wander into an absolutely wonderful Victorian Village just outside the downtown area though! One of the houses was open for tours, but as usual it just wasn't in our budget (we're students on a road trip here!)...The little old lady who guided the tours was the sweetest though and she pointed us towards Mollie's Lounge for drinks and hors d'oeuvres! It ended up being closed, but based on peeking through the shutters we were able to see how great it would be to have a drink in such a nice old home! Mollie is the name of the ghost who apparently haunts all the old homes, I kind of want to go back tonight and see if we can spot her...but I'm too chicken...

outfit details:
yellow sundress: cul de sac
white oxfords: thrifted (what will i do when these die?)
brown handbag: cul de sac
sunglasses: 25 cents at Betty Sue's Flea Market

Loretta Lynn's Ranch

I don't even have words to describe how deeply in love I am with Loretta Lynn's Ranch! From the second you arrive and see how green and beautiful the place is you'll agree with me, but if that's not enough for you, the crystal clear water, beautiful Southern estate and fields full of horses and cattle will sweep you off your feet! If you're a Loretta fan, you'll be excited about the fact that she lives right there on the Ranch grounds with her hubby!

Her daughter, Betty Sue runs a flea market just down the road - and it's super reasonably priced! - and her sister Cissie hosts Karaoke nights across the street at her bar! We fell asleep by the campfire before making our way over there, but we had been practicing our Loretta Lynn and Jack White duet all day!

You can rent canoes, paddle boats, ride horses, see her Coal Mine museum or buy a super duper tacky Loretta Lynn doll (mugs, t-shirts, post cards, magnets, key chains and beer holders are also available) at the gift shop! We were too poor to do any of those things, but we did take part in the "primitive camping" which really is primitive! You get to pick any spot you want along the beautiful blue creeks that runs through the ranch. You have to make your own campfire pit and find your own kindling, and the whole thing is just perfect!

outfit details:
navy blue and whtie gingham dress: cul de sac
white woven oxford flats: thrifted
white woven picnic basket bag: chickendinner candybar on Etsy
black patent leather belt: Mike's Mom
sunglasses: H&M

Belle Meade & Johnny Cash

outfit details:
1930's sheer dress (hemmed shorter): Folles Alliees
White woven picnic basket bag: Chicken Dinner Candy Bar on Etsy
pink ballet flats with bows: Ebay

Ahh I have so much to fill you guys in on!! I was so excited about posting about Lauren the other day that I totally forgot to post my pictures from the Belle Meade plantation from earlier that day!

The plantation is about 10 minutes outside of Nashville and one of the prettiest places I've ever seen! Mike and I cheaped out on the tour of the inside of the mansion and opted for roaming around the grounds, snacking on some pretty delicious peaches and pretending to be rich old Southerners on the porch of the mansion...
It was an absolutely perfect day and anyone who is ever in the Nashville area should definitely check it out!

Earlier that day, we stopped by Hendersonville to pay our respects to the late and great Johnny and June Carter Cash. We were sort of disappointed by the cemetary...it's located along a modern boulevard next to some hotels and grocery stores...I kept picturing their graves being out by a beautiful field somewhere in the country side....but it didn't take away from the experience of being there!

Blooming Leopold

I was nervous and excited and giddy all at once on my way to the Frothy Monkey today to meet the always lovely Lauren from Blooming Leopold! Luckily for me she was absolutely wonderful and put me at ease right away by just being so down to earth and fun to talk to!
I feel I can safely say we hit it off almost immediately! We had originally planned to go thrifting - which I still would really love to do with her someday, she's definitely got one of the best styles I've seen! - but we got onto so many tangents that we just completely lost track of time, and before we knew it not only the shops were closed, but the coffee shop we were at was too!

Mike came along too and we spent almost our entire dinner talking about how great she was and how much fun we had! They totally got along having things like Rasputin, Brian Eno and Star Wars in common!!

I was totally nervous about how smoothly the transition from online to real life would be, but Lauren was just the sweetest, and I wish I lived closer by so that we could hang out more often, because I really feel like we could be the greatest of friends! Our meet up has only cemented the idea I already had that this blogging world is just the most positive community I've ever come across!

Make sure to check out her blog and keep an eye out for her upcoming etsy store! I have a feeling it's going to be one of my favourites seeing as her personal style is all kinds of inspiring!!!

Thanks for the awesome coffee date Lauren!!!!