A little time away

Hello and Happy Thursday!!  We getting back in the groove of things after a really quick road trip this week. We haven't had time for a *real* vacation this year and the last month has been a little trying, so we decided to get away for a few days.

We had a loose plan, but nothing binding, so we took our time getting to our destination: Chattanooga.  It is such a cool town.  The only thing we had to do was surprise our almost 4 year old with a train ride on a restored steam engine.  Let me tell you.... hearing him shout and get so excited when he finally figured out where we were was worth all the heat of the day.  I am so happy that we have the excitement on video.

We had a short little ride on the engine that stopped out a real, live Steamworks.  All you mommas who have Thomas lovers know this is a super big deal.  And, we watched them turn a steam engine around on a turn table.  All very exciting!

He was brave when we went through a very old, dark tunnel... probably braver than me *smiles*  We could have used a few more days, but I am thankful for the time away.

We did a little shopping on the way there and back.  I scored a great treasure (show you later) and was able to fill the shoppe as well.

More soon~  Have a happy sort of day!

bye for now~

Road Trip: Cross Plains

Hello, hello!  Hope you guys had a great weekend!  We had an eventful week last week.  The little hyena fell off a bench last week (chasing a bubble) and several x-rays and a couple of doctors later, we still can't find a break or a reason for the limping.  If the limping doesn't stop, we are getting a cast.  I say we, because baby hughes won't be the only one suffering if he is sofa bound for awhile.  So, keep your fingers crossed the limping is better by Wednesday.

With all that drama, we still managed to fit in a little road trip last Thursday.  We got up early and headed out without a real plan..... sometimes you find the best places that way.  We came across a little town called Cross Plains.

Cross Plains is a tiny town, but what we found there was great!  We stopped at the Historic Corner House.  This sweet store is owned by Teresa and Perry Story.  They specialize in reclaimed barn wood pieces amongst their incredible vintage finds.

Like this trike... I wanted to ride it away!  So awesome!

Their store is located in a historic home and it has all those period details that I love... like chandeliers... there were quite a few... swoon...

They have made this room a Gourmet General Store... they sell all kinds of goodies including coffee.  Many of their products are locally made.

They also have a fun bath product room.  They have their own line of bath products (sorry.. no photo!) called Farm Chic*k.  

I loved the candles... they are in milk bottles!  And Teresa designed this display and the her Mr. built it fr her out of reclaimed materials.

another chandelier... be still my heart!!

They had lots of really unique finds like this scale.

It was so fun meeting them and their sweet pup Pete.  This shoppe had such a homey, welcoming feel to it.  I managed to leave with an English Ironstone bowl, but there are quite a few other things that I really wanted.  If you want to find out more or visit, you can find out more about them via their Facebook page.

Right next door was a little diner and it was lunch time, so we decided to get a bite there.  Incredible place!  It was and still is an operating drug store.  It had everything you imagine old drug stores to have.... a counter with stools... milk shakes.... really cool cabinets.  I decided to try a Salty Lemonade and let me say... I am going to try perfecting it at home.  I wish I had one right now!!  The Mr. tried to steal mine and he ended up ordering one to go.  YUM!  I don't know if I can ever go back to regular fresh squeezed again.

I love fun little road trips like this and finding new spots and meeting new people.  It was a great short trip.  I hope to take quite a few of these this summer.

Okay, I have a lot of new pieces to finish this week for the shoppe... photos of those soon.  A

bye for now!

Bell Buckle and Chattanooga

Well, once again we had a  fantabulous weekend!  We were going to go to NC to check out places for the Plan but, baby hughes has been, how do I put it.... less than agreeable lately.  So, a 7 hour car trip did not sound like a good time for Mommy and Daddy.  So, we decided to go to Chattanooga to the aquarium with a few stops along the way to antique... I mean, let baby hughes stretch his growing legs.  Our first stop was Bell Buckle.  That is right, Bell Buckle.  This little tiny town is adorable.  The above strip is pretty much it.  It is famous for it's Moon Pie and RC Cola festival... we are in the South people.  So, we went to the 4 antique shops here... some reasonable, some, not so much.

I want some of these vintage chairs and a glider.  I recently saw one that someone completely restored... so cute.  I like the rust too!

I really want to use one of these.... never mind that I have never mowed a lawn, let alone with one of these babies... some how, I don't think that Mr. Hughes will go for it.

We didn't take any photos in the affordable antique stores... too busy grabbing stuff!  This one was and antique store/ ice cream parlor... does it get much better?

Kicking myself for not getting these cafe chairs!

This place was an old pharmacy... the built in stretched across half the back wall.

Each drawer was labeled... LOVE these.  Not for sale!

Really cute booth...really expensive...

On the strip of shops going to the next one

This booth made me swoon!  These numbers were from an old grocery store that they left on all the shelves.  And, all of these booths were arranged by color, this was my favorite...

oh boy!

This was part of a church... I think it was reliquary...

drool, drool. drool,

Then we strolled around a little more after our lunch before we got back in the car to drive to Manchester.  Manchester's antique stores were disappointing.  So disappointing that we left the overpriced fine antique stores without taking photos.

We arrived in Chattanooga and had dinner and tried to keep our monster quiet so we wouldn't get kicked out.  He was in rare form!  The next morning, we got up early so we could go to the Knitting Mill Antiques before our time to go through the aquarium.  This place was HUGE!

I so wanted to take this chicken coop home for herbs... $35!  But we didn't have any room in the car.  I cried a little inside leaving this.

So, do you believe me when I tell you about the size of this place?  Now there were about 4 aisles like this, and here is the best part....

They had shopping carts, more than likely to allow you to spend mucho dinero, but it allowed for some hands- free shopping for Mommy. 

So much stuff to look at, I am sure I missed so much

More vintage goodness!

Then, we drove around the North Shore area and saw so many cute cottages and bungalows. We don't even have photos of the best ones... these are just few that we snapped so we could look them up on zillow when we got back to the hotel.  I have to tell you, I loved this area so much.  Like called a  real estate agent kind of love.

Alot of the houses were built up on stony hills.  It is very hilly in Chattanooga, so the yards were very small... the backyards either went up hill or way down hill.  All the houses were different from one another.  We even figured out where this one was and what is wrong with it.... terrible, junky neighborhood.  The main problem with Chattanooga is the crime.  Mr. Hughes (who has a knack for these things) figured that we would have a 1 in 25 chance of having our house or car broken into.  And, that just isn't the place for our little guy.

Then, we went to this place:

It is incredible!  They have built another building since I had been the last time.  We have a video instead of photos and I won't bore you with me saying..."oh my gosh, look at the turtle, shark, nemo fish...."

But, trust me, this aquarium is great! Two buildings:  the River Journey and the Ocean Journey.  They have a penguin exhibit along with a great jelly fish one too.  The butterfly exhibit was awesome and I even helped one escape (not on purpose.)  Very, very cool.  baby hughes loved the butterflies and the birds, but the fish were kind of lost on him after the first little bit.  He mainly liked the light up photos showing what kind of fish were in the tank.  

After we finished, we found a small pizza chain that we adore, Mellow Mushroom.  That is one thing I would miss if we moved too far away.... but, they do have one in Savannah too *wink*

So, there it is, another great weekend  I will try to get some photos this week of the small treasures that made it home with us.  Now, I need to go brush my monster's teeth!  Bye for now!

Lagging from Spring Forward

Every year, this whole Spring Forward kicks my butt for about a week.  This year was no exception.  So, that is why I have been away from the blog world for a week.  And, baby hughes is cutting at least 5 teeth. That and I have been lucky enough to see my sister 2 weeks in a row.  The weekend before last, she came here to go see Remember Me and get pedis.  And, this last Friday, Mr. Hughes decided at the last minute that we should drive to Cookeville (where I am from) to see my mom and sister and do a little vintage treasure hunting.  Bless him!  It is what I needed.  A beautiful sunny day with most of my favorite people.  Oddly enough, we both had cameras. but took very few photos.  I will have to do a home town tour one of these days.  As much as I complain about it, I truly do have fond memories of where I grew up and hope that we can find a place that baby hughes can feel warm and fuzzy about too.  Speaking of him,

here he is examining a water meter.  We have big hopes for him!  So, the Hughes familia started out in downtown Cookeville... did I mention this was a surprise trip?  There is nothing that Nana loves more than some baby hughes time and luckily it was her day off.  We met Nana and the Margarita Sisters and Aunt Ashley at an antique store where baby hughes was happily passed around while me and Mr. Hughes shopped. I saw an idea that I have never come across before:

 Can you tell what the shelves are made of?  They are toilet tank lids on brackets.  At first I was like "where in the world did they find these ironstone shelves and why haven't I seen them before?" Pretty cool, huh?  I found alot of treasures there, I need to take some photos of my lovelies this week.

Then, we headed for Mexican at our favorite place.  Strangely enough, no one had a margarita, not even the so called Margarita Sisters.  Very odd.  But, there was lots of laughing at the other end of the table... I felt left out.  Next time, someone else is going to cut up the baby's quesadilla and make sure he doesn't jump out of the high chair so I can hear what is going on!!  And, order momma a margarita!

After lunch, we went to a few more antique stores with Aunt Ashley and got some ice cream.  Did I mention that she owns a Baskin Robbins?  Well, not really, but that is what I told baby hughes.  Can you even imagine who his favorite person is?

Then we went to the final store of the day.  Mr. Hughes finds this gorgeous ironstone tureen and says, "I think you need this."  Well, who am I to argue with that?  So I ask how much... 58.99 with 15% off.  That is more than I normally pay for my habit, but it was pretty and I wanted to put flowers in it.  We started making a pile of a few things, each of us going back and forth.  Well, I was paying while Mr. and baby hughes were outside and she gave me the total.... $165 something.  WHAT?  What had Mr. Hughes put up there?  So I asked her to read it back to me.  She started with the tureen... $148.99.... I went out and asked him... "did you really mean to get that.... um NO...."  So sadly (very sadly) I went back and told her that he must not have seen the 1 and that we wouldn't be getting it.  Oh I was sad. And, I think the lady was a little peeved.  So, I loaded up the stuff we did get and I was on the way out when the gentleman that owned the store stopped me... would I still like it if if actually WAS 58.99 with 15% off... um, yeah!  Mine all mine!

Turns out the dealer was in the store and he went up and asked her.  She said that she definitely hadn't put the 1 there.  She and the owner seemed to imply that a 95 year old woman who was also a dealer there was sabotaging the other dealers by marking up their prices.  Can you imagine?  Mr. Hughes thinks it was the cashier since he really did not notice the 1, but I like the idea of a 95 year old woman being a little sneaky like!  I can't wait to find some plants for it.  I love it!

In other Vintage Junky news, we are seriously putting the finishing touches on the laundry room.  It really isn't my fault... I have been distracted 2 weekends in a row by my sister and Robert Pattinson (in very different ways though *wink*)  Oh, and, here is my newest obsession:

Saw one in Cookeville and decided that I truly need a vintage Volvo. Okay, hope to have the laundry room and additional treasures photographed by the end of this week... rain go away!

Some bad news and some good news....

 

I will tell you the bad news first...my cane beds were gone when I got there.  I was seriously upset.  I was in a vintage depression funk!  I almost cried... almost.  But, I realized that I had my 18 month old on my hip and what kind of example would I be setting?  I thought about them all day... all weekend really.  I wondered if they went to a good home.  If someone would love them like I would.  Then, I realized at what they were for the pair, that I would probably see them in another booth for twice that one day.  So, I moped and griped and got on Craig's List.  Nothing.  Went to a few places.  Nothing that could replace that warm spot in my heart for them. (Keep in mind that I have no place to set these beds up... they are for the future.)  My husband was sick of hearing me talk about them.  So he sent me an email.  With a link to a Craig's List ad.  And, here is what was delivered while I was at work today.

 

(I have told you I have a messy, messy garage!) I can't wait to go home and kiss them (not sure if that will be before or after I kiss Mr. Hughes and baby hughes...) Aren't they just as lovely as the others?  Perhaps they would even be the winner of the Furniture  Beauty Pagent. They were a touch more expensive.  But, what really matters in all of this is that I have  closure.  I can move on.

In other Hughes wanderings, we took a small road trip to a hometown of fellow blogger Jennifer.  She has suggested that we visit Fayetteville when I posted about The Plan.  And it is a darling little town.

 

The downtown was so quaint and just what we like.... some antique shops and some resteraunts right on the square.  It seems that this town has kept up its downtown nicely.  Lots of people were out and about (didn't hurt that it was sunny and 60.)

 

We ate at a little sandwich shop... I think it may be the one that Jennifer said that she really likes.

 

 The inside had an old general store type of feel.

 

Lots of stuff to look at...

 

Check out that ceiling and those lights

Then we strolled around checking out old store fronts that had been converted into offices and the like.

 

There were quite a few with the old hexagon tile entrances.

 

I wanted to rip this off the building and take it home with me!!

 

There was an old Theatre too.

We of course went to some antique stores and this one had some really great pieces like this cast iron fireplace mantle.  I didn't get to take too many photos in here because it was pretty dark.  

  

Then, on the way out of town, we saw this fella all dressed up for Mardi Gras (I am guessing that is what they were going for anyhow.) 

All in all, a pretty nice small town.  I don't think we will end up there (we still would like to be a little closer to the coast and this town is only like 40 minutes from us now.) but it is still a really cool place.  Lots of cute stone cottages...

It was a fun little road trip and we will be going on a few more longer ones when it warms up a bit.

Have a great week and I hope to finish up that laundry room this week.  Seriously.