Knoxville Wedding Weekend!

 Last weekend found us in Knoxville, for the wedding weekend of one my best friends in the whole world, Dana! Her wedding was at the Knoxville Botanical Garden and it was gorgeous!

I love their colors at the rehearsal.

I didn't get a photo, but the garden is on the top of a hill, and has a beautiful view of the Smokey Mountains. We actually tried to get a cabin in the mountains during the week, but everything was booked up with people in town to see the leaves. And Dollywood was closed! Can you believe it?

We helped set up on Friday, the best part was putting together all the flowers. If I did my wedding over, I would do the same thing. It saves a lot of money, and it's actually fun!

I wish I had taken more photos of the house we got ready in. It is a vintage lovers dream! From the crazy marble bathrooms with pastel fixtures to the tiny metal kitchen in the basement!

I was in the ceremony (matron of honor woot woot!) and Travis forgot to take photos for me! I guess I can forgive him because he was also in charge of music. They wrote their own vows and they included Simpsons references and were so sweet, I was definitely crying! Maybe it is a good thing I don't have photos of it!

The reception was in this cool greenhouse space.

There was a different pie on each table instead of a wedding cake. Another idea I really loved! And of course I was into those pom poms too! I brought a bunch home!

It is hard to see here, but those little hoops had Mr. and Mrs. embroidered on them.

Here I am in my dress! I got it at Bettie Page, it is by Beach Bash, and I love it! I know you are dying for a close up of that brooch too....

Dana got custom brooches made for us by her friend Pudgy Dove Pottery as our bridesmaids gifts! Could mine be any more perfect? I LOVE IT! She also gave us vintage hankies, which came in handy for sure.

Here is a funny picture of Travis, in his tie made by the bride! He asked me " Did you tell me you were taking this picture?" I did! I don't know why he is so stiff!

Bride and Groom! Nick is cracking me up with that face! And how much do you love Dana's head piece? She wore a vintage tiny veil for the ceremony, and then switched for the reception!

It was a great reception, full of love and fun and DANCING!

Their first dance was to "Wild Horses". Which I have always loved since I heard it on the Buffy soundtrack. I didn't ask, but Nick is a big Buffy fan, so I'll pretend that is why he picked it.

After the reception ended around eight, we went to the after party at a cool bar called Sassy Anne's. We danced until the wee hours of the morning ( I had Travis request lots of things for me, including Whitney Houston "Dance with Somebody"). It was such a good weekend!

Congrats to my friend and her new husband!

Knoxville!

On our way home from Nashville we stopped in Knoxville for lunch with our good friend Dana. We ate at the Bistro at the Bijou Theater which I highly recommend! I got the black eyed peas melt sandwich and it was awesome! We also stopped by the original Nostalgia as well. It was snowing a little big that day, can you see the little flakes? 

Cat in the window? That is a good sign! There is a pug named Napoleon there sometimes, but he wasn't in that day. 

Nostalgia specializes in Mid Century and vintage stuff instead of the usual antique mall mix. Dana warned us that it wasn't a great as it used to be (see our first visit in 2011 here!)

 Look at this tv fish tank! I love the idea!

 Love this horse gravel art!

 Look at this creepy brooch made out of a rabbit's foot!

I was trying to find some prices in these books,but instead I found this cute drawing. I hope "roden" means Robin!

Travis found me puzzling over this weird umbrella, and he knew exactly what it was. It is for holding over your dog in the rain! How freaking cute is that? He wouldn't let me get it though. I guess raincoats for the pugs are enough. 

We stopped by Dana's work and she took us on a tour of the big awesome house her office is in. There are all kinds of cool features but this teeny tiny kitchen way my favorite! I had to share. Travis is there for scale. This is tucked in the basement, which is big and has tons of space, I don't know why they would put the kitchen in like this.

 They are all metal, and look at those counter tops! 

On the way out of town we stopped at Earth Fare and got some vegan carrot cake for the road! Yum! I totally over ate all weekend and felt kind of terrible. But I needed one more sweet treat.

We drove across the plateau to get home, and it was so snowy! By the time we got into Nashville it was just a little flurry.

 We picked the pugs up from my parents house and went home! 

Nostalgia in Knoxville

I don't get many days off with Travis so when I had this past Sunday off I decided we needed to take a a little road trip and get out of the house. So we headed a few hours east to Knoxville, Tennessee. Mainly we hung out with my good friend Dana, and she took us to the new location of a great antique mall they have called Nostalgia. I posted about the other location here, back when no one read my blog, haha! That time we got to see the shop pug! No such luck this time. But here are some things I saw: 

Do you see that book, The Calibrated Alligator? I LOVE it! The cover was cute too! But I didn't want to pay six bucks just for a cute cover. Oh well. I'm hoping I'll find a copy at the outlet!

What a beautiful portrait. 

 This was an original drawing! What do you think is going on though? Is the lady in green sculpting that head? Why are they so shocked about him putting the paper in his jacket pocket?

 Travis knows I love campfire girl stuff. I love that big circle patch! 

 Look at that rug! Have you ever seen anything like it? It wasn't for sale for some reason. I would have loved it for my craft room!

In the same booth was this perfect poodle pillow! It was so silky, with flocked poodles. But it was almost 40 dollars, and I know the cats would love to sink their claws into it!

 That little stripy guy is sweet. 

I've been on the lookout for a new light fixture for our dining room for a long time and I think  I've finally decided I want something like this. I've agonized over whether it would look dumb.

 I LOOOOOVED these calorie curtains! They were really small, or I would have bought them for my kitchen windows! I'm on the lookout for bigger ones.

Look at this amazing table cloth! Dutch hex signs! Travis wouldn't let me get it though. It is too small for our dining room table, and even though I made the argument that it would fit the card table, Travis said that I only use the card table for specific occasions, and I already have enough table clothes. Ugh! I still want it!

I also liked these old beef cake magazines! Haha, they would look so good on a coffee table! They were little catalogs that you could order sets of pictures from. Most of them were sexy pictures, but some where like this: 

Yes, I would like to order 12 photos of a cute guy in a striped sweater playing with kittens please!
I ended up only buying one thing, a vintage button up shirt with a really cute embroidery of a rainbow on the front! I can't believe I didn't take a picture. It is my first vintage clothing item that actually fits me! That is pretty exciting.
I didn't take pictures of anything else we did, but we had a great lunch at Tomato Head, and then played a really fun, silly wizard game with Dana and her fiance before heading home.

Oh! I'm lying, I took this picture of this cute old Arby's sign. Travis loves it when I ask him to slow down or pull over for stuff like this. Haha!

I'm starting to love Knoxville

I haven't done a lot of exploring in Knoxville. We always visit the same places because they are SO GOOD. For example, this AMAZING restaurant.




The wait was really long this time, but it was worth it.

I had a sandwich called the cheddar head. It was incredible. Baked tofu with fresh veggies and sharp cheddar and mustard. Mmm. And of course I was the weirdo who ordered a side of black beans. Travis had the kepner melt, which also had baked tofu with pineapple and veggies and walnuts and pesto. Very tasty.




Then of course we had to walk a few blocks to yee haw industries. If you like letterpress you HAVE to make a trip there.


Now I wish I would have gotten on of these little calenders!


They make so many cute things! I already have all of the carnival food stuff.


Here is what I ended up buying. I love that they have the letterpress cards. I like to frame them and use them like prints. I'm going to hang the devil in my kitchen.

On the way back to the car I bought this beautiful piece of cake. It wasn't as great as it looked sadly.

We also passed the amazing bright red wall that made all the boys turn into posing machines. Crystal and I couldn't stop laughing at them! We called it the dating website profile wall.
So there we have it, the last of my vacation pictures! Now I've just got to make it through another holiday in retail. I'm already looking forward to our next trip, Florida in February!